This image is the cover for the book Yellow Fever on Galveston Island, Disaster

Yellow Fever on Galveston Island, Disaster

Jan Johnson provides a definitive account of Galveston's fight against outbreaks of Yellow Fever, which transformed an island paradise into the City of Dreadful Death.

In the summer of Galveston's founding year, a mysterious malady accompanied by black vomit descended upon the inhabitants. Names for the devastating plague came quick and fast as the body count rose. Saffron Scourge. Bronze John. Yellow Jack. Yellow Fever. The disease's cause and cure remained elusive, as did the medical institutions Galveston would need treat the illness. Four thousand souls perished in nine epidemics between 1839 and 1867. By the time of Galveston's final Yellow Fever outbreak in 1903, however, residents were better informed and equipped. Discover the key figures and pivotal events of the island city's experience with the mosquito-borne disease.

Jan Johnson

Fifth generation "BOI," Jan Johnson made it her business to study the city's rich history to write about it, just as her mother, Dorris Stechmann Johnson, wanted for her. Yellow Fever on Galveston Island, her fourth book, is the first written investigation of the island city's experience with the mosquito-borne disease. Readers will also explore the establishment of the city's first two medical institutions and its orphanages.

The History Press