DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and tonight I'm the one passing it along — so settle in, because this one's a heavy ride. Oakwood Cemetery in Walker County holds a lot of secrets, but there's one year that left more stones than any other. Eighteen sixty-seven.
Walk through those grounds and the dates whisper it to you, over and over again. Now, yellow fever was already one of the most dreaded diseases of its time. It had been ravaging cities all across the United States.
Texas stayed relatively untouched — until 1839, when Galveston felt it for the first time. And Galveston, being the primary port of entry for shipping from the Caribbean and the rest of the world, couldn't escape it. The disease came back.
And came back again. Eight more epidemics through 1867. Every ship that docked brought goods, brought people — and sometimes it brought something else nobody wanted.
The epidemics spread inland, quick as rumor, reaching county after county across Texas. Walker County got its first taste in 1853. Mosquitoes out of the Trinity River bottomlands northeast of Huntsville carried the disease through nearby Cincinnati.
The town doctors did what they could, but yellow fever was still a relatively new disease in Texas. Not much was known about it. That time, the county survived.
But 1867 was different. It started the way a lot of bad things start — quietly, with a stranger. A stagecoach passenger arrived in Huntsville, sick, coming up from a coastal city.
He stayed at a tavern in town. And on August 9th, he died. Soon after, the disease moved.
Through the streets, through the households, through the whole of Huntsville. People panicked. Many fled.
But many stayed — stayed to tend to the sick, stayed to hold the town together. Those who had previously contracted the disease appeared to be immune, and they worked. Many of the African Americans of Huntsville nursed the sick, stepping forward in the middle of chaos, due to what was perceived at the time as a low susceptibility to the disease.
By September, word had reached Galveston, and the Howard Association there answered. They sent five experienced nurses and a doctor to aid the struggling doctors of Huntsville. Help arrived — but the disease did not stop.
Between August 9th and October 18th of 1867, Huntsville lost approximately ten percent of its fifteen hundred residents. Ten percent. One in ten people in that town.
Oakwood Cemetery remembers what the rest of us might rather forget. The stones are still there — clustered and quiet, all reading 1867, each one a name that belonged to someone who walked those same streets before a stranger stepped off a stagecoach on the wrong kind of day.
What the marker says
Oakwood Cemetery is home to many grave markers from the year 1867 when yellow fever, one of the most dreaded diseases of the time, struck the county. The disease ravaged many cities across the United States. Texas remained relatively untouched until 1839 when Galveston experienced its first epidemic. As the primary port of entry for shipping from the Caribbean and the rest of the world, Galveston went on to suffer eight more epidemics through 1867. Due to the transportation of goods and people inland, the epidemics spread quickly to other counties in Texas, including Walker County. The first instance of yellow fever in Walker County occurred in 1853. Mosquitos from the Trinity River bottomlands northeast of Huntsville spread the disease rapidly through nearby Cincinnati. Town doctors did their best, but yellow fever was a relatively new disease in Texas and little was known about it. The second instance came in 1867 when a stagecoach passenger, who arrived sick from a coastal city, stayed at a Huntsville tavern. Soon after his death on August 9, the disease spread through Huntsville, claiming many lives. Many residents panicked and fled town, but many also stayed to tend to the sick. Those who had previously contracted the disease appeared to be immune. Many of the African Americans of Huntsville nursed the sick due to what was perceived as a low susceptibility to the disease. In September, the Howard Association of Galveston sent five experienced nurses and a doctor to aid the struggling doctors of Huntsville. Due to the epidemic, in all, approximately 10 percent of the 1500 residents of Huntsville died between August 9 and October 18 of 1867.