109 dead in 31 days: The 1918 Spanish Influenza at Florida State Hospital

Dozens rest in forgotten graves at Chattahoochee, Florida.

by Dale Cox

A surviving wooden grave marker at Florida State Hospital
Cemetery No. 3 in Chattahoochee, Florida.

As America deals with a growing COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic, mention is often made of the terrible Spanish Influenza of 1918. 

The flu struck in the early fall of that year, sickening entire communities in as few as 48-hours. The pandemic was especially deadly in military camps, prisons, and other places where large numbers of people lived in close proximity. At the Florida Industrial School for Boys in Marianna, for example, 264 of the 267 students were incapacitated in less than two days (please see The Pandemic of 1918 at Marianna's School for Boys).

At Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, things were even worse.

Florida State Hospital as it appeared in 1918. The old brick
building and its tower were part of the original Apalachicola
Arsenal complex around which the hospital developed.

Cemetery records for Cemetery No. 3 at the facility show that 109 people died in October 1918 alone. This number does not include patients who were buried elsewhere or staff members who fell ill and lost their lives. [1]

Considerable evidence shows that the deadly influenza was spread through North Florida by a special "relic train." The train traveled on the railroad from Jacksonville west through Florida to Pensacola, stopping in Tallahassee, Quincy, Marianna, and elsewhere:

     The United States Government War Relic Train was at Quincy this morning from 7:30 to 9:30, and quite a large number of people from both the city and county viewed the wonderful exhibits sent out by the government to bring home to the people the closeness of the great struggle.

     Captain L.M. Dixon, lieutenant H.B. Smith and Private, Gabriel Rubino, were the main speakers and entertained the audience with patriotic appeals. There were quite a number of catchy songs by other parties in the government train, which were enjoyed very much by the audience.

     Chairman Wilson, of the Liberty Loan Committee, aided by his fellow members, worked among the audience, securing pledges for the Liberty Loan. [2]

The paddlewheel steamboat Amos Hayes at the railroad bridge
over the Apalachicola at Chattahoochee (River Junction),
Florida. The "relic train" crossed here on Oct. 5, 1918.

The train's journey through Gadsden and Jackson Counties took place on October 5, 1918. People began to fall ill and die almost as soon as it passed.

In Tallahassee, for example, medical authorities reported the spread of the deadly illness less than 48-hours after the train's visit but noted there was no cause for alarm. Before another 24-hours passed, however, people were dying in the city, and the mayor ordered all public places to close their doors.

Quincy developed cases almost simultaneously with Tallahassee. Chattahoochee and Marianna followed just hours later.

At Florida State Hospital, the doctors and nurses were overwhelmed with deathly ill patients. Available statistics show that patients began to die on October 6, 1918, and the death toll soared in the days that followed.

The Administration Building of Florida State Hospital was
the original officer's quarters of the Apalachicola Arsenal.

Patients continued to die in large numbers through the second and third weeks of October. The youngest, oldest, and weakest went first. By the end of the month, it was all but over. The death toll dropped just as suddenly as it had risen. Only the graves remained to tell the story.

Influenza surged again in November-December 1918, bringing even more deaths and more burials.

Cemetery No. 3 is one of several such burial grounds on and around the hospital and was the one in use in 1918. It is in the woods near Mosquito Creek and is not maintained although it is on state property. Hurricane Michael toppled trees there and damaged remaining grave markers, most of which were made of wood and bore only numbers to identify the unfortunate people interred there. The victims of the 1918 pandemic, with hundreds of other forgotten souls, rest in silence and neglect.

It is now impossible to identify who is buried in most of the graves, but the cemetery ledgers indicate that the following people died at the hospital in October 1918. Deaths before October 5 were likely of other causes.

DEATHS AT FLORIDA STATE HOSPITAL

October 1-31, 1918

1.      Acuff, Miss Clara                      Age 26             WF                   10/16/1918

2.      Albritton, John                         Age 22             WM                 10/4/1918

3.      Alderman, Britt                        Age 25             WM                 10/11/1918

4.      Allen, Rollie                             Age 8               BM                  10/17/1918

5.      Almy, Lillie                              Age 27             WF                   10/20/1918

6.      Arnau, Eugene                          Age 34             WM                 10/7/1918

7.      Ash, Joe                                   Age 23             BM                  10/23/1918

8.      Bailey, W.L.                             Age 71             WM                 10/9/1918

9.      Baker, Mrs. Charlotte                Age 38             WF                   10/21/1918

10.   Baldwin, Peter                          Age 66             WM                 10/5/1918

11.   Beauchamp, Miss Minnie          Age 20             WF                   10/21/1918

12.   Bellamy, Frank                         Age 13             BM                  10/15/1918

13.   Bennett, Coley                          Age 17             WM                 10/20/1918

14.   Berry, Walter                            Age 25             M                     10/24/1918

15.   Brown, Alice                            Age 39             BF                    10/7/1918

16.   Brown, Jacob                            Age 60             BM                  10/18/1918

17.   Bryant, Annie                           Age 29             BF                    10/15/1918

18.   Bustin, Mrs. Elizabeth               Age 47             WF                   10/20/1918

19.   Butler, Julia                              Age 40             BF                    10/14/1918

20.   Cason, Gertrude                        Age 38             BF                    10/14/1918

21.   Chasen, Samuel                        Age 54             WM                 10/6/1918

22.   Cobb, E.C.                                Age 50             WM                 10/8/1918

23.   Davis, George                           Age 40             BM                  10/5/1918

24.   Demps, Gussie                          Age 24             BF                    10/16/1918

25.   Dingham, Ella                           Age 28             WF                   10/15/1918

26.   Unknown                                 Age                  WM                 10/1918

27.   Ellis, Daniel                              Age 18             BM                  10/12/1918

28.   Ferguson, Fronia                       Age 30             BF                    10/19/1918

29.   Francis, C.W.                            Age 51             WM                 10/11/1918

30.   Francis, George                         Age 34             BM                  10/14/1918

31.   Franklin, Thomas                      Age 75             WM                 10/15/1918

32.   Gaross, Maria                           Age 74             WF                   10/8/1918

33.   Golding, John                           Age 15             WM                 10/17/1918

34.   Goosby, Ida                              Age 47             BF                    10/8/1918

35.   Green, Polly Ann                      Age                  WF                   10/28/1918

36.   Hall, Rachel                              Age 75             BF                    10/16/1918

37.   Harin, Will                               Age 31             BM                  10/12/1918       

38.   Harrell, Willie                           Age 41             WM                 10/15/1918

39.   Harris, W.                                 Age                  BF                    10/12/1918

40.   Hill, James Palmer                    Age 25             WM                 10/14/1918

41.   Hinkley, Lewis                          Age 21             WM                 10/7/1918

42.   Holmes, Eliza                           Age 50             BF                    10/20/1918

43.   Horn, J.B.                                 Age                  WM                 10/4/1918

44.   Hutchinson, M.T.                      Age 39             WM                 10/3/1918

45.   Isaac, Marinda                          Age 3               BF                    10/2/1918

46.   Jenson, Arthur                          Age                  WM                 10/17/1918

47.   Johnson, Jim                             Age 37             BM                  10/31/1918

48.   Johnson, Robert                        Age 26             BM                  10/10/1918

49.   Jones, Charles                           Age                  BM                  10/19/1918

50.   Kelly, Gladys                            Age 23             BF                    10/13/1918

51.   Kennedy, Miss Jennie               Age 30             WF                   10/24/1918

52.   Kensler, Mary                           Age 43             BF                    10/7/1918

53.   Larcus, Rebecca                        Age 46             BF                    10/14/1918

54.   Lee, Charles                             Age 56             BM                  10/10/1918

55.   Lee, John                                 Age 34             WM                 10/8/1918

56.   Lee, Mary Jane                         Age 45             WF                   10/24/1918

57.   Lender, Mrs. Belle                    Age 51             WF                   10/20/1918

58.   Logan, Jim                               Age 59             WM                 10/7/1918

59.   Mathis, Mrs. Maud                    Age 34             WF                   10/20/1918

60.   Medino, Patrick                        Age 33             WF?                 10/8/1918

61.   Mercer, Mrs. Nancy                  Age 82             WF                   10/20/1918

62.   Milam, Benjamin B.                  Age 32             WM                 10/6/1918

63.   Miller, Moses                            Age 15             BM                  10/19/1918

64.   Moody, John B.                        Age                  WM                 10/12/1918

65.   Moondeck, George                    Age                  WM                 10/31/1918

66.   Moore, Mrs. Maggie                  Age 34             WF                   10/19/1918

67.   Moore, Maxie                           Age 25 or 30     BM                  10/14/1918

68.   Neel, James Edward                  Age 14             WM                 10/25/1918

69.   Parker, Sam                              Age 27             BM                  10/18/1918

70.   Pettington, Livingston               Age 28             BM                  10/16/1918

71.   Pinkston, Albert                        Age                  WM                 10/30/1918

72.   Potts, Carl                                 Age 18             WM                 10/21/1918

73.   Price, W.M.M.                          Age 51             WM                 10/16/1918

74.   Reed, Sarah                              Age 40             WF                   10/31/1918

75.   Richards, Willie                        Age 24             BF                    10/19/1918

76.   Richardson, Emily                    Age 29             BF                    10/17/1918

77.   Richardson, Jefferson                Age 31             BM                  10/12/1918       

78.   Ridditt, Mary                            Age 25             WF                   10/12/1918

79.   Robertson, Alderman                Age 44             WM                 10/14/1918

80.   Russ, Maude                             Age 17             BF                    10/26/1918

81.   Russell, D.S.                             Age 27             WM                 10/10/1918

82.   Saunders, Thomas                     Age 36             WM                 10/10/1918

83.   Seabury, Charles N.                  Age 80             WM                 10/25/1918

84.   Sharp, John                              Age 46             BM                  10/14/1918

85.   Sheronse, Olin                          Age 35             WM                 10/17/1918

86.   Smith, Lillie Mae                      Age 16             BF                    10/3/1918

87.   Stephens, Christopher C.           Age 36             BM                  10/17/1918

88.   Stephens, Josephine                  Age 51             BF                    10/17/1918

89.   Stephens, Mary                         Age 31             BF                    10/15/1918

90.   Sumler, Charles                        Age                  BM                  10/11/1918

91.   Taylor, Annie                           Age 25             BF                    10/15/1918

92.   Thomas, Henry                         Age 44             BM                  10/8/1918

93.   Thomas, Martha                        Age 49             BF                    10/24/1918

94.   Truluck, William                       Age 40             BM                  10/19/1918

95.   Wade, Albert                            Age 21             BM                  10/10/1918

96.   Walker, Dennis                         Age 24             BM                  10/26/1918

97.   Ward, Gus                                Age 36             BM                  10/11/1918

98.   Warren, Major                          Age                  BM                  10/20/1918

99.   Washington, George                  Age 73             BM                  12/15/1918

100.                    Webster, Pinkie                         Age 17             BF                    10/23/1918

101.                    Wheeler, Mary                          Age 36             BF                    10/22/1918

102.                    Whitehurst, John                      Age 52             WM                 10/11/1918

103.                    Whitehurst, Lillie May              Age 18             WF                   10/18/1918

104.                    Wiggins, Emma                        Age 17             BF                    10/19/1918

105.                    Williams, Fannie                       Age 40             BF                    10/15/1918

106.                    Williams, Henry                        Age 68             BM                  10/14/1918

107.                    Williams, J.H.                           Age 56             BM                  10/6/1918

108.                    Williams, Lula                          Age 43             BF                    10/15/1918

109.                    Williams, Spencer                     Age 37             BM                  10/20/1918

REFERENCES:

[1] Cemetery Ledgers, Florida State Hospital.

[2] Pensacola Journal, October 5, 1918.

Q: Which was first? St. Augustine or Pensacola? A: Neither!

San Miguel de Gualdape was the first European/African settlement in North America.

by Dale Cox

Was the first settlement of Europeans and Africans in
the continental United States somewhere near Sapelo Island,
home to the beautiful old Sapelo Island Lighthouse?
Joanne Dale / stock.adobe.com

The Florida cities of St. Augustine and Pensacola engage in a (mostly) good-natured debate over which is the oldest European community in the continental United States.

Pensacola stakes its claim on a settlement established there in 1559 by the explorer Tristan de Luna. The colony failed, however, and was abandoned until the return of the Spanish to Pensacola Bay in 1698.

St. Augustine, in turn, is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America. Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded the ancient Spanish city in 1565, six years after Luna's attempt at Pensacola.

Both cities are beautiful, and both defend their claims with exceptional community pride. Pensacola was the site of the first settlement in today's Florida, even if it did not last. St. Augustine, on the other hand, has been there for 355 years.

Spanish settlers first built the city of San Miguel de Gualdape
somewhere on the Georgia coast in 1526.

Each city has a basis for its claim. Neither, however, was the first European settlement in the continental United States. That title belongs to San Miguel de Gualdape, a town settled somewhere on the Georgia coast in 1526.

It is worth noting, of course, that Native Americans were here for thousands of years before the first Spanish explorers. It should also be remembered that Juan Ponce de Leon - who later "discovered" Florida - founded Caparra, Puerto Rico, in 1508.

All but forgotten in United States history, Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon brought the first large scale colonization attempt ashore in what is now South Carolina on August 9, 1526.

It was a disaster from the start. Ayllon's flagship, El Capitana, wrecked on a sandbar, and the vital supplies aboard were lost. The colonists cut timber and built a replacement vessel. Christened La Gavarra, she was the first tall ship built in the continental United States. The provisions and other supplies, however, could not be replaced.

Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon 

Ayllon brought 600-700 men, women, and children with him, and they began to sicken and die almost immediately. Food supplies evaporated, and the site of the initial landing did not look promising for long-term occupation. Exploring parties were sent out, bringing back intelligence of a more-suitable location on a mighty river some 200 miles to the south.

Ordering his ships to carry the women, children, and sick down the coast to the new location, Ayllon mounted the able-bodied men on his remaining horses and started overland to meet the ships at the river described by his scouts.

The new site was somewhere on the coast of the modern state of Georgia. Most historians identify Ayllon's river with today's Sapello Sound, but the mouth of the Altamaha River and St. Simons Sound are also possibilities.

The new city was christened San Miguel de Gualdape on September 29, 1526, the day of the Festival of St. Michael. Archaeologists are searching for its site, but have yet to find it.

The Altamaha River flows past Darien, Georgia. The town of
San Miguel was somewhere in the area.

Things did not go well for the settlers of San Miguel. Starvation stalked the settlement, and the death rate soared as the colonists suffered from disease and exposure. They also made matters worse by forcibly taking food from local Native American communities.

Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon died at San Miguel de Gualdape on October 18, 1526. Hundreds of the other colonists went to the grave with him.

San Miguel was abandoned in November 1526 after a series of mutinies and North America's first-recorded slave uprising. Only 150 of the settlers survived to make it back to the Spanish settlements in the Caribbean.

The attempt to found a settlement on the Georgia coast ended in death and failure more than 30 years before Spanish soldiers set foot at Pensacola or St. Augustine.

The map below shows Sapello Sound, where many scholars believe the colony was located:

The Pandemic of 1918 at Marianna's School for Boys

264 sick and thirteen dead in 48-hours.

by Dale Cox

The African American dormitory at Florida Industrial School
for Boys, where 196 of 198 students fell ill within 48-hours.

The Florida State Reform School became the Florida Industrial School for Boys (later Dozier School for Boys) in 1914. Four years later, it was devastated by the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918.

The flu hit with a vengeance, and the best efforts of doctors, nurses, and public health officials were quickly overwhelmed. Reports prepared by the latter indicate that 371 Floridians lost their lives to the flu during a twelve-day period that ended on October 17, 1918. And these deaths were just the beginning.

Jacksonville officials quarantined their entire city and urged citizens to wear masks. St. Augustine closed its schools, theaters and soda fountains while banning public gatherings and even church services. The month was remembered for years there as “churchless October.”

The Great Flu Pandemic of 1918 was the most severe and deadly pandemic in recorded history to strike the United States. Estimates vary, but between 500,000 and 650,000 Americans lost their lives, as did millions of people worldwide. The number of deaths from Spanish influenza was higher than the number of battle deaths suffered in World War I.

Children wearing masks during the
1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic.

Influenza spread like lightning, and in Jackson County, as much as 50% of the population fell sick within a matter of days. The Florida Industrial School for Boys, tragically, was not exempt.

Of the 267 students at the school, 264 fell ill within 48 hours. The assistant superintendent of the North or “colored” campus became sick, as did his entire family. All three of the school's engineers succumbed to the illness, along with all of the students that helped them run the school’s power, water, and sewage systems. With no one to run the pumps, the school’s water dried up.  With no water, the toilets and sinks stopped working. The small hospital, a wooden building measuring only 16 by 16 feet, had no water, power, or sanitation.

The African American North or “colored” campus (as it was called in that day) was overcrowded before the Spanish flu. Within three days, 196 of the 198 students and eight of the ten employees there fell ill. The matron of the North campus was the first person at the school to die. Her body lay unburied for 24 hours because there was no one to dig a grave. On the white or South campus, meanwhile, 68 of the 69 students became sick along with all but one or two of the employees.

The situation deteriorated so quickly that “horror” is the only word to describe it:

Nurses helping sick soldiers during the 1918 pandemic. The
Spanish Influenza killed more American soldiers than died
from enemy fire in World War I.

Conditions at the school are very bad. Sewerage imperfect, no sanitary rules at all, screens broke, fleas by the thousands. There were thirty-five cases of pneumonia, lack of medicine and lack of proper nourishment. No linen, boys lying under wool blankets, naked, with dirty mattresses on the cement floor; the reason said to be that the husks would all run out if put on a cot. The condition was one of filth, body lice, improper food, no bathing for lack of towels.^[i]

Dr. George W. Klock, who wrote the above, was an official with the U.S. Public Health Service. He arrived at the school as influenza was raging and conditions were at their worst:

 The dinner of the well colored boys the day I was there being hoecake and bacon grease thickened with flour. The dinner of the white boys being rice and bacon grease gravy. One boy said he was flogged for refusing to cook peas full of worms; that meat sent to the boys was kept until spoiled and then fed them and they all were sick.^[ii]

Klock did not note in his report that the citizens of Marianna were also suffering from the flu. Only one of the city’s doctors remained on his feet and was so overwhelmed that he simply could not care for the hundreds of patients pleading for his help. Most citizens had to care for themselves as deaths multiplied across Jackson County. Graves dating from the fall of 1918 dot the landscape at cemeteries throughout the area. Many of the dead were children.

Eleven students and two employees died at the Florida Industrial School for Boys during the Spanish Influenza pandemic. Although the University of South Florida, citing a Miami Herald report, claimed that all were African American, school records indicate that both white and black students were among the deceased:

Wilbur Smith, 1918; Influenza; African American; Student

Willie Adkins; 1918; Influenza; African American; Student

Lloyd Dutton; 1918; Influenza; White; Student

Hilton Finley, 1918; Influenza; White; Student

Puner Warner, 1918; Influenza; White; Student

Ralph Whidden, 1918, Influenza, White, Student

Unknown, 1918, Influenza, Race unknown, Student

Unknown, 1918, Influenza, Race unknown, Student

Unknown, 1918, Influenza, Race unknown, Student

Unknown, 1918, Influenza, Race unknown, Student

Unknown, 1918, Influenza, Race unknown, Student

Unknown, 1918, Influenza, African American, Female Employee

Unknown, 1918, Influenza, White, Male Employee

The "Boot Hill Cemetery" on the Dozier School
campus was shown on topographic maps as
early as 1948. 25% of the people buried there
died of the Spanish flu in one week.

The flu continued with deadly effect at the school until doctors and nurses from the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee reached the scene. The arrival of trained medical personnel stopped the spiraling death rate and improved conditions at the school.

Governor Sidney Catts ordered an investigation of conditions. A group of three physicians made this inquiry and issued a report in January 1919. On the defensive, the doctors scalded Dr. Klock for his failure to investigate better the causes of the horrific conditions he witnessed:

…Did Dr. Klock say that the superintendent was not a well man? That the assistant superintendent, in charge of the colored department, with all his family were stricken? Did he say that one of the matrons died and remained for hours without attention because the few not in bed had to give aid to the living? Did he say that the attending physician, the only doctor on his feet in Marianna and surrounding community had ten times as much to do as any human being could perform? Did he say that the school was without water for lack of help to run the pump, causing the sewers to choke? Did he say that sixty-eight out of sixty-nine white boys and one hundred and ninety-eight colored boys were down practically at one time? Did he say that the dining room…with cement floor, was temporarily converted into a hospital by a physician, to relieve the congestion in their dormitory?... Did he say that the good people of Marianna had been acting as nurses of this institution until the needs of their own families and surroundings took them away?^[iii]

Spanish Influenza affected the region for decades to come. Families struggled without their lost loved ones, while children still in the womb later suffered much higher rates of learning and physical disabilities than babies born just one year later.

Physicians and scientists study the pandemic of 1918 to this day, searching for lessons to help them rates of death and infection from new worldwide outbreaks.

References:

---

[i] Report of Dr. George W. Klock, U.S. Public Health Service, reprinted in Tampa Tribune, November 2, 1918.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Report of the Physicians’ Committee to the Commissioners of the Board of State Institutions, Marianna, Florida, November 5, 1918.