Outbreak in Washington, D.C.
The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease
Published on 21. October 2014
141 pages
978-1-62585-171-0 (ISBN)
Description
An account of the mysterious epidemic among nineteenth-century hotel guests that "
enthralled the country and nearly took the life of the-President-elect"
(
The Washington Post).
The National was once the grandest hotel in the capital. In 1857, it twice hosted President-elect James Buchanan and his advisors, and on both occasions, most of the party was quickly stricken by an acute illness. Over the course of several months, hundreds fell ill, and over thirty died from what became known as the National Hotel disease.
Buchanan barely recovered enough to give his inauguration speech. Rumors ran rampant across the city and the nation. Some claimed that the illness was born of a sewage "effluvia," while others darkly speculated about an assassination attempt by either abolitionists or southern slaveowners intent on war. In this concise and captivating account of the events-as well as the panic and rumors surrounding them-Kerry Walters investigates the mysteries of the National Hotel disease.
The National was once the grandest hotel in the capital. In 1857, it twice hosted President-elect James Buchanan and his advisors, and on both occasions, most of the party was quickly stricken by an acute illness. Over the course of several months, hundreds fell ill, and over thirty died from what became known as the National Hotel disease.
Buchanan barely recovered enough to give his inauguration speech. Rumors ran rampant across the city and the nation. Some claimed that the illness was born of a sewage "effluvia," while others darkly speculated about an assassination attempt by either abolitionists or southern slaveowners intent on war. In this concise and captivating account of the events-as well as the panic and rumors surrounding them-Kerry Walters investigates the mysteries of the National Hotel disease.
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Book
10/2014
Arcadia Publishing (SC)
€21.00
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Person
Kerry Walters received his PhD from the University of Cincinnati. He has been a professor at Gettysburg College for over twenty-five years and was named the William Bittinger Professor of Philosophy. Walters is the author of thirty-five books on philosophy and theology, and he has published several books on the Civil War. His first book with The History Press was Explosion on the Potomac: The 1844 Calamity Aboard the USS Princeton.
Content
- Intro
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Panic in Washington
- I: An Acrimonious Year
- Slavery and Westward Expansion
- The Crisis Worsens
- The 1856 Campaign
- II: A City of Contrasts
- City of Magnificent Intentions
- City of Violence
- City of Filth
- The National Hotel
- III: A Stricken President-Elect
- "Why, I Have Been Poisoned!"
- Return to the National Hotel
- Buchanan's Health
- Off His Game
- A Bad Start
- IV: A National Panic
- The Poison Hypothesis
- The Miasma Hypothesis
- The Final Verdict
- V: The Allure of Conspiracy
- The Paranoid Style
- The Slave Power Conspiracy
- The Abolitionist Conspiracy
- The Jesuit Conspiracy
- A Last Word
- Appendix: Period Coverage of the National Hotel Disease
- Notes
- Bibliography
- About the Author
