Cholera Epidemic Memorial - Old City Cemetery - Sacramento, CA
N 38° 33.817 W 121° 30.048
10S E 630615 N 4269417
This citizen memorial resides near the north front entrance to Old City Cemetery.
Waymark Code: WMNDA7
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 02/19/2015
Views: 4
Located near the north front entrance to Sacramento's
Old City Cemetery are a few historical markers and graves of notable citizens. Here also is a citizen memorial dedicated to doctors who died treating victims of the cholera epidemic that hit Sacramento City in 1850. The memorial reads:
IN MEMORY OF THE 17 DOCTORS WHO
DIED WHILE CARING FOR VICTIMS OF THE
1850 CHOLERA EPIDEMIC IN SACRAMENTO.
| DR. W. CARPENTER (AGE 26) |
DR. A. HOLMES (AGE 47) |
| DR. HORATIO COBB (AGE 30) |
GEORGE KNOBLE (AGE 30) |
| DR. R.S. GIRARD (AGE 35) |
DR. GEORGE H. MASON (AGE 23) |
| DR. PLINEY P. GREENE (AGE 41) |
DR. ROBERT McmAMEE (AGE 27) |
| DR. R.L. GRISARD (AGE 33) |
DR. METCALF (AGE 60) |
| DR. R.H. HALE (AGE 26) |
DR. ROBERT M. STANSBURY |
| DR. GEORGE W. HELD (AGE 34) |
T.P.N. WHITTAKER (AGE 26) |
| DR. HENRY F. HERR (AGE 26) |
DR. GEORGE YEARLY (AGE 36) |
|
DR. (NAME UNKNOWN) |
THIS PLAQUE WAS PLACED BY THE
SACRAMENTO EL DORADO MEDICAL SOCIETY HISTORICAL COMMITTEE
JULY 1997 |
The Old City Cemetery website contains a page devoted to the cholera epidemic and reads:
One of the worst epidemics of Asiatic Cholera anywhere occurred in Sacramento in 1850. At that time, no one knew what caused cholera or how it was transferred, but there was no mistaking what it was. A victim would be well, then suddenly collapse with abrupt onset of profuse watery diarrhea followed by death in a few hours from dehydration and acidosis.
On October 8, a passenger on the "New World," a ship docked in Sacramento, emerged and collapsed on the wharf, sparking an epidemic that killed 800-1000 people in less than three weeks. Thousands fled in panic, leaving the stricken behind. Of the 40-80 physicians practicing here at the time, 17 died, making this the highest mortality on record for physicians caring for victims of an epidemic.
With few exceptions, victims were buried in mass graves. There were several, the largest at the New Helvetia cemetery. Because of mass flooding, these burials were transferred to the City Cemetery where they are believed to be under military graves.
A monument was erected in 1852. The monument's placement, however, has little bearing on the actual locations of cholera victims and, most likely, is placed atop an area originally sectioned off for the indigent. Of the 17 physicians who died of cholera while caring for the victims of the 1850 epidemic, only one of the 17 is notably buried in this cemetery. Records indicate that the other 16 physicians are buried under the City Cemetery, but the location is unknown.