The Summer of the Pestilence: A History of the Ravages of the Yellow Fever in Norfolk Virginia, A.D. 1855.

ARMSTRONG, George D. The Summer of the Pestilence: A History of the Ravages of the Yellow Fever in Norfolk Virginia, A.D. 1855. Phila: BÄ¢ Lippincott & Co. 1856. 1st ed. 192pp. Recounting the vellow fever epidemic that devastated the population in 1855, killing as much as a third of the citizens by some accounts. (From Miner): A narrative of the yellow fever epidemic at Norfolk in 1855 based upon the author's own experiences. A Presbyterian clergyman, Armstrong composed this work in the form of a series of letters seeming to chronicle the epidemic's progress-though they were actually written later in the year. The letters are addressed to William Maxwell, who encouraged Armstrong to undertake this history of the epidemic which cost Armstrong his wife and child. During the epidemic Armstrong "ministered to the afflicted tirelessly and without regard for his own welfare" (Dict. Am. biog., 1:352).