Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic

Yellow fever spread through Philadelphia in the late summer and autumn of 1793, killing roughly a tenth of the city’s population and causing thousands to flee. The epidemic disrupted the federal capital, trade, newspapers, burial practices and ordinary household care.

Physicians disagreed sharply about causes and treatment. Benjamin Rush promoted aggressive purging and bloodletting, while Jean Devèze used more supportive methods at Bush Hill hospital. Stephen Girard and Peter Helm reorganised Bush Hill, and members of Philadelphia’s free Black community undertook nursing, transport and burial work despite racist claims and serious personal risk.

Fever 1793 follows Mattie Cook through the collapse and recovery of the city. The novel uses the documented epidemic, Bush Hill and competing treatments to frame a fictional household’s losses and reconstruction.