October
7, 1918 – A telegram received today from Camp Grant, near
Rockford, Ill., announced the death of Bagley, Minn., native Edwin Nelson by
Spanish influenza.
The young soldier left for Camp Grant on Aug. 4. He was 21 years old and one of the best known young men in Bagley. He will be greatly missed.
The young soldier left for Camp Grant on Aug. 4. He was 21 years old and one of the best known young men in Bagley. He will be greatly missed.
The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Spanish Plague Takes Young Bagley Soldier”; October 07, 1918; p. 1.
http://www.lakesnwoods.com/images/Bagley83.jpg
The Spanish flu arrived at Camp Grant on Saturday, September 21, 1918,
with 70 hospital admissions. Hospital admissions rose to 194, then 370, then
492, to a high of 788 admissions on September 29. Hospital officials summoned
all officers on leave, converted barracks to hospital wards, and by “extreme
effort” expanded the hospital capacity from “10 occupied beds to a capacity of
4,102 beds in six days.” Influenza still overwhelmed every department. The
hospital laboratory resorted to local civilian facilities to perform specimen
tests. Camp ophthalmologists saw patients with conjunctivitis, an influenza
complication, and ear, nose, and throat specialists saw those with other
dangerous secondary infections. As individuals became seriously ill, camp
officials sent out “danger” or “death” telegrams to families and loved ones,
but soon they received so many return calls, telegrams, and visitors, they had
to set up a separate hospital tent as an information bureau. Medical personnel
were not immune. Eleven of the 81 medical officers fell ill, and three civilian
and three Army nurses died. The epidemic even caused the Medical Department to
drop its prohibition on black nurses so that Camp Grant called African American
nurses to care for patients. The women had to wait, however, until separate,
segregated accommodations could be constructed.
Ten days after the epidemic struck, hospital admissions began to fall but pneumonia took hold, and Camp Grant's daily death toll began to climb. It reached double digits on October 1 with 14 deaths, then 30 the next day, 46 the next, and 76 on October 4. The mortuary was designed to handle only four deaths a day. On Friday, October 4, with more than 100 bodies in the mortuary camp, officials negotiated with local undertakers to take the bodies at $50 each, but when someone produced a flatbed truck to remove the dead, the Army quickly provided more dignified closed trucks. The number of dead broke 100 on October 5 and reached a horrifying high of 117 deaths on October 6.
The last day the Camp Grant death toll exceeded 100 was October 9, but the decline was too late for its commander. Col. Charles B. Hagadorn, a West Point graduate and career officer who had served in Russia and the Panama Canal Zone, was acting camp commander when influenza struck. Although Camp Grant's sickness and death rates were no worse than other camps and better than some, fellow officers later told reporters that Hagadorn had been showing the strain of the epidemic. Troubled as more than 500 soldiers died of pneumonia under his command, on October 7, he committed suicide with a pistol shot to his head. In the end, Camp Grant suffered 10,713 influenza victims, including 1,060 deaths in a population of 40,000.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/
Arial view of Camp Grant taken in 1918
http://herolettersww1.blogspot.com/2009/07/wwi-ww1-letters-written-by-soldiers-at.html
Ten days after the epidemic struck, hospital admissions began to fall but pneumonia took hold, and Camp Grant's daily death toll began to climb. It reached double digits on October 1 with 14 deaths, then 30 the next day, 46 the next, and 76 on October 4. The mortuary was designed to handle only four deaths a day. On Friday, October 4, with more than 100 bodies in the mortuary camp, officials negotiated with local undertakers to take the bodies at $50 each, but when someone produced a flatbed truck to remove the dead, the Army quickly provided more dignified closed trucks. The number of dead broke 100 on October 5 and reached a horrifying high of 117 deaths on October 6.
The last day the Camp Grant death toll exceeded 100 was October 9, but the decline was too late for its commander. Col. Charles B. Hagadorn, a West Point graduate and career officer who had served in Russia and the Panama Canal Zone, was acting camp commander when influenza struck. Although Camp Grant's sickness and death rates were no worse than other camps and better than some, fellow officers later told reporters that Hagadorn had been showing the strain of the epidemic. Troubled as more than 500 soldiers died of pneumonia under his command, on October 7, he committed suicide with a pistol shot to his head. In the end, Camp Grant suffered 10,713 influenza victims, including 1,060 deaths in a population of 40,000.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/
Arial view of Camp Grant taken in 1918
http://herolettersww1.blogspot.com/2009/07/wwi-ww1-letters-written-by-soldiers-at.html
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If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including: census records, birth records, death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records. I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MHS records. Both short searches and family history reports.
Website: TheMemoryQuilt.com ® click on Family History
Contact me at: pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including: census records, birth records, death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records. I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MHS records. Both short searches and family history reports.
Website: TheMemoryQuilt.com ® click on Family History
Contact me at: pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
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