1918: Difference between revisions

From Cvillepedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
mNo edit summary
Line 6: Line 6:
Items listed on day and year pages should be under the following headings: Births, Deaths, Events, Establishments, Disestablishments, and for year pages, Images dated (year).-->
Items listed on day and year pages should be under the following headings: Births, Deaths, Events, Establishments, Disestablishments, and for year pages, Images dated (year).-->


'''1918''' is famous for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish Influenza pandemic, that killed anywhere between 50 to 100 million people worldwide, including more than 800,000 in the United States and nearly 12,000 Virginians. In Albemarle-Charlottesville, and estimated 5,000 people caught the flu and at least 227 of them (4.3 percent) died, out of a total population of almost 36,000.  
'''1918''' is famous for the end of the First World War, women's suffrage in the United States and the Spanish Influenza pandemic which killed anywhere between 50 to 100 million people worldwide, including more than 800,000 in the United States and nearly 12,000 Virginians. In Albemarle-Charlottesville, and estimated 5,000 people caught the flu and at least 227 of them (4.3 percent) died, out of a total population of almost 36,000.  


==World events==
==World events==

Revision as of 22:59, 29 March 2020

← 1917 Janus.jpg This article is about the year 1918
Please help improve this article by conforming to date guidelines and by adding citations to reliable sources.
1919 →

This article is a date listing important events for the year 1918.


1918 is famous for the end of the First World War, women's suffrage in the United States and the Spanish Influenza pandemic which killed anywhere between 50 to 100 million people worldwide, including more than 800,000 in the United States and nearly 12,000 Virginians. In Albemarle-Charlottesville, and estimated 5,000 people caught the flu and at least 227 of them (4.3 percent) died, out of a total population of almost 36,000.

World events

Woodrow Wilson was President (1913-1921); the previous year (1917), the United States entered World War I - joining the British, French, and other Allies against German and Central Powers.

Events

  • April 22 – The State-sponsored tuberculosis sanatorium, Piedmont Sanatorium, opened in Burkeville (southeast of Farmville) for Negro consumptives.[1]
  • September 2 – City Council: First meeting of the two branches of the city government held this evening. The council organized by the election of the officers; Councilman Dr. W. M. Forrest was elected President of the Common Council. [2] This new form of city government consisted of an Upper House (four Alderman - one elected from each of the four wards), Lower House (eight Councilmen - two elected from each of the four wards) and a citywide elected Mayor.
  • October 3 – This afternoon, at the meeting of the Board of Health of the city, in view of the spread of influenza, it was decided to stop all large public gatherings until the disease was abated.[3]
  • October 3 – The Daily Progress reported on this Thursday that Mayor E. G. Haden ordered "all schools, public and private, churches, theaters, and all other places where there were public congregations closed until Monday, October 14th, 1918." [4]. This order was extended week after week, along with additional closures and restrictions, until November 4.
  • October 8 – The Daily Progress reported that the mayor also ordered pool halls closed in response to the influenza.
  • October 10 – This afternoon, at a meeting of the Board of Health, it was decided to continue the closing orders, previously given on October 3, relative to the spread of Influenza, until October 21st. The Mayor, E. G. Haden, “ordered the Chief of Police to see that these orders were observed and that no congregation of people be allowed in the city.”[5]

Deaths

  • September 13 – Tuberculosis: “Clyde Bessie Handsbury, the 22-year-old daughter of Joseph Handsbury…One week ago another daughter of the household, Sadie Edna, aged 16, died of the same cause, tuberculosis. The funeral will be held from the First Baptist Church (colored)...” [8]
On this day, the U.S. Army launched one of the largest offensives in American Military history, the Meuse-Argonne Campaign of the First World War. More than one point two million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces engaged in this critical battle that lasted until Armstice Day. Over twenty six thousand Americans lost their lives, and nearly one hundred thousand were wounded. Of the Americans who fell during the campaign fourteen thousand two hundred forty six were laid to rest at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in eastern France.[10] Second Lieutenant George McIntire Baker is among the military dead.
  • November 11 – End of WWI - Armistice of 11 November 1918 – Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies. It becomes official on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Influenza cases

Deadly disease were common and front page headings of war news, bond drives and daily report of war casualties in The Daily Progress pushed most flu stories into small articles. The flu predominantly killed people between the ages of 20 to 40, i.e., those born between 1878 and 1898.

  • September 30 – Bruce Hackett (1877-1918), aged 41, a carpenter who lived near Scottsville, was the first person in Albemarle County to die of Spanish influenza.
  • October 9Opal Mae Bragg, aged 24, died at her father’s home on Douglas Avenue, after a 12-day illness of Spanish influenza. [11]
  • October 10 – Mr. John F. Wise (age 40) of Douglas Avenue was quite sick with influenza.[12]
  • October 10 – Rudy Violet Maddex, aged 14, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. F. Maddex, of Hickory Hill, died this morning at one o’clock of pneumonia, after a brief illness.[13]

Context notes

Deadly disease were common prior to the beginning of the 20th Century, infectious diseases accounted for high morbidity and mortality worldwide. The average life expectancy at birth was 47 years (46 and 48 years for men and women respectively) even in the industrialized world. Infectious diseases such as smallpox, cholera, diphtheria, pneumonia, typhoid fever, plaque, tuberculosis, typhus, syphilis, etc. were rampant. The discovery of penicillin in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) marked the beginning of the antibiotic revolution. [14]

Images

References

  1. Web. The Great White Plague: The Culture of Death and the Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Richard Sucre, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, retrieved June 1, 2019.
  2. Web. Dr. W. M. Forrest President of Council, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, Sept 3, 1918, retrieved June 8, 2019.
  3. Web. Public Gatherings are Discontinued, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 3, 1918, retrieved March 3, 2020.
  4. Web. Public Gatherings are Discontinued, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 3, 1918, retrieved March 3, 2020.
  5. Web. CLOSE UP ANOTHER WEEK, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 10, 1918, retrieved March 13, 2020.
  6. Web. COUNCIL MEETS TONIGHT, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 10, 1918, retrieved March 13, 2020.
  7. Web. VOTES TO RAISE PRICE OF GAS, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 11, 1918, retrieved March 13, 2020.
  8. Web. 2 DIE IN ONE WEEK FROM TUBERCULOSIS, Daily Progress, Sept 13, 1918, retrieved June 1, 2019.
  9. https://archive.org/details/historyofseventy0079th/page/146
  10. https://www.abmc.gov/multimedia/videos/day-history-september-26-1918-meuse-argonne-campaign-begins This Day in History, September 26, 1918: The Meuse-Argonne Campaign Begins American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC)
  11. Web. [1], Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 10, 1918, retrieved March 13, 2020.
  12. Web. [2], Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 10, 1918, retrieved March 13, 2020.
  13. Web. Young Girl Dies, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 10, 1918, retrieved March 13, 2020.
  14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5354621/