Notes from the Plague – Chalmette National Cemetery

halmette National Cemetery,

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, Louisiana (1976)

In 1976, I had lived in New Orleans less than a year. It was also a time when I started to shoot and develop black and white film. As you can see, my interest in cemeteries goes back a long way. On this day, I went to the preserved grounds where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1815. The property includes the Chalmette National Cemetery. Created at the end of the Civil War, it is the last resting place for 12,000 Union soldiers.

In the years since, veterans from the Spanish-American War through Viet Nam were interred there. At the time of my visit, I did not know what the “U.S.C.T.” inscription on the grave markers stood for. Seems like the victorious Union wanted to drive home a point by burying their African-American dead here on hallowed Southern ground. ‘U.S.C.T.’ stands for ‘United States Colored Troops.’

Grave of Sarah Fowler

Chalmette National Cemetery, Louisiana (1976)

SARAH J.

WIFE OF 

HENRY M. FOWLER SUP’T

CHALMETTE NATIONAL CEMETERY

DIED OCT. 8, 1878

A VICTIM OF THE EPIDEMIC

I recall this cemetery because you will see graves that cite the epidemics of that time. Fast forward to now and we are again reminded that we are not immune… epidemics happen…the microbes will always be there. The microbes roll out new models better than Toyota. As long as we’re around, microbes will evolve so they can continue to exploit us. This age of globalization and international travel just makes it easier.

The New York Times reported on April 5, 2020 that 430,000 people flew to the United States on direct flights just from China since the Coronavirus outbreak was first reported at the beginning of the year. Just from China.

When I taught parasitology in graduate school three years before these pictures were taken, I reminded students that the world was shrinking. I emphasized (especially to those self-important pre-med undergraduates) that they had better be able to recognize mysterious, tropical parasites because they were quite likely to see them in the future. I understand that we are dealing with a virus now, not a parasite, but in this age of easy, constant global travel, exposure to exotic diseases is a given.

Grave of Alexander Renshaw

Chalmette National Cemetery, Louisiana (1976)

TO MY SON

ALEXANDER D. RENSHAW

2nd. Asst. Engineer U.S

Revenue Steamer Wilderness

Died of Yellow Fever

Sept. 1. 1867

In the 20 years

of his age.

Up to the 20th century, yellow fever was a common malady in the South. There would be outbreaks that killed thousands at a time. We were ignorant of the biology then and it took a long time before we knew that it was caused by a microbe transmitted by mosquitos.

Chalmette National Cemetery,

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, Louisiana (1976)

Ignorance appears to be a persistent theme in the history of public health, but it’s not a fault and is true for all of science…all of knowledge. We don’t know what we don’t know until we know it.

Ignoring what we DO know can be a problem. Forgetting what we know can be a problem. Arrogantly deciding that we know better regardless of the facts is more than a problem.

I would hope you agree that in times of pandemic and a collapsed economy, we need public support systems with competent leadership. We should expect the central authorities to have the resources, procedures and personnel to manage a disaster. When the disaster is a storm, we expect to be rescued and sheltered until the crisis is over. When the disaster is a plague, I would hope we could minimize death and keep necessary services running. At the time of this writing, I see little indication that our central government is up to the task.