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Outbreak in Washington, D.C.:: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease
The National was once the grandest hotel in the capital. In 1857, it twice hosted President-elect James Buchanan and his advisors, and on both occasions, most of the party was quickly stricken by an acute illness. Over the course of several months, hundreds fell ill, and over thirty died from what became known as the National Hotel disease. Buchanan barely recovered enough to give his inauguration speech. Rumors ran rampant across the city and the nation. Some claimed that the illness was born of a sewage effluvia," while others darkly speculated about an assassination attempt by either abolitionists or southern slaveowners intent on war. Author Kerry Walters investigates the mysteries of the National Hotel disease."
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Outbreak in Washington, D.C.:: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease
The National was once the grandest hotel in the capital. In 1857, it twice hosted President-elect James Buchanan and his advisors, and on both occasions, most of the party was quickly stricken by an acute illness. Over the course of several months, hundreds fell ill, and over thirty died from what became known as the National Hotel disease. Buchanan barely recovered enough to give his inauguration speech. Rumors ran rampant across the city and the nation. Some claimed that the illness was born of a sewage effluvia," while others darkly speculated about an assassination attempt by either abolitionists or southern slaveowners intent on war. Author Kerry Walters investigates the mysteries of the National Hotel disease."
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Outbreak in Washington, D.C.:: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease

Outbreak in Washington, D.C.:: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease

by Kerry Walters
Outbreak in Washington, D.C.:: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease
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Outbreak in Washington, D.C.:: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease

Outbreak in Washington, D.C.:: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease

by Kerry Walters

Overview

The National was once the grandest hotel in the capital. In 1857, it twice hosted President-elect James Buchanan and his advisors, and on both occasions, most of the party was quickly stricken by an acute illness. Over the course of several months, hundreds fell ill, and over thirty died from what became known as the National Hotel disease. Buchanan barely recovered enough to give his inauguration speech. Rumors ran rampant across the city and the nation. Some claimed that the illness was born of a sewage effluvia," while others darkly speculated about an assassination attempt by either abolitionists or southern slaveowners intent on war. Author Kerry Walters investigates the mysteries of the National Hotel disease."

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781626196384
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date: 10/21/2014
Series: Disaster
Pages: 128
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

About The Author
Kerry Walters received his PhD from the University of Cincinnati. He has been a professor at Gettysburg College for over twenty-five years and was named the William Bittinger Professor of Philosophy. Walters is the author of thirty-five books on philosophy and theology, and he has published several books on the Civil War. His first book with The History Press was Explosion on the Potomac: The 1844 Calamity Aboard the USS Princeton."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Introduction: Panic in Washington 9

I An Acrimonious Year 15

Slavery and Westward Expansion 15

The Crisis Worsens 18

The 1856 Campaign 20

II A City of Contrasts 25

City of Magnificent Intentions 27

City of Violence 32

City of Filth 37

The National Hotel 41

III A Stricken President-Elect 47

"Why, I Have Been Poisoned!" 53

Return to the National Hotel 56

Buchanan's Health 57

Off His Game 60

A Bad Start 64

IV A National Panic 65

The Poison Hypothesis 68

The Miasma Hypothesis 75

The Final Verdict 78

V The Allure of Conspiracy 81

The Paranoid Style 82

The Slave Power Conspiracy 83

The Abolitionist Conspiracy 90

The Jesuit Conspiracy 94

A Last Word 96

Appendix: Period Coverage of the National Hotel Disease 99

Notes 115

Bibliography 119

Index 123

About the Author 127

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