Paralyzed Streets: The Forgotten Horse Flu That Brought America to a Standstill and Burned Boston

In the autumn of 1872, the United States economy ground to a sudden, terrifying halt. The cause was not a stock market crash or a human pandemic, but a highly contagious strain of equine influenza. Within weeks, millions of horses were paralyzed by sickness, silencing the bustling streets of major American cities.

Before the combustion engine, horses were the vital gears of urban infrastructure. The Great Epizootic exposed the fragility of a society completely dependent on animal labor. Stre...