A Killer Without Mercy: The "Spanish Flu" Pandemic on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

In 1918, the world had been at war for almost 4 years, but it was not until April of 1917 that the United States entered the war. Mobilization took time and the training of troops began. In March of 1918, in an Army training camp, reports of the Flu began to emerge. It spread throughout the Army camps rapidly. As the soldiers were shipped out to Europe, they carried the virus with them and soon it engulfed Europe. The first phase of the Flu diminished in the Summer.
Troops began returning in the Fall and the first report of the Flu in this area was from Camp Lee near Petersburg in September. This more deadly version of the Flu moved into the civilian population easily and spread to the Eastern Shore by the end of September.

The Flu had eventually killed 675,000 Americans when it finally died out in the Spring of 1919. Over 200 of those people lived here, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in Accomack and Northampton Counties. This is the story of those who perished.