When the 1832–33 cholera epidemic swept across the nation, little was known about the disease except that one might feel fine in the morning and sometimes die before night once symptoms of cholera appeared. So it’s easy to understand how the report of a case of cholera could incite panic in a town. Before the late 1850s, when the source of the disease was first suspected to be unsanitary drinking water, people thought “bad air,” perhaps produced by rotting fruits and vegetables, caused cholera. Millions died all around the world in the 1827–35 pandemic, including 250,000 Americans.
In 1833, Kentucky was hit hard by the epidemic, with many victims all across the state. In Springfield, Kentucky, one-tenth of the population died of cholera that summer. The first day one person died, but by the third day, ten died. People fled the town, including the owner of the local hotel. He gave the hotel’s keys to his slave, Louis, and told him to continue running the business. Louis did more than that. Unaffected by the cholera, he, along with a cook, Matilda Sims, took care of the cholera victims still in town. During this time of crisis, Louis passed up what might have been a good opportunity to escape to the north and find freedom. Instead he stayed in Springfield and did what he could for those affected by the disease. Many died, and Louis dug fifty-five graves to bury the victims.
Twelve years later, when the hotel owner died, the town of Springfield purchased Louis’s freedom and set him up in business with a blacksmith shop in gratitude for his service to the town. When another cholera epidemic hit in 1849, Louis once more cared for those stricken by the disease and buried those who died. A memorial monument in the Springfield cemetery honors Louis’s memory.
When I came across the story of Louis and the town that bought his freedom, I decided to write a story about how that might have happened. I took the nugget of truth in the historical facts of what Louis did and invented characters and events to surround it. I sincerely hope my story does justice to this man who served others so selflessly.