Reuben C. Manuel

Sergeant Reuben Manuel died as a result of contracting yellow fever during the Lower Mississippi Valley Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878.

The Memphis Police Department became understaffed after the resignations of more than 20 officers who fled the city with their families for safety. Only 31 officers remained on duty and at their assigned posts during the epidemic, including the Chief of Police. All 31 officers became sick, and 10 officers died from complications of yellow fever while carrying out their official police duties and caring for their families, who also became ill due to the epidemic.

Sergeant Manuel was a Confederate States Army Civil War veteran and was a prisoner of war. He served with the Memphis Police Department for eight years.

He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee.

Yellow fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever that does not spread from person to person through coughing, sneezing, or touching; it is transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes that breed in densely populated warm or humid areas. However, in 1878, people did not understand how the disease was transmitted or how to prevent it.

The federal government convened a commission to investigate the outbreak and established the National Board of Health in 1879.

The names of every officer who died in the line of duty from Yellow Fever will likely never be known, but ODMP researchers continue to uncover new cases as part of our mission to never forget the fallen.

View all officers who died during the 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic.