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Fever 1793 is a true story based on the 1793 yellow fever epidemic that happened in the City of Philadelphia. Back then the city had a population of about 50,000 people, 20,000 of them had fled the city to get away from the disease, and the fever took about 5,000 people’s Lives and making it one of the deadliest outbreaks in the early U.S. history.

The story is told by a young girl of the name Matilda (mattie) Cook, her family owns Cooks Coffeehouse in Philadelphia. She works with her mother and her grandfather, her friend Polly and a woman by the name of Eliza.

One morning Mattie showed up for work with her mother they waited for Polly, but she never showed up. Mattie and Eliza started to get worried because she usually never misses work, she may be late sometimes, but she never misses her shift. Matties mother Lucille comes into the room and says that she has to go to the market and is going to see if she can find Polly.

A few hours pass when Matties mother comes back to the coffeehouse and she looks upset like she just got some terrible news. She looks at Mattie and tells her that her friend Polly has died from an illness, but her parents Are not sure how she even got so sick she was healthy as a horse just a few days ago. A doctor who was sitting in the corner drinking his coffee claims that there is a fever going around that isn’t safe, it’s the same fever as the one that happened 30 years ago, he claimed.

For weeks Matties mother wouldn’t let her leave the coffeehouse or even go outside in general she didn’t want to risk her daughter getting sick from the fever. every time they heard the bell ring in Philadelphia another person has died and for each ring count was how old the person was. Mattie counted the rings 21 she said they were only 21and they are dead.

The Story itself is not only sad and heartbreaking, but it gives an interesting perspective on what life was like all those years ago. especially with Just wondering on how None of the schools these days talk about such an event like this, they have other major historical events in their learning plans but why not this? Now if you Like history as much as I do, I would recommend giving this story a chance and maybe even doing a little research on the epidemic as well because I did (especially with living so close to Philly) and you definitely will learn something new.