Staten Island Quarantine War
Though there were no deaths as a direct result of the attacks, the conflict serves as an important historical case study of the use of quarantines as a first response.
In reaction, the New York City Common Council passed a quarantine law in 1799 authored by Richard Bayley, the port's first health officer.
[4] The Quarantine was on a large site in the former town of Castleton, overlooking Upper New York Bay near the border of today's St. George and Tompkinsville.
Land owners opposed the acquisition of the site by the city but also complained about the effects of the Quarantine on property values.
[7] In 1857 New York City officials attempted to defuse local anger by moving the facility to a more remote location on Staten Island, Seguine Point.
[1][8] One participant in that attack wrote an anonymous letter to The New York Times, signed as "An Oysterman", warning of further action if construction resumed: "Yes, I may say that every urchin who can rub a match will aid in producing a general conflagration of materials that shall be sent there for the purpose of erecting an institution which will endanger their lives and destroy their homes.
"[9] Another writer to The New York Times declared that the populace would resist the establishment of a quarantine hospital at Seguine Point even if it cost "thousands of lives".
When New York City officials sought an injunction against the Castleton Board of Health, locals responded by threatening to burn down the Quarantine.
At dark, two large groups assaulted the Quarantine: one broke down the gate, the other scaled the wall on the opposite side of the compound.
[15] The New York Times reported that the conflagration illuminated the bay and the entire east side of Staten Island.
[1] New York City officials were slow to react both because of the health risk posed by sending police officers into a quarantine zone and the likelihood of violence.
The handbill read: A meeting of the Citizens of Richmond County, will be held at Nautilus Hall, Tompkinsville, this evening, September 2 at 7 1-2 o'clock [sic], for the purpose of making arrangements to celebrate the burning of the shanties and hospitals at the Quarantine ground last evening, and to transact such business as may come before the meeting.
"[19] The historian of the conflict Kathryn Stephenson notes that the judge owned property within a mile of the Quarantine and had asked the state legislature in 1849 to remove it from Staten Island.
[1] Medical ethicists and public health physicians note that quarantines which deprive individuals of their liberty are rarely justified or effective.
