A yellow fever outbreak reached Gallipolis from New Orleans on August 18, 1878, when the Steamer John Porter arrived, and it caused 66 deaths. The broken rocker shaft of the steamer that brought the disease was later presented by Charles A. Hill, Engine Builder, and donated by John C. Rue. The dead named were Mrs. Margaret Beard, Eliza Beck and Infant, Mrs. Joseph J. Blazer, Richard Blazer, Wellington Blazer, Claudius J. Brothers, Mrs. Claudius J. Brothers, Mrs. Elizabeth Brothers, James Brown, Margaret Brown, William Buck, Clayton Coffman, George D. Curry, Samuel B. Curry, Caroline Davis, Charles Dehlman, Mrs. Charles Forth, Simon Gibson, Thomas Gibson, Mrs. Capt. Alex W. Halliday, William J. Holcomb, Max Horger, Mrs. Max Horger, William Hull, Sarah Kerns, Joseph Martin, Mrs. Samuel H. Morton, James T. Myers, Hugh Plymale, Sr., Mrs. Claudius Roberts, Shepard Sheldon, John W. Skinner, Alice Walker, Grant Walker, Ising Walker, and William Walker.