Louis and Miles Jean served with distinction in the Army Corps of Engineers. Upon their honorable discharges, they returned home to Lafayette, Louisiana, and set up a contracting and plumbing business which quickly became a success. The brothers were millionaires, though they refused to let the money go to their heads. They purchased the houses on either side of their childhood home next door to their elderly mother and used the profits from their business to improve their locality. Their ties to serving military officers allowed them to get information ‘on the grapevine’, so they had insight others lacked into the crisis. All information about the extent of the plague had been classified by the government in order to avert panic. As respected community leaders, they were able to convince their neighbors of the true scale of the threat and the actions required to protect their city. The brothers supervised an effort to build defensive fortifications surrounding Lafayette, sealing the infected out. Wells were dug, gardens were planted and supplies were purchased. The city was turned into a fortress, its citizens safe and well-fed within its walls.