As a pandemic sweeps across the world, with no currently known vaccine, it causes many to look back to history, for other times when viruses and disease have brought the world to it's knees. Perhaps the most famous is the bubonic plague which devastated the world in the 14th century. Another pandemic that is often well known is the Spanish Flu of the early 20th century. Yet, for most people, myself included, when I learned my American History in school, very little, if anything was ever mentioned about a smallpox epidemic that happened in the 1700s.
Yet, this often overlooked health crisis in the 18th century, came alarmingly close to forever altering the course of history as we know it. Had it not been for a chance overseas trip by a young George Washington, the disease known as smallpox could have wiped out the ragtag Continental Army, and snuffed out forever the dreams of independence for 13 rebel colonies.
Although smallpox was fairly common in Europe and an endemic in the Caribbean, prior to the American Revolution, very few Americans had ever come in contact with disease. Smallpox usually arrived with the English arriving from Europe or from recently arrived slaves. Unlike Europe, most American's lived relatively isolated lives on farms and plantations. In fact, outside of bustling coastal towns, it was relatively difficult to get the disease, which meant that most American's had no immunity to it. In fact, prior to 1747, there is no record of any kind of epidemic related to smallpox in the American colonies.
However, one soon to be very important character on the world stage, would come into contact with this invisible killer on a chance trip to Barbados in 1751. George Washington only left the mainland of America once in his lifetime, and it was to accompany his brother Lawrence to Barbados. Due to illness, Lawrence had been advised to spend winters in the tropics, but he and his wife were not willing to risk losing their only surviving child to a long sea voyage, so Lawrence asked his half brother George to attend him instead of his wife. Shortly after their arrival in Barbados, they were invited to a dinner at the house of Lawrence's uncle in law. George was hesitant to go as this uncle's wife was stricken with smallpox, something that George had managed to avoid up until this point. His hesitation would prove justified, when 2 weeks after the dinner, George Washington came down with smallpox.
According to his diary, George Washington was "strongly attacked by smallpox". Small pox was a viral infection that was spread by contact, and once in contact with it, it was almost certain that a person would get it. Symptoms of smallpox are high fever, severe headaches, vomiting, pain in the loins and back, and the eruptions that give the disease it's name. However, if a person is able to survive smallpox, they gained immunity for life. This immunity would prove crucial to Washington in the future. Although he was attacked strongly, Washington recovered, and was left with minimal scarring. Although his brother's health did not improve and Lawrence decided to continue his trip to Bermuda, Washington sailed back to America at the end of December.
Fast forward approximately 20 years, and George Washington is commander of the Continental Army. Red coat armies full of English soldiers, and German mercenary soldiers have brought with them the dreaded small pox. Add to that many American soldiers with no smallpox immunity now crowded into close quarters of army camps, and it comes as no surprise that smallpox quickly started wreaking havoc in the ranks of the Continental Army.
In 1775, Washington writes Congress that he is paying attention to any signs of smallpox in his army, and taking necessary precautions such as quarantining anyone showing symptoms in a special hospital.
However, in cities occupied by British forces, smallpox ran rampant and there were rumors that the British were intentionally sending diseased people out of Boston to try and get the disease to spread through Washington's army. This led Washington to forbade any refugees from Boston from coming near his army, in hopes of preventing the spreading of the disease. However, the disease still did damage to his army. When the British left Boston in 1776, Washington first sent in a force of 1,000 American soldiers who had small pox immunity to occupy the city. In fact, smallpox is blamed for the retreat of an American force sent to take Quebec, because the disease had so decimated their numbers.
Although Washington believed in inoculation, and knew that once a person had smallpox they had immunity, in 1776 he forbade his army being undergoing inoculation, threatening punishment for anyone who disobeyed. The spring and summer campaigns were about to begin and he could not afford to lose large numbers of his fighting force for at least a month while they fought off the disease.
Eventually, Washington implemented a process of inoculating new recruits. Inoculation introduces a weak strain of a virus to a person, with the thought they will gain the immunity but the virus will be too weak to kill them. With this process, Washington gave each new recruit smallpox, along with ammunition and a uniform. This method of prevention quickly began to give a larger majority of his army immunity to the invisible enemy, and reduced the epidemic type outbreaks that had been incurring before.
Although experiencing smallpox in Barbados had undoubtedly been a painful experience for a young Washington, it may have saved his life at a crucial time in history. It is often thought that if Washington had not contracted smallpox in Barbados, he most likely would have died when it swept through his army. Also, having experienced and recovered from the disease, may have given Washington enough familiarity with the disease to know that survival, although painful, was likely if inoculation occurred. The way he implemented the inoculation also shows his understanding of the disease and the best way to try and control it's introduction into his army to try and reduce the effect it had on the army's ability to fight.
So although the British army is the celebrated foe of George Washington and the Continental Army, they also fought an invisible enemy that often proved to be more fatal than the physical army presented by the British. If not for his prior experience, and willingness to inoculate, Washington may have lost his army, and America's independence not to the British, but to smallpox.
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