Unsung History19 Dec 2022

Smallpox Inoculation & the American Revolution

In 1775, a smallpox outbreak struck the Continental Northern Army. With many of the soldiers too sick to fight, their attempted capture of Quebec on December 31, 1775, was a devastating failure, the first major defeat of the Revolutionary War for the Americans, and cost General Richard Montgomery his life. Eventually, George Washington, the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, realized that the only way to avoid repeated outbreaks was to order mass inoculation of the amy, a controversial and risky decision that proved successful.

Joining me to help us learn more about smallpox inoculation during the American Revolution is Dr. Andrew M. Wehrman, Associate professor of history at Central Michigan University, and author of The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775,” a painting by John Trumbull from 1786; photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery; public domain.

Additional Sources:

“How an Enslaved African Man in Boston Helped Save Generations from Smallpox,” by Erin Blakemore, History.com, February 1, 2019.
“The origins of inoculation,” by Arthur Boylston, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2012), 105(7), 309–313.
“On This Day in 1721, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston Inoculates his Son Against Smallpox,” Boston.gov, June 26, 2017.
“Smallpox, Inoculation, and the Revolutionary War,” Boston National Historical Park, National Park Service.
“Letter from John Adams to Abigail Smith, 13 April 1764 [electronic edition],” Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society.
“How a public health crisis nearly derailed the American Revolution,” by Andrew Lawler, National Geographic, April 16, 2020.
“Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination.” by Stefan Riedel, Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center) 2005, 18(1), 21–25.
“History of the Smallpox Vaccine,” The World Health Organization.

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