Smallpox Role in The Revolutionary War

In the early portion of the year 2020, the U.S. (and the world) has been struck with the worst case of a disease in a long time, in the form of the coronavirus. Through our struggles with this new virus, we can hope to better understand the problems our country faced in the eighteenth century during the smallpox epidemic. Smallpox also greatly affected the many different people that were in the U.S. at the time, and the people started the fire that was smallpox and allowed it to spread. As Elizabeth Fenn says in Pox Americana, “The virus needed chaos, connections, and a steady supply of susceptible victims. The war. . . offered all of these in abundance” (page 107). Smallpox played a major role in the Revolutionary war early on, and led to several decisions that were literally a matter of life and death for the people affected.

The first thing to discuss when it comes to the epidemic of Smallpox in the new world is the first ever inoculation campaign in the history of the young U.S., which was also state sponsored and widely enacted. Early on in the war, a lot of the defeats that were handed to the continental army by the British could be attributed to the fact that Smallpox was weakening the soldiers of the Continental army. Since most of the British had already become immune to smallpox, at the time, Washington saw this as something which was bringing him to a heavy disadvantage. It was due to this that Washington put the inoculation campaign into effect. Inoculation, in essence, is a kind of precursor to present day vaccinations, but with it being much less effective. Inoculation involved exposing whoever was involved to a mild strain of, in this case, smallpox which most would survive, and then they would be immune to the virus. While Fenn does note that smallpox was not the only cause of defeats or victories during the Revolutionary War, it was without a doubt one of the vital points that shaped both the course of the war, and also the country as a whole. The reason inoculation was considered such a controversial method of approaching the disease, was because of how it would affect the soldiers. While it would lower the death toll tremendously, it was simultaneously putting soldiers of the Continental Army out of commission for a couple weeks when they were exposed, thinning out an already fairly thin army in the face of a great foe. If the British attacked while inoculation was going on, it would mean a British victory. Clearly, the gamble that was taken by Washington through choosing to go the route of inoculation was the correct one, seeing that the Continental Army suffered far fewer casualties than what would have occurred if the smallpox virus was just allowed to run its course through the country. Overall, by choosing to go with the route of inoculation, which was a risk, Washington allowed the Continental Army to swing the tides of the Revolutionary War. While it may not have been the sole cause of the early struggles of the Americans, it certainly can not be denied that inoculation was a huge help. Through the lens of the present day, inoculation is no longer a viable way to prevent the spreading of a virus or the deaths due to a virus. The coronavirus, for example, is a deadly disease in a lot of cases, and exposing people to a form of the disease, even if it is a milder strain is putting people in unnecessary danger. I believe the current isolation and quarantine ideas are the best possible solutions for our country until a vaccine can be produced.

After inoculation, smallpox hit what could be described as its next phase in America. This was the movement of the disease to the southern portion of what would become the states. While Washington’s army had, for the most part, dealt with the disease to the best of their ability, the civilians in the south were not prepared for the attack that was smallpox. The word attack is used here on purpose, as the spreading of the disease was exactly that, a British attack on the people they were fighting against. During the early stages of the Revolutionary War many slaves who had escaped their oppression on plantations and farms in the south fled into British custody, along with a good amount of fleeing Native Americans attempting to avoid the war happening on what was their country years prior. The British would in turn use these people, who were a form of refugees, as a weapon against the North American continent. The British would abandon these people, along with some of their allies around the area, in an attempt to spread the devastating smallpox disease through their revolutionary enemy. The effect of this was multiplied by the allies the British had, as they both lost a war by choosing the incorrect side, and also had their population ravished by a deadly disease. This no doubt was a major factor in the shaping of history, as it affected both the history of Native Americans and African Americans. These two groups being among some of the most discriminated and oppressed against in the entire world, and their use by the British as almost a biological weapon continued what was a very long line of abuses by the white people of the world. Comparing the coronavirus to smallpox in this sense is more difficult but some parallels can be drawn. When it comes to the racial divide and coronavirus, it occurs when you look at who is still going out everyday due to being deemed an essential worker that can not telework and must leave their home in order to maintain a flow of income. African Americans and the Hispanic/Latino population are far more likely to be involved in jobs that can not be done by teleworking. Due to this, these populations are much more likely to contract coronavirus during their day to day lives as they are forced to brave the storm that is potential disease and go to a job that is potentially putting them in tremendous danger. Even though this can be seen as not on the same level as the intentional acts committed by the British, it can not be denied that both have had extremely harsh repercussions for minority communities.

Overall, looking through the modern day lens, it is plainly apparent that parallels can be drawn between the two diseases. Primarily being how much it is hurting groups like African Americans and Hispanic citizens. There are some differences, but the effects on minority groups is a strong parallel. Some differences can be seen however, in the ways the country combatted smallpox vs the coronavirus. Lastly, the outbreak of smallpox affected the course of history tremendously, and forced extremely difficult decisions for Washington, while causing some horrible acts to be committed at the same time.