10/21/2026
Smallpox Epidemic during the Revolution
This disease has been evident in world society since around 10,000 BCE in northeastern Africa.
Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors (conquering explorers or soldiers) inadvertantly brought small pox to the New World (Central, South America), which greatly decimated indigenous tribes in those regions.
During the French & Indian War (1754-1763), British forces used smallpox as a biological weapon that weakened French-allied indigenous tribes in North America.
Smallpox was the scourge of the colonial era, particular amongst the Continental Army during the Revolution. Because of this highly contagious infection, Gen. Washington mandated inoculation for all Continental soldiers in 1777.
[Grossness Alert!]
The incubation period was about 2 weeks, which meant that someone changing bed linen or sweeping floors may contract the infection.
The only option that they had during the Revolution, aside from letting men die, was to try an inoculation in which a doctor removed pus from an active pustule of an infected pereson and insert it into the skin (through scratches) of the individuals being inoculated.
Even though the inoculated individuals were infected, tthey usually only experienced mild symptoms that were not life-threatening. As a result, if the inoculated person survived, they would be immune to smallpox in the future.
Statistics. 1775-1782
- North American smallpox caused about 130,000 deaths across the continent.
- Smallpox already existed in Boston prior to Washington taking command of the Continental Army during the summer of 1775.
- Estimated 90% of the Continental Army's 70,000 fatalities during the war were due to infectious diseases, with smallpox being the most devastating.
- Smallpox was airborne, but also spread through bodily fluids, or even by touching contaminated clothing. Once infected, victims experienced fever, headaches, body pains and a severe rash.
- An estimated 30% of American colonies afflicted died and survivors were often left with characteristic scarring.
- In North America, the disease was "endemic", which means that many Americans had little to no exposure to the disease.
- Gen. Washington was afflicted in 1751 when he was 19 years old. He contracted it while outside of the mainland on a visit to Barbados with his brother, Lawrence. He was sick for nearly a month. It left slight scarring, but also a lifelong immunity.
- CT Gov. Jonathan Trumbull wrote to Washington on 4 July 1776 that, "Fear of the Infection operates strongly to prevent Soldiers from engaging in the Services, and the Battalionis ordered to be raised in this Colony fill up slowly." (History of Vaccines)
- Gen. Philip Schuyler reported similar recruitment issues in NY. He wrote that many potential recruits were "extremely apprehenisve of being infected with small pox and not without Reason as it proves fatal to many of them." (History of Vaccines)
- Gen. Dr. Joseph Warren (for whom our county is named) was an American physician and surgeon who supported the smallpox inoculation campaigns in March 1770. ("Between the smallpox epidemic")
On 5 February 1776, Gen. Washinton issued an order in a letter to John Hancock (Pres. of the 2nd Continental Congress) mandating smallpox inoculations for all troops.
On 6 February 1776, Gen. Washington wrote to Dr. William Shippen, Jr. (son of the Oxford Company's owner, Dr William Shippen, Sr.), who was the Continental Army's Medical Director, and ordered all Philadelphia recruits to be inoculated. He was direct and very clear, "Necessity not only authorizes but seems to require the measure, for should the disorder infect the Army... we should have more to dread from it than from the Sword of the Enemy.”
By the end of 1777, about 40,000 soldiers were inoculated against smallpox. In March 1778, while encamped at Valley Forge (PA) during the British occupation of Philadelphia, Washington modified his orders to continue the inoculation program at the camp. (History of Vaccines)
Before this program, about 90% of the deaths of American soldiers and personnel was due to disease, primarily smallpox.
Resources:
"Against All Odds: George Washington, Smallpox, and the American Revolution." St. Luke's Museum. https://stlukesmuseum.org/edu-blog/against-all-odds-george-washington-smallpox-and-the-american-revolution/.
"Between the smallpox epidemic and the war of independence: Joseph Warren (1741-1775) as physician and politician." Heart, Vessels, and Transplantation. Vol. 9, No. 3 (2025), Issue 3. 16 August 2025. https://www.hvt-journal.com/articles/art583.
Higgins, Kathleen. "Lessons from a Revolutionary Epidemic." The American Revolution Institute. 1 Apr 2020. https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/lessons-from-a-revolutionary-epidemic/.
Najera, Rene F. "Washington's War Against Smallpox: The Revolutionary Inoculation Campaign." History of Vacinnes. 7 April 2025. https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/washingtons-war-against-smallpox-revolutionary-inoculation-campaign/.
"Smallpox, Inoculation, and the Revolutionary War" Boston National Historical Park. NPS. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/smallpox-inoculation-revolutionary-war.htm.
"Washington Inoculates an Army: The Continental Army Battles an Invisible Foe." American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/washington-inoculates-army.
