The Great Smallpox Epidemic
...ure. Scientists were, however, aware that the disease was highly contagious and that only through careful quarantine could one be relatively safe from contracting the virus. North America’s isolation and the long periods between outbreaks made it susceptible to smallpox. But because the disease thrived in highly populated places, many rural areas of the continent were less affected than the highly populated cities. Nobody was more vulnerable to the destruction that smallpox brings than the Native Americans. They had never before been introduced to the virus and it quickly devastated many tribes. Their lack of medical knowledge along with their close living conditions only further increased the speed and strength at which the disease struck. Smallpox hits the Native American tribes so hard that many are completely destroyed. This epidemic would forever change the balance of powers between the various tribes and the white settlers. The threats of being purposely infected with the disease became a tool used by the white people to further suppress the Native Americans. The vulnerability of the colonial army to smallpox was initially a huge advantage for the British during the War for Independence. Most British soldiers were already immune to the disease from having survived the smallpox epidemic in Europe and others from inoculation. Fenn writes that the British were well aware of this advantage and capitalized on it with many attempts to infect colonists in what could be considered as the world’s first use of biological warfare. She points out that the colonial lives taken by the epidemic often outnumbered those who were killed by the enemy. It was this epidemic that Fenn states was the major contributing factor to the British victories in Canada. General George Washington was very concerned about the rapidly rising number of soldiers he was losing to this outbreak. Initially, he had been opposed to inoculation, opting to quarantine his army and recruits. However, Fenn tells us that he later reluctantly decides upon inoculation. He knew that this would bring along several problems. The fact that if he hoped for any success at all he would have to inoculation the entire army at one time and this would leave his army vulnerable to attack for several weeks. This decision by Washington leads to the first government funded mass immunization in America and was, according to Fenn, the move that ultimately saved the revolution. Following the successes Washington had with inoculation, the colonial army began to head in a positive direction and by the time of the southern battles, smal...