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George Washington and the First Mass Military Inoculation
Library of Congress - Science Reference Services ^ | February 12, 2009 | Amy Lynn Filsinger & Raymond Dwek

Posted on 03/15/2020 11:56:52 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom

George Washington's military genius is undisputed. Yet American independence must be partially attributed to a strategy for which history has given the infamous general little credit: his controversial medical actions. Traditionally, the Battle of Saratoga is credited with tipping the revolutionary scales. Yet the health of the Continental regulars involved in battle was a product of the ambitious initiative Washington began earlier that year at Morristown, close on the heels of the victorious Battle of Princeton. Among the Continental regulars in the American Revolution, 90 percent of deaths were caused by disease, and Variola the small pox virus was the most vicious of them all.

On January 6, 1777, George Washington wrote to Dr. William Shippen Jr., ordering him to inoculate all of the forces that came through Philadelphia. He explained that: "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." The urgency was real. Troops were scarce and encampments had turned into nomadic hospitals of festering disease, deterring further recruitment. Both Benedict Arnold and Benjamin Franklin, after surveying the havoc wreaked by Variola (i.e., smallpox) in the Canadian campaign, expressed fears that the virus would be the army's ultimate downfall.

At the time, the practice of infecting the individual with a less-deadly form of the disease was widespread throughout Europe. Most British troops were immune to Variola, giving them an enormous advantage against the vulnerable colonists. Conversely, the history of inoculation in America (beginning with the efforts of the Reverend Cotton Mather in 1720) was pocked by the fear of the contamination potential of the process. Such fears led the Continental Congress to issue a proclamation in 1776 prohibiting Surgeons of the Army to inoculate.

Washington suspected the only available recourse was inoculation, yet contagion risks aside, he knew that a mass inoculation put the entire army in a precarious position should the British hear of his plans. Moreover, Historians estimate that less than a quarter of the Continental Army had ever had the virus; inoculating the remaining three quarters and every new recruit must have seemed daunting. Yet the high prevalence of disease among the army regulars was a significant deterrent to desperately needed recruits, and a dramatic reform was needed to allay their fears.

Weighing the risks, on February 5, 1777, Washington finally committed to the unpopular policy of mass inoculation by writing to inform Congress of his plan. Throughout February, Washington, with no precedent for the operation he was about to undertake, covertly communicated to his commanding officers orders to oversee mass inoculations of their troops in the model of Morristown and Philadelphia (Dr. Shippen's Hospital). At least eleven hospitals had been constructed by the year's end.

Variola raged throughout the war, devastating the Native American population and slaves who had chosen to fight for the British in exchange for freedom. Yet the isolated infections that sprung up among Continental regulars during the southern campaign failed to incapacitate a single regiment. With few surgeons, fewer medical supplies, and no experience, Washington conducted the first mass inoculation of an army at the height of a war that immeasurably transformed the international system. Defeating the British was impressive, but simultaneously taking on Variola was a risky stroke of genius.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; innoculation; revolution; smallpox; thegeneral; therevolution; washington
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
I immediately thought - good 🥃 whisky 🥃. For the 1700s ! What else was there back then?
21 posted on 03/15/2020 12:37:29 PM PDT by Truthoverpower (The guv mint you get is the Trump winning express !)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

thanks for the post, hadn’t heard of this!

suffice it to say, thank God for this man—the greatest American by far, among many who were great indeed.

“...always first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”


22 posted on 03/15/2020 1:05:35 PM PDT by dadfly
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To: shanover

Washington was a great American and great President, actually a great man. While the above is true he was not alone in greatness and to say he was the greatest perhaps is a little much. The likes of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are examples that we hear little about but when you read their stories you see their unselfish greatness.

The founding fathers were truly great men who gave us an even greater gift, a republic if we can keep it.


23 posted on 03/15/2020 1:18:29 PM PDT by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

You can read all about it in Private Joseph Martin’s wonderful book usually published as Private Yankee Doodle. Painful.


24 posted on 03/15/2020 1:40:13 PM PDT by miss marmelstein (Prayers for Rush)
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To: miss marmelstein

I bought that book some years back...but it’s still on the “unread” shelf. ;>(

I’ll have to dig it out.


25 posted on 03/15/2020 1:43:39 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

“That misuse of “infamous”....”

Maybe it was written by a Brit?


26 posted on 03/15/2020 1:51:03 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

It’s a fabulous read. He has a modern style. I’ve left flowers at his grave in Maine. Amusing fellow.


27 posted on 03/15/2020 1:51:44 PM PDT by miss marmelstein (Prayers for Rush)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
Abigail Adams and the Inoculation Decision

Small Pox inoculation scene from HBO’s series John Adams

28 posted on 03/15/2020 2:28:29 PM PDT by MD Expat in PA (No. I am not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV. The MD in my screen name stands for Maryland)
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To: 21twelve
According to Collins dictionary, British usage of "infamous" is about the same as American usage. Do you have a different understanding?
29 posted on 03/15/2020 2:41:19 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I’m just thinking that the Brits may not have cared for George too much! Although I guess “infamous” probably wouldn’t fit Washington anyway. That would probably be held for a really bad guy? I have a feeling that the Brits may have held him as an admiral foe. I recall the story of him sending one of his aides to return a lost dog that belonged to the English General.

He also declared that any American abusing an English prisoner would be punished, even up to the point of being put to death.


30 posted on 03/15/2020 6:26:44 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
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To: Fungi; All

And we changed the name of Washington National Airport too.


31 posted on 03/15/2020 7:05:54 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: ProtectOurFreedom; All

It killed a lot of Indians who traveled more and in some cases were nomadic. When the first European settlers and explorers arrived many Indians had already died from visits of earlier Europeans who did not create permanent settlements.


32 posted on 03/15/2020 7:08:32 PM PDT by gleeaikin
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Washington was Eisenhower’s boyhood hero, as can still be seen in his old room at the family home in Abilene. You can see Washington’s influence in Ike’s steady leadership throughout his career.


33 posted on 03/16/2020 2:27:23 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: JAKraig
Thomas Jefferson, the first hypocrite Democrat. There was a thread here a few years back on how, despite his words, the reality was that when he saw the money in slave breeding, he was all in.

Read more about him, a backstabbing ponce.

imo

34 posted on 03/20/2020 2:16:16 AM PDT by metesky (My investment program is holding steady @ $0.05 cents a can.)
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To: metesky

Thomas Jefferson, the first hypocrite Democrat. There was a thread here a few years back on how, despite his words, the reality was that when he saw the money in slave breeding, he was all in.
Read more about him, a backstabbing ponce.

____________________________________________________________

So much of what has been written about him is nonsense. Read his own letters to get an accurate picture of him. His letters, that are from his own hand have been compiled and are accessible with background information for each. You will change your mind.


35 posted on 03/20/2020 1:38:48 PM PDT by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours)
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