How Smallpox Created Canada by Destroying Washington’s Army

On this episode of Our American Stories, Canada is an independent nation—and not part of the United States—most likely, because of smallpox. Here to tell the story is the president of Ameriseach, William Federer.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Canada is an
independent nation and not a part of the United States,
most likely because of a smallpox During the Revolutionary War,
the most dangerous place for a Continental Army soldier was
not on the battlefield, but rather within an encampment. In fact,

(00:31):
fever and infections from smallpox killed more soldiers than any
wound suffered in battle. And because smallpox was common in England,
most British soldiers had already been exposed and were immune,
but the disease was less common in America than the
average Continental soldier was not Here to tell the story
is William Federer. He is a nationally known speaker, best

(00:55):
selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc. A publishing company
dedicated to researching America's heritage.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Take it away, smallpox is ten times more terrible. The
quote from John Adams is disease has destroyed ten men
for us, where the sword of the enemy has killed one.
This was in a letter John Adams wrote to his
wife Abigail April thirteenth, seventeen seventy seven. During the Revolution,

(01:26):
soldiers were plagued with typhoid, yellow fever, and smallpox, which
and estimated thirty percent of the soldiers became infected with
So the soldiers were living in tight quarters and so
the diseases could spread easily, and they didn't always have
proper sanitation. So this largely began when the British evacuated Boston.

(01:52):
The British had occupied Boston for nine months, and when
they finally left Boston, they left their infected soldiers behind,
so spreading across the continent, smallpox epidemic killed an estimated
one hundred and forty five thousand settlers and Indians. Fortunately

(02:15):
for General George Washington, he was immune to smallpox, and
by this time he's nineteen. He accompanied his older half brother,
Lawrence Washington, to the island of Barbados, and he gets smallpox.
The year is seventeen fifty one. Washington recovered and he

(02:37):
came back to America. His older brother died, and George
inherited Lawrence's estate, and the rest is history. But now
he's immune to smallpox, and so when the army gets
the disease, he can go amongst the army and not
be affected. On July fourth, seventeen seventy five, Washington cautioned

(02:59):
against around Boston. He said as there may be danger
of introducing smallpox into the army. Now, they didn't know
about diseases. It wasn't until the middle eighteen hundreds that
you had Louis Pasture in the microscope and discovering viruses

(03:19):
and so forth. So they weren't sure how this spread.
Even John Adams, when he would write letters to his
wife Abigail, she would insist that he smoke the letters.
What's that. Well, they would write the letter and put
it in a box and light a little fire underneath
of it, and they thought maybe the smoke will kill

(03:40):
the virus. On December fifteenth of seventeen seventy five, George
Washington explained to Joseph Reid, smallpox is in every part
of Boston, a surety against any attempt of ours to attack.
If we escape the smallpox into camp, it will be

(04:01):
miraculous every precaution that can be taken to guard against
this evil. On December fourth of seventeen seventy five, Washington
informed Congress that the British were sending civilians infected with
smallpox out of the city. So Washington said, by recent information,

(04:24):
General Howe is going to send out a number of inhabitants.
A sailor says that a number of these coming out
have been inoculated with the design of spreading smallpox through
the camp. So the British back when they did have
Boston for those nine months, the word was that they
were intentionally infecting people with the smallpox and intentionally sending

(04:48):
them out to George Washington's troops. On January first of
seventeen seventy seven, British ships, sailing under a flag of truce,
we released four hundred American prisoners who were suffering from smallpox.
They released them at Connecticut's Milford Harbor. So you think,
oh great, here's the British like one of those prison

(05:10):
ships and they're going to let some Americans go. Well,
the ones that they let go are infected with smallpox.
Within a month, forty five had died, along with one
of their caregivers, Captain Stephen Stowe. The British officer Duncan
had suggested, as cited in a book published in seventeen

(05:30):
seventy seven, dip arrows in matter of smallpox and twang
them at the American rebels. This would disband these stubborn, ignorant,
enthusiastic savages. Now Quebec, Canada may have been captured by
Americans in December of seventeen seventy five, and Canada then

(05:55):
could have become part of the United States had it
not been for smallpox. American captain Hector McNeil told of
a Congressional committee investigating the failure of the army's expedition
to Canada. He said smallpox was sent out of Quebec
by British Governor Guy Carleton inoculating the poor people at

(06:18):
government expense, for the purpose of giving it to our army.
So the situation was General Benedict Arnold, he had been
a hero up to this point before he flipped and
became a trader. But Benedict Darnold was leading an American
army up to Canada, and they could have captured Montreal,

(06:40):
they could have captured Quebec. But he reported that nearly
twelve hundred American troops at Montreal, where they were camped,
were suffering from smallpox. So out of his twelve hundred men,
he only had five hundred that could fight. So here
you have a General Sullivan, he's got militia. They're supposed
to go up and join this army, and they're like, oh,

(07:02):
we don't know if we want to join it. You
have all these people sick and dying of smallpox. General
Gates conceded, as fine an army as has ever marched
into Canada has this year been entirely ruined with smallpox.
The line of retreat extended nearly thirteen miles distance, and

(07:23):
a great part of them sick with smallpox. John Adams
wrote from Philadelphia June of seventeen seventy six. Our misfortune
in Canada are enough to melt a heart of stone.
The smallpox is ten times more terrible than Britain's, Canadians

(07:44):
and Indians together. This was the cause of our precipitate
retreat from Quebec. They did develop a method of inoculating,
where the pox would scab over and they would scrape
the scab and get powder from it, and then they
would blow it up somebody's nose. The threat of smallpox

(08:07):
did not lessen until widespread inoculations were called for by
doctor Benjamin Rush. Rush was a member of the Continental Congress,
where he signed the Declaration of Independence. He is considered
the father of American medicine. Doctor Rush personally inoculated Virginia

(08:27):
Governor Patrick Henry against smallpox as well as Pennsylvania's troops,
resulting in their low rate of illness. So he was
doing a little section of the troops here, another section
of the troops there, and they would get sick for
a little while and recover. So doctor Benjamin Rush began

(08:49):
to make this important contribution against this deadly enemy of smallpox.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
And a great job as always by Greg Hengler on
that piece, and a special thanks to William Federer. He
is a nationally known speaker, bestselling author, and president of Americsearch, Inc.
The publishing company dedicated to researching America's heritage. And so
we learn why Canada isn't a part of the United States,
the story of smallpox and the Revolutionary War here on

(09:20):
our American Stories