How Smallpox Created Canada by Destroying Washington’s Army

On this episode of Our American Stories, Canada is an independent nation, not part of the United States. A lot of that has to do with smallpox. Here to tell the story is William Federer, president of AmeriSearch.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 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

(02:36):
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 trap 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 and so forth. So they weren't sure how this spread.

(03:23):
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 felt maybe the smoke will kill
the virus. On December fifteenth of seventeen seventy five, George

(03:45):
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 in this camp, it will
be miraculous every precaution that can be taken to guard

(04:06):
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, General Howe is going to send out a

(04:27):
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 them out to George Washington's troops. On

(04:51):
January first of seventeen seventy seven, British ships sailing under
a flag of truce were leased 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 ships and they're going to
let some Americans go. Well, the ones that they let

(05:13):
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 seventy seven, dip arrows in matter

(05:34):
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 could have become part of

(05:56):
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 Carlton
inoculating the poor people at government expense, for the purpose

(06:20):
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 Arnold was leading an American army up to Canada,
and they could have captured Montreal, they could have captured Quebec.

(06:42):
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 join this
army and they're like, oh, we don't know, we want

(07:02):
to join it. Do 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 a great part of them

(07:24):
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 and Indians together. This was

(07:47):
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 to scab and get powder
from it, and then they would blow it up somebody's nose.
The threat of smallpox did not lessen until widespread inoculations

(08:11):
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 Governor Patrick Henry against smallpox
as well as Pennsylvania's troops, resulting in their low rate

(08:36):
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 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, best selling 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.

(09:19):
Here on our American Stories