Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox

¶ … Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82

, offered me an insight into a subject that I was not aware of prior to reading this story. The story chronicles how a virulent and aggressive style of smallpox played a significant role in the outcome of the Revolutionary War and how it affected several of the War's major campaigns. Due to my prior exposure to this matter, I had known that there was a smallpox outbreak during the years that the Revolutionary War took place but through the writings of the author, Elizabeth a. Fenn, I learned that smallpox was a much serious problem for Revolutionary America than has previously been discussed.

The effect of smallpox on Europe has been extensively discussed but its effect in America has been largely ignored

. Ms. Fenn, however, points out that little attention has been afforded the subject in American history books. Although the author does not expressly state the reason for this lack of exposure she does seem to create the inference that because the disease was most prevalent among the Native Americans that the colonists were less than enthusiastic to broadcast its presence to the rest of the world. Smallpox among the Native Americans was one of the leading causes of death and played a major part in wiping out a significant portion of the Native population. Unlike the Europeans who settled in the colonies and had developed some immunity to the effects of the smallpox virus, the Native Americans had never been exposed to the disease before the arrival of the Europeans and were, therefore, particularly susceptible to its effects.

Fenn did an excellent job of explaining how smallpox affected the conduct of the Revolutionary War but she also details how smallpox had been a consideration for several hundred years in American society. In regard to the Revolutionary War itself, Fenn gives George Washington considerable credit for protecting the Colonial Army from being decimated by the effects of smallpox by taking the time to have his men inoculated against smallpox. By doing so, Washington was able to save countless number of lives not only among his army but also among the local population that had contact with his forces.

One of the more interesting aspects of Fenn's work is her attention to the detail in how smallpox affected American society and how it developed on the continent. She spends a great deal of time describing how the disease spread across the continent and clearly highlights that there was a human presence on the continent beyond the borders of the original thirteen colonies at the time of the Revolution. In doing so, she is able to pinpoint how the disease was able to be spread from the eastern shores of the continent westward based on the activities of the Native Americans who were trading with the colonists and the colonizing efforts of other European nations other than England. Through these contacts, smallpox was spread throughout the North American continent from coast to coast.

The feature that I found most interesting is the book's discussion on how factors outside the military actions of the Colonial army and the British forces affected the outcome of the War. In more traditional renditions of the Revolutionary War the activities of the colonists is romanticized to the point that everything that they did was viewed as being remarkable. The discussion of the effects of smallpox, however, brings into light the fact that War and the events surrounding the War were only small part of the colonists' lives. Despite the War, the colonists had to live their daily lives and endure practical and everyday affairs such as work and disease. Fenn in her book does an excellent job of placing these factors in focus.

If there is a criticism of the book it must be in its failure to provide any new information regarding the conduct of the War itself. Although she does add smallpox to the equation she offers little beyond that fact. Like most authors, she tends to glorify the efforts of the colonists and, by doing so, fails to offer a pragmatic view of the conflict. In what could have been an interesting angle in the book Fenn briefly makes mention of the possibility that the British forces may have actually introduced smallpox into communities of colonists in an attempt to use such disease as an offensive weapon. Unfortunately, Fenn fails to build on this theory and discuss it at any length. Obviously, if this was an aspect of the British strategy it would have been an intriguing approach and offered new information relative to the conduct of the Revolutionary War. Fenn never explains whether the British actually incorporated smallpox into their military strategy