5. Battling the Smallpox Pandemic: Dr. Bond and Washington's Strategic Inoculation Author: Patrick O'Donnell Book Title: The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington across the Delaware The
Update: 2025-10-06
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5. Battling the Smallpox Pandemic: Dr. Bond and Washington's Strategic Inoculation
Author: Patrick O'Donnell
Book Title: The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington across the Delaware
The Revolutionary War unfolded under the shadow of a smallpox pandemic. The virus devastated Marblehead after being brought in by fishing ships. Initial quarantine efforts failed, but Dr. Nathaniel Bond promoted inoculation. This dangerous 18th-century technique involved intentionally introducing a small amount of the virus into the body to create antibodies. Patriot efforts to establish an inoculation hospital on remote Cat Island were met with political violence when Loyalists organized a mob to storm the jail and torch the hospital while people were still inside. Later, following the Trenton and Princeton campaigns, the virus became a catastrophic threat, infecting and killing nearly 20% of Washington's army. Recognizing that the virus could destroy his fighting capability, Washington made the strategic decision to order Dr. Bond to establish inoculation hospitals. Bond set up these facilities and personally conducted inoculations, a move considered Washington's greatest strategic decision. Dr. Bond, who had once been ostracized for treating British soldiers, ultimately died as a result of his service to the Continental Army, having saved it through inoculation.
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