This is the historical marker for Smallpox, the Scourge of the 18th Century,
located here in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and erected by the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center.
This marker describes the smallpox outbreak within the Continental Army
in December 1775 during their battle in Quebec.
Because of earlier outbreaks in England, most British troops were immune to Smallpox,
giving them an enormous advantage.
Of the 10,000 soldiers that were to be part of the invasion of Canada, 3,000 came down with smallpox.
Smallpox weakened the Continental Army, forcing the Americans to abandon Montreal and Canada.
Bottomline. Canada might have become the 14th American Colony had it not been for a smallpox outbreak.
Now it's time to learn more about the history behind the marker.
In July of 1775, just three months into the war with England,
George Washington took command of the Continental army.
He faced not only the greatest military power in the world, but also the scourge of smallpox.
Because Washington had contracted smallpox as a young man, he knew how debilitating the disease was.
He had a difficult decision to make.
Should he inoculate his army?
There was the fact that smallpox was killing more of his soldiers than the British.
Washington could not afford to have a large portion of his under-trained and inexperienced soldiers
out of commission for any significant period of time.
So Washington decided the best course of action was to have his new soldiers inoculated upon recruitment.
It became the first mass military inoculation!
Had it not been for George Washington's strict orders regarding containment, inoculations
and limited access of outsiders to military camps,
the smallpox outbreak would have had far more devastating effects.
Could smallpox have caused the loss of the American Revolution and continued rule by England?
We can be glad that we will never have to know.
Smallpox is believed to have appeared around 10,000 B.C.
at the time of the first agricultural settlements in Northeastern Africa.
Doctors estimate that smallpox has killed more people in history than any other single disease.
The case-fatality rate varied from 20% to 60% and left most survivors with disfiguring scars and blindness.
In infants it was even higher, approaching 80% in London and 98% fatality in Berlin during the late 1800s.
Widespread smallpox epidemics and huge death tolls fill pages and pages of our history books.
About 1/3 of those who contracted smallpox died a horrible death.
Cures for smallpox have been attempted for several thousand years.
This included bloodletting and purging.
Far more effective was variolation, which involved taken material from patients with a mild case of the disease
and inserting the pus into the skin or the powdered scabs into the nose of healthy people.
Usually, the recipient developed a very mild case of smallpox and then recovered with full immunity.
About 2% of recipients developed a serious case of smallpox and died, but many considered this inoculation a safe option,
rather than risking a full outbreak and a 33% death rate.
Variolation was first recorded in China around 900 A.D. and spread to Europe by the 1720s.
The New World was not immune to this virus.
Twenty passengers died on the Mayflower as a result of smallpox in 1620.
Later, there was a smallpox outbreak in Plymouth Colony around 1633.
Smallpox became the most destructive disease in New England.
Thanks to this white man's plague, entire Indian villages and their tribes
were decimated as it traveled across America.
In 18th Century England, there was a common observation that dairymaids who had earlier
caught the mild disease of cowpox did not catch the normally fatal disease of smallpox.
After contracting cowpox English farmer and cattle breeder Benjamin Jesty
believed himself protected from smallpox infection, just like those milkmaids.
When a serious smallpox epidemic hit his Dorset village in 1774,
Jesty made a leap of faith and inoculated his pregnant wife Elizabeth and two small sons
with matter from a cowpox lesion on an infected cow.
The first authenticated vaccination had taken place!
His wife and children survived.
By the way, his neighbors expected them to turn into cows, or at least grow horns!
Despite a review by a medical commission, Benjamin Jesty never received credit for his pioneering work.
Jesty had no interest in systematically testing his methods or publishing his results,
and so his finding was largely forgotten.
Upon his death, Jesty's wife had his tombstone inscribed,
Twenty-two years later, English Doctor Edward Jenner concluded
that cowpox could be transmitted from one person to another as protection.
On May 14, 1796, Jenner used matter from a dairymaid's fresh cowpox lesions to immunize an 8- year-old boy.
Nine days after the procedure the boy felt cold and had lost his appetite.
But on the next day he was much better.
That same year in July, Jenner intentionally infected the boy
with matter from a fresh smallpox lesion.
No disease developed, and Jenner concluded that protection was complete.
In 1798, Jenner announced to the world that he had found a safer way to prevent smallpox.
He called his method “Vaccination”, after the Latin words for cowpox.
Although Jenner was not the first, he is celebrated as the "father of smallpox vaccination"
because he dedicated his life, research, money and reputation to spreading the use of vaccination.
Jenner's supporters saw it as their moral duty to advance the cause of a life-saving technology.
Some objectors, including the local clergy, believed that the vaccine was “unchristian”
because it came from an animal.
Edward Jenner's discovery of a vaccine against smallpox caused a public health revolution and birthed the field of immunology.
Late in the 19th century, the mortality from smallpox had declined,
but the epidemics showed that the disease was still not under control.
Some were calling for mandatory vaccination.
In the United States, smallpox immunization became compulsory in 1855.
Not everyone agreed to this.
For anti-vaccinators, their discontent with the smallpox vaccine reflected their general distrust in medicine.
Many objected to vaccination because they believed it violated their personal liberty,
a tension that worsened as the government developed mandatory vaccine policies.
Anti-Vaccination Leagues were formed in Europe and America.
These groups aimed “to abolish oppressive medical laws
and counteract the growing tendency to enlarge the scope of state medicine
at the expense of the freedom of the individual.”
In 1901 a deadly smallpox epidemic tore through the Northeast,
prompting the Boston and Cambridge boards of health to order the vaccination of all residents.
Police officers accompanied health officials, who went door to door vaccinating as many as 100 people a day.
But some refused to get the shot, claiming the vaccine order
violated their personal liberties under the Constitution.
In 1902, Pastor Henning Jacobson and his son refused to be vaccinated
and refused to pay the fine.
In state court, Jacobson argued that the smallpox vaccine law violated the Massachusetts and federal constitution.
The state courts, including the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, rejected his claims.
He appealed his case to the US Supreme Court in 1905.
In the case known as Jacobson v. Massachusetts, Jacobson's lawyers argued that the Cambridge vaccination order
was a violation of their client's 14th Amendment rights, which forbade the state from
On February 20, 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 7-2 majority, said that the city of Cambridge
could fine residents who refused to receive smallpox injections.
Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote
Because of compulsory vaccination to adults and children,
no further deaths from smallpox were reported in the US by 1948.
In 1959 the World Health Organization began an international campaign
to eliminate smallpox, without much success.
Unfortunately, in 1966 smallpox was still widespread globally,
causing regular outbreaks across South America, Africa, and Asia.
In 1967, the World Health Organization began a second campaign to eradicate smallpox
with a promise of renewed efforts.
Under WHO leadership, eradication was an extraordinary, cooperative effort
involving countries throughout the world and as many as 150,000 field staff at various points during the campaign.
Almost two centuries after Dr. Jenner developed the vaccine that could annihilate smallpox,
the World Health Assembly declared the world free of this disease on May 8, 1980.
Today, the world's first vaccine is no longer required -
due to successful worldwide eradication of the most horrible and pandemic disease ever to plague mankind.
If history can be taught with stories
they can never be forgotten.
Please like our video
subscribe to our channel
and ring the bell to stay informed on the latest video.
And don't forget to leave your comments and suggestions below for what markers you want to see next.