Smallpox and the Revolutionary War

More soldiers died from disease than from enemy fire. Some historians believe that George Washington's focus on preventing smallpox outbreaks, especially at Valley Forge, was critical to America's ability to outlast the British. Washington employed an approach that had been introduced to New England by an enslaved African. We will discuss the smallpox virus, why it was so deadly, how it was prevented, and why it has become the only human disease ever eradicated worldwide.