Spectacle Island - Smallpox

The Boston Harbor Islands are no stranger to quarantine; in fact, many of the islands have been known as “quarantine islands” throughout Boston Harbor’s history as a port of commerce and immigration. Spectacle Island itself was used for sailors that had smallpox.

Despite the progressive acceptance of inoculation throughout the colonies, another smallpox outbreak seized Boston in 1775. After the Battle of Bunker Hill in June of 1775, military actions between the British, led by General William Howe, and the colonists, led by George Washington, stalled. Smallpox was gripping the citizens of Boston, and to some extent Howe’s troops. Washington knew that the Continental soldiers, many from rural, isolated parts of the colonies and therefore not immune to smallpox, would be devastated by an outbreak. The stalemate between Washington and Howe continued until March 7, 1776, when General Howe announced that the British army planned to evacuate Boston. Despite this victory for the colonists, Washington initially forbade his troops from entering the city because of the smallpox epidemic.

On March 17, Washington permitted one thousand men who had previously contracted smallpox to enter the city. Washington could discern who previously had the disease from the pox scars on the faces of survivors. Washington understood the grave threat smallpox imposed upon the Continental Army and their chances of winning the war. He even described smallpox as "more destructive than the sword."

George Washington enacted the first medical mandate in American history. Washington declared his order to Congress that all troops must be inoculated, and he ordered that all new recruits entering Philadelphia must be inoculated upon entry. To offset the temporary loss of soldiers while they healed from the inoculation, military doctors inoculated divisions in five-day intervals. The military used private homes and churches as isolation centers to control spread of the disease. Continental military forces took a huge risk with these mass inoculations.

If the British learned of these mass inoculations, they could have launched an attack on the weakened Continental Army. Therefore, these inoculations had to be kept secret in order to prevent word from getting out to the British. Washington urged the inoculations to be completed as soon as possible so the soldiers would be ready to fight by the summer. By late 1777, the procedure had been established in the Continental Army, and prevalence of the disease substantially reduced. While smallpox cases did still appear from time to time, the mandated inoculation of soldiers reduced the chance of large-scale outbreaks. With the threat of smallpox diminished, the Continental Army saw a surge of new recruits in 1777.

-Source Links-

https://bhsledger.org/the-smallpox-epidemic-of-1775-and-the-power-of-vaccines/

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/smallpox-inoculation-revolutionary-war.htm

https://www.history.com/news/smallpox-george-washington-revolutionary-war

https://www.jstor.org/stable/224952

https://www.bostonharborislands.org/blog/islands-in-quarantine/