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George Washington’s Great Inoculation Gamble
How medical science saved the revolution
When Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered all US service members vaccinated against Covid-19, he wasn’t embarking on a radical new policy but, rather, continuing a tradition older than the United States. More than two centuries ago, George Washington ordered all US troops inoculated against smallpox. It was a bold gamble — the procedure was new and risky — but it paid off. Had Washington not acted, the war might have been lost, and there might not be a United States.
George Washington wasn’t always the stone-faced, unflappable general depicted in history books. He was prone to bouts of self-doubt. When the Continental Congress appointed him commander-in-chief of the new American army, Washington wondered aloud whether they had chosen the wrong man for the job. “My Abilities and Military experience may not be equal to this extensive and important Trust,” he said. Throughout the Revolutionary War, Washington questioned his own judgement — nowhere more so than when it came to “the most dangerous of enemies.”
Washington was referring not to the British, or to turncoats like Benedict Arnold, but to smallpox. As the bubonic plague was to Europe, smallpox was to the Americas. In wave after wave, it decimated towns and cities. Those who survived were…
