Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82

By: Elizabeth Anne Fenn

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Synopsis: The story that follows is about Variola major, the virus that causes smallpox. From 1775 to 1782, Variola ravaged the greater part of North America, from Mexico to Massachusetts, from Pensacola to Puget Sound. For the virus, the great pestilence represented a phenomenal success: It found countless new hosts, it multiplied rapidly, and it traveled vast distances. But in its wake it left death and despair, killing more than a hundred thousand people and maiming many more. With no respect for boundaries of race, class, or nationality, the opportunistic microbe swept an astonishing array of people and events into its maelstrom: missionaries, mariners, fur traders, explorers, planters, fishermen, hunters, farmers, homemakers, warriors, neophytes, trappers, soldiers, prisoners, and runaway slaves. By the time the pestilence was over, it had reshaped human destinies across the continent...

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