Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Leave a Comment

Conway Cabal

The Battle of Saratoga fought in the fall of 1777; it proved to be a turning point in the American struggle for independence.  Saratoga was unquestionably the greatest victory yet won by the Continental Army in terms of prisoners and captured arms and equipment. Nearly 6,000 enemy soldiers were taken, along with 42 cannon and massive quantities of stores. (Army-mil)

Following the American victory, morale among American troops was high. With General John Burgoyne’s surrender of his army to General Horatio Gates, the Americans scored a decisive victory that finally persuaded the French to sign a treaty allying with the United States against Britain, France’s traditional enemy.

The entrance of France into the war, along with its financial and military support, in particular its navy, was in the end crucial to Washington’s victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781, which effectively ended the war.

It also had a direct impact on the career of General George Washington.  Without the victory at Saratoga, American forces would likely not have received critical assistance from the French, and faith in the war effort would have been weakened.

But the victory of General Gates at Saratoga also led to a serious but ultimately unsuccessful effort to replace Washington with Gates as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. (Mount Vernon)

The cabal …

A ‘Cabal’ is the “contrived schemes of a group of persons secretly united in a plot (as to overturn a government).”  (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

The Conway Cabal refers to a loosely organized attempt by a group of military officers and members of Congress to remove General George Washington from command of the Continental Army and replace him with Major General Horatio Gates.

The supposed leader of this movement was Brigadier General Thomas Conway, an Irish member of the French army who commanded a brigade in Washington’s army.

Conway was critical of Washington’s performance in the Battle of Brandywine and boastful about his own feats at the same engagement. Shortly after Brandywine, Conway wrote Congress requesting a promotion to the rank of major general. Washington protested Conway’s promotion and was irritated by the request, believing it would have disastrous effects on the morale of more senior officers.

In October 1777, Conway wrote a letter to encourage Gates’ ambitions. 

Washington learned the details of the letter from a drunken James Wilkinson, Gates’ aide-de-camp. In response, Washington informed Conway that he was aware of the contents of the letter, to which Conway replied that he never penned the phrase “weak general.” Conway added that he believed Washington was influenced by men not equal to him in experience.

On November 14, Conway offered his resignation to Congress. However, instead of accepting the resignation Congress promoted Conway to the newly created position of Inspector General and to the rank of Major General.

In addition, a Board of War was created to oversee Washington after some members of Congress, including Samuel Adams, Thomas Mifflin, and Richard Henry Lee, began to question whether Washington could lead the Americans to victory.

Conway served with Washington at Valley Forge, and reported to the Board of War, which appointed Gates as its president on November 27, 1777.

In response to these developments, Washington distanced himself from Conway. Nonetheless, Washington maintained that his personal dislike for Conway never interfered with their professional relationship.

One object of the scheme was to detach the Marquis de Lafayette from Washington, to whom he was devotedly attached, and bring him into the interests of the cabal.

For this purpose he was to have the command of the expedition; an appointment which it was thought would tempt his military ambition. Conway was to be second in command, and it was trusted that his address and superior intelligence would virtually make him the leader.

The cabal, however, had overshot their mark. Lafayette, who was aware of their intrigues, was so disgusted by the want of deference and respect to the commander-in-chief evinced in the whole proceeding, that he would at once have declined the appointment, had not Washington himself advised him strongly to accept it. (Life of George Washington)

As winter wore on, the so-called cabal dissolved, bringing disgrace to and ending the careers of several of its leaders. Washington’s authority was strengthened, as loyal supporters rallied to defend and exalt the commander in chief.  (Valley Forge, NPS)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Conway Cabal:

Click to access Conway-Cabal.pdf

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Leave a Comment

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union

While the Declaration of Independence was under consideration in the Second Continental Congress, and before it was finally agreed upon, measures were taken for the establishment of a constitutional form of government; and on June 11, 1776, it was

‘‘Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between these Colonies’’

Some Continental Congress delegates had informally discussed plans for a more permanent union than the Continental Congress, whose status was temporary.

Congress began to discuss the form this government would take on July 22, 1776 disagreeing on a number of issues, including whether representation and voting would be proportional or state-by-state.

The Albany Plan, an earlier pre-independence attempt at joining the colonies into a larger union, had failed in part because the individual colonies were concerned about losing power to another central institution.

As the American Revolution gained momentum, however, many political leaders saw the advantages of a centralized government that could coordinate the Revolutionary War.

Again, the New York provincial Congress sent a plan of union to the Continental Congress, which, like the Albany Plan, continued to recognize the authority of the British Crown.

Benjamin Franklin had drawn up a plan for “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.” While some delegates, such as Thomas Jefferson, supported Franklin’s proposal, many others were strongly opposed. Franklin introduced his plan before Congress on July 21, but stated that it should be viewed as a draft for when Congress was interested in reaching a more formal proposal. Congress tabled the plan.

The disagreements delayed final discussions of confederation until October of 1777. By then, the British capture of Philadelphia had made the issue more urgent.

Delegates finally formulated the Articles of Confederation, in which they agreed to state-by-state voting and proportional state tax burdens based on land values, though they left the issue of state claims to western lands unresolved.

The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777.

The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. It established a weak central government that mostly, but not entirely, prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy.

Congress sent the Articles to the states for ratification at the end of November. Most delegates realized that the Articles were a flawed compromise, but believed that it was better than an absence of formal national government.

On December 16, 1777, Virginia was the first state to ratify. Other states ratified during the early months of 1778. When Congress reconvened in June of 1778, the delegates learned that Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey refused to ratify the Articles. The Articles required unanimous approval from the states.

These smaller states wanted other states to relinquish their western land claims before they would ratify the Articles. New Jersey and Delaware eventually agreed to the conditions of the Articles, with New Jersey ratifying on Nov 20, 1778, and Delaware on Feb 1, 1779. This left Maryland as the last remaining holdout.

Irked by Maryland’s recalcitrance, several other state governments passed resolutions endorsing the formation of a national government without the state of Maryland.

However, other politicians, such as Congressman Thomas Burke of North Carolina, persuaded their governments to refrain from doing so, arguing that without unanimous approval of the new Confederation, the new country would remain weak, divided, and open to future foreign intervention and manipulation.

Meanwhile, in 1780, British forces began to conduct raids on Maryland communities in the Chesapeake Bay. Alarmed, the state government wrote to the French minister Anne-César De la Luzerne asking for French naval assistance.

Luzerne wrote back, urging the government of Maryland to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Marylanders were given further incentive to ratify when Virginia agreed to relinquish its western land claims, and so the Maryland legislature ratified the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781.

Under the Articles, the new nation was organized as a federal union of independent states with authority vested in a single body, the Congress of Confederation. There was no Executive Branch and no provision for a federal Judiciary except for certain cases of court-martial.

Congress had only those powers, and they were few, specifically granted to them by the states as common concerns. These chiefly related to military and foreign diplomatic initiatives required in the face of war with Great Britain.

The Continental Congress voted on January 10, 1781 to establish a Department of Foreign Affairs; on August 10 of that year, it elected Robert R. Livingston as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. The Secretary’s duties involved corresponding with US representatives abroad and with ministers of foreign powers.  (Williams)

The Secretary was also charged with transmitting Congress’ instructions to U.S. agents abroad and was authorized to attend sessions of Congress. A further Act of February 22, 1782, allowed the Secretary to ask and respond to questions during sessions of the Continental Congress.

The weakness of this confederation became increasingly apparent when the War for Independence was over and the staggering debt repayment, which Congress under the Articles could proportionally assess but not directly collect, became a point of conflict between the states and a source of intense domestic strife within several of the states.  (Williams)

The Articles limited the rights of the states to conduct their own diplomacy and foreign policy proved difficult to enforce, as the national government could not prevent the state of Georgia from pursuing its own independent policy regarding Spanish Florida, attempting to occupy disputed territories and threatening war if Spanish officials did not work to curb Indian attacks or refrain from harboring escaped slaves.

Nor could the Confederation government prevent the landing of convicts that the British Government continued to export to its former colonies.

In addition, the Articles did not allow Congress sufficient authority to enforce provisions of the 1783 Treaty of Paris that allowed British creditors to sue debtors for pre-Revolutionary debts, an unpopular clause that many state governments chose to ignore.

Consequently, British forces continued to occupy forts in the Great Lakes region. These problems, combined with the Confederation government’s ineffectual response to Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts, convinced national leaders that a more powerful central government was necessary.

The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union:

Click to access Articles-of-Confederation-and-Perpetual-Union.pdf

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Leave a Comment

Battles of Saratoga

The failure of the American invasion of Canada in 1775–76 left a large surplus of British troops along the St. Lawrence River. In 1777 these troops were to move south for an attack on Albany, New York.

In 1777, British strategy called for a three-pronged attack seeking to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River Valley, with three separate groups converging near Albany.

By August, British General John Burgoyne had captured Fort Ticonderoga, defeated fleeing American troops at Hubbardton (Vermont) and occupied Fort Edward, on the edge of the Hudson River. After a contingent of Burgoyne’s troops was defeated in the Battle of Bennington, his reduced forces marched south toward Saratoga in early September.

To disrupt the British advance south, Gates had his troops erect defenses on the crest of Bemis Heights, a series of bluffs from which both the Hudson River and the road can be seen. From there, American artillery had the range to hit both the river and the road.

The Americans also erected a fortified wall a little less than a mile from Bemis Heights. The wall extended about three-quarters of a mile, creating a line shaped like a large “L”. Twenty-two cannons were placed behind this defense, providing the Americans with artillery cover.

The two armies engaged in combat at Freeman’s Farm on September 19. While the British held off the Americans, their losses were great. Burgoyne’s battered forces dug trenches and waited for reinforcements, but none came.

Following intense fighting with the Continental Army in September, at Freeman’s Farm, the British Army fortified themselves behind two defensive redoubts (protective barriers) – the larger, better-defended Balcarres Redoubt and the weaker Breymann Redoubt. American forces, led by General Benedict Arnold, managed to take the Breymann Redoubt, which gave them a strong position behind the British lines.

Benedict Arnold galloped into the fray and rallied the Americans in the attack on the Breymann Redoubt. A fellow officer in the Continental Line said that Arnold “behaved more like a madman than a cool and discreet officer.” During this engagement, he sustained a serious wound in his left leg.

By early evening, the Americans secured possession of the Breymann Redoubt and gained a tactical advantage, as it was the far right flank of the British lines.

From here the Americans could easily get behind British lines. Realizing their plight, the British pulled back into their Great Redoubt near the river and held out for several weeks. (Battlefields)

On October 7, Burgoyne launched a second, unsuccessful attack on the Americans at Bemis Heights.  On the morning of October 8, General John Burgoyne’s army attempted to escape north, but a cold, hard rain forced them to stop and encamp near the town of Saratoga. Cold, hungry and weary, they dug in and prepared to defend themselves, but within two days the Americans had them surrounded.

With no means of escape, Burgoyne eventually surrendered to Gates on October 17. (Battlefields)

Why was it important?

American troops battled and beat a British invasion force, marking the first time in world history that a British Army ever surrendered. (NPS)  It was one of the most decisive American battles of the Revolutionary War.

Saratoga was unquestionably the greatest victory yet won by the Continental Army in terms of prisoners and captured arms and equipment. Nearly 6,000 enemy soldiers were taken, along with 42 cannon and massive quantities of stores. (Army-mil)

Following the American victory, morale among American troops was high. With Burgoyne’s surrender of his entire army to Gates, the Americans scored a decisive victory that finally persuaded the French to sign a treaty allying with the United States against Britain, France’s traditional enemy.

The entrance of France into the war, along with its financial and military support, in particular its navy, was in the end crucial to Washington’s victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781, which effectively ended the war.

But the French were not alone in supporting the Americans following the Battle of Saratoga. The Spanish and later the Dutch provided support as well, eager to seize the opportunity to weaken their British rival.

It also had a direct impact on the career of General George Washington.  Without the victory at Saratoga, American forces would likely not have received critical assistance from the French, and faith in the war effort would have been weakened.

On a personal side note, I am a descendant of Israel Moseley (he is my 4th Great Grandfather).  Israel Moseley was a Patriot who fought in the American Revolution.  Born in 1743, Israel graduated from Yale in 1766.

He served as a private in Captain Daniel Sacket’s company, Colonel Woodbridge’s regiment from August 20 to October 23, 1777 in the Northern department.  He fought in the Battles of Saratoga.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Battles of Saratoga:

Click to access Battles-of-Saratoga.pdf

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Leave a Comment

Stars and Stripes

“[N]ational symbols and ceremonies express deeper aspects and meanings of the nation, and function as integrative and/or divisive forces. Moreover, national symbols and ceremonies form a central part of a ‘secular’ religion which provides anchorage in a dynamic world.”

“National symbols and ceremonies also have an effect upon the community they represent; that is, they raise collective consciousness of ‘who we are’ and ‘where we are from.’”  (Elgenius)

“The earliest depiction of a fabric flag is vaguely claimed to date back to 400 BC. It is painted on a wall in a Samnite colony in Paestum in Southern Italy.  This depiction lacks a distinct design although the shape of the flag itself bears a close resemblance to a modem one.”

“The Chinese also used flags, as lateral cloth attachments to staffs, following the invention of silk farming.  The development of sericulture around 3000 BC brought new possibilities of producing light, large, enduring and colourful (painted or dyed) flags that could be used outdoors.”

“These flags were mainly known for their military use, but also appeared in temples and religious processions. One of the earliest cloth flags was also flown during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom around 2000 BC.”

“It is not necessary to date the first flag, in this context, but it is interesting to see that flags were used by early civilisations and that the present pattern of flag symbolism has ancient roots.”  (Elgenius)

“The end of the 18th century marks the official beginning of the ‘national’ flag. This was a gradual process where official recognition came after the flag and its colours had gained some sort of symbolic value.”

“It is noteworthy that one of the first manifestations of American ‘resistance’ was a Red Ensign with the motto ‘Liberty and Union’, which was hoisted a year before the Revolution in Taunton, Massachusetts.”

“Even earlier, in 1769, Boston had flown a flag of red and white stripes. The ‘rattlesnake’ with the motto ‘Don’t Tread on Me’, was another famous flag, which later developed into a depiction of the rattlesnake with 13 segments.”

“The Pine Tree emblem, which originated from New England and was later identified with the Liberty Tree, figured on many early American flags (and also in very early Native American symbolism).”

“The use of the Red Ensign with the motto in the fly, or with the Pine Tree in the canton and that of the plain Pine Tree Flag, were the first prime sources for the American flag tradition. These constituted together with the Boston striped flag the main starting points for the colonial flag evolving during 1775.”

“The emblem of the rattlesnake was seen in the canton of the Red Ensign, which was hoisted by a Pennsylvanian regiment in 1775, and in the flag of stripes used by the South Carolina Navy. In 1776 the flag hoisted in Massachusetts was described as ‘English Colours but more Striped’, i. e. a British Red Ensign but with white stripes across the field.”

National Flag

“[T]he concept of the ‘national flag’ is the direct consequence of political developments after the American and the French Revolution, where the idea of the flag representing the country and its people emerged.”

“The American flag was adopted to represent a multi-ethnic people; it symbolised first and foremost the attempt to break free from colonial domination. At the same time the ‘Stars and Stripes’ flag made a significant contribution to the modern flag tradition as an idea of a flag representing a ‘whole population’ as well as its government, and it also reflected the more egalitarian ideas of the time.”

“The ‘Stars and Stripes’ was created on the 14 July 1777 – by whom and where remains unclear – and it was used in different forms during the remainder of the War of Independence. It is worth noting that America did not have a flag representing it (or the colonies) prior to the conflicts with England.”  (Elgenius)

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress approved the design of a national flag: “Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The resolution didn’t prescribe a certain arrangement, so the earliest flags display quite a variety of designs. (DAR)  The number of stars on the American Flag has changed with time from 13 to 50 in order to correspond with the increasing number of states.  (Elgenius)

Betsy Ross Flag

The origin of the first American flag is unknown. Some historians believe it was designed by New Jersey Congressman Francis Hopkinson and sewn by Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Griscom Ross was born a fourth-generation American to a Quaker family on New Year’s Day of 1752 in the colonial city of Philadelphia.

Ross learned to sew from a great-aunt, and, after finishing school, apprenticed with a talented upholsterer in Philadelphia, where she met and married fellow apprentice John Ross, with whom she formed an upholstery business.

Among their customers was George Washington, for whom they sewed bed hangings in 1774 while he was in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress. After the death of her husband at the start of the American Revolution, Ross continued to sew uniforms, tents, and flags for the Continental Army.

Historians have not been able to verify Ross’s legendary role as the creator of the Stars and Stripes. But the likely legendary story that in June 1776 General Washington consulted with Ross on the creation of a new flag, and she persuaded him to alter its stars from six-pointed to the easier-to-sew five-pointed took hold in the national patriotic imagination.

For generations Betsy Ross has stood as the symbol of feminine ingenuity and resourcefulness in service to the country. Her contributions to the founding of the United States are commonly represented, as in a 1952 stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of her birth, with the Stars and Stripes on her lap. (DOI)

Old Glory

The name Old Glory was given to a large, 10-by-17-foot flag by its owner, William Driver, a sea captain from Massachusetts.

Inspiring the common nickname for all American flags, Driver’s flag is said to have survived multiple attempts to deface it during the Civil War. Driver was able to fly the flag over the Tennessee Statehouse once the war ended.  (PBS)

Star-Spangled Banner

In June 1813, Major George Armistead arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, to take command of Fort McHenry, built to guard the water entrance to the city.

Armistead commissioned Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore flag maker, to sew two flags for the fort: a smaller storm flag (17 by 25 ft) and a larger garrison flag (30 by 42 ft).  She was hired under a government contract and was assisted by her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured African-American girl.

The larger of these two flags would become known as the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Pickersgill stitched it from a combination of dyed English wool bunting (red and white stripes and blue union) and white cotton (stars).  Each star is about two feet in diameter, each stripe about 24 inches wide.

The Star-Spangled Banner’s impressive scale (about one-fourth the size of a modern basketball court) reflects its purpose as a garrison flag. It was intended to fly from a flagpole about ninety feet high and be visible from great distances.

At its original dimensions of 30 by 42 feet, it was larger than the modern garrison flags used today by the United States Army, which have a standard size of 20 by 38 feet.

Between 1777 and 1960 Congress passed several acts that changed the shape, design and arrangement of the flag and allowed stars and stripes to be added to reflect the admission of each new state.  On August 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman officially declared June 14 as Flag Day.

The first Flag Act, adopted on June 14, 1777, created the original United States flag of thirteen stars and thirteen stripes.

The Star-Spangled Banner has fifteen stars and fifteen stripes as provided for in the second Flag Act approved by Congress on January 13, 1794.  The additional stars and stripes represent Vermont (1791) and Kentucky (1792) joining the Union.

The third Flag Act, passed on April 4, 1818, reduced the number of stripes back to thirteen to honor the original thirteen colonies and provided for one star for each state – a new star to be added to the flag on the Fourth of July following the admission of each new state.  (Smithsonian)

Today the flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. The stripes represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well; red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Stars and Stripes:

Click to access Stars-and-Stripes.pdf

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Leave a Comment

Smallpox

For more than 3,000 years, smallpox killed or badly disfigured many millions of people. On average, the disease killed up to thirty percent of those infected, and the majority of survivors carried deep scars (pockmarks), oftentimes concentrated on their faces.

Throughout history, disease outbreaks sparked fear for many. Before the invention of vaccinations in 1796, people had very few ways to protect themselves from disease.

When Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors arrived in the Americas, they brought smallpox with them, which devastated the Indigenous populations of South and Central America. During the French and Indian War, British forces used smallpox as a biological weapon to weaken the Indigenous tribes that assisted the French.

With every smallpox outbreak, people observed that those who had survived the infection typically did not get smallpox again. For those who contracted smallpox a second time, the infection was much less severe and usually not fatal.

These observations led to the creation of inoculation, the process of contracting smallpox on purpose to induce immunity and reduce the risk of death. Smallpox inoculation was a simple procedure: a doctor removed pus from an active pustule of an infected person, and then inserted that pus into the skin of a non-infected person via a small incision.

Because few American colonists had contracted the disease before, the colonies experienced sporadic and deadly outbreaks of smallpox. There was never a widespread epidemic that resulted in herd immunity.  (NPS)

Colonial Boston had faced many smallpox outbreaks throughout the 1700s, the most severe of which occurred in 1721, 1752, 1764, and 1775.

When American colonists launched their revolution against Britain, they quickly encountered a second but invisible enemy that threatened to wipe out the new Continental Army: highly contagious smallpox. (National Geographic)

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.

In 1775, Continental soldiers, led by Colonel Benedict Arnold, marched from Cambridge, Massachusetts towards Quebec to prevent the city from falling to the British. Just one month later, in December, smallpox was reported among the soldiers.

Smallpox crippled the forces in Canada, preventing them from launching an attack on Quebec in late 1775. Many soldiers’ scheduled enlistment ended on January 1, 1776 and a majority warned their superiors they planned to not reenlist due to fear of the disease.

These soldiers would rather desert the cause than risk death by smallpox. These soon-to-be expired enlistments forced Arnold and General Richard Montgomery to launch their assault on Quebec before the year’s end.

Montgomery later reported that only about 800 men were able to fight, as the rest were sick with smallpox. The lack of healthy soldiers resulted in a spectacular failed attack on Quebec on the 30th of December. British forces killed Montgomery, wounded Arnold, and captured hundreds of colonists.

Arnold maintained substantial forces around Quebec in hopes of launching a second, successful assault, however, the lack of reinforcements and the ravages of smallpox impeded any future attack.

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.”

Personal experience played an important role in Washington’s attitude toward and understanding of the variola virus. While traveling in Barbados in November of 1751 with his brother Lawrence, Washington himself had been stricken with smallpox.

Confined with the illness for twenty-six days, he suffered greatly and was permanently pocked by the experience. Only nineteen at the time of the attack, Washington developed lifelong immunity as a result.

The disease may also have rendered him incapable of fathering children, as modern scientists have documented infertility as a complication of smallpox.  (Becker)

However, Washington also feared the spread of smallpox between soldiers who did not quarantine after inoculating.

In a February 6, 1777 letter to Dr. William Shippen Jr., director of the medical department of the Continental Army, Washington proclaimed: “Finding the Small pox to be spreading much and fearing that no precaution can prevent it from running through the whole of our Army, I have determined that the troops shall be inoculated.”

“Necessity not only authorizes but seems to require the measure, for should the disorder infect the Army in the natural way and rage with its usual virulence we should have more to dread from it than from the Sword of the Enemy.”

“Under these circumstances I have directed Doctr Bond to prepare immediately for inoculating in this Quarter, keeping the matter as secret as possible,”

“If the business is immediately begun and favoured with the common success, I would fain hope they will be soon fit for duty, and that in a short space of time we shall have an Army not subject to this the greatest of all calamities that can befall it when taken in the natural way.”

With this order, 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.

Smallpox was under control, supplies were adequate, patients were, for the most part, housed in buildings specifically designed for their care, the staff was large in proportion to the number of patients, fresh vegetables were available from local gardens, and evidence even indicates that sheep and cattle were now being delivered on the hoof.

By May 1777, therefore, the Hospital Department in the North was well prepared to handle the casualties of another hard campaign.

Click the following link to a general summary about Smallpox:

Click to access Smallpox.pdf

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC