1763, Dec-July 1764 — Smallpox Epidemic, Boston (170) & Cambridge (6), MA colony–176
–176 Boston and Cambridge. Kohn. Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence. 2001, p. 31.
–170 Boston
–124 People infected naturally.
— 46 Infected by inoculation.
— 6 Cambridge
— 4 People infected naturally.
— 2 Infected by inoculation.
–170 Boston. Archer 2010, p. 9; Calloway. The Scratch of a Pen. 2006, p. 45.
Narrative Information
Archer: “…the smallpox epidemic…raged through Boston from December 1763 to July 1764…By late June 170 people had died: 124 from the disease and 46 from inoculation. At first, the disease worked stealthily, and it took nearly a month before Bostonians became cognizant of the danger. By January 17, members of the House learned that smallpox had spread to seven or eight houses, and hence when they formally requested that Governor Francis Bernard ‘adjourn them to Cambridge,’ Bernard readily approved. The ensuing month, Boston physicians agreed to establish a hospital for inoculation. Recipients of the vaccine could stay at the hospital or some other quarantined dwelling, but in either case they had to remain isolated during recovery, a period typically ranging from three to six weeks. The Boston Gazette reported that ‘near 2500 People’ were inoculated in the first week ‘since Liberty was granted’ to administer it.
“Other protective measures soon were taken. Assuming that the contagion had come from merchant ships, authorities kept cargoes from being unloaded and crews from coming ashore….
“Many who were able left town….With trade at a standstill, few residents escaped the impact of the disease….” (Archer. As If an Enemy’s Country: The British Occupation of Boston…, 2010, pp. 9-10.)
Calloway: “Smallpox arrived in Boston in December [1763] evidently on board a ship from Newfoundland that had lost one of its crew to the disease en route. One hundred seventy people died in Boston. The outbreak revived the debate about inoculation but by the turn of the year, Bostonians were being inoculated. In January, the legislature, the General Court of Massachusetts, moved across the Charles River to Cambridge for safety….
“The smallpox epidemic spread to Indian country…. The 1763 smallpox outbreak in Indian country does not appear to have reached the pandemic proportions of some and later epidemics….” (Calloway. The Scratch of a Pen. 2006, p. 45.)
Kohn: “Outbreak of smallpox that struck Boston from 1763 to 1764 and killed only 170 inhabitants out of a population of some 15,000 to 20,000.
“Out of the first 12 or 13 cases of smallpox reported in 1763, 10 or 11 persons died, according to colonial diarist James Gordon of Boston….Many Bostonians, including notable members of the government, fled across the Charles River to nearby Cambridge…In accordance with a law passed years earlier, the Boston selectmen successfully placed many of the smallpox-infected houses under quarantine.
“The recent development of a smallpox inoculation changed the course of this epidemic dramatically…Townspeople had voted to allow inoculations beginning on March 13, 1764; this process of inoculating people continued through April 20, 1764….By the end of the epidemic, nearly 5,000 inhabitants had been inoculated, and among those…there were 1,025 poor citizens of Boston (cared for by the Overseers of the Poor); this was the first epidemic instance where special provisions were made for the inoculation of the poor. The inoculations caused 46 deaths, while 124 persons out of 699 infected naturally with smallpox perished. In all, Boston had a mortality rate of less than 1 percent during the epidemic, which eventually spread to Cambridge. In Cambridge, 649 persons were inoculated, and only two deaths resulted. Thirty-eight natural cases of smallpox broke out in Cambridge, and just four proved fatal.
“Further reading: Blake, Public Health in the Town of Boston, 1630-1822;[1] Duffy, Epidemics in Colonial America;[2] Winslow, A Destroying Angel: The Conquest of Smallpox in Colonial Boston.[3]” (Kohn. Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence. 2001, p. 31.)
Sources
Archer, Richard. As If an Enemy’s Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution. Oxford University Press, 2010. Google preview accessed 3-23-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=xOtHWyCDiOQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Blake, John B. Public Health in the Town of Boston, 1630-1822. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959. Google preview accessed 3-23-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Zk2j4jrSf2EC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true
Calloway, Colin G. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Google preview accessed 3-23-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=0mYSDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Kohn, George Childs (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence From Ancient Times to the Present (Revised Edition). NY: Checkmark Books, 2001.
[1] Blake, J. Public Health in the Town of Boston, 1630-1822. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Historical Studies, 72. 1959.
[2] Duffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Louisiana State University Press, 1953, 274 pages.
[3] Winslow, Ola Elizabeth. A Destroying Angel: The Conquest of Smallpox in Colonial Boston. Houghton-Mifflin, 1974, 137 pages.