DDH | Washington's Other War

George Washington was fighting the British. But another enemy was tearing through the Continental Army, and muskets and artillery were useless against it. Smallpox threatened to destroy the Revolution from within. Washington initially prohibited inoculation. Then the evidence forced him to reconsider. What followed was one of the most consequential and dangerous decisions of his command: deliberately infecting thousands of soldiers to protect the army from a disease that might otherwise destroy it. Washington’s Other War is the story of smallpox, variolation, military secrecy, and the gamble Washington took to keep the Continental Army alive.