The Pox Project

From 1775 to 1782, a horrific episode of smallpox swept the entire North American continent. The period is known first and foremost for the Revolutionary War. But smallpox was the single experience that most Americans shared, whether they lived beside Puget Sound or Pensacola Bay. The disease can have a case fatality rate in excess of thirty percent. Its symptoms develop after an incubation period of about twelve days, developing from a flu-like prodromal period into a gruesome and painful outbreak of pustules that can cover most of the body. Survivors gain immunity. But they are also scarred for life.

In 2001, I published an account of the 1775-1782 epidemic in a book titled Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82. In order to track the movement of the contagion, I entered citations and geographic coordinates for each episode of smallpox that I found into a Geographic Information System (GIS) called ArcGIS. The GIS then displayed my data visually, across space and time.

As a researcher, I found this technology transformative. Computers are great for note-taking and writing. But for these tasks, computers do little to change the way we think. The GIS did just that. By displaying my notes visually, it led me to new questions and insights about the way human beings interacted across the continent.

My hope when I wrote Pox Americana was that future researchers would refine and revise what we know as new evidence came to light. In the spirit of collaboration, I therefore offer my own data here at eHistory.org. Citations are included for each incident on the map.

Please use this information to begin your own research into the epidemic of 1775-1782, and please add to it by sending us new incidents, corrections, and refinements as you discover them. --Elizabeth Fenn, author of Pox Americana