Talk:Boston campaign

smallpox myth
That smallpox myth certainly gets mileage. Before I deleted it the text read "The war also had incidents of biological warfare used by the British. In late 1775 and early 1776, the British Army deliberately infected thousands of American civilians and black slaves - men, women, and children - with smallpox then sent them in order to spread disease behind Continental Army lines and the inhabitants of Continental-held towns in Massachusetts. The ensuing devastation of the Continental Army and the inhabitants." all false. In the event 500 people left Boston, of whom 3 (three) later came down with smallpox. They did not cause any losses to the American Army. Boston had suffered a major smallpox epidemic for the previous two years and it was kept well under control. 3 cases out of 500 people was average, not biological warfare. (a total of 40 people died from smallpox and 28 from inoculations). click here for actual facts: Rjensen (talk) 01:21, 12 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Even if the business about smallpox is worth mentioning, placing a whole paragraph devoted to it in the lead is questionable (which, per WP:LEAD, is supposed to a summary of the rest of the article). If it is to be retained, it should be properly integrated into the chronology of the article body.  Magic ♪piano 19:02, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
 * the sources cited are not reliable secondary sources.  Geoffrey Zubay is a biochemist with no experience with the historiography; he does not cite ANY primary or secondary historical sources. (see his resume at resume online that shows 160+ articles, with zero on history.  Given the huge scholarly literature on 1776, that does not pass muster when wikipedia demands "reliable secondary sources."  Furthermore the text added to this article does not even follow its poor sources--it adds all sorts of exaggerations (three people with smallpox left Boston; the supposed text says "thousands"; the refugees were all kept in isolation far from the American troops and that worked,  As stated in Peters, Smallpox in the New World (2005) Page 42  "His[Washington's] measures seem to have worked, for smallpox did not break out among the American forces near Boston."  The rumors were rife: Washington in Dec 1775 warned a a FUTURE plot: "By recent information...General Howe is going to send out a number of the inhabitants...A sailor says that a number of these coming out have been inoculated with the design of spreading the smallpox through this...camp."  Washington said he did NOT believe the sailor's rumor but he did take precautions like isolating the refugees. see   What historians have done (see Ballard Campbell) is sift out the false rumors that were not true. Rjensen (talk) 09:31, 15 March 2014 (UTC)