This is an IHeart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

Canada is an independent nation and not a part of the United States, most likely

because of smallpox. During the Revolutionary War, the most dangerous place for a continental

army soldier was not on the battlefield, but rather within an encampment. In fact, fever and

infections from smallpox killed more soldiers than

any wound suffered in battle. And because smallpox was common in England, most British soldiers

had already been exposed and were immune, but the disease was less common in America

and the average continental soldier was not. Here to tell the story is William

Federer. He is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisarch, Inc.,

a publishing company dedicated to researching America's heritage. Take it away.

Smallpox is 10 times more terrible.

The quote from John Adams is,

disease has destroyed ten men for us,

where the sword of the enemy has killed one.

This was in a letter John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail

April 13th, 1777.

During the Revolution, soldiers were plagued with typhoid, yellow fever, and smallpox,

which, an estimated 30% of the soldiers became infected with.

So the soldiers were living in tight quarters and so the diseases could spread easily

and they didn't always have proper sanitation. So this largely began when the British evacuated

Boston. The British had occupied Boston for nine months, and when they finally left Boston,

...