Smallpox epidemic strikes Boston.
April 22, 1721
The outbreak occurs after the arrival of the HMS Seahorse, with several crew members infected with the disease, bypasses the quarantine hospital on Spectacle Island and lands at Long Wharf. The outbreak subsequently affects nearly half of the town’s 11,000 residents, kills 844 residents, and prompts an inoculation effort in June 1721.*
Sources
- Boston Globe
- Massachusetts Historical Society
- Simonds, Thomas C.
- Dain, Daniel
- Peterson, Mark
- Gilman, Arthur D.
- Warden, G.B.