Bacteria and bayonets : the impact of disease in American military history / David R. Petriello.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed March 17, 2016).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface; Introduction; One Columbus Day or Contagion Day: Disease "Arrives" in America; Two "Deus Flavit Nasus et Dissipati Sunt": The Protestant Wind and the Catholic Flu; Three Pocahontas and the Plague: The English and Disease in the Conquest of the Colonies; Four "The Paths to Glory Lead but to the Grave": Disease in the Early French and Indian Wars; Five "Pestilence Gave Them a Common Death": Disease and the English Conquest of North America; Six Typhus and Taxation: Disease and the American Revolution.

Seven A Nation Forged in Gout and expanded by Venereal Disease: A Medical Look at the Early RepublicEight Montezuma's Revenge: Disease and Manifest Destiny; Nine Johnny Dysentery and Billy Typhus: Disease and the Civil War; Ten Remember the Maine, to Hell with Yellow Fever: Imperialism and Illness; Eleven Love in the Age of Cholera, Warfare in the Age of Typhoid: Progressivism and Pestilence; Twelve Bullets, Bayonets, and Botulism: Biological Warfare in the Twentieth Century; Thirteen Al-Qaeda, Anthrax, and America: Terrorism and Disease in Post-Cold War America; Conclusion; Endnotes.

English.

A fascinating look at how microbes have affected war outcomes from colonial times to the present. Various powerful enemies from the British to the Nazis, and legendary individuals including Tecumseh and Robert E. Lee, have all fallen before the arms of the American soldier. Yet the deadliest enemy faced by the nation, one that has killed more warriors than all its foes combined, is disease. But illness has been more than just a historical cause of casualties for the American military. In numerous wars, it has helped to decide battles, drive campaigns, and determine strategy. In fact, the Patriots owed pestilence as much for their victory in the Revolution as they did their own force of arms. Likewise, disease helped to prevent the conquest of Canada in 1812, drove strategy in the Mexican War, handicapped Lee's 1862 advance, and helped lead to World War II. Disease also provided an edge in the wars against Native Americans, yet just as soon turned on the United States when unacclimated US troops were dispatched to the southern Pacific. This book not only traces the path of disease in American military history but also recounts numerous episodes and anecdotes related to the history of illness. It is a compelling story, one that has been overlooked and underappreciated. Yellow fever, malaria, tuberculosis, glanders, bubonic plague, smallpox, and numerous other bacteria and viruses all conspired to defeat America'and remain enemies that need to be recognized.

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