Also missing from Ken Burns was Abigail Adams’ decision to have her family inoculated in Boston during that city’s general inoculation order of July 1776. But again, I think that would have made Washington’s decision less dramatic and more questionable. Why did it take him so long to order it?

But including the public demand for inoculation would diminish Washington’s characterization as a bold and creative decision maker. However, the full context is just as inspiring. Washington listened to the people and to his medical advisors, changed his mind, and supported public inoculations.

Ashbel Green (who is already in the documentary, voiced by Adam Arkin) described the scene of his family being inoculated alongside the troops in his home. It would have made for a cinematic moment if Burns had chosen to include it, and it would have shown demand for inoculation outside the military

After Washington made his decision to inoculate he traveled by sleigh to meet with local leaders of Morristown, NJ, who demanded the citizens of that town be inoculated as well. Washington agreed and citizens and soldiers alike inoculated together in private homes and churches.

Thinking about the mistake Burns made. He misinterpreted Washington’s order to inoculate new recruits to mean that they were the most likely carriers of smallpox, rather than the men who were most loudly demanding inoculation and the easiest to inoculate because they were not yet in encamped.

Ellis makes the inoculation order seem like the top-down decision of wise George Washington rather than what it really was: Washington changed his mind after being pressured to do so by his soldiers, officers, and medical staffers (and after his wife Martha sought inoculation for herself)

That’s *not* true—typed too quickly!

Could be…although Martha Washington got inoculated in the episode 2 timeframe in May ‘76.

Awesome! I’ll have to check it out

I’m hoping (and expecting) to see scholars from more varied institutions in the course of the 12 hours! There is, of course, lots of great work being done on the Revolution all across the country in many different institutions.

Here's the whole document, printed in Boston in April 1776 about a year before George Washington changed his mind to allow the soldiers of the Continental Army to inoculate. collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:...