[revwardoc]

The medical theories of the time dated back some 5000 years to Hippocrates. A major form of "cure" was bleeding which did nothing more than deprive the patient, or victim, of vital bodily fluids. Hospitals, such as they were, were the worst place to be when injured since you would have to share a bed with someone suffering from diseases such as smallpox, scurvy, yellow fever, scarlet fever, influenza, consumption (tuberculosis), etc. A big part of the disease problem was the fact that American communities were isolated from each other by distance, especially in rural areas of the eastern Appalachians, and in the south. This meant they weren't exposed to germs for most of their lives then they found themselves thrown together with men from other parts of the country who carried infections and germs from which they had grown immune. Smallpox was so feared that if an outbreak occurred, men who had survived the disease were stationed on the roads leading in the direction of the outbreak. Their job was to turn away anyone from that direction and had the authority to kill those who resisted.

You have to remember that economics played a huge role in civilian participation in the war. In order to survive you had to play the game; trade with both sides, but especially the side that could pay in hard currency (silver and gold). When the French army arrived in Newport, RI in 1780 and then marched to Yorktown the following year, they were greeted with open arms by Americans. Not because they were looked upon as valued allies but because they paid their troops in gold French sou. Amazingly enough (sarcasm here) the rates of inflation skyrocketed whenever they came to a town, and you have to remember that the predominately Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of America had recently fought wars against the same army. Money talks; bullsh*t walks.