The Invisible Enemy

Disease weakened Washington’s army long before it faced British lead and steel. The poorly trained patriot fighters tended to relieve themselves in the ditches which surrounded their fortifications, putting them at severe risk of disease. By August, fecal born contamination had put around one quarter of General Washington’s Army out of commission even before the fighting had started. Among those stricken was Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene who had overseen the defensive preparations on Brooklyn Heights. Command of the Brooklyn forces first passed to Maj. Gen. John Sullivan and then to Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam, the latter having led troops in combat against the British at Bunker’s Hill.