Yellow Fever French Revolution

It was 1802, and Charles Leclerc’s army was dwindling. The French general was losing as many as 2,000 troops in a single day. A slave revolt on the island of St. Domingo prompted the French emperor Napoleon to send troops to the island to regain control. The slave revolt was much stronger and more organized than they had thought it would be. Battle after battle was fought, with the French defeated many times. As General Leclerc watched his army deteriorate, he realized that they were faced with more than one problem. Not just war, but the deadly disease yellow fever. While battling with slaves and mosquitoes riddled the French, the United States looked on in hope. They dreamed of expanding West, and the French held a piece of land they very
This mosquito breed carried yellow fever, a deadly disease. Yellow fever cannot be passed directly from one person to another, but instead requires a host, in this case a mosquito, to spread it. Once someone receives yellow fever, the symptoms begin abruptly. The skin of the infected person will become yellow, and they will begin to vomit in a black color. The swampy ports of St. Domingo and humid spring air helped the insects thrive. Between 1802 and 1803, the disease ravaged through the vulnerable French troops. Reinforcements arrived, but were also killed. In total, about 50,000 troops were killed. The French soldiers suffered, lacking immunity to the disease and treatment to cure it. General Leclerc himself fell to the disease in late 1802. He was replaced by General Rochambeau, but it was too late. The slaves were immune to the disease because they were native to the island, and continued to fight the French as they battled the disease. With a death rate of 85% among the troops, the outcome looked grim. In November of 1803, General Rochambeau retreated back to France with just 3,000 surviving troops. St. Domingo, now known as Haiti, declared its independence in 1804. As France was on the brink of another war with Great Britain, they realized they had very little funds left after fighting in St. Domingo. They looked to sell their land in North America, and this was where the United States
Livingston to Paris. Napoleon was eager to rid himself of the land, and was happy to be approached by the United States. He had given up on his idea of creating a huge empire in North America. President Jefferson had told Monroe and Livingston to spend no more than $10 million. However, Napoleon made an offer that was too good to pass up. Rather than selling a small portion of the Louisiana territory to the US, Napoleon offered them the whole thing for just $15 million. That is roughly four cents per acre. On October 20, 1803, the Senate approved the purchase. The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States. The total area of the territory was nearly 830,000 square miles and spanned from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The land was rich in gold and silver, and there were a lot of forests. The future looked bright for young America. The country’s expansion had begun, and it was all thanks to a slave uprising and a deadly