Yellow fever ravaged the French army because campaigning dragged into fever season
Evidence
Descourtilz claimed that he had discovered an old black man who was grinding up the intestines of hastily buried fever victims to make sausages, and in so doing purposely spread the contagion to those who remained healthy. The reality was more banal. Troops arriving in the Caribbean had always been vulnerable to such outbreaks, and many had forewarned Bonaparte of the dangers the scourge might pose to his mission to Saint- Domingue. Aware of the danger, the consul had hoped to avoid the worst by sending his troops early enough in the year to avoid the hot months when the plague was at its worst. He also mistakenly assumed that his troops would accomplish their mission quickly. Instead, the war against Louverture took many months of hard campaigning. By then the season of fever had begun, and the disease showed a rare virulence, spreading rapidly as it fed off the large numbers of unacclimated troops on the island. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 991
The reality was more banal. Troops arriving in the Caribbean had always been vulnerable to such outbreaks, and many had forewarned Bonaparte of the dangers the scourge might pose to his mission to Saint- Domingue. Aware of the danger, the consul had hoped to avoid the worst by sending his troops early enough in the year to avoid the hot months when the plague was at its worst. He also mistakenly assumed that his troops would accomplish their mission quickly. Instead, the war against Louverture took many months of hard campaigning. By then the season of fever had begun, and the disease showed a rare virulence, spreading rapidly as it fed off the large numbers of unacclimated troops on the island. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 991
Categorization
- ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to how fever—not just battle—decided a slave revolution, paralleling the role of environment and weather in historical outcomes.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 991