Smallpox - Haiti Observer Blog

Abraham Lincoln, before signing the Emancipation Proclamation, struck a deal with the landowner of Ile-à-Vache, a vacant island near the southern coast of Haiti. He contracted to send former slaves there to avoid racial uprisings on U.S. soil. The plan failed and Lincoln's decision has been debated by historians, trying to define his presidential character in the context of it. A perfect storm of disease, greed, and mistrust between government and private individuals brewed destructive forces, foiling a well-intentioned effort to deal with the aftermath of abolition in the U.S.

The ship traveling to Ile-à-Vache suffered an outbreak of smallpox en route. The 4,500 infected settlers were isolated, awaiting a second-supply ship that never arrived. This failure caused conflict to erupt between the landowner, his patrons, and agents of the U.S. government. The 500 unaffected settlers became stranded on Ile-à-Vache, and in rebellion ran the landowner off. Lincoln was forced to return the settlers to the U.S.

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