The Siege of “Castle Pox”: A Medical Revolution in Marblehead, Massachusetts, 1764–1777

In January 1773 sailors and other members of Marblehead's so-called “Savage Mobility” burned down the new inoculation hospital, nicknamed “Castle Pox.” This article re-creates those explosive events, places them within the history of the American Revolution, and argues that Marblehead's people demanded equal access to medicine as well as to political rights.