The Civil War Confederate Bio-Terror Plot,In the summer of 1864 Bermuda was experiencing a terrible

The Civil War Confederate Bio-Terror Plot,In the summer of 1864 Bermuda was experiencing a terrible yellow fever epidemic, most likely spread by passing sailors.  There to help with the epidemic was Dr. Luke Blackburn, a physician from Kentucky.  While Blackburn helped many patients during his stay in Bermuda, he had ulterior motives for his actions. Dr. Luke Blackburn was a Confederate supporter, and at the time the American Civil War was going badly for the Confederacy.  Dr. Blackburn’s goal was to spread yellow fever throughout northern cities, hopefully causing enough death and chaos to hinder the Union war effort.Dr. Blackburn gathered the clothing of dead victims, all of which were in good enough condition to pass as brand new clothing, and gathered them up in trunks.  He then had them shipped to Halifax, where they were then to be shipped to clothing merchants in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Norfolk, and Washington D.C.  Another trunk was also to be sent directly to Abraham Lincoln as a gift. The plot failed when authorities discovered the plot, Dr. Blackburn was arrested in Montreal, and the clothing confiscated and burned.  Nurses in Bermuda became suspicious of Dr. Blackburn and alerted the constabulary.  In addition, Blackburn’s accomplice, Edward Swan, alerted the US Consul in Toronto when Blackburn couldn’t pay him upfront to deliver the trunks of infected clothing. Amazingly, Dr. Blackburn was only charged with violating Canadian neutrality law, but was acquitted and allowed to return to the US.  He served one term as Governor of Kentucky, passing away in 1883.As its turns out, yellow fever cannot be spread from contaminated items, only through mosquito bites and contact with bodily fluids. So the plot would have failed anyway. -- source link

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