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Confederates sell clothing from yellow fever and smallpox patients to Union troops.

1863

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Dr. Luke Blackburn, a Southern sympathizer and later governor of Kentucky, travels to Bermuda to "treat" patients with the intention of securing yellow fever-infected clothing. He then sells the clothing to Union troops in Washington, D.C. His attempt is unsuccessful because people do not ultimately fall ill from the clothing. This is one of multiple similar bioterrorism plots uncovered in the final days of the Civil War.