Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Best Damned Treatise on the Smallpox Infested Blanket

...I've ever read.
"However, there is not a shred of evidence that this plan was actually carried out. Conspicuous by its absence is any letter indicating that either of them took any action on the plan. It is inconceivable that such a letter, if it existed, would not have been found, with the armies of revisionist historians undoubtedly searching for it. Since smallpox was known to be in the area at the time, any disease outbreak among the Indians would prove little."
[---]
"In this era of frenetic Western civilization-bashing, however, the smallpox story has taken on a life of its own, with any document containing the word "blanket" being reinterpreted to generate a sort of conspiracy theory. For example, the diary of William Trent, who was a commander of the militia of the townspeople of Pittsburgh during Pontiac's siege of the fort, contains an entry from which the following line is often quoted: "We gave them two Blankets and an Handkerchief out of the Small Pox Hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect." (May 24, 1763). Taken out of context, this sounds quite sinister. But the entire diary entry shows that this was clearly intended as a gesture of friendship:
"The Turtles Heart a principal Warrior of the Delawares and Mamaltee a Chief came within a small distance of the Fort Mr. McKee went out to them and they made a Speech letting us know that all our [POSTS] as Ligonier was destroyed, that great numbers of Indians [were coming and] that out of regard to us, they had prevailed on 6 Nations [not to] attack us but give us time to go down the Country and they desired we would set of[f] immediately. The Commanding Officer thanked them, let them know that we had everything we wanted, that we could defend it against all the Indians in the Woods, that we had three large Armys marching to Chastise those Indians that had struck us, told them to take care of their Women and Children, but not to tell any other Natives, they said they would go and speak to their Chiefs and come and tell us what they said, they returned and said they would hold fast of the Chain of friendship. Out of our regard to them we gave them two Blankets and an Handkerchief out of the Small Pox Hospital. I hope it will have the desired effect. They then told us that Ligonier had been attacked, but that the Enemy were beat of[f].
[---]
"The diary entry clearly shows that the "desired effect" was to express their friendly regard for the Indians, not to kill them. Of course, with what we know today about contagious diseases, the gesture was a horribly misguided one. But only the most cynical and biased reader could interpret this paragraph as evidence of germ warfare."
[---]
"It's important to maintain a skeptical attitude of the uncertainty surrounding events such as this. To this day, for example, many people still believe the politically-motivated stories, now known to be false, of J. Edgar Hoover being a transvestite, and of Nixon and Kissinger having overthrown Chilean president Salvador Allende. While we can recognize that our ancestors were often brutal, we must also guard against politically-inspired disinformation masquerading as historical fact."
Many, many years ago, I took a class in Canadian history at the U of S given by Dr. Ted Regher. I remember him saying that much of the history being written today (the 1970s) was very bad history. "Politically-inspired disinformation masquerading as historical fact" is exactly what he was talking about. The academic wing of The Indian Industry is responsible for a great deal of it.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Barb S. said...

Andrew Nikiforuk's 1991 book, "The Fourth Horseman: A Short History of Epidemics, Plagues, Famine and Other Scourges"(Penguin) details a number of instances where Aboriginal folkson the Plains and in Mexico attempted to infect non-Aboriginals with smallpox. James E. Nix's "Mission Among the Buffalo: the Labours of the Reverend George M. and John McDougall in the Canadian Northwest, 1860 - 1876" (1960; Ryerson) mentions the use of smallpox-infected items being used by the Blackfeet against the Stoneys in 1870. Always more than one side to a story.

April 14, 2010 5:37 pm  
Blogger Louise said...

I'm reading a book right now about the use of germ and chemical warfare thoughout history. It was practiced all over the place, including by North American Indians. Nothing new.

David E. Jones; "Poison Arrows: North American Indian Hunting and Warfare", University of Texas Press, 2007.

It's extremely well documented. My beef with the Jeffrey Amherst episode is that so many pseudo-historians are so hysterical about it, and, like the guy who wrote the piece at the link says, there is no proof whatsoever that the infamous blanket was the cause of the epidemic which was already underway, obviously, otherwise, how would they obtain infected blankets to distribute!

April 14, 2010 5:53 pm  
Blogger Indigo Red said...

Good read and I liked that the author explained the virology aspect. I've only one quibble. Nelson writes that "contaminated cotton bedding" is a poor vector for viral infection making it "impossible for a blanket to carry smallpox, transmission by blankets would be inefficient at best."

Given the time period and the British involvement, it is very unlikely the blankets were cotton. Because Britain was the largest supplier of wool in Europe, the blankets were probably wool. Buildings of the time were also built with very poor ventilation and hospitals were primarily places to die dispite the intent. Wet, dark, damp, and filthy, hospital wool blankets may have harbored enough live virus to infect otherwise healthy people. In this historical event, it is clear blankets of any material were not used.

I've a couple of books with the Amherst story and it's the same quoted material as Nelson refers. I will print this article and tuck it into the books.

April 14, 2010 10:46 pm  
Blogger Louise said...

What's the title of those books? I'd like to read them, after I get around to all the other books I've compulsively bought and have yet to read. I need to tear myself away from this stupid 'puter.

April 15, 2010 9:13 pm  
Blogger Louise said...

Barb, another good book on somewhat the same subject is Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill. Now that guy was a master historian. No bleeding heart tsk tsk moralizing anywhere in any of his books.

April 15, 2010 9:17 pm  

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