Josh Hughey

Europeans vs. Native Americans: Disease

     I have always been fascinated by other cultures.  One side effect of this fascination is that I have developed a sort of cultural empathy, that is to say I understand their views.  A side effect of this side effect is that I have become extremely opposed to the mistreatment of others, more specifically the mistreatment of one culture by another based on the beliefs of the aggressor.  Naturally I am interested in all examples of this behavior but what interests me the most are the interactions and hostilities between Native Americans and European settlers.  By examining different aggressive acts by the Europeans I hope to gain insight as to why these acts took place to begin with.

     I began my research by attempting to narrow down the hostilities to find the most interesting, or the most devastating.  The topic I settled on, disease, may come as a shock to some because my assumption is that most people see disease as something that occurs naturally and do not see early European settlers as biological warriors.  For the most part they would be right, but the effect of just one outbreak of disease can be devastating to a population with no immunity to it.  I learned of many different illnesses that the settlers transmitted to the Native Americans but the one that seems to have been most detrimental to the Natives is smallpox.  Though it is contagious and was often transmitted unintentionally there are several accounts of purposeful transmission.  One such example occurred in 1763.  A British general named Jeffrey Amherst took blankets off of smallpox-infected corpses and gave them to the local natives.  This resulted in the infection, and most likely death, of many Native Americans (Halverson).

     Less than one month prior to the previous event the exact same plan was carried out to end fighting between Natives and settlers at Fort Pitt (Gill Jr.).  Though the two abovementioned events are the best known there are many other reports of similar acts, almost always involving the giving of an infected object to Native Americans.  Proof of this behavior’s frequency is the fact that many Native American groups incorporated smallpox into their culture, including dances as well as written and spoken stories (Halverson).  

     I thought examining a single example of aggression toward Native Americans would give me at least a little better understanding of the settler’s point of view or maybe even help me understand why they acted in such a manner.  All it did, however, was confuse me even more.  There now exists a new question.  Going beyond examining why settlers would engage in biological warfare, I am now curious as to why they used the Native American’s trust to give them infected items.  Perhaps I will understand if I look at other acts of aggression.  Perhaps in my second research post? 

Works Cited

Gill Jr., Harold B. “Colonial Germ Warfare.” Colonial Williamsburg Journal Spring (2004): n. pag. Web. 4 May 2010. http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring04/warfare.cfm

Halverson, Melissa Sue. “Native American Beliefs and Medical Treatments During the Smallpox Epidemics: an Evolution.” Early America Review Summer/Fall (2007): n. pag. Web. 4 May 2010. http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2007_summer_fall/native-americans-smallpox.html