Hi Doug.  Thanks for the reference.  I'll check it out.  I am sorry for
getting us off track.  Lets get back to VAHistory.  Living here so close to
Pequa and the land of the Miquon... it's hard not to hear the history going
places.  Many of the Miquons also lived as far south as Virginia and south.
They like the Shawnees the Miqons also came to aid the Cherokees and
Powhatans.

Dolores

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Deal" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] smallpox - not just a myth


> Tom Apple wrote:
>
> > I'm pretty sure that that the use of infected blankets to spread
smallpox has
> > proven to be a myth. The one instance of blankets given to the Indians
that
> > alledgedly had been infected was at Fort Pitt during the French and
Indian
> > War. Some blankets from the hopsital were give as gifts because those
were
> > the only extra blankets available. The ability of a few blankets to even
be
> > able to spread the pathogen has been questioned. The most likely cause
of
> > spread of smallpox in that instance occured when the Indians scalped
those
> > who had already died of smallpox putting them in direct contact with an
> > active pathogen from the blood.
> >
> > Other than that one alledged incident where the Indians were given
blankets
> > and there were people infected with smallpox present, there have been no
> > other documented incidents that Indians were given infected blankets to
> > deliberately spread the disease.
> >
>
> This is probably *not* a myth. See the refs to Jeffrey Amherst and other
smallpox
> related episodes in the following H-West exchange from 1995:
> http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~west/threads/disc-smallpox.html
>
> Doug Deal
> History/SUNY Oswego

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