The Smallpox-infected Blankets

Repost from the old site. Oh, how the American Indians love this story! I’ve heard it endlessly. Did you know that the US gave these evil blankets to Indians all over the country, even here in California? Or Hudson Bay traders gave them to Indians in Canada? That those blankets wiped out “generations” of Indians? That the US gave them out to reservation Indians in the 1800’s? That Puritans gave out the blankets to Massachusetts Indians? Neither did I. Ward Churchill said the US Army gave Indians them diseased blankets. He lied, and he should have known better. It’s always nice to track down a myth, or is it really a myth? So let’s track it down. Turns out, Americans never gave smallpox blankets to any Indians anywhere at anytime. Not the government, not the Army, not anyone. So we are absolved on that one. The incident in question occurred in 1763, before there even was a USA, before there even were Americans. And American colonists (pre-Americans) didn’t do it either. It was the British that done the deed, and the one man who is always accused of doing it never even did it. Further, it was in the midst of a horrible and genocidal war (on both sides) called French and Indian War, with which the rebellion is often incorrectly associated. In the aftermath of that war, the area which had been ruled by the French was now ruled by the British. And the Indians, far from reflexively hating every White man around, had previously adjusted well to French rule and were angry about now being ruled by the British. The Indians hated the deal they were getting from the British, who were sawed-off shotgun-type muskets so they could hide them under their blankets. The Indians were horrible and vicious in the course of this war, and the British were too. But it was the British who were really getting pounded. Whole forts were being overwhelmed by 300-strong Indian armies, and after the storming, the Indians would kill everyone in the place, soldiers, women, kids, anyone. The Indians were raiding towns, settlements and schools and killing every White they could find. These were some of the most hard-ass Indians in the history of the Indian Wars. Further, the Indians actually made an alliance of many tribes living in the area during this war, which is incredible, since the Indians usually hated their neighbors so much they would not even ally with them to fight the Whites. In the course of the Pontiac Rebellion, a famous British general named Lord Jeffrey Amherst wrote a letter to his subordinate among the besieged British troops in one of the forts suggesting that they give the Indians smallpox-infected blankets. Turns out that this 5 Another example of a big fat myth/legend/historical incident, that, once you cut it open – well, there’s nothing much there. The tactics in this war were downright terrifying. At one point the city of Detroit itself was contribution to support the continuation of the site.

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290 thoughts on “The Smallpox-infected Blankets”

  1. What I’ve perused so far of your website reminds me a lot of Steve Sailer. I probably won’t agree with you on every point, but since you’re intellectually honest about what you’ve written, I can at least respect you for that. Interesting stuff. I’ll be back from time to time.

  2. The usual class being shown…
    The thing that has always puzzled me is, how did these geniuses know about germ warfare before anyone knew about the germ and what it could do? In the time of these conflicts, it was well known that illness was caused by “evil miasmas”. Amazingly smart men- before their time, so to soeak.

    1. J e ws were Forbidden from working in medicine in the Middle Ages by the ruling Catholic Monarchs, if that helps answer your question…

  3. Only the truth. The left-wing control freaks smear constitutionalists because they hate placing any controls on the scope of fedgov’s power. I ask you to investigate, for example, the smear campaign against a safe insecticide called DDT and the consequences in terms of millions of deaths of its ban by environmental whackos.
    http://shoutfirst.blogspot.com/2010/04/drinking-ddt.html
    Reason Foundation demonstrates the irrational environmental politics behind the scare campaign against DDT all these decades. How much of our public policy is based on political hysteria rather
    than science?

    1. Look Sam, I am going to have to ban you as this is a socialist blog and we don’t allow people to post rightwing stuff here.

      Also I notice sadly that you are not only a conservative but apparently you are so far right that you are completely out of your mind. It is really not my fault that you have gone crazy and there is not much I can do about it. But they do have drugs for such things you know.

      1. Great topic.
        As some may know, J EWs were blamed for the Black Plague, killing half of Europe by poisoning wells of Christians with rats, and fleas on the rats transmitted the disease. Their confessions are on record, with instructions by their Rabbis.
        The North American Genocide of Indians was similar, and was similar tactics ie biological germ warfare to cause the destruction.
        British General and Zionist Jacob Jeffrey Amhearst was the ‘creator’ of this practice and it managed to kill off millions of Indians in 150 years.

  4. Robert,
    You can blog until you heart is content, but the fact remains that EVERY Single treaty, land and peace agreements, that the US Govt signed with the Indians, were broken BY the US Govt!
    EVERY, SINGLE, ONE.
    The wrongs committed need to be made right.
    The Indian populace fell from approximately 40-50 million nationwide in the 1700s to less than 1 million in 1900.
    Using germ warfare to kill them off was the means, it was tried on those in Hawaii was well, but the Coconut has amazingly strong anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti biotic properties and they did not succumb.
    Imperialism was practiced by the English, Rothschilds Proxy military, and terrible misdeeds were committed (Ireland, China, India, Africa, USA 1770s et al). England STILL Occupies dozens of nations and engages in terrible occupation, economic terror, and destruction. The more things change…

  5. God these denialists annoy me …
    What nonsense:

    … modern medicine suggests that it could not possibly have worked. Smallpox dies in several minutes outside of the human body. So obviously if those blankets had smallpox germs in them, they were dead smallpox germs. Dead smallpox germs don’t transmit smallpox

    US government was experimenting with smallpox as a weapon right up until Richard Nixon.

  6. I was really astounded by this. You had a really great chance at providing the public with clear-cut case of fact vs. fiction, but you marred it with your petty entitlement and poor quality of respect. It’s too bad you’ll have more replies from angry Native-Americans than from people interested in understand where the story went array.

  7. There ya go! Ban that son of a squaw!!!
    Fuck all redskins. I once fucked a teepee poster gal and the damn bitch got preggers. She wouldnt get an abortion! Now Im stuck begging my brother to pay the child support cuz I aint spending a goddamn dime to feed no Injun.
    I wish smallpox woulda wiped their sorry asses right out! Only good Injun is a dead Injun. Kill them all!

    1. Are you for real man I cant believe YOUR REAL I think your just here to TRY AND GET UNDER PEOPLES SKIN and your not very GOOD AT THAT !

  8. Wow! Everyone who buys into this belief that the whites were the problems seem to be festering in hate. In fact the Indians probably killed more whites then whites ever killed Indians. For the simple reason that the Indians were better at it. However it is true that disease killed a lot of Indians. Not disease intentionally given to them but simply the diseases that were around then. But in fact more whites died of smallpox and other diseases then Indians did. Until modern medicine and vaccinations half of all children in this country died before age five and another half died before age 18 most from diseases but many from accidents.

    1. Yes, Indians killed more Whites than the other way around. I think the results of the Indian Wars were that Indians killed ~10,000 Whites and we killed ~6,500 Indians.

  9. Tribalism is part of human nature. Even today, different sports teams battle each other all over America, and overseas, soccer is the #1 passion. So how can we be hard on the Indians? Well, even in Europe, they fought for thousands of years. Tribes have fought each other, all thru recorded history.

  10. Only whites would do such a thing. We north east asians are superior in every way possible!! Compare the development of chinese civilization in its early stages to the early developments of western civilization!!

    1. And yet it’s obviously Whites who ended up creating superior civilizations where WAY more of your kind want to move to than vice-versa. Hell, thousands of you were even willing to pay a “racist” head-tax in order to move to our “inferior” civilizations.
      I happen to know this because your descendents are currently wining about it and are busy making a new grievance industry out of addressing it. Just what one would expect from a “superior” people like you.

  11. Mr. Lindsay’s bizarre account for American history leads me to believe that his infatuation with “lies”allows him to create the truth instead of finding truth. This article isn’t written in a the style of a literary historian but instead a disgruntled white American who is displeased with American Indians. I know this is a slippery slope but I’m convinced that he is deviant in other ways that are very unorthodox. It sounds like he’s the kind of person who would dubiously support a sex offender. Another critic of yesterday, a real piece of shit person and sick motherfucker. Live it up Mr. Lindsay. Live. It. Up. Enjoy your child porn.

  12. Finally a Site where there is so much Intelligent crap gushing forward you left speechless its REALLY SAD that you folks don’t have a life, Most of the remarks were so pathetic I feel sorry for those so Involved in such Idol threat from SAD WORTHLESS PEOPLE who have to much time on there hands I tried not to use BIG words so I wouldn’t offend any body but I think thats pretty much Impossible, Remember Folks U.S.= Free Speech Fishman

  13. I never heard that the smallpox blanket was a myth. I even remember being taught this in class in high school as fact. Most people believe that Native Americans were killed off by being deliberately infected with diseases. Countless people call it a genocide of Native Americans and nobody really questions it.
    I have the feeling there are a lot of myths to be unraveled in this era of our history. You hear little of Native Americans fighting amongst each other. The narrative was that Native Americans were noble and proud people living peacefully and in harmony with nature in the Garden of Eden. Then one day European settlers showed up and murdered them all by giving them disease-ladden blankets and wiped out their population.
    I get the feeling that what we have been sold is woefully incomplete. It seems not all Native Americans were at war with Europeans, and most the deaths by disease were unintentional. Native Americans weren’t always the nice guys either. They sometimes owned slaves too themselves.

    1. my favorite story is that the Indians used every part of a buffalo.
      what our schools don’t mention is that they would stampede a whole herd of buffalo off a cliff, then take the one buffalo they needed and let the rest of the herd rot. no refrigeration back then.

  14. Might i suggest you research medical sites such as the CDC (I’m assuming you know what that is with your extensive knowledge base) where it is quite clear that smallpox can be spread by clothing and linens. Having no immunity the native Americans had as high as a 90% mortality rate. Aside from your obvious ignorance to call any group of people stupid is extremely disrespectful and basically serves to show your stupidity

    1. Sir I concur….I am writing a masters thesis with title in development….something of the nature….DISEASE,STARVATION AND EPIDEMIC ON THE TRAIL OF TEARS…..or subtitled no past no future, due to the survival rate because of drought, waterborne disease, and enviro/geo (NEW WORD) I will end here. Please respond politely.No haters …and the narrow minded will be scalped……..

  15. Your comment about the virus’ survival rate outside the body is a lie. The virus can survive at least 1 week on cloth materials.

  16. For what the white man did to all my native people THE INDIANS MY FAMILY. WITH THE DAMN SMALLPOX. PAY BACK IS A BITCH!!!!!! EBOLA IS GOING TO EAT YOU.

  17. Ebola coming for you. You DAMN DIRTY YOU WHITE MEN. THIS OUR LAND. WHITE MAN ARE TERRITORIES. WE SAVED YOU IN WORLD ll as the code talkers. We will not help you in EBOLA. WHITE MAN PUT YOUR MOUTH OVER THE EBOLA AND SUCK.

  18. Some Amerindian women are so anti-white and proud of their heritage, yet want to date every white “good ole boy” they can get their hands on. Go figure. I mean, were talking about a race (Amerindians) on the verge of extinction in many places.

  19. Seeing the number of hits this blog post has gotten, as well as the comments, I’d say you Mr. Lindsay have gotten the reaction you were looking for. I would also add, however, that you marred your chance at having an impactful article by a) injecting your personal opinion and emotions into what you have passed off as facts and b) very childish replies to people in the comment section. Granted, some of these trolls posted dumb comments. But bro let’s be serious, some of the racial slurs on your point are completely uncalled for. Maybe having the “power” to “ban” someone from your site is probably the kind of thing that gets you off. I suggest you go back to the drawing board and correct some of your article, and accept that some of the comments posted here were actually closer to the truth than what you wrote.

  20. there is actually accounts of this happening, there are actual letters written by Amherst discussing using blankets and contaminated clothing to get rid of the Native problem. Pierre Mailard wrote in his book about the English trading contaminated clothing with the Mi’kmaq in 1746 which killed most of the Mi’kmaq in the village. There is so much actual physical evidence written by those who were there at the time. So those that deny it, can sit there and deny it because they are trying to find justification for genocide.

    1. They probably didn’t know the blankets were infected. That was before the germ theory of disease anyway. The Amherst story has been dealt with in the piece. Amherst’s gambit failed and not one Indian was infected by his ploy.

  21. I think that was really interesting. I’m from michigan and white. The true history is not taught in this country. It is white washed into political correct ness. We would not want to hurt an in gins feelings . They were stupid war like people who needed genocide. The whole continent was free for the taking. America was built on lies ,murder, deciet,and theft.

    1. There were TWO–count them, TWO–attempts to kill savages via the “smallpox blankets”, and in BOTH cases they were when the savages had the whites surrounded&pounded and were extorting goodies out of them. Not only was it not the Full-Court Press it’s portrayed as, (Compare those TWO incidents with say, the number of Anthrax attacks savages tried against us recently, or Assad gassing its OWN people with a far more effective KNOWN toxin) it was deserved. Think of someone robbing you at gunpoint, and you SNEEZE on the money you give them. That’ll show those thugs!

      1. I am aware of only one smallpox blanket germ warfare attempt, and it was done by the British, not the Americans, and it was also done before there was even an America in the first place. It was done by British colonists who were colonizing this continent. Not us.
        And the attempt didn’t even work. Two Indians received the blankets and were in good health a few months later. Besides, smallpox dies pretty quickly when it’s exposed to air. The blankets probably could not have infected anyone. Also this was before the Germ Theory of Disease, so these guys were really just shooting in the dark.

        1. Yes on both counts, it was a British fortress the first time.
          The second time it was an unarmed American village.
          And yes, it was just a theory, two CENTURIES before Germ Theory–and even when Germ Theory DID come out, Pasteur had to fight pretty damn hard to get anyone to LISTEN.
          It’s just another way the EEEVIL whites killed the “peaceful” savages. I’ve heard Blake’s last line OVER 9000(!) times in just my 36 years of life.

  22. Love all the racist Native Americans that are claiming that this is some kind of “justification” for what happened to their ancestors. LOL. The point of the article is to point out that the myth of smallpox blankets is exactly that: A MYTH. No one is “justifying” anything else, and it has nothing to do with the fact that what happened to the Native Americans was extremely unfortunate and tragic.

  23. 1837 an American steamboat carried infected people and supplies up the Missouri river to Ft. McKenzie. Smallpox was spread by early Americans several times in history. 1763 was not the only smallpox out break, not was it the 1st.
    Smallpox did happen and our forefathers were part of it.

  24. The problem with this article is that you are making this issue very black and white. As you mentioned before they didn’t spread it on purpose, that may be true (which I disagree), we have no way of proving what happened generations ago. However you are depicting Native Aboriginals as the offenders or villains which is hurtful to many people because those people were all victims of colonization. They lived on this land first, then the europeans came in and took over their home for cultivation of resources. For the most part their culture was destroyed and their people have been experiencing intergenerational trauma for decades. You’ve diminished the cruelty that they endure because you have this idea in your mind that the settlers had the right to come to north america and overthrow the existing eco-system that excited by any means they saw fit. Also you should really look at some academic articles, because I’ve never seen any that state the finding you’ve discussed. My suggestion to you is to be more open to the possibility that there may be other possibilities other than your current perceived mindset.

    1. As you mentioned before they didn’t spread it on purpose, that may be true (which I disagree), we have no way of proving what happened generations ago.
      No they did try to spread it on purpose, but the project failed completely. The historical record on the Pontiac War is clear.
      However you are depicting Native Aboriginals as the offenders or villains which is hurtful to many people because those people were all victims of colonization.
      Their behavior during this war was pretty bad. I do not blame Amherst for using whatever weapons he had at his disposal to defeat the Indians. The Indians were waging a genocidal war against the colonists.
      You’ve diminished the cruelty that they endure because you have this idea in your mind that the settlers had the right to come to north America and overthrow the existing ecosystem that excited by any means they saw fit.
      In fact, I do not believe that at all. I believe that we invaded this continent in an act of aggression and then proceeded to steal every inch of land from the Indians, the rightful owners of the land.
      Also you should really look at some academic articles, because I’ve never seen any that state the finding you’ve discussed. My suggestion to you is to be more open to the possibility that there may be other possibilities other than your current perceived mindset.
      As far as I can tell, the matter of the smallpox blankets nonsense is settled among historians.

      1. I could see a situation of deliberate genocide. However, the fact remains the Amerinidans were already genocided, even before deliberate attempts could be made. The germs laid waste to the whole New World, especially in what is now Anglo-America.

  25. Not need for anyone to be a hateful dick about it, it’s just a case of unfortunate advantage. The Amerindians simply suffered from what Pacific Islanders also did, isolation from major diseases. Threfore, once exposed it caused havoc that wouldn’t on European populations.
    Of course, some Christians say they lost out cause they worshipped the devil (some kind of divine punishment), but I would leave the cause more to the random probability of nature.

    1. Considering the Amerndians lost due to random probability, then that fact would put a huge dent in the “White man is superior” stuff they were spreading around. I mean can W. Bush say he earned his wealth? So how white people claim the Amerindians died from anything but a natural disaster they had no control over?

      1. JASON Y
        Sorry to focus on you but Cherokee did not think Scots were superior. They thought they were awful. That was the first case of U.S. citizens petitioning for illegal immigrants. They even sent a tribal emissary to English court to stop Scots from entering Appalachia.
        Scant good it did.

  26. MIllions of white Europeans died from Smallpox… They aren;’t immune to it… HEY I NEED SOME VOLUNTEERS TO TAKE THESE SMALLPOX INFECTED BLANKETS TO THE INDIANS? ROFL.
    WHOLE THING IS LUDICROUS.

  27. Well said. The other day Jane Fonda once again spread this lie about the infected blankets. That is what brought me here. Natives here in Canada commit ed terrible atrocities towards white missionaries and other tribes. Many welcomed the white man because they brought food, guns, kettles, blankets and many other modern things.

    1. SPRUCEMAN
      The earliest “Natives” were actually wiped out by later Mongolians or Siberians who entered Canada in various waves. This is why the latest “Natives” could walk around Northeast Asia without a glance. They are no more native than some Chinese guy in Vancouver.

  28. I just watched the 1952 movie “The battles of Chief Pontiac” starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Chief Pontiac on Youtube. The villain in that movie is a Hessian Colonel working for General Amherst of the British Army who comes up with a plan to give smallpox infected blankets to the Indians who are besieging Fort Detroit.

  29. White Supremacist Barbaric Racists Neanderthals spread Diseases all over the world starting 1492, with the inventions
    Called Cowards with Guns. These dirty creatures roamed the the whole entire Planet Earth and destroyed everything in their pathwit with these weapons, that is why Satan has given you animals Cancers for Enternity. You have no Souls, so you will never rest in peace

    1. CHERYL
      You Indian women lay down and your Syphilis soaked up into our penises which you did seem to enjoy being shafted in your hairless Asiatic vaginas which we sadly spread to white women back in Europe.

    2. CHERYL
      You liked our white shafts and lay down with us. Native American women are Asian so you do not have a great deal of body hair if you are pure Indigenous and your vaginas are nice and tight.
      This is one reason that whites kept coming.
      Today very few of you are pure Siberian Mongolian. You are mostly mixed with French or British and Norse because you enjoyed white men thrusting deep into your brown small hairless vaginas in the woods and deserts.

    3. CHERYL
      I think Native women drew white men. You have all the best characteristics of Asian women, which you are. Submissive and not very hairy with nice tight brown vaginas.

    4. CHERYL
      True, whites have no “part of the land”. We roam around like I have shafting women of other races for pleasure.
      Not that I support or condone violence of any kind or extermination but it is a great deal of fun to have sex with women from the less advanced races.
      Your vaginas are not as hairy and your bodies are hairless and once you are really being thrust into you get into it.

  30. BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN! http://www.BoycottBitches.com I am an American man, and I have decided to boycott American women. In a nutshell, American women are the most likely to cheat on you, to divorce you, to get fat, to steal half of your money in the divorce courts, don’t know how to cook or clean, don’t want to have children, etc. Therefore, what intelligent man would want to get involved with American women? American women are generally immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste. The behavior of most American women is utterly disgusting, to say the least. This blog is my attempt to explain why I feel American women are inferior to foreign women (non-American women), and why American men should boycott American women, and date/marry only foreign (non-American) women.

  31. BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN! http://www.BoycottBitches.com I am an American man, and I have decided to boycott American women. In a nutshell, American women are the most likely to cheat on you, to divorce you, to get fat, to steal half of your money in the divorce courts, don’t know how to cook or clean, don’t want to have children, etc. Therefore, what intelligent man would want to get involved with American women?
    American women are generally immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste. The behavior of most American women is utterly disgusting, to say the least. This blog is my attempt to explain why I feel American women are inferior to foreign women (non-American women), and why American men should boycott American women, and date/marry only foreign (non-American) women.

  32. You should be scalped.
    Saying that Indians are stupid and couldn’t run a country because they were fighting is a hypocritical statement bitch. If you step away from writing fiction and read up on actual history you’ll see that white people fought one another throughout Europe and couldn’t run a country either.

    1. Except that whites advanced and the savages didn’t.
      What reason/excuse do YOU give for the savages’ stagnation for thousands of years? Were they waiting for your permission?
      And what evidence do you have that white people couldn’t run a country? European countries are the best in the world, otherwise savages from around the world would flee FROM them instead of fleeing INTO them.
      Or at least they were until the savage rapefugees kept raping and murdering their hosts?

    1. They were facing almost sure genocidal slaughter by the Indians. In such cases, you have to do what you can to survive.
      The smallpox blankets didn’t even work anyway. The virus dies very quickly when it is outside of the body and the Germ Theory of Disease was not even known yet. The two Indians who received the blankets were in good heath later. The Indians themselves said they were getting smallpox from raiding White villages and killing the Whites.

  33. SquaredT, why can’t Western Man just stand up and say “Yeah, we kicked your ass and took your shit! Deal with it!”

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