Is it true that the British specially handed out infected blankets to the Indians?

Recently, users of social networks and Russian politicians are increasingly remembering the story with the distribution of blankets of blankets of blankets to American Indians. We decided to check if this actually happened.

Senator Konstantin Kosachev in May 2022, speaking at the forum "New meanings, new reality", declaredthat the first bio -weapons were used by the British. According to the senator, they "distributed blankets infected with cholera to the Indians." A somewhat modified version set out On the air of the Zvezda television channel, Igor Nikulin, whom the state media is called "the former member of the UN Commission on Himoies." In the XVIII century, the Americans, under the guise of humanitarian aid, gave the Indians blankets, in which they previously wrapped the patients with measles and smallpox, the expert assured.

A similar episode was really in American history. In the spring of 1763, the Indian tribes, united under the leadership of the pontiac leader, besieged Fort Pitt, where several hundred colonists took refuge. The situation became critical, among the defenders of the fort, smallpox spread. The merchant William Trent, who was at that time in the fort, Recorded In their diary, that once the Indians came to the colonists for negotiations. Before leaving, they asked for gifts as a sign of friendship. “We gave them two blankets and a handkerchief from the hospital, where patients with smallpox are lying. I hope this will have a proper effect, ”Trent wrote. This could turn out to be a fantasy of a separate memoirist, but there is other evidence. Researcher Elizabeth Fenn Found Accounts from Pitt Fort, which indicates that there were just two blankets and one silk handkerchief from the hospital.

Another possible proof of the malignancy of the colonists and the military is the correspondence of General Jeffrey Amchurst and Colonel Henri Buke. Buke informed the higher authorities of bad news about the outbreak of smallpox inside the walls of the fort. “Is it possible to somehow convey to the OSPU these rebellious Indian tribes? We must use every opportunity to weaken them, ” - answered Amchurst. Buke, who at that time was reinforcing the defenders of the fort at that time, noted, in turn, that he would try to follow the advice of the general, but does not understand how not to become infected by the military himself. However, there is a chronological mismatch here: Amperse correspondence and bouquet dates July 1763, and the episode with blankets is June. Consequently, there is no evidence that the idea of ​​amchurst was realized.

Nevertheless, among the Indian tribes who besieged the fort, an epidemic of smallpox began. Historian Elizabeth Fenn gives evidence of English officers who speak of hundreds of the dead. She also believes that the plan of Amchurst and the private initiative of the defenders of the fort can be a coincidence - the smallpox at that time was a too frequent threat, and the fear of getting infected was one of the most common and at the same time rational fears. There are no historical evidence of the direct connection of blankets from the infirmary and there are no epidemics among the Indian tribes. In addition, modern researchers They pay attentionthat this is not the most reliable way to transfer the virus. Representatives of tribes are more likely to become infected with smallpox after contact with the inhabitants of the fort than through extraneous objects. Therefore, the intention to infect the Indians (though not cholera, but smallpox), undoubtedly, was unknown - but it became the cause of the epidemic.

The image on the cover: Wikipedia.

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Read on the topic:

1. Elizabeth A. Fenn: Biological Warfare in Eighteenth-Century North America: Beyond Jeffle Amherst
2. V. Barras, G. Greub: History of Biological Warfare and Bioterrorism
3. Francis Parkman: The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada