# Did whites ever give Native Americans blankets infected with smallpox? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 31, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox/565980 "2010-12-31T19:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Glen\_Schmidt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Glen\_Schmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glen_Schmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox/565980/1 "2010-12-31T19:45:48Z")
This question is interesting. Amherst’s letters seem to be clear. The part that doesn’t make sense is that the disease transmission process wasn’t really understood until the work of Pasteur. At the time that Amherst mused about infecting people with small pox blankets there were various beliefs about transmission of communicable diseases, fog and bad air being among them. * * * LINK TO COLUMN: [Did whites ever give Native Americans blankets infected with smallpox? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1088/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox/565980/2 "2011-01-01T04:54:56Z")
You’re generalizing (as your teachers probably did) from false beliefs about, _e.g.,_ malaria. That contact could spread _smallpox_ was very well understood, to the point that inoculation was practiced (at terrible risk) with smallpox long before Jenner’s application of cowpox. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox/565980/3 "2011-01-01T13:28:53Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, **Glen** , we’re glad to have you with us. When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the column in question. Yes, it’s the current one and on the front page this week, but it will soon sink into the depths of the Archives. So, providing the link helps others by eliminating searching time, and helps keep us all on the same page. No biggie, I’ve added it for you, and you’ll know for next time. And, as I say, welcome! ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Alex\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_T)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox/565980/4 "2011-01-07T16:44:08Z")
Since the time of Genghis Khan at least, there was an understand that items in contact with diseases would trigger more diseases. This led to such tactics as flinging dead animals into fortified cities, putting carcasses down the wells, etc. It’s not a new concept at all. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox/565980/5 "2011-01-08T16:55:56Z")
> [@Alex\_T](#): > > Since the time of Genghis Khan at least, there was an understand that items in contact with diseases would trigger more diseases. This led to such tactics as flinging dead animals into fortified cities, putting carcasses down the wells, etc. It’s not a new concept at all. For examples, see [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare#Middle_Ages).