American Indians and the Army

G

GunnyD

Active member
OK, this is in no way, shape or form an attempt to start any drama or controversy. I am just a bit shocked. I am an ardent history buff, I love to read about American and Military history. So in the course of my readings I have several times run across stories told as fact that in 1837 the US Army intentionally gave blankets infected with Small Poxs to the American Indians in what has been touted as an early account of germ warfare, perpetuated by the military on American Indians. In fact I have looked up many many history sources that are taught regularly as fact in High Schools and Colleges everywhere.

I am not 100% sure that is is true anymore, I stumbled across several sources that say this never happened. I also stumbled across sources that show that the U.S. had infact started an innoculation program for Native Americans as far back as 1831.

Like I said, I am interested in continuing this discussion, but not in fighting anyone about this. I am from Oklahoma and half my family is American Indian.

I intentionally did not post my sources as I would be interesed in seeing what any of you may come up with.
 
I've also come across conflicting reports such as you have. I personally don't know what to believe. Both sides have eyewitness proof and are penned by respectable researchers but this issue is so devisive that my gut tells me that both camps have an agenda and that the truth has got to be a mix of the two.

The broken treaties and the more recent illegal conviction of Leonard Peltier have done much to damage the credibility of US Government sources where American Indians are concerned but I also have a hard time swallowing all of the stories coming from the other side as well.

I've pretty much resolved myself to the fact that this was a long war waged against the indians and that in war no one knows what really happens in any action except for the principles at the scene. And even then human perception as it is will always skew a participants memory of an event. I think the skills of an investigating policeman are the order of the day. Take in all accounts and then sift through the common points and what seems in your own judgement was likely to be the actual series of events.

There are many stories that have been acknowledged as fact of the British Army, pre-American revolution, giving tainted blankets to the Indians fighting on the side of the French and I believe that this is the source of these stories. It was transference of guilt when subsequent incidents of small pox infection followed the issuing of blankets by reservation officials.

However, there was such a virulent hatred of the Indian among some Army officers that the killing of Indian women and children was considered fair play as they considered them sub-human and a plague on the continent. The Sand Creek massacre in Colorado and the personal writings of Col. Custer bear this witness. So with this mindset I believe it was possible for the issuing of tainted blankets to happen with malice of forethought.

I've researched this a lot myself as I have some Indian heritage myself and honestly the more I looked into this the more unsure I was of what really happened.
 
I can't see giving some people a disease that will be capable of starting an epidemic that would spread among everyone. There were white traders, Army, and others that were in contact with Indian tribes all over America and susceptible to small pox infection. If someone did such a thing, they were pretty ignorant of how infectious diseases work, especially in handling the blankets themselves.
 
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We did some pretty nasty things to the Indians as we moved from East to West, I will not deny that, but I have seen the "evidence" supporting the claim that disease infected blankets were given to the Indians and I can tell you it is Grade A B.S.

There are also continuity errors to this myth. Some say the British gave the infected blankets to the Indians during the French and Indian War, other stories say the U.S. Army did it, most historians agree it never happened. FACT: Small Pox is spread by a handshake. FACT: Small Pox was uncontrollable, as well as most diseases brought to America by the Europeans, at the time. FACT: Small Pox had spread through the Indian tribes in North and South America long before the British arrived, tens of millions of Natives died from diseases that the Indians were inadvertently exposed to by the Spanish.

The first reference to any such action by the U.S. Army was published in the 70's, 1970's, far too late for any witnesses to have survived and this is just like the groups who go around calling for the Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, Florida State Seminoles, University of North Dakota Fightin' Sioux, 2/3's of the high schools in South Dakota to change their nicknames because they are "racist." It's an attempt by a small group of people to get some attention. I should know, my high school was involved in a lawsuit by a native woman who said that our high school's nick name (Washing Warriors) was racist and it, along with several others, needed to be changed. The suit was dropped when lawyers for the Tribes testified in favor of the schools, that lady now has a six figure salary in NY, she got what she wanted.

I'm half Scandinavian, does that mean I would go around calling for the Minnesota Vikings to change their nicknames? No.
 
I've done quite a bit of research on Native Americans over the years and most of the time it seems that smallpox epidemics began inadvertently, often when an infected tribal member returned to his village from a trip outside his homeland. I can recall only 1 specific instance where an American military officer was alleged to have caused the spread of smallpox intentionally by way of dirty blankets, but I don't remember the particulars. Certainly it is quite possible, given the hostility of those times and the brutality of some individuals, for this to have happened.

I have some traditional Tarahumara friends who live in the Sierra Madre as they have always lived, and they do not accept used clothing, only clean bolts of new cloth, for fear of infectious disease. It is probably good to note that not only smallpox, but other diseases, such as measles, influenza, tuberculosis, and cholera, were killing the previously unexposed Native Americans throughout North and South America in large numbers after the arrival of Europeans. In other cases, Indians were confined at close quarters in filthy areas with poor food, dirty water, and little ability to control their personal hygiene, so that opportunistic diseases took a higher toll than they would have otherwise.

I think it is telling that many of the younger military men also don't recall that until very recently, disease killed more soldiers than bullets in any given war.
 
American Indians and the US Army

The relationship between the American Indian nations and the US Government (enforced by the US Army) is an interesting story of poor understanding, excessive greed, and bad judgment on the part of the government.

I have done some light research over the years (I am writing this quickly and do not have the sources at hand now) and I recall that the tales of intentional smallpox infestation are pretty much refuted by historians. I do recall a passage in Hanson (2001) that discusses the Spanish conquest of Mexico and South America in the 1500s and the high death rate among the native Indians from European diseases such as Cholera and Smallpox. Based on the time-period, I have to believe that these disease transmissions were unintentional due to the Europeans’ limited understanding of disease processes.

If we jump ahead to the US Indian policies of the 19th Century, I believe that we see a classic clash of cultures, wherein the native cultures (the Indians) were viewed as primitive bands that were in the path of “Manifest Destiny.” The political leadership of the day, supported by business, had no interest in cultural geography. The Army was the instrument of enforcement of political will. No one in power made any significant effort to understand the Indian cultures. Because of the politics of ignorance and greed, the American Indian was nearly exterminated.

My current professional research interests are in the area of the behaviors of understanding and the effects of these behaviors on decision making in businesses (large mega-corporations). I see a number of disturbing behavioral parallels between the US Government’s Indian policies of the 19th century and our 21st Century decision-making. An excellent paper on communication boundaries (Carlile, 2002) posits that the lack of communication between working groups is the result of semantic and syntactic differences between the groups. These differences act as virtual barriers to communication, the result of which is a breakdown in reasonable decisions. On reflection, I see a startling similarity between Carlile’s ideas and our government policies towards the Indian.

The US Army of that time was simply the enforcer. As a post war force they were probably doing their best with limited knowledge, manpower, and resources at their disposal. As I recall, some competent leaders came from that period (John Pershing and Arthur McArthur to name two).


Carlile, P. (2002). A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: Boundary
objects in new product development. Organization Science, 13(4), pp.
442-455.

Hanson, V. (2001). Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of
Western Power.Doubleday, New York.
 
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