1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic facts for kids

The 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic was a very serious outbreak of smallpox that happened between 1836 and 1840. It became much worse after the spring of 1837. This was when a steamboat called the S.S. St. Peter traveled up the Missouri River. It carried people and supplies that were infected with smallpox.

More than 17,000 Indigenous people died along the Missouri River. Some groups of people almost completely disappeared. A fur trader named Francis Chardon saw what happened to the Mandan tribe. He wrote that only 27 Mandan people were left. In 1839, a government official reported that the number of deaths was likely much higher. It was believed that over 34,000 people died east of the Rocky Mountains.

Smallpox in North America

Smallpox is a very old disease. It has affected Native Americans since it was brought to North America by Spanish explorers. There are records of outbreaks as early as 1515. Smallpox was especially deadly on the plains. This was because people there had never been exposed to it before. They had no natural protection, called immunity. This is why so many people died.

By the 1730s, smallpox had spread west into Canada and the northern United States. The Assiniboine First Nation lost a lot of their land. This happened because their population dropped greatly. Along the Missouri River, the Arikara population was cut in half by the late 1730s. Other groups also suffered badly from smallpox in the 1730s. These included the Lower Loup, Pawnee of Nebraska, Cherokee, and the Kansa. Smallpox caused great damage to Indigenous communities on the North American plains.

Early Efforts to Stop Smallpox

In 1796, scientists found a way to protect people from smallpox. They learned that infecting someone with a mild cowpox infection could prevent smallpox. This method is called vaccination. It became widely used in Europe. Thomas Jefferson also supported using it in North America to save lives.

However, getting the vaccine to everyone was hard. It wasn't until the 1830s that many Indigenous people were vaccinated. Even then, it was mostly in the Southwest. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) tried to vaccinate people early on. But their efforts were not well organized. The HBC knew that more people meant more fur for them to trade. But they didn't have a full vaccination plan until the epidemic was already happening. Some vaccines were sent to trading posts in the early 1800s. But they were often left unused.

Smallpox outbreaks happened often in the 1780s and continued until the 1837 epidemic. In Canada, the fur trade helped some communities grow stronger. These included the Mushego Cree, Anishinabe, and Ottawa. The Mandan tribe had a big smallpox outbreak in 1780-81. Their numbers dropped to only a few thousand. Many other groups along the Missouri River also had smallpox outbreaks in 1801-02 and 1831.

The U.S. Congress passed the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832. This was a step to get public support for vaccinating Native Americans. But soon after, a government official said no doctors would be sent to vaccinate people up the Missouri River. The 1837 Great Plains epidemic spread across thousands of miles. It reached California, the northwestern coast, and central Alaska. It finally ended in 1840.

The 1837 Outbreak

The smallpox epidemic is thought to have killed 17,000 people along the Missouri River. The steamboat St. Peter traveled up the Missouri River from St. Louis to Fort Union. It spread the disease to people along its path. This marked the start of the outbreak.

The St. Peter reached Leavenworth around April 29. A worker on the ship showed signs of smallpox. Soon after, three Arikara women joined the ship to return to their Mandan community. Even though the women showed signs of being sick, they were allowed to go back to their village. They then spread the disease to their community. The disease that spread to the Mandan people was a very severe form of smallpox.

In July 1837, there were about 2,000 Mandan people. By October, that number had dropped to only 23 or 27 survivors, according to some reports. Other reports say 138 survived. This means at least 93 out of every 100 Mandan people died. On August 11, Francis Chardon, a trader at Fort Clark, wrote, "I Keep no a/c of the dead, as they die so fast it is impossible." By the end of the month, he wrote, "the Mandan are all cut off except twenty-three young and old men."

Spread of the Disease

Once the disease reached Fort Union, people tried to stop it from spreading. But it eventually caused great harm to the Assiniboine. There were efforts to keep fur traders from entering the fort when they returned. But these traders became very determined. When they were shown a sick boy, they left. But they took the disease with them. A person named Halsey wrote that the air itself seemed infected. He said he couldn't stop the Indigenous people from camping near the fort. They caught the disease even though he didn't let them inside.

Later, a small boat was sent to Fort McKenzie using the Marias River. At Fort McKenzie, the disease spread among the Blackfoot people living there. The epidemic continued to spread across the Great Plains. It killed many thousands of people between 1837 and 1840. In the end, it is thought that two-thirds of the Blackfoot population died. Half of the Assiniboine and Arikara people died. One-third of the Crows died, and one-quarter of the Pawnee died. A trader at Fort Union reported a terrible smell from the fort. This was because bodies were buried in large pits or thrown into the river. This likely helped the infection continue to spread, as bodies could still carry the disease after death.

Vaccination Efforts During the Epidemic

There were three main attempts to vaccinate people when the epidemic began. Many traders tried to get vaccines from the American Fur Company. But the company did not want to help them. The American government made some efforts under the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832. Some people did get smallpox vaccines. These were usually people who had contact with White Americans, often in the southern United States.

However, the Office of Indian Affairs did not have a good system to vaccinate the plains people quickly. They also didn't try to set one up. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had the best response. Rumors of the disease spreading made their traders act fast. They knew that fewer Indigenous people meant less profit from furs. The HBC had a good information network and vaccines at their posts. Everyone was willing to get vaccinated. This made their efforts much more successful than the American responses. Vaccinations done by HBC workers and trained Indigenous people were very important. They helped limit the spread of smallpox in Canada. After the epidemic, the HBC started a vaccination program across its territory. This further reduced smallpox deaths. Sadly, as people entered communities to vaccinate, they sometimes brought other diseases with them. This kept death rates high.

The epidemic changed the way power was structured among affected groups. The Assiniboine and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) were not vaccinated. Their populations and land shrank a lot. The disease was especially deadly for these groups because they lived in denser populations. After being hit by the epidemic, these groups could not fully recover. Different ethnic groups also joined together as survivors from different communities formed new groups. Some communities, like the Saulteaux, were able to use the HBC's vaccination efforts. They also took advantage of struggling Indigenous groups. The Hudson's Bay Company focused its vaccination efforts on groups that produced furs. As a result, the Plains Cree and Saulteaux expanded their lands as others retreated during the epidemic.

Questions About How Smallpox Spread

Experts usually say that the smallpox spread in 1837 because the St. Peter steamboat was not kept separate. More recent studies suggest the spread of smallpox between 1836 and 1840 was not planned. The start of the outbreak is linked to the St. Peter on the Missouri River. Also, while the American Fur Company (AFC) handled the outbreak poorly, it didn't make sense for them to encourage it. The company made money when more Indigenous people were around in the early 1830s. This meant more furs for them to trade.

For the land north of the 49th Parallel, the Hudson's Bay Company's response was very important in limiting the epidemic. It is clear that the captain of the St. Peter, Captain Pratt, did not keep sick people separate. This led to thousands of deaths. However, we cannot know what his true intentions were. But it is clear that his company did not intend to cause an outbreak.

There is a story that an Indigenous person sneaked onto the St. Peter. They supposedly stole a blanket from a sick passenger, starting the epidemic. Many versions of this story exist. But historians and people at the time have said it is not true. They believe it was made up to make white settlers feel less guilty.

Some experts have said that the 1836-40 epidemic was spread on purpose. These include Ann F. Ramenofsky in 1987 and Ward Churchill in 1992. Ramenofsky said that smallpox can spread through infected items like clothing or blankets. She claimed that in the 1800s, the U.S. Army sent infected blankets to Native Americans. This was supposedly to control the "Indian problem." Churchill also claimed that in 1837 at Fort Clark, the United States Army deliberately infected Mandan people. He said they did this by giving out blankets that had been exposed to smallpox. He also claimed that the blankets came from a military hospital in St. Louis. He said that smallpox vaccine was not given to the Indigenous people. And he claimed an army doctor told the sick Indigenous people to spread out, which would spread the disease even more. Churchill said this caused over 100,000 deaths.

The University of Colorado at Boulder looked into Churchill's writings. They said they did not find proof of academic misconduct for his general claim. This was about the U.S. Army deliberately spreading smallpox to Mandan people in 1837 using infected blankets. They said early accounts from Indigenous people and some oral traditions supported this idea. However, Churchill was criticized for not properly citing his more extreme details. He also didn't mention "native oral sources" in his published essays about Fort Clark.

The distrust of the settlers was so strong that the Mandan chief Four Bears spoke out against white people. He had previously treated them as brothers. But he accused them of purposely bringing the disease to his people. After losing his wife and children to smallpox and getting sick himself, he gave a final speech. He told the Arikara and Mandan tribes to "rise all together and not leave one of them alive." He died on July 30, 1837.

The idea that smallpox was spread on purpose in 1837 has been debated. Some studies argue that Churchill's claims about the U.S. Army giving out smallpox-infected blankets to the Mandan in 1837 were made up. They also suggest he falsified sources to support his claims.

See also

In Spanish: Epidemia de viruela en las Grandes Llanuras de 1837 para niños