Smallpox epidemic kills 15,000 Native American Indians

Historical Context Note

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.6: Indigenous Writing and Culture of North America - United States.
Vol. editors: Joshua Bartlett (High Point University), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Padraig Kirwan (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Domains

Plague - Virological or Bacteriological Epidemic

Dates

Date of occurrence 1837

Places

United States (Location)

Cultural Identities

First Nations/Indigenous US-American

Resources

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Between 1837 and 1838 a smallpox epidemic devastated the people of the Great Plains. The likely source was an infected deckhand on board an American Fur Company steamboat, the S.S. St. Peter, which was travelling up the Missouri River.

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