Smallpox

Katie H. //Smallpox// is a serious and contagious disease due to a virus.

Smallpox spreads easily from one person to another from saliva droplets. It may also be spread from bed sheets and clothing. It is most contagious during the first week of the infection. It may continue to be contagious until the scabs from the rash fall off.

As Eurpoeans came to the Ameicas, they brought with them this disease that Native Americans knew nothing about. Smallpox spreads very quickly.

Smallpox has effected **ALL** of the Native Americans. Here are some of the different tribes that the smallpox epidemic has effected greatly:

//**Cahuilla:**// By 1863 the devestating epidemic of smallpox stuck. Killing a large but unknown number of Cahuilla. The disease not only killed people, but killed along with it their culture.

//**Cherokee:**// The smallpox epidemic broke out for the Cherokee between 1738-1739 which seemed to have killed about half of the Cherokee.

//**Crow:**// The Crow gained a reputation for being clever traders. They would trade disdained alcohol. With all the visits of by whites the smallpox epidemic broke out. It stuck for over twenty years beginning in the late 1830's. By 1833 the Crow population was about 6400.

//**Massachuset:**// With an estimated population of about 3,000 in 1600 were reduced to about 500 in 1631 as a result most likely of smallpox.

//**Hopi:**// Their population was about 14,000 people in the 1600's. Before the smallpox epidemic broke put in 1781, the people were experiencing severe drought and famine. After this time the population was reduced to around 1,000 people! Another epidemic broke out around 1850.

//**Tlingit:**// Russian efforts at Christianization were largely unsuccessful because of the strong aboriginal religious system. However, the Russian Orthodox priest attempted but failed to vaccinate the Tlingit against the first smallpox epidemic in 1834. No Russians died, but nearly half of the Tlingit may have perished.

//**Shoshone:**// Their attempt was to use plants and traditional remedies to cure smallpox. In the 1860's when the epidemic broke out and seemed to be devastating for many other Indians, it didn't have as much of a lasting effect because most of the Shoshone lived in small family groups, so it didn't spread as quickly.

Sources:

Board, A.D.A.M. Editorial. "Causes, Incidence, and Risk Factors." //Smallpox//. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 23 June. 11. Web. 28 April 2012. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002332/.

Oswalt, Wendell H. //This Land Was Theirs: A Study of Native North Americans//. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.