Randolph B. Campbell’s Sam Houston and the American Southwest
The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1782 affected many people. When a person caught smallpox they could already assume their lives were at ends. Smallpox came unexpectedly without a known cure. Throughout the book ,”Pox Americana”, by Elizabeth A. Fenn, she has a different story for each one of her chapters. Every story shares life experiences of different men that experience the same disease, variola or smallpox, in their lifetime. Elizabeth Fenn states, “Variola [small pox] was a virus of empire. It made winners and losers, at once serving the conquerors and determining whom they would be (Fenn, 275)”. Within this message she is saying that the deadly disease of smallpox hurt some more than others and due to death some people conquered while others perished. Elizabeth Fenn not only spoke of the disease itself but spoke primarily about what this disease did to shape historical events.
During the horrible smallpox epidemic, fur trade was given to a new authority. In the earlier times of the variola virus, the Indians with allegiance to the Hudson’s Bay Company researched and found out that people with the virus “die within 48 hours (Fenn, 179)”. The Indians told the company thinking that they were on good terms. I believe that The Hudson’s Bay Company after knowing this information used it to their advantage. You can imagine that the British possibly gave Indians supplies that were contaminated with the smallpox virus after hearing this information because after the information was told, Indians started to drop like flies. Native Americans in this time frame were very susceptible to the variola virus due to their lack of immunity towards this illness. Fenn states, “Though exaggeration no doubt existed, the sheer number of such accounts suggests that the pox was indeed more deadly among Native Americans (Fenn, 23).” During this time the fur trade was not very popular and some groups were scared to be involved. The Hudson’s Bay Company employees then took over the
During the horrible smallpox epidemic, fur trade was given to a new authority. In the earlier times of the variola virus, the Indians with allegiance to the Hudson’s Bay Company researched and found out that people with the virus “die within 48 hours (Fenn, 179)”. The Indians told the company thinking that they were on good terms. I believe that The Hudson’s Bay Company after knowing this information used it to their advantage. You can imagine that the British possibly gave Indians supplies that were contaminated with the smallpox virus after hearing this information because after the information was told, Indians started to drop like flies. Native Americans in this time frame were very susceptible to the variola virus due to their lack of immunity towards this illness. Fenn states, “Though exaggeration no doubt existed, the sheer number of such accounts suggests that the pox was indeed more deadly among Native Americans (Fenn, 23).” During this time the fur trade was not very popular and some groups were scared to be involved. The Hudson’s Bay Company employees then took over the
Cited: Page Fenn, Elizabeth A. Pox Americana. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001. Print.