User:Littlefluff82/sandbox

Smallpox has afflicted Native Americans since it was carried to the western hemisphere by the Spanish conquerors, with credible accounts of epidemics dating back to at least 1515. Smallpox was particularly deadly in the plains because no one in these communities had been exposed, and developed immunity before. This is why mortality rates were so high. By the 1730s smallpox had made its way west in Canada and northern United States. The Assiniboine First Nation had controlled much of this territory, but were forced to give it up as their population decreased dramatically. Along the Missouri River the Arikara population was reduced by half by the end of the 1730s. Other communities that were decimated in the 1730s by smallpox include the Lower Loup, Pawnee of Nebraska, Cherokee, and the Kansa. In short, smallpox in the 1730s created major population changes Indigenous communities living on the North American plains. Many other tribes along the Missouri river suffered smallpox epidemics during 1801-02 and 1831. Despite Edward Jenner's research with vaccines and immunizations, there had not yet been an immunization brought to the Western world.[5] Sporadic efforts were made to promote vaccination among the Native Americans since the turn of the nineteenth century, and a couple years and after the Indian Removal Act the U.S. Congress took its first step in 1832 to generate public support for vaccination of the Native Americans. But shortly after passage of this congressional act to extend vaccinations to Indians, Secretary Cass stated that no effort would be made "under any circumstances" to send surgeons to vaccinate Indians up the Missouri River beyond the Arickaree tribe. This Great Plains epidemic spanned thousands of miles, reaching California, the northwestern coast and central Alaska before finally subsiding in 1840.The smallpox infection spiked again in 1780s, as persisted in the plains into the 1837 epidemic. In what is now Canada fur trade brough communities such as the Mushego Cree, Anishinabe, Ottawa, and the IThe Mandan tribe, also called the People of the Pheasants, had previously experienced a major smallpox epidemic in 1780-81 which severely reduced their numbers down to less than a few thousand.

The smallpox epidemic is estimated to have killed 17 000 people along the Missouri River. The St. Peter steamboat, traveled up the Missouri River to Fort Union from St. Louis and infected people along the way, marking the begining of the outbreak. The St. Peter made it to Leavenworth around April 29. At this time a deckhand showed signs of smallpox. Shortly after three Arikara women joined the ship on their trip back to the Mandan community. Although the women showed signs of infection, they were aloud to return to their village which they then spread to their community. The disease spread to the Mandan people, and was of the most virulent, malignant hemorrhagic form. In July 1837, the Mandan numbered about 2,000; by October that number had dwindled to 23 or 27 survivors by some accounts, 138 by another account, representing a 90 percent mortality rate. 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," and by the end of the month, "the Mandan are all cut off except twenty-three young and old men."

Once the disease reached Fort Union, there was an effort to prevent its spread, but it would eventually decimate the Assiniboine and Niitsitapi. Daschuk, Dollar, and Ray all find that there was an effort to keep returning fur traders from entering the fort, but as Dollar finds, returning traders began to get quite aggressive until they were shown an infected boy, as they left they took the disease with them. Halsey wrote, "I sent our interpreter to meet them on every occasion, who represented our situation to them and requested them to return immediately from whence they came however all our endeavors proved fruitless, I could not prevent them from camping round the Fort-they have caught the disease, notwithstanding I have never allowed an Indian to enter the Fort, or any communication between them & the Sick; but I presume the air was infected with it for a half mile..."

It was found in 1796 that infecting a person with the mild cowpox infection would provide immunity to smallpox. As its use became widespread in Europe its deployment in North America was also praised by Thomas Jefferson as a means for preserving lives. Unfortunately, supply lines for the vaccine were faulty and it was not until the 1830s that a large portion of the Indigenous population was vaccinated, and even here it was limited to beyond the Southwest. Early vaccination efforts by the Hudson's Bay Company were sporadic and unorganized during its monopoly period. Although the HBC recognized the potential of vaccination, understanding that more people ment more fur for them, there was no systematic vaccination program in place until the epidemic was well underway. Some vaccines were sent to trading posts early in the 19th Century but were left to collect dust.

The were three major vaccination attempts to stop the spread of smallpox at the onset of the epidemic. The first by the American Fur Company was largely unsuccessful. Many traders tried to obtain vaccines but the AFC was unwilling to heed there requests. The second was by the American government. Here efforts were made under the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832. Some areas did receive vaccines for smallpox, typically ones that were in contact with Americans, usually in the southern United States. Still the Office of Indian Affairs did not have the network or information needed to vaccinate the plains people quickly. While the damage of the epidemic could have be reduced if preemtive measures had been take, the HBC still had the best response of the three actors. Rumours of the disease spreading prompted traders to act quickly has a reduction in the Indigenous population meant a reduction in profit. A good information network, a supply of vaccines at posts, and a willingness among all for vaccination resulted in efforts being much more successful the those by their American counterparts. Vaccination preformed by HBC workers and trained Indigenous people were critical to limiting the spread of smallpox in Canada. After the epidemic the HBC implemented a territory wide vaccination program which further reduced smallpox deaths, but as vaccinators entered communities they brought with them additional diseases that worked to keep mortality rates high.

The epidemic would alter power structures of impacted nations. As the Assinboine and Niitsitapi did not get the opportunity to for vaccination and as a result both their populations and territory shrunk considerably. The disease was particularly deadly among these people because of the denser populations. After being hit by the epidemic these groups were never able to recover. Ethnic backgrounds also merged as survivors from different communities joined together. As some like the communities who were able to take advantage of vaccination efforts by the HBC they also took advantage of struggling Indigenous groups. The HBC vaccination efforts were focused on populations that produced furs. As result, nations like the Plains Cree and Saulteaux gained an key strategic advantage and were able to expand its borders, as others were forced to recede as a result of the epidemic.