And another teachable moment!
1. First let's explain why the folks at Williamsburg would post this fabrication:
"
O'Sullivan's First Law (a.k.a. O'Sullivan's Law), paraphrased by
George Will as stating that any institution that is not libertarian and classically liberal will, over time, become
collectivist and
statist. O'Sullivan's First Law: All organizations that are not actually right-wing will ove
r time become left-wing. I cite as supporting evidence the ACLU, the Ford Foundation, and the Episcopal Church. The reason is, of course, that people who staff such bodies tend to be the sort who don't like private profit, business, making money, the current organization of society, and, by extension, the Western world. At which point Michels's Iron Law of Oligarchy takes over — and the rest follows."
http://old.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-jos062603.asp
2. Now for the original tall tale itself:
a. "According to historian Francis Parkman, Amherst first raised the possibility of giving the Indians infected blankets in a letter to Colonel Henry Bouquet, who would lead reinforcements to Fort Pitt.
No copy of this letter has come to light, but we do know that Bouquet discussed the matter in a postscript to a letter to Amherst on July 13, 1763.
We don't know if Bouquet actually put the plan into effect, or if so with what result. We do know that a supply of smallpox-infected blankets was available, since the disease had broken out at Fort Pitt some weeks previously. We also know that the following spring smallpox was reported to be raging among the Indians in the vicinity."
The Straight Dope Did whites ever give Native Americans blankets infected with smallpox
"
No copy of this letter has come to light,..."
So....as much evidence as there is that Jefferson had children with Sally Hemings.
Liberal bed time stories.
3. There is the often repeated story of Lord Jeffrey Amherst ordering the distribution of smallpox-infected blankets to the Indians, as an example of ‘germ warfare’ used by Europeans.The story is not documented, except as a ‘possibility.’ See the study of Professor d’Errico:
Historian Francis Parkman, in his bookThe Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada[Boston: Little, Brown, 1886]refers to a postscript in an earlier letter from Amherst to Bouquet wondering whether smallpox could not be spread among the Indians:
“Could it not be contrived to send theSmall Poxamong those disaffected tribes of Indians? We must on this occasion use every stratagem in our power to reduce them”. [Vol. II, p. 39 (6th edition)]
I have not found this letter,but there is a letter from Bouquet to Amherst, dated 23 June 1763, three weeks before the discussion of blankets to the Indians, stating that Captain Ecuyer at Fort Pitt (to which Bouquet would be heading with reinforcements) has reported smallpox in the Fort. This indicates at least that the writers knew the plan could be carried out.
It is curious that the specific plans to spread smallpox were relegated to postscripts.
"Some people have doubted these stories; other people, believing the stories, nevertheless assert that the infected blankets were not intentionally distributed to the Indians, or that Lord Jeff himself is not to blame for the germ warfare tactic."
Amherst and Smallpox
See....don't you wish you had an education, so you wouldn't wind up with your foot in your mouth, as you just did?