Three Little Metal Boxes

“Let those I serve express their thanks according

to their own upbringing and honor.”

-Ohiyesa

 

Unintentional and intentional acts of genocide against the Indian people continued after the Declaration of Independence was signed in the effort to accomplish the goal of taking care of the “Indian problem.” In 1763, the British provided the Odawa Indians gifts consisting of little insulated metal boxes. During the time the bio-warfare occurred, the Odawa were on a peace mission returning British soldiers safely to the British settlement in Montreal.    The British instructed them to not open the metal boxes until the Odawa returned from Montreal to their village near present day Harbor Springs, Michigan. Once the metal boxes were opened, the smallpox virus ran rampant amongst the Odawa people. Thousands lost their lives to the dreadful virus. The smallpox massacre was remembered in legends passed down for generations with the Odawa people. Pontiac’s rebellion, and the actions of few British officers are linked to the rationale and cause behind the bio-warfare inflicted against the unsuspecting Odawa people in 1763.     

            Smallpox was used in biological warfare against a segment of the population unprepared to fight off its lethal properties. Once smallpox finds a host in a community, it can spread rapidly. There are two types of the smallpox virus: variola major and variola minor. Variola major was the most severe and the most common form which had a death rate of 30%. The strain of variola minor has a death rate of 1%. Between 1940 and 1970 there was a widespread vaccination to prevent the disease. The World Health Organization declared smallpox to be eradicated. The smallpox virus emerged in human populations thousands of years ago.

            The smallpox virus can be spread from person to person by simply breathing in airborne respiratory droplets from a contaminated person. It can also be spread by touching the skin rash, sores and scabs of an infected person, being exposed to cadavers who died from it or by sharing blankets, clothing, and towels. Smallpox is a highly contagious disease. The only way to prevent the disease from spreading during the 1700s was by either burning or burying the deceased along with their clothing and blankets.

            The infection of the virus begins after an incubation period of approximately 12 to 14 days. During the incubation period, people do not experience any symptoms and they are not contagious at all. The first sign of this disease is referred to as the prodromal phase, which lasts two to four days and the symptoms during this phase are: fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting, aching body, and sore throat. People may be contagious during this stage. The prodromal stage may last up to 20 days or longer. The most contagious stage is during the early rash period, which lasts about four days.

            During the prodromal stage, small red spots appear on a person’s tongue and in the mouth which turn into sores containing the virus. The rash spreads on a person’s face, arms, legs, and feet and to all parts of the body within 24 hours. The rash will become raised bumps and these bumps will become fluid filled. A fever will reoccur and will remain high until scabs form. Again, this is when the infected person is the most contagious especially when the ation and blindness. Osteomyelitis is referred to as an infection in a bone and this infection can reach a bone by traveling through the bloodstream or spreading from nearby tissue. Once considered an incurable condition, osteo-myelitis can be successfully treated today. Most people require surgery to remove parts of the bone that have died which is followed by strong antibiotics, often delivered intravenously, typically for at least six weeks. Oftentimes, when a person became infected with the smallpox virus the end result was either blindness or death. [i]

            The Odawa people were not completely exterminated or moved to another part of the country like many other tribes. Andrew Jackson tried to move many Native American people west of the Mississippi; part of the Odawa tribal people moved to Canada in protest. Because many of the Odawa people were peace-loving and agrarian, they decided to assimilate with the white settlers. They worked as lumbermen, shop keepers, carpenters, and educators alongside the settlers and were part of the changing economic environment.

            At the same time Chief Pontiac of the Odawa tribe from the Detroit area became famous because of his role in Pontiac’s rebellion from 1763 to 1766. This rebellion represented an American Indian struggle against the British military efforts concerning the Great Lakes region which followed the British victory in the French and Indian War. In July of 1763 Pontiac successfully defeated the British at the Battle of Bloody Run. He was unable to capture the fort at Detroit.

            Other Indian groups joined Pontiac’s rebellion against the British and these groups captured eight forts in what are present-day Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They were crafty warriors with one thing in mind to abolish the British by tricking the settlers and soldiers into allowing them to enter the forts then they would capture and/or kill the residents.

            At the same time the Detroit Fort was under siege other tribal groups attacked and took over Ft. Presque Isle, Ft. Le Boeuf, Ft. Venango, Ft. Miami, Ft. St. Joseph, Ft. Ouilatenon, Fort Sandusky and Ft. Michilimackinac. Ft. Bedford, Ft. Ligonier, Ft. Pitt and Ft. Niagara were assaulted but not taken. These attacks on the British forts may have led to much of the animosity of the British towards the Indian people. 

            The British government made Pontiac part of their ambassadorial strategy. Peace negotiations occurred in July of 1766 in which Pontiac made peace with the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Sir William Johnston. 

            Sir Jeffery Amherst served as a British officer in the British Army. He was responsible for Britain’s successful war campaign at the New France territory during the French and Indian War.  Because of this victory, Amherst was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Forces; shortly after this appointment he was also promoted to General. Amherst was noted for being a racist and he passed on his beliefs to those under his command. He believed all Indian people were “savages,” undeserving of living. One of Amherst’s goals was to annihilate the Indian people completely.

            Amherst was plotting to exterminate the Indian people at the same time the Odawa were returning the British officers and soldiers. He was linked to giving the orders to supply smallpox infected blankets to American Indians at Ft. Pitt. He expressed his readiness to use any possible method to wipe out the Indian race completely. 

            A letter from Colonel Henry Bouquet to General Amherst dated July 13, 1763 suggests the distribution of blankets to exterminate the Indians. In another letter dated July 16, 1763 from Amherst to Bouquet, Amherst gave approval of supplying contaminated blankets and every other method to exterminate the Indian people. [ii]

             The Odawa Indians resided in various locations stemming from Canada, lower Michigan, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and as far as Oklahoma. Ancient birch bark scrolls indicated the Odawa from the eastern areas of North America. The name Odawa is said to mean traders, buyers and sellers. The Odawa were considered prominent leaders concerning the fur-trading business. In the past, colonists in Quebec, then called Canada, referred to all Algonquian tribal people from the Great Lakes as Odawa even if they were from another tribe such as the Ojibwe tribe.

            In Michigan, the Odawa predominantly resided at L’Arbre. L’Arbre Croche literally means “arbre,” a tree and “croche,” means crooked or hook like. Native Americans would deform trees to serve as council trees and as marker trees. Most of the trees used for this purpose were large maples and these deformed trees were formerly used to guide Native Americans on the overland path from Chicago to the Straits of Mackinac.

            To deform a tree, the center trunk is removed at a human’s shoulder height which causes the surrounding branches to grow out in an inverted umbrella shape. These trees can also be found in ancient sacred sites in New England.

            The Odawa settlement extended from Seven Mile Creek, which is seven miles north of the present-day Harbor Springs, Michigan to present-day village of Cross Village. In 1839, L’Arbre was known to be the second largest Indian settlement in the region even after the smallpox attack of 1763. 

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[i] DermNet. Retrieved on August 22, 2014 from http://www.demnetnz.org/viral/smallpox.html.

[ii] Native Web. Jeffrey Amherst and Smallpox Blankets: Lord Jeffrey Amherst’s letters discussin germ warfare against American Indians.  Retrieved on January 11, 2014 from http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/amherst/lorc.