Amherst College history professor Kevin Sweeney casts doubt on smallpox-infected blanket plot tied to Lord Jeffery Amherst

As the town gathered to celebrate its founding Saturday afternoon, a local professor cast doubt on the popular notion that its namesake Lord Jeffery Amherst decimated scores of Native Americans with smallpox-infected blankets, a legacy that has long vexed the community.

Pointing to the high number of smallpox outbreaks across North America in the 18th century, and detailing the way the disease is typically transmitted, Amherst College history professor Kevin Sweeney questioned the evidence linking the British military commander to a successful act of germ warfare. 

In July 1763, during Pontiac’s War, the general infamously wrote: “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race.”

But this note, Sweeney said, is only part of the story. ...