Rotting Face Smallpox and the American Indian eBook R G Robertson
Download As PDF : Rotting Face Smallpox and the American Indian eBook R G Robertson 
An Event That Forever Changed the Face of the West
On April 17, 1837, the steamboat St. Peter's pulled away from a St. Louis dock and began its annual journey up the Missouri River. Its mission was to deliver supplies to fur trading posts on the upper Missouri.
On that spring day, no one aboard the St. Peter's could have imagined the effect the voyage would have on Western history and the American Indian culture. The steamboat carried a shipment not listed on its manifest--a disease so horrible Indian parents sometimes killed their children to save them from terrible agony. Its scientific name was Variola major. Its common name was smallpox. Many natives knew it as Rotting Face.
R.G. Robertson details how the smallpox epidemic of 1837-1838 altered the political and social structure of Native American tribes. In less than a year the disease virtually destroyed the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arickara cultures. It claimed entire villages of Blackfeet, stripping that proud nation of its power and wealth, leaving it too weak to stop invasions by other tribes and white settlers.
Before it ran out of human fuel, Rotting Face claimed an estimated 20,000 natives, doing more damage to the Northern Plains dtribes in one year than all the military expeditions ever sent against American Indians.
Robertson details the history of smallpox and the profound impact the disease had in Europe, Asia and the Americas, where it killed or maimed rich and poor, royalty and peasant.
Robertson's gripping and graphic account dispels some popular myths about the role of whites in the spread of this devastating disease.
Rotting Face Smallpox and the American Indian eBook R G Robertson
Rotten Face is primarily the history of a series of smallpox epidemics that swept thru the upper Missouri around 1837. The effects resulted in a virtual collapse of the local Indian balance of power, made the survivors dependent on white men and their manufactured goods, and reduced the population to such an extent the survivors were never again able to keep their land from flowing into Eastern Indian and white man's hands. The story is mostly how the fur companies jockeyed about as they built their businesses, at first, and finally how they scurried to keep those businesses afloat as their workforce died and production quotas plummeted. The author is a fantastic researcher and a gifted writer so all his research is easy on the eyes.But two chapters stand out for me that make the book a real home run... The chapter on the history of small pox is nothing short of spooky. I knew it was a real killer and no fun to have. But what did it mean to really have small pox, to know if you survived your children probably wouldn't. The physical and psychological scars you would certainly have to live with the rest of your life. The beginning of the book has a quotation from the famous Mandan chief Four Bears about his hatred of the white man for bringing the small pox scourge to the Missouri.
The other chapter I liked was the ins and outs of using steam paddle wheel boats on the Missouri and Mississippi.Everyone is aware that they operated but I had no idea it was such a dangerous and chancy endeavor. Very enlightening.
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Rotting Face Smallpox and the American Indian eBook R G Robertson Reviews
An excellent and eyeopening review of the effects that smallpox had on Native American populations, with detailed information from journals kept at Fort Clark (North Dakota) on the Missouri River circa 1830s. Additional historical context of earlier smallpox incursions that literally altered the human landscape of North America. Followed up with a site visit to Fort Clark (now a N.D. State Historic site), which brought the read to life. A must read for those with interest in Native American history and their early struggles with disease brought by European and Spanish incursion into North America.
R. G. Robertson's Rotting Face Smallpox and the American Indian relates the 1837-1838 smallpox epidemic that devastated the Native American population. Topic certainly fills a void in the smallpox and Native American literature. Robertson reveals the interdependent relationship between the Native Indians and the settlers' fur trade. Other secondary elements surface as well such as the power of an Indian woman and the amount of interracial mixing that took place outside of the towns.
Robertson tracks every step of the epidemic as smallpox attacked " like a scythe mowing the summer hay." I appreciate the attention to detail in everything from the fur trade hierarchy, to smallpox symptoms to an Indian chief's attire. However, at times the author's pain-staking details prove to be a fault and make for tedious periods in the book.
In addition, the work is written for the general public as essential terms applicable to smallpox and Indian history are clearly defined. Robertson does plainly admit some potential inaccuracies in his statistics and references due to an incomplete record of Native American history. Although he makes this disclaimer, he makes many assumptions and relates them in the format of " No doubt Chardon felt..." and "No doubt Chardon thought...", a bit of an excessive liberty in my opinion.
Despite the criticisms, I would recommend this book because it adds an untold piece to the puzzle of smallpox history and American history.
Good information. Needed book for paper for a graduate class.
Great product. Great service.
If you want to know the effects of smallpox on the Indian tribes, this book is for you. It personalizes what happened rather than just having numbers given for Indians that died. I got angry at some of the whites and their actions when they suspected that one of the crew had smallpox. As dangerous as they knew smallpox was they did not take effective measures to protect other people, both white and Indian, from coming into contact with them.
Rotten Face is primarily the history of a series of smallpox epidemics that swept thru the upper Missouri around 1837. The effects resulted in a virtual collapse of the local Indian balance of power, made the survivors dependent on white men and their manufactured goods, and reduced the population to such an extent the survivors were never again able to keep their land from flowing into Eastern Indian and white man's hands. The story is mostly how the fur companies jockeyed about as they built their businesses, at first, and finally how they scurried to keep those businesses afloat as their workforce died and production quotas plummeted. The author is a fantastic researcher and a gifted writer so all his research is easy on the eyes.
But two chapters stand out for me that make the book a real home run... The chapter on the history of small pox is nothing short of spooky. I knew it was a real killer and no fun to have. But what did it mean to really have small pox, to know if you survived your children probably wouldn't. The physical and psychological scars you would certainly have to live with the rest of your life. The beginning of the book has a quotation from the famous Mandan chief Four Bears about his hatred of the white man for bringing the small pox scourge to the Missouri.
The other chapter I liked was the ins and outs of using steam paddle wheel boats on the Missouri and Mississippi.Everyone is aware that they operated but I had no idea it was such a dangerous and chancy endeavor. Very enlightening.
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