Editing Biological warfare (section)

===18th to 19th century===

During the [[French and Indian War]], in June 1763 a group of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] laid [[Siege of Fort Pitt|siege]] to British-held [[Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)|Fort Pitt]].<ref>{{cite book |title=American Indian Chronology: Chronologies of the American Mosaic |date=June 2, 2011 |first=Phillip M. |last=White |page=44 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]}}</ref> Following instructions of his superior, Colonel [[Henry Bouquet]], the commander of Fort Pitt, [[Switzerland|Swiss-born]] Captain Simeon Ecuyer, ordered his men to take smallpox-infested blankets from the infirmary and give it to a Lenape delegation during the siege.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America (Pivotal Moments in American History)|last=Calloway|first=Collin G. | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0195331271|page=73}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Rationalizing Epidemics|last=Jones|first=David S. | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0674013056|page=97}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=A Country Between: The Upper Ohio Valley and Its Peoples, 1724-1774|last=McConnel|first=Michael N. | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=1997|page=195}}</ref> A reported outbreak that began the spring before left as many as one hundred Native Americans dead in [[Ohio Country]] from 1763 to 1764. It is not clear whether the smallpox was a result of the Fort Pitt incident or the virus was already present among the [[Lenape|Delaware people]] as outbreaks happened on their own every dozen or so years<ref>{{cite book|last1=King |first1=J. C. H. |title=Blood and Land: The Story of Native North America |date=2016 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=9781846148088 |page=73}}</ref> and the delegates were met again later and seemingly had not contracted smallpox.<ref name=ranlet>{{cite journal|last1=Ranlet |first1=P |title=The British, the Indians, and smallpox: what actually happened at Fort Pitt in 1763? |journal=Pennsylvania History |date=2000 |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=427–441 |pmid=17216901}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Barras V, Greub G | title = History of biological warfare and bioterrorism | journal = Clinical Microbiology and Infection | volume = 20 | issue = 6 | pages = 497–502 | date = June 2014 | pmid = 24894605 | doi = 10.1111/1469-0691.12706 | quote = However, in the light of contemporary knowledge, it remains doubtful whether his hopes were fulfilled, given the fact that the transmission of smallpox through this kind of vector is much less efficient than respiratory transmission, and that Native Americans had been in contact with smallpox >200 years before Ecuyer's trickery, notably during Pizarro's conquest of South America in the 16th century. As a whole, the analysis of the various 'pre-microbiological" attempts at biological warfare illustrate the difficulty of differentiating attempted biological attack from naturally occurring epidemics. | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-087238-9|page=3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nm_AVg4hmJQC&pg=PA3|date=2007|quote=In retrospect, it is difficult to evaluate the tactical success of Captain Ecuyer's biological attack because smallpox may have been transmitted after other contacts with colonists, as had previously happened in New England and the South. Although scabs from smallpox patients are thought to be of low infectivity as a result of binding of the virus in fibrin metric, and transmission by fomites has been considered inefficient compared with respiratory droplet transmission.}}</ref> During the [[American Revolutionary War]], [[Continental Army]] officer [[George Washington]] mentioned to the [[Continental Congress]] that he had heard a rumor from a sailor that his opponent during the [[Siege of Boston]], General [[William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe|William Howe]], had deliberately sent civilians out of the city in the hopes of spreading the [[1775–1782 North American smallpox epidemic|ongoing smallpox epidemic]] to American lines; Washington, remaining unconvinced, wrote that he "could hardly give credit to" the claim. Washington had already inoculated his soldiers, diminishing the effect of the epidemic.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mary V. Thompson |title=Smallpox |url=https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/smallpox/ |publisher=Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Gen. George Washington - A Threat of Bioterrorism, 1775 |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=4 |website=Eyewitness -- American Originals from the National Archives |publisher=US National Archives}}</ref> Some historians have claimed that a detachment of the [[Royal Marines|Corps of Royal Marines]] stationed in [[New South Wales]], Australia, deliberately used [[smallpox]] there in 1789.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Christopher |first=Warren |s2cid=143644513 | name-list-style = vanc |title = Smallpox at Sydney Cove – Who, When, Why | journal = Journal of Australian Studies | year = 2013 | doi =10.1080/14443058.2013.849750 | volume=38 | pages=68–86}} See also [[History of biological warfare#New South Wales]], [[First Fleet#First Fleet smallpox]], and [[Australian history wars#Controversy over smallpox in Australia|History wars#Controversy over smallpox in Australia]].</ref> Dr Seth Carus states: "Ultimately, we have a strong circumstantial case supporting the theory that someone deliberately introduced smallpox in the Aboriginal population."<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Carus WS | title = The history of biological weapons use: what we know and what we don't. | journal = Health Security | date = August 2015 | volume = 13 | issue = 4 | pages = 219–55 | doi = 10.1089/hs.2014.0092 | pmid = 26221997 }}</ref>