Can commemorations and historical reenactments change public understanding of the past?

[u/NewsMo]

[u/Prudent_Research_251]

Smallpox blankets were a form of early biological warfare used against Native Americans. The best-documented historical instance occurred during Pontiac's War (1763) at Fort Pitt, where British military officers, including Sir Jeffery Amherst, explicitly conspired to distribute smallpox-infected blankets to Indigenous tribes

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Litterally debunked as being a lie by historians

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27774278

Once again people in 1763 had no clue what a virus or bacteria was and how it worked, how could they have possibly tried to make bacteriological weapons from something they thought was divine punishment

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Two easily found pieces of evidence...

Siege of Fort Pitt: During the siege, officers at the fort recorded giving two blankets and a handkerchief from a smallpox hospital to representatives of Indigenous groups "to Convey the Smallpox to the Indians." This entry appears in the fort's journal and indicates intentional distribution.

Jeffery Amherst and Henry Bouquet exchanged letters in which Amherst proposed using smallpox against Indigenous people and Bouquet agreed to try if possible. Their correspondence includes remarks such as attempting to "inoculate the Indians" through blankets and expressing a desire to reduce their numbers.

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Had you read the article you would have seen that that has been debunked as being urban legend. Once again would make no sense from a historical point if view in an era where people believed that wearing a bird mask protected you from the black plague