<P> P.S. You will Do well to try to Innoculate (sic) the Indians by means of Blankets, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race . I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect, but England is at too great a Distance to think of that at present . </P> <P> Officers at the besieged Fort Pitt had already attempted to do what Amherst and Bouquet were discussing, apparently on their own initiative . During a parley at Fort Pitt on June 24, 1763, Ecuyer gave Delaware representatives, Turtleheart and Mamaltee, two blankets and a handkerchief that had been exposed to smallpox, hoping to spread the disease to the Native Americans in order to "extirpate" them from the territory . William Trent, the militia commander, left records that showed the purpose of giving the blankets was "to Convey the Smallpox to the Indians ." Turtleheart and Killbuck would later represent the Delaware at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 . </P> <P> On July 22, Trent writes, "Gray Eyes, Wingenum, Turtle's Heart and Mamaultee, came over the River told us their Chiefs were in Council, that they waited for Custaluga who they expected that Day". There are eyewitness reports that outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases had plagued the Ohio Native Americans in the years prior to the siege of Fort Pitt . Colonists also caught smallpox from Native Americans at a peace conference in 1759 which then led to an epidemic in Charleston and the surrounding areas in South Carolina . </P> <P> Historians are at odds as to how much damage the attempt to spread smallpox at Fort Pitt caused . Historian Francis Jennings concluded that the attempt was "unquestionably successful and effective" and inflicted great damage to the Native Americans . Historian Michael McConnell writes that, "Ironically, British efforts to use pestilence as a weapon may not have been either necessary or particularly effective", noting that smallpox was already entering the territory by several means, and Native Americans were familiar with the disease and adept at isolating the infected . Historians widely agree that smallpox devastated the Native American population . It is estimated that 400,000--500,000 (possibly up to 1.5 million) Native Americans died during and years after the Pontiac's War, mostly from smallpox, </P>

New france is formally ceded to britain pontiac rebellion erupts