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1616-1619: The Great Dying of New England

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1616-1619: The Great Dying of New England

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A mysterious epidemic devastated coastal Native American communities in present-day New England, killing an estimated 90% of the indigenous population. The Wampanoag, Massachusetts, and other Algonquian-speaking peoples were hit hardest. The disease may have been leptospirosis complicated by Weil syndrome, though some historians suggest smallpox or plague. This catastrophic population collapse left cleared fields and empty villages that would later be occupied by English colonists, including the Pilgrims who arrived in 1620. Some colonists viewed this as divine intervention preparing the land for them.

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1633-1634: Smallpox Epidemic in Plymouth Colony

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1633-1634: Smallpox Epidemic in Plymouth Colony

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A devastating smallpox epidemic swept through Native American communities around Plymouth Colony. The disease was likely introduced by English or French traders. William Bradford, governor of Plymouth, wrote that the disease was 'by the marvelous goodness and providence of God' as it helped clear the land for English settlement. The epidemic killed thousands of indigenous people who had no immunity to European diseases, further weakening native resistance to colonial expansion.

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A measles epidemic spread through colonial settlements and nearby indigenous communities. While European colonists had some immunity from previous exposure in Europe, Native Americans experienced much higher mortality rates. Colonial religious leaders like John Winthrop interpreted these epidemics as God's way of clearing the land for His chosen people. These epidemics contributed to the power imbalance that would lead to conflicts like the Pequot War (1636-1638).

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1665-1667: Bubonic Plague in Virginia Colony

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1665-1667: Bubonic Plague in Virginia Colony

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A severe outbreak of what historians believe was bubonic plague struck the Virginia Colony. While European settlers suffered significant losses, nearby Native American communities were devastated with mortality rates approaching 80% in some villages. Colonial authorities in Jamestown documented the differential impact, noting how the 'savages' were 'being consumed by God's wrath' at higher rates than the colonists. This epidemic coincided with increased tensions between colonists and indigenous peoples over land ownership.

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1669: Measles in New France and Iroquois Territory

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1669: Measles in New France and Iroquois Territory

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A severe measles epidemic spread from French colonial settlements into Iroquois communities. Jesuit missionaries documented the devastation among the Mohawk and other Iroquois nations, with some villages losing half their population. The Jesuits actively tried to provide care but also used the epidemic as an opportunity for conversion, telling the dying that baptism would save their souls. This epidemic significantly weakened the Iroquois Confederacy's military and political power in the region.

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A smallpox epidemic devastated Native American communities in the Carolina territory, particularly affecting the Catawba and Cherokee peoples. English colonists from Charleston documented the rapid spread of the disease, which may have traveled along trading routes. Colonial accounts describe entire villages being abandoned as survivors fled to escape infection. The dramatic population decline opened up fertile lands that were quickly claimed by European settlers, who often cited biblical passages about God providing land for His people.

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1713-1715: Measles and Smallpox in New England

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1713-1715: Measles and Smallpox in New England

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A devastating combination of measles followed by smallpox swept through New England, affecting both colonial settlements and Native American communities. Cotton Mather, a prominent Puritan minister, wrote extensively about these epidemics, interpreting them as divine punishment but also advocating for the new practice of inoculation. The epidemics further reduced the already diminished native population and contributed to the collapse of resistance to colonial expansion in the region.

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Cherokee Territory, Great Smoky Mountains

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A smallpox epidemic devastated Cherokee communities in the Appalachian Mountains, killing an estimated one-half of their population. The disease likely spread through trade contacts with colonial settlers. Cherokee oral histories describe the terror and social breakdown caused by the epidemic. Colonial officials in South Carolina documented the catastrophe, with some expressing sympathy while others viewed it as divine intervention opening up more territory for settlement. This epidemic significantly weakened Cherokee military and political power just as colonial expansion was intensifying.

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1759: Smallpox in Pennsylvania and Ohio Country

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1759: Smallpox in Pennsylvania and Ohio Country

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During the French and Indian War, smallpox spread among Native American allies of both the French and British forces. British forces at Fort Pitt (later Pittsburgh) discussed the possibility of deliberately spreading the disease to hostile tribes using infected blankets—one of the earliest documented instances of biological warfare in North American history. The resulting epidemic devastated Delaware, Shawnee, and Mingo communities. Colonial leaders frequently interpreted the spread of disease as divine assistance in their conflict with native peoples.

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“Strangely they have decreased by the Hand of God… and it hath generally been observed that where the English come to settle, a Divine Hand makes way for them.”— Daniel Denton, (c. 1626 – 1703) Early American colonist. Led an expedition into the interior of northern New Jersey. He was was also a Presbyterian minister from England

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1607-The Charter of The Virginia Company

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1607-The Charter of The Virginia Company

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"Lastly and chiefly the way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God the giver of all goodness, for every plantation which our father hath not planted shall be rooted out." The charter of the Virginia Company of London, to the Captains and Company of Jamestown, ca. 1607 The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the objective of colonizing the eastern coast of America

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“Within these late years, there hath, by God’s visitation, reigned a wonderful plague, the utter destruction, devastation, and depopulation of that whole territory, so as there is not left any that do claim or challenge any kind of interest therein. We, in our judgment, are persuaded and satisfied, that the appointed time is come in which Almighty God, in his great goodness and bounty towards us, and our people, hath thought fit and determined, that those large and goodly territories, deserted as it were by their natural inhabitants, should be possessed and enjoyed by such of our subjects.” ––King James I of Scotland (1567-1625) & England (1603-1625)

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And by this means there is as yet but a small number of Salvages in New England, to that which hath been in former time, and the place is made so much the more fit for the English Nation to inhabit in, and erect in it Temples to the glory of God. “—Thomas Morton 20 March 1564 – 20 September 1659, among the founders of the settlement at Mount Wollaston (present day Quincy, MA). He was an English churchman, bishop of several dioceses. Well-connected and in favor with King James I

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“For the natives, they are near all dead of the smallpox, so the Lord hath cleared our title to what we possess.” –John Winthrop, Massachusetts governor, writing in 1634 from Boston. He was a Puritan lawyer who led a large group of British colonists to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second settlement in the colony.

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“That the Heathen People amongst whom we live, and whose Land the Lord God of our Fathers hath given to us for a rightful Possession, have at sundry times been plotting mischievous devices against that part of the English Israel which is seated in these goings down of the Sun, no man that is an Inhabitant of any considerable standing, can be ignorant.”–Increase Mather (1639-1723), A Brief History of the War With the Indians in New England. Mather was a New England Puritan clergyman who served as the sixth president of Harvard College. He wrote about the existence of witchcraft and later participated in the Salem Witch Trials.