Cholera

Epidemics from European illnesses like cholera and smallpox caused devastation among the native peoples throughout the Americas. The cholera outbreak described in the fictional story of Little Woods was not a documented event in history.

 

However, the cholera’s documented outbreak at Fort Dearborn in 1832 (see Early Chicago) lends a plausible basis for its use in demonstrating the effects of European disease on the indigenous populations of North America. I had originally considered using smallpox as my choice for the historic, invading pestilence, but smallpox was less plausible than cholera based on time and place and offered a description of symptoms and treatment that was less likely than cholera to be useful in the lives of modern readers.
 

 

Excerpt: Little Woods (Crow Moon 1833: Pestilence)
 

By the third day after the sickness began, their skin became loose, so that if pinched, it remained gathered without returning to place, like soft clay.

 

Watseka held up her winkled fingers for inspection. “They look as though they’ve been in the river, and I am so thirsty.”

 

“My legs and arms ache,” cried Six Turkey, crossing his arms over his chest and returning them to his sides as though he did not know what to do with them.

 

Red Tooth spoke in a husky voice that held enough calm stoicism to make Running Fox proud. “How can my hands and feet be so cold while my center burns?”

 

Gray Eye entered the wigwam and declared, “Others are falling ill. I know what this is. I saw soldiers die like this. The white men called it cholera. I didn’t notice the white specks and the slime in the stool until I saw it in my son’s. And now that these three have the same symptoms as the dying soldiers, there’s no doubt. The sickness can be washed away with as much water and food as the sick person can take.”