In July 1763, the English Colonel Henry Bouquet wrote to his commander suggesting a chillingly modern plan; they would send smallpox rather than soldiers to fight the Indians.

	The British put small pieces of cloth infected with the smallpox virus in tin boxes that were given to a delegation of Indians. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

"I will try to inoculate the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands," Bouquet wrote, "taking care however not to get the disease myself. It is a pity to oppose Good men against them. I wish we could make use of the Spaniard's methods and hunt them with English Dogs."

An infected blanket was cut into small pieces that were placed in small tin boxes. They were given to a delegation of Ottawa Indians at Fort Pitt who were told the boxes contained medicine and they shouldn't open them until they were home.

It wasn't until the Indian uprising was over that the deadly boxes did their killing. The war parties returned to their tribal lands, some of them carrying the small silver boxes that the British soldiers had given them at Fort Pitt.

	The British created a smallpox epidemic among their native enemies. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History)

Andrew Blackbird, the adopted son of an Ottawa chief, wrote down the oral account of what happened when they were opened:

"Accordingly, after they reached home they opened the box; but behold there was another tin box inside, smaller. They took it out and opened the second box, and behold, still there was another box inside the second box, smaller yet. So they kept on this way till they came to a very small box, which was not more than an inch long; and when they opened the last one they found nothing but moldy particles in this last box... Pretty soon burst out a terrible sickness among them. The great Indian doctors themselves were taken sick and died. The tradition says that it was indeed awful and terrible.
Everyone taken with it was sure to die. Lodge after lodge was totally vacated – nothing but the dead bodies lying here and there in their lodges. The whole coast of Arbor Croche... which is said to have been a continuous village some fifteen or sixteen miles long... was entirely depopulated and laid waste."

The British commander wrote later that by sending germs instead of British soldiers, he had "saved the lives of better men."