Originally Posted by deltav

This isn't correct. From the NIH's own website entry on smallpox: "Contaminated clothing or bed linens also can spread the virus. Those caring for people with smallpox need to use special safety measures to ensure that all bedding and clothing from the infected person are cleaned appropriately with bleach and hot water. Caretakers can use disinfectants such as bleach and ammonia to clean contaminated surfaces."

But it's true there aren't too many documents indicating anything like intentional biological warfare - just a few. Again, I think we're running into a semantics issue where you're citing deaths as a direct result of violence and others are totaling them as a direct result of European expansion (including violence, disease brought by Euros, famine due to eradicated food sources and loss of land, etc).

Either way, lotta people died, same as everywhere else.