1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic

Summary

The 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic was a major outbreak of smallpox that began in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, and quickly spread among Indigenous peoples across the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Northwest Plateau. Over the course of 1862 and 1863, the disease swept along the coast from Puget Sound to Southeast Alaska, causing devastating loss of life and permanently altering Indigenous societies throughout the region.