Maggie's Farm

It's pretty important to keep this in perspective: There's a tendency to conclude that the Native American populations were devastated while White Interlopers happily trundled along in ruddy health, benefiting from germ warfare. But this was not really the case. There was a constant fight for survival in the elements, while scurvy, plague, smallpox, dysentery, and other deadly complaints took an inordinate toll on the newcomers as well.

I'm currently reading Rick Atkinson's American Revolution saga, The British Are Coming which lays out the huge consequence that such diseases had on various battles and campaigns. Life was not easy for anyone in those times.