There was no way for someone I'm the 1700s to understand about the microbes attached to blankets that would cause disease.

Then why didn't the "gifters" of said blankets contract the disease? Did they teleport them to the Indians without ever touching them?

The "indians were wiped out from blankets infected with smallpox" story has always been COMPLETE BULLSHIT!!

Kind of like the "6 gorillion jews were killed in Nazi concentration camps".