I can't vet the Cracked article as a whole, but please see the link in post 16.
I'm aware of that and made that clear in my post #19. My comment addresses the Cracked article's puzzling use of the general term "plague" to describe some decimation of the native population at some poorly explained time before they battled the Europeans.
The word "plague" has a very specific meaning in history and it's sloppy and inaccurate for the Cracked article to use that term with no specifics as to how it relates, or not, to the bubonic plague that killed millions from Asia through Europe.
If they're claiming the bubonic plague decimated the native American populations, they should explain when and how it got here. If they're talking about smallpox and other diseases spread by Europeans, they shouldn't be using the term "plague".
It's just sloppy, garbage writing and probably garbage, self-serving history for the most part.