Narcissa and Marcus Whitman established their mission at Waiilatpu amongst the Cayuse Indians in Oregon Country. This area, whose English meaning was “Place of the Rye Grass,” was located six miles west of what would become the city of Walla Walla, Washington.
The original plan to share a mission with the Spaldings was changed due to the inability of the four missionaries to get along with each other. The Spaldings built a mission at Lapwai, twelve miles east of present-day Lewiston, Idaho.
Narcissa was already pregnant when she moved into the crude cabin Marcus built for her. In the spring of 1837 a daughter was born to Doctor and Mrs. Whitman. Alice Clarissa Whitman, born at Whitman Mission, was the first white child to see the area. At age two years, three months and nine days, while her mother sat reading and her father busied himself writing, Alice was left in the care of an Indian servant not much more than a child herself. Seeing that the other Indian servants were placing dinner on the table, Alice toddled off alone to fetch two cups of water from the nearby and unrestricted Walla Walla River.
On that day Narcissa Whitman lost one her most beloved possessions when Alice fell into the river and drowned. Alice became the first white child to die and be buried at the Whitman Mission.
During the Whitman’s eleven years at the mission they made no Indian converts into the church. But Marcus was a doctor, not a minister. He was not qualified to accept converts. According to the Presbyterian-Congregationalist credo under which the Protestant missions were operating, a potential convert was required to study the religion intensively after which they were required to be examined by a qualified board of elders. These elders would then decide whether or not to admit him to church membership. This was a rule that Spalding ignored and was later reprimanded for.
Narcissa and Marcus felt that their first obligation toward their Cayuse wards was to care for their physical rather then their spiritual needs. It was a concept that continually caused contention between the Whitmans and Spaldings, as well as missionaries who arrived later to do their good works.
During the Whitman’s long journey westward Marcus had insisted on pulling, and often pushing, a wagon. He was advised by many more knowledgeable of the terrible terrain to be traversed that it was an impossible task. Whitman did manage to bring the wagon, or the two-wheeled cart he’d reduced it to, as far as Fort Boise. Unrealized at the time, this effort was as much a boon to westward expansion as the amazing task of two white women crossing the continent.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Mary Trotter Kion's The Great Plains topic, please visit the Discussions page.