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The Whitman Massacre

© Elizabeth Gibson

In 1835, Dr. Marcus Whitman journeyed to the Oregon Country in a wagon train. He was a missionary, looking to establish a foothold in Indian territory. The journey was largely uneventful. On his way, his party stopped at the Green River Rendezvous in Wyoming. There he met the legendary mountain man Jim Bridger, who was suffering from an arrowhead buried in his back. Whitman used his surgical skills to remove the arrowhead. This was probably the highlight of Whitman’s journey.

When he reached the Walla Walla Valley, he liked what he saw. He returned to New York for money and supplies. The following year, he organized a new wagon train. With him were his wife Narcissa Prentiss, Rev. Henry Spalding, and his wife Eliza Hart. The second journey also posed no major problems and the missionaries reached Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia River on September 1, 1836. Whitman established a mission at a place he called Waiilatpu, meaning “place of the rye grass,” about six miles west of present day Walla Walla, Washington. Spalding established a mission at Lapwai, about 12 miles from present day Lewiston, Idaho.

Whitman quickly set to work establishing a settlement. With seeds they bought from Fort Vancouver, he planted an orchard and raised crops. He also built a saw mill and a grist mill on Mill Creek. Whitman and Narcissa had a baby girl, whom they named Clarissa. But their main reason for being there was to bring Christianity to the local Indians. The Walla Walla, Umatilla, Cayuse, and some Nez Perce lived in the area. Several other families settled in the area, both to help minister to the Indians and to start a new settlement. The daughters of mountain men Joe Meek and Jim Bridger stayed at the mission. The Sager family children were also brought here, after being orphaned by their parents.

It all ended on November 29, 1847. The Indians had never been particularly interested in Whitman’s religion, but they were interested in his trade. They had also been interested in his medicine. But a measles epidemic had reached the Northwest and was decimating many of the native peoples. Many of the whites survived. Dr. Whitman did what he could to treat both, with the limited resources that he had. The Indians saw that more of their people were dying than were white people. They began to believe that Whitman was poisoning the Indians, while giving medicine to the whites. They did not understand that it was a result of natural immunity of white

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