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The Whitman Mission

The first American missionaries to Oregon were Methodists sent west with the blessing of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in New England. The Methodist-Episcopal Mission Board, which sometimes coordinated its efforts with the larger and better-known ABCFM, sponsored Jason Lee in 1834.

Two months after Lee was appointed to Oregon, the ABCFM sent Rev. Samuel Parker to Oregon to scout locations for its own missions. Parker might have arrived in Oregon before Lee, except that he traveled only as far as St. Louis and waited there to catch the outbound fur caravans of 1835.

He was joined in St. Louis by the Presbyterian lay physician Dr. Marcus Whitman, who had been chosen to lead one of the missions for which Parker was scouting locations. They attended the annual fur trappers' rendezvous in Wyoming, and Whitman returned to Boston carrying a plea for spiritual assistance from the Nez Perce Indians. Reverend Parker went ahead to the lands of the Cayuse, Walla Wallas, Spokanes, and Nez Perce, where he chose sites for missions at Tshimakain, Waiilatpu, and Lapwai (near the present-day cities of Spokane, Walla Walla, and Lewiston, respectively). After paying visits to Fort Vancouver and Lee's mission in the Willamette Valley, Parker returned to Boston by ship via the Sandwich Islands and collected his knowledge of the West in a map for future travelers.

The ABCFM had a policy of preferring married missionaries, so Dr. Whitman married Narcissa Prentiss, who wanted to come to Oregon badly enough to marry a man she had never met. Whitman enlisted Reverend Henry Harmon Spalding, just out of seminary, Spalding's wife, and Rev. William Gray to join him. The Whitman party came overland with the fur caravans of 1836, making Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding the first white women on the Oregon Trail. A two-wheeled cart brought along for Mrs. Spalding, who could not ride a horse, was the first wheeled vehicle on the Oregon Trail. The party was able to get the cart as far as Fort Boise before being forced to abandon it due to the unimproved stretches of trail ahead of them. Upon their arrival in the Oregon Country, the women were sent ahead to Fort Vancouver while the menfolk built the Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu, near the Walla Walla River. The following spring, they went on to Lapwai along the Clearwater River to build Spalding's mission before retrieving their wives.

Whitman's mission was among the comparatively warlike Cayuse, while the Spaldings were among the Nez Perce, who were more favorably inclined toward whites. Unfortunately, Spalding's fiery temper soon destroyed their cooperative spirit. Both missions tried to teach the Indians to use grist mills but could not convince them to become farmers. The third mission scouted by Parker, at Tshimakain, was built in 1838 when the ABCFM reinforced the Presbyterian Whitman and Congregationalist Spalding with fellow Congregationalists Rev. Cushing Eells and Rev. Elkanah Walker. This was the only reinforcement Whitman and Spalding would receive.

The difficult circumstances of the missions were not at all understood by the American Board. Indians had well-established religions of their own and could not be rushed into conversion, and the missionaries were repeatedly insulted for their low success rates. Whitman's and Spalding's calls for reinforcements in 1841 and 1842 instead resulted in the ABCFM's decision to close Waiilatpu and Lapwai.

Immediately upon receiving the message to close the missions and transfer everyone to Tshimakain, a decision was made to send Marcus Whitman back to New York with a petition from Spalding and others asking the Board to reconsider. He was accompanied on a rare midwinter journey by Asa Lovejoy, an emigrant of 1842. They averaged a remarkable sixty miles a day for 150 days despite resting on Sundays and often being forced to take refuge from snowstorms. Rather than follow the Oregon Trail back to Missouri, they cut south by way of Taos to skirt around warring Indians. There, Whitman joined up with a Santa Fe Trail caravan bound for St. Louis.

In Boston, Whitman was censured by the ABCFM for abandoning his post despite the backing of the respected Rev. Samuel Parker, who had sited the missions. The Board did, however, decide to withdraw their order closing the missions.

On his return to the mission in 1843, Whitman played an instrumental role in guiding the first major emigrant caravan to the Willamette Valley. At Independence, he met up with a large group preparing to leave for Oregon, the Burnett-Nesmith-Applegate Party. Whitman agreed to travel with them. Captain John Gantt had been hired as a guide as far as Fort Hall, and from there Whitman guided them on to his mission. At the mission, the party of over 800 souls split up into smaller companies, most of them putting into the Columbia River at Fort Walla Walla on makeshift timber rafts for the last leg of the journey.

Whitman's mission at Waiilatpu became a regular stopping place on the Oregon Trail from 1843 to 1847. In 1844, the seven orphaned children of Henry Sager and his wife, who died on the plains, were entrusted to the care of the Whitmans. In 1845, the Whitmans became legal guardians of the Sager children.

On November 29, 1847, the Whitman Mission was attacked by Cayuse Indians. Measles is thought to have been at the root of the violence: there had been an epidemic among the Cayuse, and rumors spread that the Whitmans were trying to poison them. To make matters worse, there was a custom among the Cayuse that medicine men who could not cure should be killed. Elizabeth Sager, 10 years old at the time of the attack, recalled it this way:


Mary Ann Bridger, the half-breed daughter of Jim Bridger the scout, was working in the kitchen. Two Indians, Telekaut and Tamsuky, came to the kitchen door and, walking into the kitchen, asked for Dr. Whitman. Doctor Whitman came out into the kitchen, shutting the door into the next room where Mrs. Whitman was feeding my sister, Henrietta. My brother, John Sager, was sitting in the kitchen winding some twine. The two Indians began talking to Dr. Whitman.

Mary Ann told me that Telekaut was the one who killed Dr. Whitman and that Tamsuky shot and killed my brother. Mary Ann jumped behind the stove [to climb out a window] and then, running around the side of the house, came and told Mrs. Whitman that the Indians were killing Dr. Whitman.

In a moment, everything was confusion. The children were terrorized, though Mrs. Whitman seemed calm. Mister Kimball, holding one arm, which had been shot and from which the blood was running, came running into the room and said, "The Indians are killing us. I don't know what the damned Indians want to kill me for. I never did anything to them. Get some water."

Mrs. Whitman got a pitcher of water for him. Mister Kimball was a very religious man and ordinarily would not have sworn, but he was very much excited. Serious as the situation was, I giggled when he said, "I don't know what the damned Indians want to kill me for," for I knew Mrs. Whitman would reprove him for swearing, particularly in the presence of the children.

Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Hall bought Dr. Whitman into the sitting room. Mister Rogers had come in and said, "Is the doctor dead?

Doctor Whitman answered, "No."

Mrs. Whitman went to the fireplace to get some ashes to stop the bleeding in the doctor's head where he had been struck with a tomahawk.

Looking out of the window, I saw the Indians shooting and I said, "Mother, they are killing Mr. Sauders." The upper part of the door in the sitting room was of glass. Mrs. Whitman came to the door and looked out.

An Indian that we called Frank was standing on the schoolroom step and, seeing Mrs. Whitman looking out, shot at her, the bullet striking her in the shoulder. My sister, Katie, stooped over Mrs. Whitman, who had fallen to the floor, and tried to help her up. Mrs. Whitman said, "Go and take care of the sick children, Katie. You can do nothing for me." In the room where Dr. and Mrs. Whitman were, were myself and my four sisters, with Mary Ann Bridger, Helen Meek, Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Hays, Miss Bewley, and Mr. Kimball.

When Mrs. Whitman was wounded, she began praying out loud. She said, "Lord, save these little ones."

Dusk came early and as the Indians began breaking the windows, Mrs. Whitman thought we had better go upstairs to Miss Bewley's room. Mister Rogers helped Mrs. Whitman go upstairs. While Mrs. Hall and those who could helped carry the sick children up to Miss Bewley's room, Mrs. Whitman lay down on the foot of the bed.

Mrs. Whitman said to Mr. Rogers, "There is a gun barrel in the corner. Hold the end of the muzzle of the gun barrel over the top of the stairs so the Indians will thinkyou have a gun."

The Indians broke into the house and mutilated Dr. Whitman and my brother. The Indians then broke the door to the upstairs room and Tamsuky called to Mr. Roger to come on down, that he would take care of us. Mister Rogers told him to come on up, but when Tamsuky saw the gun barrel, he was afraid.

Finally, Mr. Rogers went downstairs and talked to Tamsuky and Joe Lewis. Tamsuky told Mr. Rogers that the Indians were going to burn the house and that he wanted to save Mrs. Whitman and the others. Aunt Lucinda Bewley, who was Mrs. Whitman's hired girl, and Mr. Rogers helped Mrs. Whitman downstairs. She said to me, "Come with me, Elizabeth." When we got into the dining room she said, "Stay close to me."

Mrs. Whitman was so weak from loss of blood that she lay down on the sofa. Aunt Lucinda put a pillow under her head and then got a white blanket which she put over her. Joe Lewis put his gun by the kitchen door and took the foot of the soda to help carry Mrs. Whitman out. When Mrs. Whitman saw Joe Lewis, she said, "Oh, Joe. You too?"

They carried Mrs. Whitman on the sofa through the kitchen door. Just before they had gone out, one of the Indians had told my brother, Francis, to go along with Mrs. Whitman. As we went out of the kitchen, Joe Lewis dropped his end of the sofa, on which Mrs. Whitman was lying, and at the same time the Indians standing around fired. Mister Rogers raised his hands and said, "Oh, God," and fell. My brother also fell, and Mrs. Whitman, who was shot through the cheek and through the body, fell off of the lounge onto the muddy ground. ... My sister Mathilda also saw the killing of these three. She said she saw one of the Indians reach down, catch Mrs. Whitman by the hair, and raise her head and then strike her across the face several times with his leather quirt.

We children stayed upstairs that night in the house where Dr. Whitman had been tomahawked. He lived for some time, for he was breathing heavily when Mrs. Whitman was carried out to be killed. Mister Kimball had been overlooked by the Indians. He was suffering from his wound. He also stayed in the upper room with us that night.

The children who were sick cried for water during the night, so early the next morning I went down to see if I could get some water. The body of Mrs. Whitman was lying near the kitchen door. The body of Mr. Rogers was lying not far away. I saw Edward Telekaut and asked him if he would get some water for me. He got a bucket of water and brought a dipper. As the Indians seemed to have quit their killing, I decided to go over to the Mansion House and see what was going to become of us. Mrs. Saunders met me and said, The Indians have promised not to kill us." At about 10 o'clock that morning my sister Katie tookthe children over to the Mansion House. Helen Meek was the last to be taken over. When Katie came back for her, Helen was crying as though her heart would break, for she thought she had been left.


In addition to Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, sixteen men and older boys were killed that day, including two of the Sager children. Fifty-three women and children were taken captive and subjected to "indescribable indignities" before being freed a month later by Peter Skene Ogden of the HBC, who ransomed the captives for $500 worth of trade goods.

The Whitman Massacre, as it was quickly christened, was an isolated incident perpetrated by Indians who were later disavowed by their tribal hierarachs, but it struck fear into the emigrants in the Willamette Valley. The settlers convinced themselves that the tribes of eastern Oregon might unite to wipe them out, and the racial paranoia ran so deep that some began to worry about the threat of escaped slaves and freedmen throwing in with the Native American tribes and eventually reducing the white population in Oregon to a threatened minority.

The government in Oregon City sent troops to fight the Cayuse War, the first major Indian War in the Oregon Country. The militia headed for Tshimakain and Lapwai and escorted the missionaries safely to Oregon City. Later, an Indian bragging of taking Mrs. Whitman's scalp was killed and five prisoners were taken back to Oregon City for trial. There was little effort to establish that the five prisoners had participated in the mission killings, and indeed, there is some speculation that the Cayuse simply offered up five volunteers in order to appease the wrath of the white settlers and end the fighting. Whatever the circumstances, it appears that the trial was a sham and that the Indians, who were hung on June 3, 1850, were effectively lynched. The last words spoken by one of the Cayuse warriors were reportedly, "Now friends, now friends."

As a result of the violence at the Whitman Mission, all ABCFM missions in Oregon were ordered closed. This had the effect of slightly shortening the Oregon Trail, as its route would now bypass the former site of the Whitman Mission. Among the overlanders, fear of Indian attack along the Trail increased substantially.

Whatever mistakes the missionaries made in ministering to the sick and needy were far overshadowed in history by the martyr status accorded the Whitmans.