Whitman Mission National Historic Site

In 1836, missionary couples Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and Henry and Eliza Spalding accompanied a trapper caravan to what was then the Oregon country. Narcissa and Eliza were the first European-American women to make this trip. The Whitmans established a mission at Waiilatpu, on the Walla Walla River, about five miles west of the site of the eponymous modern city. They were initially welcomed by the Cayuse, the dominant Native American tribe where the mission lay.

A daughter, Alice Clarissa, was born on March 14, 1837, and became a big favorite with the tribe. Tragically, Alice accidentally drowned in the Walla Walla, and her death on June 23, 1839, evidently broke Narcissa's heart. She became withdrawn and lost her zest for missionary work. Meanwhile, Marcus, with a toxic mixture of arrogance and good (albeit patronizing) intentions, was becoming frustrated that his message was not being received. He apparently viewed the Cayuse as ignorant savages determined to remain ignorant—but he also never bothered to learn their language, much less their cultural values.

By the early 1840s, emigrant trains were beginning to stream westward into Oregon, and the Whitman Mission became an important stop on the trail. One result is that many Cayuse began to conclude that the Whitmans were more focused on ministering to these emigrants than to them.

Things came to a head in 1847, when a measles epidemic arrived with a wagon train. The disease swept through the Native American tribes, who had little natural resistance, with lethal effect.

To his credit, Marcus tended to both emigrants and natives, but although the emigrants died from measles too, it was obvious to natives and emigrants alike that the death rates were wildly disproportionate. Some Cayuse thought that the disease was a plot to remove them from their lands. Furthermore, according to Cayuse custom, a medicine man whose patients died could be put to death.

On November 29th and 30th, 1847, a group of Cayuse killed all the men at the mission, as well as Narcissa Whitman, who was the only woman slain. The other women, as well as the children, were taken hostage. They were later released after extensive negotiations in which Eliza Spalding's daughter, also named Eliza, served as translator. Eliza was the only Euro-American in the group who was fluent in Cayuse.

What came to be called the "Whitman Massacre" led to the Cayuse War, in which the US Army waged punitive actions, including destruction of crops and dwellings, against the Cayuse and their allies. The war dragged on until 1855 and had catastrophic consequences for the Cayuse and affiliated tribes. They were forced to cede all their traditional lands and accept the sovereignty of the U.S. Government; in essence, to become wards of the state. The tribe was also forced to hand over the alleged perpetrators of violence against the Whitmans, who were given a swift trial and then hanged. At least one of those executed may have been innocent.

The present museum at the site does an excellent job of presenting this sad and complex narrative. For one thing, the tribes' side of the story is now also presented in detail, and Cayuse tribe members are now actively involved with the museum.