YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

MARCUS WHITMAN
PATHFINDER and PATRIOT

STATUE OF MABCUS WHITMAN

MAI^CUlT'V^HITMAN RATHFINDER and PATRIOT

REV. ,MYRON EELLS, D. D.

Author of "Indian Missions," "Ten Years at Skokomisk,"
"Fattier Mis;' Etc.

SEATTLE
THE ALICE HAKRMA'N COMPANY
MCMIX

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY
THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY
All Rights Reserved

1^ "Nfc

PRESS OF LOWMAN «f HANFORD CO.
PLATES BY MARING & BLAKE
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
Early Life. Page.
Birth — Ancestry — Lincoln Family — Saved from Death — Conver
sion — Education — Missionary Zeal — Narcissa Prentiss— An
cestry and Early Life — Desire for Missionary Work — Early
History of the Pacific Coast — Introduction of Indians to
Christian Religion — Four Nez Perces Go to St. Louis — Jason
Lee and Methodist Missions — Rev. S. Parker — He and Dr.
Whitman Start for Oregon — Return of Dr. Whitman from
Rocky Mountains — H. H. Spalding — W. H. Gray — Marriage. - 31
CHAPTER II.
Crossing the Continent.
Leaving Home — To St.1 Louis — The Fur Company Leaves Them
— Overtakes It — Danger from Buffalo — Mrs. Spalding's Ill
ness — Fourth of July at South Pass — Sacred Ceremony —
Meeting With the Indians — American Rendezvous and Its
Scenes — The Wagon — Left at Boise — Mrs. Whitman and Mrs.
Spalding— Dr. Whitman— Arrival at Fort Walla Walla— At
Vancouver — Selecting Stations and Settling at Them. 32
CHAPTER III.
Crossing the Continent (Continued).
Mrs. Whitman's Journals and Letters — Sabbath at Chester — At
St. Louis — American Rendezvous — Fort Hall — Blue Moun
tains — Walla Walla — Vancouver. 54

Table of Contents
CHAPTER IV.
Mission Work.
Page.
Indians, Numbers and Customs — Birth of Alice — Trouble — Sick
ness Among the Indians — Temperance and Clothes — School —
Religious Work — Farming — Mails — Railroad Across the Isth
mus — First Visit to Lapwai — Baptism of Children — Series of
Meetings — Organization of Church and Its History — Rein
forcement of 1888 — Tshimakain— Kamiah — Printing Press —
Death of Alice — Catholic Missionaries — Death of Mr. Pam-
burn — A. McKinley — Encouragements — J. S. Griffin and A.
Munger — Dr. Geiger — T. J. Farnham and His Description of
Life at Wai-i-lat-pu — Peoria Party — Horse Meat — First Cow
Beef and Pork — Mission Work — Sickness — Death of Joseph
Mahi— Rev. H. Clark, A. T. Smith and P. B. Littlejohn—
Housekeeping — Building — Difficulties With the Indians — Con
tentment — Mr. Drayton — Tshimakain — Kamiah — Lapwai —
Resignation of Messrs. Smith, Rogers and Gray — Methodist
Mission — Immigrations and Settlers. 96

CHAPTER V.
Mission Work (Continued).
Difficulties in the Mission — Journey East in 1842 — Checkered Af
fairs at the Doctor's Station — Mrs. Whitman's Letters and
Feelings — Mills — Prospects and Future Plans — Children —
Mission Work at the Other Stations — Close of the Methodist
Mission — Political Constitution of Oregon. 126

CHAPTER VI.
National Work.
Period of Early Discovery on the Pacific Coast — Of Fur Traders
— Struggle for Possession — Withdrawal of France, Spain and
Russia — Hudson Bay Company — American Fur Companies —
Location of American and Catholic Missionaries — Efforts of
the Hudson Bay Company to Retain Region — American Ef
forts — Provisional Government — Dr. Whitman's Ideas — Ash-
burton's Treaty — Dr. Whitman's Journey East — A. J. Love-
joy's Account — At St. Louis, Cincinnati, Ithaca, Washington,
New York and Boston. 193

Table of Contents
CHAPTER VII.
National Work — Objections. Page.
(1) That Dr. Whitman Did Not Go East with Any National Ob
ject in View — Evidences of C. Eells, W. Geiger., Mrs. M. R.
Walker, W. ,H. -Gray, H. H. Spalding, A. L. Lovejoy, P. B.
Whitman, Dr. Barrows, H. H. Field, E. Hale, J. Otis, A. Ram
sey, S. Reed, John Tyler, Jr., Hines' History of Oregon, Cir
cumstantial Evidence, and Dr. Whitman. (2) That Dr. Whit
man Did Nothing Worthy of Mention When in Washington —
Evidence of Messrs. Geiger, SpaLding, Gray, P. B. Whitman,
Lovejoy, Otis and Dr. Whitman — Governor Simpson at
Washington. (3) That it Wss Impossible for Dr. Whitman
or A^y One to H*«e; Salved Oregon, as There Was No Dan
ger of Losing Jk-HLgnofia-nce About Oregon-*— Webster's Posi
tion — Sir Robert Peel — Trade fox California or Newfound
land — Judge G. H. Williams — Papers Not Necessary — Web
ster's Statement — British Colonial Magazine. (4) That It
Was Not Published Earlier— Unwise — Would Bring Dis
grace on the Mission — Almost Impossible — Evidence to Show
That it Was Known by Many from 1846 to 1857. 163

CHAPTER Viri.
Dr. Whitman -and the Immigration of 1843.
(5) Objection that Dr. Whitman Did Nothing Worthy of Men
tion to Incite People to Start for Oregon — What He Did Do.
(6) '"That He 'Did Nothing of Importance to Assist the Immi
grants on the Route — What He Did Before Reaching Fort
Hall— At Fort Hall— Afterwards— Dr. Whitman's Ideas-
Testimonials. 306

CHAPTER IX.
Whitman Controversy.
Reason for It— Mistakes of Some' Writers— Incidetit at Fort Walla
Walla— Controversy of 1880, 1885, 1895, 1897, 1900-1— Mistakes
of Those Who Call the Story a Myth— Increase of Evidence. 233

Table of Contents
CHAPTER X.
Difficulty With the Indians. Page.
Troubles of a Physician Among Savage Indians — About Presents
Received from Indians — Wood, Water and Land — About Pay
for Indians Who Had Died — Mrs. Whitman — Talk of War —
Council About Immigration and Land — Elijah Hedding —
Catholics — Dr. Whitman Fears — Judge Thornton to Washing
ton. 249
CHAPTER XL
The Catholics.
Arrival of Messrs. Blanchet and Demers — Farnham's Description
— Dr. Whitman's Fears — Policy of Catholics — Arrival of
Father Brouillet. 270
CHAPTER XII.
The Whitman Massacre.
Those at Dr. Whitman's Station — His Trip to Umatilla — Massacre
— Escape of J. Osborne and Family — Burial of Dead — Cap
tives and Their Rescue by P. S. Ogden — Cayuse War — J. L.
Meek Sent to Washington — Governor Lane's Arrival — He
Secures and Hangs Five Murderers — Tomahawk. 279
CHAPTER XIII.
Monuments.
Whitman College — Whitman County — Stone Monument — Efforts
in the Legislature by Oregon Pioneer and Historical Society
—The Grave — By Whitman Monument Association — Dedica
tion of It — Services at Washington, D. C. — Statue at Phila
delphia. 290
CHAPTER XIV.
Results — Conclusion.
Dr. Whitman's Wagon in 1836 — First White Woman to Cross the
Continent — Mr. Spalding's Eulogy — The Trip of 1842-3 — Rev.
J. W. Bashford on the Trip — Testimonials — Poem. 301

APPENDIX.
(A) Rev. Samuel Parker  315
(B) Rev. Henry Harmon Spalding  317
(C) " William H. Gray  320
(D) Rev. Asa Bowen Smith  323
(E) Rev. E. Walker....  325
(F) Rev. Cushing Eells, D. D  _  327
(G) Cornelius Rogers  329
(H) Edwin Oscar Hall  331
(I) Mr. Andrew Rodgers  333
(J) Letter and Synopsis of Bill by Marcus Whitman  335-337

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Statue of Marcus Whitman  _  Frontispiece
Rev. Samuel Parker  _  Facing Page 26
Birthplace of Mrs. Whitman. Church at Angelica, N.Y.
Fourth of July, 1836..._ 
Fort Laramie and Independence Rock 
Fort Boise  _  _ 
Rev. Henry Spalding. William H. Gray. 
Fort Hall  _  - 
Fort Walla Walla 
Fort Vancouver  _  ,.
The Whitman Mission, 1843 
The Printing Press 
Tshimakain, 1843 
Columbia River and The Dalles 
Lost in the Snow  _  -  _ 
Hon. A. L-. Lovejoy  _   
Four Pioneer Catholics 
Dr. John McLoughlin. Gov. P. S. Ogden 
Rev. Cushing Eells. Rev. Elkanah Walker 
Grave of Massacre Victims 
Whitman Monument  _ 

303438
44 587082
90
100
114 124138156
168
268
286 290296
300

Bird'seye View — Map  Inserts

PREFACE

It is not strange that the writer has been interested in the
life of Dr. Whitman. His father was an associate of the
Doctor in the Oregon Mission from 1838 to 1847, and the
founder of Whitman Seminary and College. In 1882 the writer
published a book on Protestant Indian Missions on the North
Pacific Coast, in which considerable reference was made to the
Doctor's work and the results of it. Growing more interested
in the work, he planned something larger, and in 1887-90 pub
lished a series of fifty-one articles in the San Francisco Pacific,
in regard to the Doctor and his work, intending in a few years
to put these in book form. Various things delayed, however.
In the mean time other books were published much in the same
line, as, How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon, by Dr. O. W.
Nixon; The Story of Marcus Whitman, by J. G. Craighead,
D. D. ; Marcus Whitman and the Early Days of Oregon, by
Dr. W. A. Mowry; and some pamphlets, with many magazine
articles ; so that the writer at one time thought that it would not
be wise for him to go forward with his book, and gave it up. But
of late there has seemed to be a demand for something different
from what has yet been published. In it the writer has been
encouraged from sources which he did not expect, even those
who have already written on the subject. Says Dr. Nixon, of
Chicago, March 29, 1900: "It seems to me that it is a duty
incumbent upon you to write a complete history of Early Ore
gon and the great part enacted by the patriotic Christian mis
sionaries." Says President S. B. L. Penrose, of Whitman Col
lege, February 9, 1901 : "It delights me to hear that you are
engaged on a life of Dr. Whitman. I hope that you will soon
be able to push on with the work, and have it ready for the
public." Says Dr. W. A. Mowry, of Hyde Park, Massachu-

Preface
setts, February 1, 1899 : "I have supposed that at the proper
time you would publish a Life of Dr. Whitman which will
prove the last word. You will make it so full, so complete, so
authoritative, that no one can afterward object. I certainly
hope you will do that." Says Dr. S. H. Wiley, of California,
January 2, 1889, who had written a series of articles in regard
to "the work of the A. B. C. F. M. on the Pacific Slope and
related matters," after referring to the series of articles spoken
of above in the Pacific : "I want to see the thorough work you
have done put in permanent form, ere long, work that will
satisfy candid inquirers, far and near ;" and again, March 4 :
"You have got hold of the handle of this matter, which means
that Providence intends that you should carry it through."
Others who have encouraged the writer are Hon. J. W. Fair-
bainks, who has delivered his lecture in, the East many times
on The Bide That Saved an Empire; Rev. W. A. Tenney, of
Oakland, California, formerly of Oregon, who has written con
siderably about the missions on the northwest coast for news
papers and magazines ; Colonel W. F. Prosser, President of the
Washington State Historical Society, and editor of the Wash
ington Historical Magazine; and Dr. A. J. Anderson, first
President of Whitman College.
In 1883, the author published a pamphlet of thirty-four oc
tavo pages, entitled Marcus Whitman, M. D. Proofs of his
work in Saving Oregon to the United States and in promoting
the immigration of 18^8. In it are a large number of letters,
most of which were written to the author on these subjects.
This in some of the chapters will be referred to as Eells' Whit
man Pamphlet.
The books, pamphlets and newspapers to which the writer is
indebted for aid in preparing the following pages are very
many, and are generally mentioned in the foot notes. The
writer also here wishes to thank the many persons who have
in answer to his inquiries written him in regard to various
subjects herein treated. Their names are generally mentioned
in their proper places.
Twana, Washington, January 1st, 1907.

• Preface

ADDITIONAL.
This much had Dr. Eells written at the time of his death
early in January, 1907. He was exceptionally qualified to write
the history of Oregon, both by the qualities of mind which he
inherited from his distinguished father, and by his lifelong
residence upon its soil. Clear-sighted, patient and industrious,
he combined in a rare degree the unflagging zeal of the scholar
with a warm-hearted devotion to the interests of truth and
right. He was mentally and morally honest to the core. The
name of Dr. Whitman was to him a household name from
childhood, and to the personal knowledge of him derived from
Eev. Cushing Eells, Dr. Whitman's associate and friend, Myron
Eells added the knowledge gained by thirty years of pains
taking investigation into the written and unwritten records of
pioneer history. It may be doubted if any other man ever
lived who was so fully and accurately informed concerning
that early period.
We may hope, moreover, that future generations will appre
ciate the simple heroism and sublime self-sacrifice of this grad
uate of Pacific University and of Hartford Theological Sem
inary who devoted his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to the Indian tribes scattered along the shores of Hood's
Canal. He lived among the Indians of the Skokomish reser
vation from 1874 until his death, always a faithful missionary,
yet always also a student of anthropology, language, and his
tory. The noble traditions of his New England ancestors were
worthily exemplified in him, scholar, hero and saint.
The publication of the present work, left in manuscript
completed at Dr. Eells' death, has been made possible by the
generous financial assistance of the following persons, to whom
grateful acknowledgment is hereby given: Mr. K. L. McCor
mick, of Tacoma, Hon. Thomas Burke, Miss M. L. Denny, Mr.
Lawrence J. Colman, Eev. Edward Lincoln Smith, D. D., Mr.
S. L. Crawford, Mr. W. T. Dovell, ex-Gov. John H. McGraw,
Mrs. Edmund Bowden and Mr. J. A. Hall, of Seattle.

Preface
In the revision of the manuscript valuable aid has been ren
dered by Judge Cornelius H. Hanford, Mr. W. H. Gilstrap,
secretary of the Washington State Historical Society, and
Miss Mary Banks, reference librarian, Seattle Public Library.
The illustrations used are due to the courtesy of Whitman
College, the Washington State Historical Society, Oregon His
torical Society, and Silver, Burdette Company.

MARCUS WHITMAN
PATHFINDER and PATRIOT

MARCUS WHITMAN
PATHFINDER and PATRIOT

CHAPTEE I.

EARLY LIFE.

Dr. Marcus Whitman was born at Eushville, Yates County,
New York, September 4, 1802; the third son of Beza and Alice
Whitman. His father was a native of Goshen, Massachusetts,
and moved from Windsor, Massachusetts, in 1799, living first in
Hopewell, and next settling in Gorham, now Eushville, where
Marcus was born. He built and kept the first public house
in Eushville, and died April 6, 1810 -1
1 From a work published by Fowler and Wells it would seem that
the original Whitman stock predominated over all those that inter
married with it, not only in imparting age, but also in rendering the
descendants conspicuous for high moral and religious feelings and
strong common sense. John Whitman, called "the ancestor" of the
Whitman family, lived to be about ninety. None of his sons died un
der eighty-two, and several of them reached ninety years. A de
scendant of Deacon Whitman died at the advanced age of one hun
dred and seven. It is also interesting to note that in very early days
the families of Abraham Lincoln and Marcus Whitman were related.
Samuel Lincoln came from Norfolk County, England, in 1637 and set
tled in Salem, Mass. Of his ten children, the fourth was Mordecai.
John Whitman, of Weymouth, Mass., was the founder of the Whit
man family in America. His eldest child was Sarah Whitman, who
married in 1683 Abraham Jones, of Hingham, Mass. They had seven
children, one of whom, Sarah Whitman Jones, married Mordecai Lin
coln. They left four children, of whom Mordecai was great-great
grandfather of President Lincoln. Says the Chicago Inter-Ocean of
June 2, 1896, "Two grander names have not figured in American his
tory than those of Lincoln and Whitman,'' and "these facts lead di
rectly to the pleasing fact that the martyr President, Abraham Lin
coln, and the old hero-missionary, Marcus Whitman, were descen
dants of the same family.''
The direct line from John Whitman is as follows:
John Whitman, born probably in 1602, came, as near as can be
learned, from Herefordshire, England, to Weymouth, Mass., before
1638, as he was there at that time, and died in 1692. The oldest son

22 Marcus Whitman
Beza Whitman left a family of five surviving children — Au
gustus, Marcus, Henry G., Samuel and Alice. In the infancy
of Marcus, his parents lived in a log house. The country was
new and wild, and his father was a tanner and a currier. His
mother, being lonely, often used to go and sit with her husband
in the little shop opposite the house, binding shoes. Having
left Marcus, a baby, in his cradle, one evening, she was much
startled, on her return, to find that a log had fallen from the
fireplace and burned the lower end of the cradle, and that he
was nearly suffocated by the smoke. His life was, however,
preserved for a great work.
In the fall of 1810, after the death of his father, he was
sent to live with his paternal grandfather, Deacon Samuel
Whitman, at Plainfield, Mass. He dated his conversion from
a revival at this place in 1819, though he did not join any
church until five years later, when he united with the Congre
gational Church at Eushville, January, 1824. He remained a
member of this for nine years, when he joined the Presbyterian
Church at Wheeler, February 9, 1833, of which he was elected
a ruling Elder the next month. February 2, 1836, he was dis
missed from this to "where the Providence of God may cast his
lot," after which, about 1838, he joined the Mission Church
in Oregon, which was Presbyterian in name and Congrega
tional in practice.
Having remained at Plainfied four years, he unexpectedly
i-eturned home for a visit of three weeks. Coming in at even
ing, he went up to his mother, and reached out his hand, say
ing, "How do you do, mother." She drew back, not knowing
him. This so grieved him that he burst into tears. He re
turned to Plainfield for five years longer, and began a course
of Latin under Rev. Moses Hallock, after which he returned to
and child of John Whitman and Ruth, his wife, was Thomas, who was
born in 1629, married Abigail Bryam, and died in 1712. Their third
son and child was Nicholas, born 1675, married Sarah Vining, and
died in 1746. Their second son and child was John, born 1704, mar
ried Elizabeth Cary, and died in 1792. Their oldest child was Sam
uel, born 1730, married Mrs. Sarah Waterman, and died in 1824. Their
fifth son and child was Beza, born 1773, married Alice Green, March
9, 1797, and died in 1810.

Early Life 23
Eushville, where he finished this part of his studies under
Rev. David Page. His heart was set on studying for the min
istry, but he was opposed by his brothers, who thought his lim
ited means would compel him to be a charity scholar, and they
persuaded him, against his will, to take up the study of medi
cine. Many a time were tears seen on his face, as he thought
of his disappointment in this object of life. He took up a
three-years' course of medical study with Dr. Ira Bryant, of
Rushville, and received his diploma at Fairfield in 1824. Dur
ing his studies he was severely afflicted with a pain in his side,
to which he remained subject all his life, but he was a man
of remarkable energy and perseverance, and seldom yielded to
bodily pain or weariness.
His first practice in medicine was four years in Canada,
after which he went home, determined to study for the min
istry, but he was again assailed by the pain in his side and
conquered by it, whereupon he went to Wheeler, where he
practiced medicine for four years more. At one time he was
associated with his brother Henry in owning and running a
saw mill near Potter Center.
He always had a great passion for adventure and explora
tion in new and uncivilized regions, and being of a strong re
ligious tendency, he panted for missionary work that would
gratify and satisfy these desires. Consequently, he wrote the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at
Boston, the missionary society of the Congregational and Pres
byterian Churches, about it. In this letter, dated at Wheeler,
N. Y., June 3, 1834, he said : "I regard the missionary cause
as based on the atonement and the commands and promises
of the Lord Jesus Christ to his ambassadors and church; and
that it involves the holiness and happiness of all that may be
reclaimed from sin. I am willing to go to any field of useful
ness at the direction of the American Board. I will cooperate
as physician, teacher or agriculturist, so far as I am able, if
required." 1
His wife, Narcissa Prentiss, was born in Prattsburg, New
York, March 14, 1808. She was the daughter of Judge Stephen
1 "Missionary Herald," January, 1898, p. 9.

24 Marcus Whitman
Prentiss, and like Dr. Whitman, she could trace her ancestry
in America back to the first part of the Seventeenth Century,
soon after the landing of the Pilgrims.1
Her father had nine children, and she was the third. He
and his wife and all of these children were members of the
Congregational Church in Prattsburg. She was the subject
of early religious impressions, and at the age of eleven, in
1819, she united with that church, and was ever afterwards
known as an active Christian worker. Seventy others united
with that church on that day. H. H. Spalding, though not
then a Christian, was a spectator of the scene. About five
years later he united with the same church, and for several
years they were members also of the same school in Prattsburg.
Miss Prentiss received a part of her education at Miss
Willard's Seminary at Troy, N. Y., and completed it at Frank
lin Academy at Prattsburg. Afterwards she and her sister,
Jane Abigail, established an infant school at Bath, the county
seat of Steuben County. In 1834 she moved to Angelica, where
she united with the Presbyterian Church. There she was very
active in Sabbath School and prayer meetings. She was the
life of the ladies' prayer meetings, and in fact it was owing to
her efforts that they were established. She was very anxious
that her friends should come to a knowledge of Christ, and for
this object would visit them and urge them to come to Him.
After her conversion her mind was drawn to the subject of
foreign missions, and it became her ardent wish to carry the
news of salvation to the heathen. She had written to the
American Board in regard to her wishes, and that Society had
about determined to send her to some tribe east of the Rockies.
1 The first was Henry Prentice, a planter, who was born in Eng
land, but was in Cambridge, Mass., before 1640. Himself and family
were members of the Cambridge Church. He died in 1654. Second,
Solomon Prentice, son of Henry, born in Cambridge 1646, died there
1719. Third, his son Solomon Prentice, Jr., born 1673, died 1758.
Fourth, Stephen Prentice, born in Cambridge, 1720. He moved to
Grafton, Mass. Fifth, Stephen Prentice, second son of the last, born
in Grafton, 1744. He moved to Walpole, New Hampshire. Sixth,
Stephen Prentiss (the spelling of the name was then changed), born
in Walpole, 1777, died in West Almond, N. Y., 1862. He was the
father of Narcissa.

Early Life 25
In her offer of herself to the Board she wrote: "Feeling it
more my privilege than duty to labor for the conversion of the
heathen, I respectfully submit myself to your direction."1
The Prudential Committee of the American Board thought
at first of sending him to some tribe of Indians east of the
Rocky Mountains, but God had been preparing him for another
work. He had given the Doctor a desire to preach the Gospel ;
had caused him to be a ruling elder in the church, the highest
office in its gift next to the ministry; had brought him into
revival work; had given him a medical education, which he
found to be the necessary one for him when in Oregon;2 had
taught him how to manage a mill,8 and finally had brought the
Doctor and the Missionary Board into friendly intercourse.
After the period of discovery of the North Pacific Coast,
which was in the main done by water by Berkeley or Barclay
in 1788, Quadra in 1790, Vancouver and Gray in 1792, and by
land by Mackenzie in 1795, and Lewis and Clark in 1804-6,
came the era of the Fur Hunters. Of these there were at least
fourteen companies, of which the Hudson's Bay Company was
the principal. This began its business on the Pacific Coast in
1821. From some of these explorers the Indians obtained in
formation about God, the Bible, the Sabbath, and the Christian
religion. Lewis and Clark had told them that in these were
the secret of the white man's power. The Hudson's Bay Com
pany had their flag put up every Sabbath, so that the day had
come to be known among the Indians as the "flag day." A
certain trapper spent hours in reading the Book and talking
silently to an unseen Being above. The Indians wanted to
know more about the new religion. They were told that after
a while missionaries from the East would come and teach
them. They waited for them and talked about the subject
around their council fires, but they waited in vain. Hence,
after years of waiting, they concluded to send five Nez Perces
to the East for missionaries and the Book. They went in 1832 ;
""Missionary Herald," January, 1898, p. 9.
'His field stretched two hundred miles in every direction from
his home, with not another physician in it as long as he lived.
'He was the only member of the Oregon Mission of the Ameri
can Board who at first had the necessary knowledge.

26 Marcus Whitman
only four of them, however, reaching St. Louis. There they
found their old friend, General Clark, Superintendent of In
dian Affairs, whom they had seen in 1805-6. They made known
their wants to him, but for some reason he avoided making
public the object of their visit. He, however, treated them
kindly, entertained them, and showed them the sights of the
city. They were taken to the cathedral and shown the altar
and the pictures of the saints. But they did not obtain the
object of their coming. Two of their number died, and the
other two prepared mournfully to return to their homes. As
they were about to leave the office of General Clark, one of
their number made the following farewell address to him,
which was overheard by a young man near by and written
down. It was as follows :
"I came to you over a trail of many moons from the setting
sun. You were the friend of my fathers who have all gone the
long way. I came with one eye partly opened, for more light
for my people who sit in darkness. I go back with both eyes
closed. How can I go back with both eyes closed? How can
I go back blind to my blind people? I made my way to you
with strong arms, through many enemies and strange lands,
that I might carry back much to them. I go back with both
arms broken and empty. The two fathers who came with us —
the braves of many winters and wars — we leave asleep by your
great water and wigwam. They were tired in many moons
and their moccasins wore out. My people sent me to get the
white man's book of Heaven. You took me where you allow
your women to dance, as we do not ours, and the book was not
there ; you showed me the images of good spirits and pictures of
the good land beyond, but the book was not among them to tell
us the way. I am going back the long sad trail to my people
of the dark land. You make my feet heavy with burdens of
gifts, and my moccasins will grow old in carrying them, but
the book is not among them. When I tell my poor blind peo
ple, after one more snow, in the big council, that I did not
bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by
our young braves. One by one they will rise up and go out in
silence. My people will die in darkness, and they will go on
the long path to the other hunting grounds. No white man

KBV. SAMUEL PARKER

Early Life 27
will go with them and no white man's book will make the way
plain. I have no more words."
The young man, who was religiously inclined, wrote to his
friends in the East an account of these Indians, their desires,
and this address, and it was made public early in 1833, as a
call from the "Wise men from the West." When it was first
published, there were some who doubted, and some denied the
truth of it, and even in the latter third of the century, there
were some who denied the story. George Catlin, the cele
brated painter of Indian portraits, had, however, seen it, and
afterwards asked General Clark in regard to it, who said that
it was true.1
When this story was made known in the East, it aroused
the Christian people. The Methodist Episcopal Church soon
invited Rev. Jason Lee, of Canada East, to take charge of the
mission they proposed to establish in Oregon. In 1834, he
with his nephew, Rev. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepherd and P. L.
Edwards, crossed the continent in the company of N. J. Wyeth,
and began work in the Willamette Valley.
The call also attracted the attention of Rev. Samuel Parker,
then in Middlefield, Mass. He had often thought of the region
beyond the Rockies, and when he heard the story, it became a
fire in his bones, so that he offered himself to the American
Board to go to Oregon the same year.2 The offer was not,
however, immediately accepted, and when it was, and Mr.
Parker reached St. Louis, he found himself too late to join the
annual fur traders' caravan of 1834. He returned, therefore,
to the State of New York, to which he had recently moved, and
spent the next winter in lecturing on Oregon, endeavoring to
interest the churches in the work and to secure assistants.
1 Mr. Catlin had painted the portraits of these two young chiefs
and had traveled two thousand miles with them on their return home.
These portraits are now in the National Gallery of Portraits at Wash
ington. The name of one was Hee-oh'ks-te-kin (The Rabbit Skin
Leggings), and of the other H'co-a-h'co-a-cotes-min (No Horns
on His Head). The latter died near the mouth of the Yellowstone
River on his way home, the former alone reaching his people. — Cat-
lin's North American Indian, pp. 561-2.
2 For a short sketch of Mr. Parker's life, see appendix "A."

28 Marcus Whitman
Several persons promised to go, at least five, but of them all,
only two ever started, and these were Dr. Whitman and his
wife.1 Dr. Whitman was accepted by the Board to go in 1835
with Mr. Parker. He reached St. Louis about the first of
April, and was joined a fe wdays later by his companion.2
Leaving St. Louis April 8th, they went up the Missouri,
most of the way by steamer, until they reached Liberty, where
they joined the annual caravan of the American Fur Company.
Nothing of special note seems to have occurred until they
reached the place of rendezvous on Green River, a branch of
the Colorado, on the 18th of August, except that some employes
of the Company became hostile to them, and declared their de
termination to kill the missionaries because of their Sabbath-
keeping and their temperance principles. When, however, the
cholera broke out among them, Dr. Whitman's professional
skill, together with Mr. Parker's nursing, were mainly instru
mental in saving the lives of the men in the Company.
At the rendezvous Dr. Whitman was called upon to perform
some important surgical operations. He extracted an iron
1 Whether they were acquainted in 1834 or not seems to be un
certain, but probably not. This is at least the impression of Dr. S.
J. Parker, a son of Rev. Samuel Parker. He also thinks that his
father wrote Dr. Whitman that he had better go and see her at her
father's house, and that Mrs. Whitman said in Mr. Parker's parlor
before leaving for Oregon: "We had to make love somewhat ab
ruptly, and must do our courtship now that we are married."
Mr. Parker's letter to his family in regard to it was dated December
5, 1834. In it he says: "I have found some missionaries. Dr.
Whitman, of Wheeler, Steuben County, New York, has agreed to
offer himself to the Board to go beyond the mountains. He has no
family. Two ladies offer themselves, one a daughter of Judge Pren
tiss, of Amity, Alleghany County, the other a Miss McCoy, of Cuba,
offers herself; also one minister, very promising, except his health;
also a Mr. Clark, and Rev. Samuel May, brother to Mrs. Powell."
2 It is not known that any journals of his, giving an account of any
of his trips across the Continent, are in existence. Hence, in the
accounts which will be hereafter given, most of the information is
taken from journals and statements made by his companions, especial
ly Messrs. Parker, Gray, Lovejoy, and some of the emigrants of 1843,
and Mrs. Whitman.

Early Life 29
arrowhead, three inches long, from the back of Captain Brid-
ger, which he had received three years before in a skirmish with
the Blackfeet Indians. It was a difficult operation, because
the arrow was hooked at the point, and a cartilaginous sub
stance had grown around it. The Doctor performed the oper
ation with great self-possession and firmness, and his patient
was equally firm. He also extracted from the shoulder of one
of the hunters another arrow which had been there for two and
a half years. His reputation having thus become favorably
established, calls for medical and surgical aid were almost
incessant.1 They remained at the rendezvous nine days, gaining all the
information they could from traders, trappers and Indians.
The prospect seemed to be so favorable that it was thought best
for Dr. Whitman to return at once to obtain missionary help,
instead of going on with Mr. Parker to assist in the explora
tions and then return for the needed assistance. Mr. Parker
was to go on with the Nez Perces and Flathead Indians to
their countries ; visit the English trading posts on the Colum
bia River; learn the prospects of the proposed mission field;
the number and character of the Indian tribes; the character
of the unknown country, its climate and soil ; the character of
the Hudson's Bay Company, whether missionaries could depend
on their friendship or not; whether bread and clothing could
be obtained, or whether the missionaries would be compelled
to depend on wild game, roots, berries and skins ; the next
year he was to return to the rendezvous and make his report
to Dr. Whitman and any associates he might bring to it. Dr.
Whitman first proposed this plan, which would save a year in
the work, but afterward he felt doubtful about leaving Mr.
Parker to go on alone with the Indians. Mr. Parker, however,
took the responsibility of the risk upon himself. On the 22nd
of August they separated, not again to meet until 1843, when
1 This reputation proved to be of great assistance to the missionary
party the next year, when the Fur Company seemed determined to
run away from them and leave them to their fate in the wilderness.
Dr. Whitman's reputation for kindness and skill seemingly turned the
scale, and brought them at last the protection which they absolutely
needed.

30 Marcus Whitman
Dr. Whitman returned East on his great mission to save Ore
gon. As Dr. Whitman returned East with the caravan, he took
with him two Indian boys, Richard Tac-i-tu-i-tas and John
I-tes, one of them the son of a chief. This was done on a
promise "to return them in due time, alive and unharmed, to
their friends and tribe, under penalty of his life." Dr. Whit
man did it that he might show the American Board specimens
of the aborigines of the country. He reached St. Louis Novem
ber 4th, and after visiting New York City, returned to his
home at Rushville late on Saturday night. He greatly sur
prised the congregation the next morning by walking boldly
into the Presbyterian Church, followed by his two Indian boys,
without the least hint that he might be looked for. As they
supposed him to be three thousand miles away, he produced
a sensation that was fresh in the memory of many members of
the congregation forty years afterwards.1
That winter Dr. Whitman spent in work for the American
Board, in interesting the people in Indian missions, and in
trying to obtain assistance for Oregon. It was necessary that
a minister should be obtained, a" married man, and after a
long search he secured in March Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife,
then under appointment by the Board to the Osage Mission
and on their way to it through the deep snow of Western
New York.2 William H. Gray, of Utica, N. Y., completed the
missionary band, augmented by Dr. Whitman's marriage.
The wedding took place on the eve of starting. It was
while laboring in a protracted meeting at Angelica that he
had sought her as his companion, to share with him the toils
and labors of a missionary life beyond the Rocky Mountains.
He told her of the long, toilsome journey before they should
reach their field of labor. Nothing daunted, she replied, "It
is God's cause ; I will go." They were married in the church
1 Both boys went to school that winter, improved rapidly, and
went with him the next spring to Oregon. After the death of Dr.
Whitman, Richard was appointed Chief by Indian Agent H. A. G.
Lee, but later was killed by another Indian.
2 For sketch of the lives of Messrs. Spalding and Gray, see ap
pendix "B" and "C."

BIRTHPLACE OF NABCISSA WHITMAN, PRATTSBURG, N. Y.

CHURCH IN WHICH DB. AND MBS. WHITMAN WEBE MARRIED, 1836

Early Life 3 1
at Angelica, in February, 1836, the ceremony being performed
by Rev. Everett Hull. She and her sister were members of
the choir. The hymn,
"Yes, my native land I love thee,
All thy scenes I love them well,
Friends, connections, happy country,
Now, I bid you all farewell,"
was given out. The whole congregation joined in singing it,
but before they were half through, one by one, they began to
stop. Sobs were heard in the large audience, and the voice
of Mrs. Whitman was the only one which held out unwavering
to the close, she singing the last stanza alone. The hymn,
"Gently, Lord, O gently lead us," was also sung, and the bene
diction of all present followed those who were soon to leave.

CHAPTER II.

ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

Early in March Dr. and Mrs. Whitman left home on their
bridal tour of a few thousand miles. Through snow and mud,
by sleigh and stage, they went to Pittsburg. From there they
traveled by steamer to St. Louis, being joined by Rev. H. H.
Spalding and wife at Cincinnati. It was their first intention
to go far up the Missouri River by boat, as Lewis and Clark
had done, but they failed in securing passage in a boat of the
American Fur Company, and, therefore, had to make their
journey entirely by land. While at St. LOuis, they secured the
pledge of protection for their journey from the American Fur
Company, who were then fitting out their annual expedition
for the mountains. They went by boat to Liberty Landing,
where Mr. Gray joined them. ^From this point Mr. Spalding
started by land with the horses, cattle and two wagons for
Council Bluffs, while Dr. Whitman waited with the women
and goods for the Company's boat. After some days the boat
passed, purposely leaving them behind. Because of this bad
faith he was obliged to send forward to Mr. Spalding for
horses, and then the very serious question arose whether they
could overtake the Company, which by that time had four or
five days the start of them. It was a desperate race, but they
won it. Dr. Whitman had the four-horse farm wagon; Mr.
Spalding the light two-horse wagon, and Mr. Gray, with the
help of the two Indian boys, took charge of the horses, mules
and cows.
Late in May they overtook the Company on the Loup Fork,
which was about as far as it was safe for the missionary band
to travel without protection. From this place they moved on
well until they reached Fort Laramie. Here the Fur Company
had been accustomed to leave their carts, but Dr. Whitman was
determined on account of the ladies to take one of the wagons

Across the Continent 33
farther. The Company decided to try the experiment with
him, as it would be for their interest in the future to take carts
farther, and they took one of their carts along, putting Dr.
Whitman in charge of both.
The first day they had some difficulty because of fallen
timber in the river bottom, but at night the Doctor came into
camp puffing and blowing, in good spirits, right side up, having
upset the wagon only once, and the cart but twice. The next
day the Company gave him two additional men to assist in ex
ploring and locating the road and getting over the difficult
places. The day they reached Independence Eock there was a thrill
ing episode. The caravan came near being run over by a heavy
herd of buffalo, which were hidden by the hills until the travel
ers were close upon them, and suddenly stampeded. The cara
van, which was about two miles long, closed up as fast as pos
sible, and the guard and every man that could be spared dashed
out upon the head of the column of buffalo pouring down from
the hills as if there were no end to it. On they came, in spite
of many rifles pouring powder and balls into them trying to
turn them off. The head of the column seemed about to strike
the caravan amidships, and the men, still striving to turn aside
the buffalo, were actually mingling with the travelers. The
horses and mules were snorting and bounding to break their
lines and be off, and it seemed as if nothing could save the
party from being trampled to death or stripped of their ani
mals. But at last kind Providence interposed, the leaders
yielded to the shower of balls, turned to the right, and the
living torrent of "God's cattle upon a thousand hills" swept
alongside the caravan with eyes gleaming fire, uttering a ter
rible, unearthly groan, and causing the earth to tremble by the
tramp of their countless thousands, leaving a dozen or so lying
dead on the ground. "The scene," says Mr. Spalding, "was
fearful, thrilling and grand beyond the power of language."
Mrs. Spalding's health was very poor much of the way,
especially after reaching the buffalo country, for after that
there was no bread, no food but buffalo meat, and it did not
agree with her. Sometimes she seemed to eat nothing, but to
subsist on the odor of camphor and spirits of turpentine and

34 Marcus Whitman
of the sage brush filling the air. Once she fainted. Then she
was taken from her horse, laid down, fanned until she revived,
and then was placed on her horse again, weeping and saying,
"Oh, that I had one crust of bread from my mother's swill
pail." Again she begged to be left to the Indians. "I cannot
sit upon that horse in this. burning sun any longer. Oh, this
sickness, this terrible pain." She said to her husband, "I can
not live much longer. Go on and save yourself, and carry the
Book of God to those Indians. I shall never see them; my
work is done, but bless God, he has brought me thus far. Tell
my mother I am not sorry that I came."
July 4th they entered the South Pass of the Eocky Moun
tains, the dividing line between the Atlantic and Pacific Slopes.
There, on Independence Day, they alighted from their horses,
and, kneeling down, with the Bible and the American flag in
their hands, they took possession of the Pacific Coast as the
home of American mothers and for the Church of Christ. They
thanked God for His sustaining, protecting care over them,
for the buffalo food sent to them daily, and humbly commended
themselves, especially Mrs. Spalding, in her sinking, feeble
state, to His protecting care for the rest of the journey. "And
standing as we did," says Mr. Spalding, "upon the summit of
those sky-built mountains, with the bright forms of Brainerd,
of Butler, of Elliott, and Worcester, early missionaries to the
Indians on the Atlantic shores, almost in sight, bending over
the pearly gates of Heaven to bid us God speed, we especially
commended and consecrated our mission, to be commenced
somewhere in the yet far-off West, to Him who had sent four
Indians from beyond the mountains to the rising sun, with the
Macedonian cry for the Book of God and missionaries to teach
it. The moral and physical scene was grand and thrilling.
Hope and joy beamed on the face of my dear wife, though pains
racked her frame. She seemed to receive new strength. 'Is it
a reality or a dream,' she exclaimed, 'that after four months
of hard and painful journeyings I am alive, and actually
standing on the summit of the Eocky Mountains, where yet
the foot of white woman has never trod ?' There were no mar
tial hosts, no fife and drum, no booming cannon, no orator of
the day, nor reading of the Declaration of Independence, but

Odao

Across the Continent 35
there have been few more memorable or prophetic scenes than
that when they took possession of the Pacific Coast 'in the name
of God and the United States.' "
From Independence Eock an express had been sent forward
announcing the movements of the caravan and the time it ex
pected to reach the rendezvous. This information reached not
only the trappers and traders but also the Indians, and conse
quently a few of the Nez Perces and Flathead Indians came
on to welcome the missionaries. They met them on the even
ing of the fourth, where they were camped on the Little Sandy,
a tributary of Green Eiver, two days before their arrival at the
rendezvous. Among them were Tak-ken-su4-tas (Eotten Belly)
and Is-hol-hol-hoats-hoats (Lawyer) with a letter from Mr.
Parker. The letter told them of his kind reception by the In
dians, of the arrival of Eev. Jason Lee and party, and of his
kind treatment by the Hudson's Bay Company, who, however,
were really opposed to American influence in the country, es
pecially in the way of trade. The letter was not very satisfac
tory, for Mr. Parker was evidently afraid he might write some
thing which would be detrimental to the mission work, through
the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Indians were
very happy when they saw that Dr. Whitman and their own
boys had returned, and that with them were a minister, the la
dies, and the cattle. They wanted to know if the Book of God
was there also, and stated that they had come to welcome them
and assist them in going to the Indian country. They wished
the missionaries to promise to go directly there.
On the evening of July 6 they arrived at the rendezvous.
This was really any place in the Eocky Mountains, previously
agreed upon, where the fur companies, traders, trappers and
Indians of various tribes met for trade, and where, for the time,
there was to be peace among all parties, however hostile they
might be at other times and places. From it each fur com
pany returned to its own side of the mountains, not daring to
infringe on the territory of the other. This year the rendez
vous was on Green Eiver, a branch of the Colorado. Here the
trappers had been about twelve days when the missionaries ar
rived, and here the Nez Perces came to meet them in large num
bers, giving them the hand with a hearty welcome as they rode

36 Marcus Whitman
by. There were a large band of young women with their raven
black hair in two plaits, and white dresses of goat skins, orna
mented with glass beads and haiqua shells (the native money),
glistening in the shining sun. Eiding gracefully, with a plain
tive song and smiling countenances, these gave the white
women such a hearty shake of the hand as to almost make
them forget that they were in a land of savages. The older
women and children came next, fully enveloping their white
sisters, not satisfied until they had taken them from their
horses and saluted them with a kiss. Lastly, the mountain
men and free trappers came, wishing to see the white women,
as many of them had not seen one for years, since they had
been in the mountains. "From that day," said one of them,
as he thought of the home of his early childhood, of his mother
and his sisters and purity, "I was a better man." Mrs. Spald
ing soon became favorite with the Indian women, for she paid
them the more attention, and also possibly because of her poor
health, for which they pitied her. Mrs. Whitman, on the other
hand, seemed to have more influence over the mountain men,
to whom she paid the more attention. They were rough men
who appreciated the education and refined manners of the
daughter of Judge Prentiss. The rough old mountain hunter
would touch his hat in a way absolutely ridiculous, often even
failing to express the compliment intended, which the mischief
or good humor of Mrs. Whitman sometimes enjoyed as a good
joke. The influence which she exerted over them was felt in
the wildest regions long after her death. It was well that each
of the women worked silently on a different class of persons,
for they thus undoubtedly did far more good than they could
have done had both been popular with the same class.
Here were four or five hundred mountain men and about
fifteen tribes of Indians. There were three classes of the
whites; first, those permanently connected with the fur com
panies, who usually either came from the settlements and re
turned to them each year, or perhaps wintered at some fort
where they had regular duties; second, the regular employes
of the fur companies, who were hired to pack to the mountains,
trap one, two or more years, as they should choose, and return
when they wished to the settlements, the furs they obtained

Across the Continent 37
when thus trapping being sold to the company which employed
them ; third, the free trappers, who hunted on their own hook,
went and came as they pleased, and sold their furs where they
could get the best prices. On account of the dangers to which
they were exposed, especially from the Indians, their average
life in the mountains was only about four and a half years;
but notwithstanding the dangers it was a wild and free life,
foil of adventure, and very attractive to some men.
On the third day a grand review of the Indians was given.
We give it mainly in Mr. Spalding's words.1
"A national salute was given to the whites by the several
nations. The Blackfeet tribe led off and fairly won the ad
miration of the whites by their war equipments and fearfully
painted horses, black or yellow, red or white, according to the
natural color of the horse. Next followed the Nez Perces and
Flathead tribes, who received equal applause for their masterly
horsemanship, very natural sham fights, and their national
airs consisting of a few striking words oft repeated, but sung
in a plaintive tone, in which they were joined by a large band
of young women, riding in an extended column behind, their
wonderfully sweet voices keeping most excellent time, floating
far through the air, their dresses profuse with heavy bands of
white and blue cut glass beads, alternated with bands of
mother-of pearl and haiqua shells, brilliant in the sunbeams,
their saddles rising in front and behind — natural and impor
tant supports — and their heavy cruppers and breast bands of
the finest blue or scarlet red, elaborately decorated and hung
with hawk-bells and steel-top thimbles and fine bead work,
hung with phylacteries of elk teeth and tin coils, producing a
regular, loud, but not harsh jingle as their fiery steeds pranced
slowly along, seemingly unconscious, not only of their own
fiery dispositions, but of their female riders.
"Several days were taken up with the reviews of one tribe
after another. By general consent each tribe was afforded suf
ficient time and a fair opportunity for their display. Although
1 "Oregon States Rights Democrat," 1867.

38 Marcus Whitman
there was some difference in the songs and equipments of the
different tribes, the more hostile ones presenting the most wild
and furious spectacle, yet the general order was the same.
After silence had settled down for a few minutes, the attention
would be suddenly called to a cavalcade of horsemen coming
in sight around a point of timber or hill and sweeping out upon
the plains, moving forward in a slow trot or prance, presenting
an extended and unbroken breast many columns deep, every
horseman, except the women, without saddles, and riding upon
a mountain panther or medicine wolf skin, thrown loosely over
the horse, twenty or thirty of the war chiefs or warriors, upon
their best horses, painted fearfully, and some wearing buffalo
horns and bear's claws, sweeping up and down in front of the
long column, haranguing in a loud and distinct voice, some of
the tribe nearly naked with buffalo horns upon their heads and
silver fox skins at their heels; most of them with buckskin
shirts and moccasins elaborately decorated with fine beads and
porcupine quills, and with full grown white wolf or panther
skins streaming in full length behind them, and with wild war
caps of eagle feathers, black, with red tips, extending far be
hind—all streaming and gleaming fearfully in the air, as these
Jehus would sweep up and down, now brandishing their spears
or muskets, and bows, and now balancing them high over their
heads; now wheeling and cross-riding; now throwing them
selves on one side of the horse, and wheeling and throwing
themselves upon the other side, and darting the spear under
and before the horse's breast ; and all accompanied by the con
stant pounding of a great number of Eocky Mountain gongs,
or Indian drums, the terrific screams of a number of whistles
made of the leg-bone of the gray eagle and swan, the constant
jingle of the medicine rattle box, and the heavy clang of the
hawk-bells, tin coil, bear claws, and human bones trimmed with
human scalps, hanging upon every horse — interrupted now and
then by a terrific battle yell, rounding off in a vibrating war-
whoop, almost sufficient to curdle the blood in our veins. In
the center, and a little in advance, is seen an aged and pat
riarchal one, wearing an American coat and hat, and bearing
in one hand the American flag, and in the other an enormous
calumet, or the great pipe of peace.

PORT LARAMIE

Si^%2£B

¦**%'

B5a«flwfe3&aiSs

INDEPENDENCE BOCK

Across the Continent 39
"At a sufficient distance the white men and friendly tribes
are gathered round, forming three sides of the great ring, while
the hostile tribes in close squads, each under their own strong
guard, form the other side. As the flag reaches within
twenty rods of the great stone house, the old man stops; the
young women close up and continue their singing, and with the
strong watch continue stationary, while the warriors and young
men engage in a sham battle, the American leaders standing in
the door of the store, also holding the American flag. Suddenly
the horsemen collect near the flag, and in an instant this great
throng of horses, thickly crowded together, stands empty and
quiet, their riders gone for the instant; but as if by magic,
and before the eye can follow them, they are seen already col
lected in a thick group near by, bounding up and down in the
scalp dance, all as one being, first upon one leg and then the
other, taking three steps, keeping the most perfect time with
the beat of the drum and the voice of the singers.
"Suddenly the flag drops and all is still. The old man ap
proaches the white captain, the hand of friendship is extended,
the pipe of peace passed around, and in a few moments the
beaver belonging to that tribe begins to come in from the rear,
and pack after pack is thrown down at the old patriarch's feet,
who does the trading for this tribe. The price of each skin and
the goods are fixed, and the articles required are handed to the
old man as fast' as four or five clerks can attend to them, and
he again hands the articles back into the crowd to whom they
belong. "This tribe retires amid the shouts of the white crowd, to
give place to another tribe, except perhaps the scalp dance is
sometimes prolonged to give a late successful warrior an oppor
tunity to act over again his bloody contest with his fallen foe,
and exhibit the number of real scalps he had taken, while the
enemy he had thus afflicted are looking on with sullen counte
nances, waiting to turn the tables next day upon this warrior
and his tribe, by exhibiting an equal or greater number of
scalps which they had taken in some battle.
"The mountaineers seemed to adopt very readily the man-

40 Marcus Whitman
ners, dress, habits and even the gestures and walk of the In
dian. A greater compliment could not be paid to a free trap
per than to persuade him that he had been mistaken for an
Indian brave. His hair, suffered to attain full length, is care
fully combed out, and suffered to fall carelessly over his should
ers, or plaited and tied up with otter or white weasel skin.
A hunting shirt of buckskin, with heavy phylacteries and cir
cles of porcupine quills, falls to his knees, below which, leggings
of the same, closely fitted to his calves, and beautifully orna
mented with fine beads and heavy fringes, reaches to a pair
of moccasins curiously wrought with scarlet beads and porcu
pine quills. His blanket is girt about him with a red sash or
otter skin, in which is bestowed his pipe, knife, and tobacco
pouch, the latter wrought with beads. His gun is lavishly
decorated with brass tacks, vermillion, and eagle's feathers.
His horse, the noble minister to the pride, profit, pleasure, and
often safety of the mountaineer, is often caparisoned in the
most dashing and fantastic style. His Indian wife, with her
horse, selected for his prancing, and her saddle and baby
cradle, are still more elaborately and expensively decorated
with pounds of white and black beads, haiqua shells and tin
coils, elk teeth and hawk-bells, finger rings and heavy brace
lets, steel top thimbles and cut-glass beads, all glistening in
the sunbeams and producing a cheery jingling, as she gallops
alongside of her American 'hama' (man) ; their babe lashed
in its cradle, and swung to the forehorn of her saddle, while
two white parflesh portfolios, beautifully decorated with
painted figures, and heavy phylacteries, containing her root-
stick, fire steel, sinews, awl, kimp and other necessaries, are
hung to the hind one.
"The yearly rendezvous was a hey-dey for these modern
nimrods. They would collect together at the place appointed,
and await the arrival of the traders' caravan with watchful
anxiety, and greet the newcomers (pork-eaters) with a hearty
good cheer. They would entertain each other for hours with
prodigious tales of wonders seen and wonders endured ; of In
dian fights, narrow escapes, and comrades scalped; of fated
decoys, by means of Indians dressed in elk skins and apparent-

Across the Continent 41
ly feeding about ; of starvations ; of buffalo hunts and buffalo
feasts ; of climbing snow mountains and carrying sweet cotton-
wood back to keep their animals from perishing ; of swimming
ice-floating rivers with packs on their backs in search of beaver
signs; of Balaamite mules, up to Indians in ambush; of
beaver up to trap of the luck stream, where he is brought to
medicine. The eventful hours were also relieved by a display
of horsemanship, in all their gay and fluttering attire; by
horse races and foot races ; by wrestling, jumping and pound
ing noses ; by boasting and counter-boasting.
"In the meantime a brisk trade is kept up; the log stores
of the company or rival companies are thronged late and early
till beaver are gone, credit gone, whisky gone, grass gone, stores
emptied, and the appointed day to break up camp dawns, when
suddenly the narrow valley of the Green Eiver for ten miles is
all alive with horses and mules and human beings. The thou
sands, perhaps tens of thousands of horses are driven into their
several camps and horse pens, lodge poles taken down, lodges
rolled up and packed, beaver bales packed, and pack saddles on
the mules, and the long cavalcade for St. Louis impatient to
be in motion ; the hearty shake of the hand and soul invigorat
ing 'God bless you' goes around. The home-bound partner
gives the signal by firing his piece, followed instantly by a
thousand volleys. The Canadians lead off in that soul-vivify
ing Canadian boat song, followed by the Mexican, the English,
and the many Indian tongues. As these many natives and
languages start off in all directions, the home-bound caravan
for the rising sun, the Indian tribes for their distant' mountain
homes; the mountain trappers moving camp with them, or
collecting in small bands, move off to choice trapping fields
in the secluded glens of the distant dark mountains, to live
over again their life of peril, danger, starvation and feasting,
and to come together again with numbers greatly reduced by
other sleepless foes. And the romantic valley relapses into
its pristine stillness and solitude."
Such is Mr. Spalding's description of life at the American
rendezvous in 1836, when the missionary party were there.

42 Marcus Whitman
After they had been at this place a few days, Captain Na
thaniel Wyeth appeared, direct from the Columbia.1
He was on his way East with a party of the Hudson's Bay
Company under Thomas McKay and John McLeod. He gave
the missionaries far more information than they had gained
from Mr. Parker's letters and all other sources. He told them
that there were thousands of bushels of wheat raised around
the Company's forts; and that there were flour mills at Col-
ville and Vancouver; that Vancouver contained shops and
stores where the necessaries of life could be obtained; and
that, while the Company would resist all interference in the
fur trade by Americans, yet as the missionaries had their
wives along, and had come for the purpose of Christianizing
the Indians, they would probably be very kindly received and
aided in every reasonable way. He soon introduced them to
Messrs. McLeod and McKay, and advised the missionaries to
put themselves under the protection of these gentlemen when
they should return to the Columbia. This was welcome intelli
gence to the missionaries, who did not know how they were to
manage for the rest of the journey, unless they were to join
some band of Indians and perhaps winter in the mountains.
This arrival seemed to them the more providential because pre
vious to this time the Hudson's Bay Company had not been
accustomed to send their traders to this place of rendezvous.
1 He had first crossed the Continent in 1832 with the view of trad
ing in furs and canning salmon on the Lower Columbia. He sent a
ship around Cape Horn, but it was never heard from, and the enter
prise proved to be a failure for that year. He then returned East and
in 1834 sent another vessel around the Horn, while he crossed the
continent, starting with seventy men (Rev. Jason Lee had been in
his company at this time). He built Fort Hall, then went to the
mouth of the Columbia, where he met his vessel, and built Fort
William on Sauvie's Island. He was fairly in the country of the
Hudson's Bay Company, and they built Fort Boise, where they un
dersold him. His enterprise on Sauvie's Island proved a failure, and
he found himself obliged to sell out to the Company in 1837, although
he returned East in 1836, after having lost a fortune of thirty thousand
dollars. His was the end of all American efforts in the fur trade
west of the Rocky Mountains. To use his expression, he "had
been politely bowed out of the country" by the superior advantages
of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Across the Continent 43
Messrs. McKay and McLeod did all that Captain Wyeth ex
pected they would in assisting the missionary band. They
chose the best route for them, especially for the ladies, as
sisted them in regard to food, and accommodated their march
to that of the cattle, wagon and ladies of the missionaries.
When Captain Bridger, the famous mountaineer, said good-bye
at this rendezvous to Dr. Whitman, he thanked the Doctor
very heartily for extracting an arrow-head from his backbone
the year before, and promised to send his half-breed daughter,
Mary Ann, to Dr. Whitman's mission when she should be old
enough. This promise he fulfilled, and she remained at the
Doctor's as long as he lived.
All parties except the Indians advised Dr. Whitman to
leave his wagon at this place, but he was determined to take
it along. The Indians, getting some of his spirit, assisted him
in finding a wagon road. Messrs. McLeod and McKay said
that they didaiot believe it possible to take a wagon through
the rugged mountains of the Bear Eiver and the volcanic
burning sand deserts of the Snake Country, though they would
select the possible passes and give him a chance to settle the
question whether wagons, women and cattle could be taken
through the "great and terrible wilderness." From Soda
Springs to Fort Hall was the most difficult part of the way,
jet the Doctor persevered. Mr. Gray, after traveling the same
road again, says he does not see how it was done. At Fort
Hall an assistant of the missionary party, Miles Goodyear, a
boy of sixteen, determined to leave the party if the Doctor
should go farther with the wagon. The Doctor did not give
up, so Goodyear left. Advice was strong against taking the
wagon farther, largely on account of this loss of help, and
partly on account of this advice a compromise was effected.
The wagon was made into a cart, the extra wheels and axle-
tree were packed on the cart, and Dr. Whitman proceeded.
In crossing Snake Eiver, the cart and mules were both up
set in the river, and the mules, becoming entangled in the har
ness, came near being drowned, but their ever-present angel,
Thomas McKay, went to their relief as quickly as possible on
a strong horse. With the help of a lasso rope and two strong
horses, with two men swimming behind to steady it, he at last

44 Marcus Whitman
took it ashore, to the great joy of Mrs. Whitman, who saw her
husband struggling in the waters.1
When they reached Fort Boise, Mr. McKay stopped, as
he was in charge of the Fort. He and Mr. McLeod and
others of the Company told the Doctor that it was impossible
to take the wagon farther unless he should take it to pieces,
bend the iron tires, and pack it on mules, with the danger even
then of losing a part of it by the mules and their loads falling
down precipices. After some consultation the Doctor com
promised the matter by agreeing to leave it, with the under
standing that he or Mr. Gray should return and get it after the
mission should be located.2
For a time after reaching the rendezvous Mrs. Spalding
continued to grow weaker. The following is from her journal :
"July 8. My illness rather increases, but all is in the hands
of my Saviour, who knows and will do what is for the best. I
am happy to sink into his will concerning what awaits me."
The next day Captain Dripps found somewhere a handful
of dried apple and a little flour, and brought them to her.
Her stomach retained this food, and the fever left her. The
Indians also brought her dried kamas root biscuit which she
could eat, and she began to recover. Salmon were afterwards
obtained, and with other meat beside buffalo she regained her
strength so that she made the rest of the journey comfortably.
Thrice she had very narrow escapes from death. The first was
in the Bear Eiver Valley. The Indian hunters had started
some antelope, and all, antelope and Indians yelling after their
1 Some years later the Doctor, by his medical skill, saved his de
liverer from a serious disease. Still later, this friend left his home
in the Willamette with a company of men to avenge the massacre at
Walla Walla.
2 The wagon was made at Holland Patent, New York, for Mr.
and Mrs. Spalding, when they expected to work among the Osage
Indians, and started with that intention. Mr. Spalding made the
bed, cover, and some of the running gear with his own hands. With
the snow about five feet deep when he left, he placed the bed on
runners and hauled the wheels until they reached ground, but finding
no reliable bottom, it was put on board the steamer at Pittsburg and
taken to Liberty, Missouri. It is probable that to the day of its
death it remained at Fort Boise.

FOBT BOISE, Exterior

FORT BOISE, Inlerior

Across the Continent 45
prey, with feathers and flags streaming in the air, flew through
the train, frightening the mules which were hitched to the
wagon driven by Mr. Spalding. The mules broke into a run
towards the horse which Mrs. Spalding was riding and which
was taking everything quietly. There was a crash and a stifled
scream. Mr. Spalding struck the ground, stopped pulling, and
immediately the mules stopped. He got up and saw his wife's
horse getting up, but she lay motionless on the ground. He
raised her, and to his joy found her not much hurt, only jarred ;
but how she and the horse could have been knocked down and
run over by the cart with so little injury was very strange.
Only a kind Providence preserved her.
Again, the day they left Fort Hall her horse, a perfectly
gentle animal, stepped into a wasps' nest and jumped and
kicked violently. She was thrown on her head and shoulders,
with her foot hanging in the stirrup. Thomas McKay, riding
near, first sprang to her relief, with his rifle drawn, ready to
shoot the horse should he attempt to run, but he did not. No
bones were broken, and she was able to move on by being placed
in the wagon.
At the crossing of Snake Eiver, August 14th, too, Mrs.
Spalding had a dangerous experience. The river was about a
thousand feet wide, divided by two islands into three channels.
Usually it was too deep to ford, but at this time the tallest
American horses were about nine inches above water. The
two tallest were selected for the women and led by two French
men. It was necessary to cross one channel diagonally up
stream. As they reached the middle of the channel and her
horse leaned heavily against the water, her head began to
swim and she to fall into the water. "In an instant more,"
says Mr. Spalding, "her fate would be sealed. No human arm
could overtake and rescue her from the broad, sweeping flood.
I yelled, 'Look at those deer coming down that mountain ; we
will have meat for supper.' She righted immediately, and 1
instantly replied, 'Keep your eye on that mountain, and let it
not look at the water again or you are lost !' She understood
me, and said she saw no more of the river till they reached the
shore all safe."
Through such dangers these first two women journeyed to

46 Marcus Whitman
Oregon, and it was not strange that Mr. Spalding wrote to the
Home Board, "Never send another woman over those moun
tains, if you have any regard for human life." But the deed
was done, never to be undone, and two years later, four more
women followed, other missionary women for two years more,
and then the emigrants.
Still, it was a mighty undertaking for them. At Cincin
nati and St. Louis, mountain men pronounced the undertaking
scarcely less than manslaughter, and suggested the idea of
stopping Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman by the civil author
ities. George Catlin, who had spent many years among the
tribes of the Upper Missouri in painting Indians and Indian
scenes, said that they could not take the women through. The
hostile Indians that hover about the convoy would fight against
any odds to capture them. One woman tried it, but the com
pany was massacred, and she was dragged away and never
heard of again. They were told that strong men, of the parties
of Hunt, Henry and Bonneville, had suffered stupendous
hardships, had lost their horses, had starved, had been com
pelled to live on rosebuds and old horse hides nearly all winter
in getting through, had arrived in small parties, mere skele
tons, barefoot and nearly naked; that some had perished out
right; that others had been left, too weak to go on, and had
been picked up by the Digger Indians, who were themselves al
most starving on a scanty supply of cakes made of roots and
black crickets — to be found the next year by their companions.
After they were well on their way, and saw how weak Mrs.
Spalding was, Captains Sublette and Fitzpatrick united in re
monstrance against her proceeding farther, saying that she
could not live to get through to the Columbia; that after she
should leave the rendezvous they would be in a hostile Crow
and Blackfoot country, with no probability of meeting any
traders there who would conduct them through; that then
they would be obliged to go with the Nez Perces by their
route, which would lead them, in order to get buffalo
meat for the year, through the Wind Eiver, Salmon Eiver
and Bitter Eoot Mountains, probably to be caught in the
snow; that the Crows and Blackfeet would fight to get
possession of them, for they were always at war with

Across the Continent 47
the Nez Perces and Flatheads, who were continually losing
people and horses in these conflicts. Mr. Spalding, at Fort
Laramie, urged her to remain there until the Fur Company
should return, and then to go back with them to the Osage
Indians, and enter upon that work. But all this did not move
her. Mrs. Spalding said, "What mean ye to weep and break
my heart, for I am ready not to be bound only, but to die at
Jerusalem or in the Eocky Mountains, if need be, for the name
of the Lord Jesus." "Duty is mine ; my life, my strength, the
dangers of the way are His." "I like the command just as it is,
'Go ye into all the world,' and no exceptions for poor health."
In her journal she wrote:
"June 10. I have been quite unwell for several days, and I
attribute my illness wholly to change of diet, which has been
from necessity. Our dependence for food is buffalo meat
through the remainder of our journey, which we do not expect
will end until September, if even then. But I am resolved
not to feel anxious about what awaits me, for my destiny is in
the hands of Him who doeth all things well." "June 21. This
day we leave this post (Laramie). Only He who knows all
things knows whether this dilapidated frame will survive the
undertaking. His will, not mine, be done."
Eev. Jason Lee, after personally examining the whole route,
pronounced it, as all other travelers had done, impossible for
a white woman to endure its hardships and dangers, and sent
for his women missionaries to come around Cape Horn. Two
weeks after Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman had started this
opinion of Mr. Lee reached the East. Says Mr. Spalding:
"Had our wives seen this opinion of Mr. Lee, they would have
been deterred, and had they come at all, they would doubt
less have come around Cape Horn." He also adds, "These
feeble women were selected of God to settle the question by
their own sacrifices and trials and hardships that white women
and wagons and cattle could cross the mountains. The gold
of California and of the world could not have induced them
to undertake what they did. But God knew the power that
would move them. He brought a single short sentence from

48 Marcus Whitman
the words of Jesus, 'Go teach all nations,' to bear upon their
minds, and, behold, the stupendous national results." We
must also remember, as has already been stated, that it was on
account of the women that Dr. Whitman determined to take
the wagon on from Fort Laramie — the wagon which first fairly
went into Oregon, and prepared the way for the first emigra
tion by wagon.
Mr. Gray, in his History of Oregon, gives the following de
scription of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman at this time : "Dr. Whit
man was a man of easy, don't-care habits, that could become all
things to all men, and yet a sincere and earnest man, speaking
his mind before he thought a second time, giving his views on
all subjects without much consideration, correcting them and
changing them, when good reasons presented, and, when fixed
in the pursuit of an object, adhering to it with unflinching
tenacity. A stranger would consider him fickle and stubborn,
yet he was sincere and kind, and generous to a fault, devoting
every energy of his mind and body to the welfare of the In
dians and objects of the mission, seldom manifesting fears
of any danger that might surround him. At times he would
become animated and earnest in his argument or conversation.
In his profession he was a bold practitioner, and generally
successful. He was above medium height, of spare habit, pe
culiar hair, a portion being white and dark brown, so that it
might be called iron-gray, deep blue eyes, and large mouth. He
could accommodate himself to circumstances, such as dipping
the water from the running stream with his hand to drink, cut
and eat his food with only a hunter's knife; in fact, could
rough it without qualms of stomach.
"Mrs. Whitman was a lady of refined feelings and com
manding appearance ; she had very light hair, light sandy com
plexion. Her features were large, her form full and round.
At the time she arrived in the country in the prime of life she
was considered a fine, noble-looking woman, and free to con
verse with all she met. Her conversation was affable and
cheerful. Firmness with her was natural, and to some, es
pecially the Indians, it was repulsive. She had been brought

Across the Continent 49
up in comparative comfort, and moved in the best religious
society in the place of her residence. She was a good singer,
and one of her amusements, as well as that of her traveling
companions, was to teach the Doctor to sing, which she did
with considerable success; that is, he could sing the native
songs without much difficulty. The mountain men thought
she was a woman of too much refinement to be thrown away
on Indians, and that she must have had considerable romance
in her disposition to have undertaken such an expedition with
such a common, kind, good-hearted fellow as the Doctor."
On the 2nd of September they reached Fort Walla Walla,
one of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts. At Fort Walla
Walla (now Wallula) they were received with extra demon
strations. These must have been seen to have been realized.
''The gates of the Fort were thrown open," says Mr. Gray, in
his History of Oregon, "the ladies assisted from their horses,
and every demonstration of joy and respect manifested. The
party were soon led into an apartment — the best the establish
ment had to offer. Their horses and mules were unloaded
and cared for, the cattle were not neglected. It appeared we
had arrived among the best of friends, instead of total
strangers, and were being welcomed in the most cordial man
ner. We found the gentleman in charge, Mr. P. C. Pambrun,
a French Canadian by birth, all that we could wish, and more
than we expected." The choice game of the prairies, well-
cooked, a small supply of potatoes, corn, and a few melons
was a great and agreeable change from the dried and pounded
buffalo meat on which the party had mainly lived for a long
time. After a few days they went down the Columbia to
Vancouver, where they were received with still greater demon
strations of joy than at Walla Walla. A special table was
prepared, called the ladies' table, at which Governor McLough
lin or the next highest officer of the Fort usually presided.
The wives of the governor and chief clerk at first were not
permitted to eat with them, as there was too much native blood
in their veins, and so it was felt that they were not sufficiently
accomplished. Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding, however,
soon learned the family connections, and introducing them-

50 Marcus Whitman
selves to the two principal mothers of the Fort not long after,
in opposition to the wishes of their husbands, brought them
to the table, with the youngest daughter of the Governor. They
took considerable pains to make themselves generally useful,
so that when, at the end of two weeks, the men of the mission
determined to return east of the Cascades to select their sta
tions and homes, the Governor would not allow the ladies to
depart until the men should first go and do the preliminary
work. Here Dr. Whitman received his first insight into the monop
oly which the Hudson's Bay Company held. When he inquired
about obtaining cattle from the Company, he was told that he
could have them on the same terms that other settlers ob
tained them. This was to take wild oxen, break them, use
them until the Company required them, and then return them ;
to take cows, use the milk, and return the cows and their in
crease, and, in case one should get lost or killed, to replace it
from the mission band ; for there were no cattle in the country
at that time except those owned by the Company and the few
that the missionaries had just brought. Dr. Whitman con
cluded not to mortgage the few he had in that way.
Dr. Whitman was in favor of beginning work on the Co
lumbia Eiver, at the mouth of the Cowlitz, below Vancouver,
but, on account of the influence of the Company, and the in
structions of the Home Board, it was thought best to locate
east of the Cascades. In two weeks after their arrival the
gentlemen of the mission, together with Mr. Pambrun, who
had come from Walla Walla with them, went up the Columbia,
by way of exploration. Dr. Whitman and Mr. Gray liked The
Dalles, but Mr. Spalding and Mr. Pambrun opposed it. Dr.
Whitman's idea was that there were many Indians at The
Dalles, as it was a great fishery, and that if a mission were
established there, a ship could come from Boston so near to
them that the mission would be independent in time. This
was plainly what the Hudson's Bay Company did not want,
for it might in time lead to the undermining of the Company's
power and profits. The Company urged the establishment of
stations farther up the Columbia, and promised to furnish

Across the Continent 51
the supplies necessary for the mission without the need of a
special ship.1
Dr. McLoughlin gave them an order on Fort Colville for all
the grain and wheat they should need for two years, expect
ing, after that, that they would be able to raise their own
wheat and build their own mill. It was also for the Com
pany's interests to oppose a mission on the Cowlitz, for they
did not want any Americans to settle on the north side of the
Columbia. They believed that if England should not obtain
all of Oregon the Columbia would be the dividing line, and
they felt that it might jeopardize England's interests, and with
her's those of the Hudson's Bay Company, if Americans made
settlements of any kind in that region.
In regard to a station at The Dalles they also stated that
the Indians there were the worst in the region, because they
held the gateway between the regions east and west of the
Cascade Mountains, and so could charge a heavy toll, and were
much addicted to thieving. This was true. Still, Dr. Whit
man's ideas were correct, for a few years later the Methodists
established a mission at the place, which proved to be their
most successful one by far ; the only one they did not close up
in 1845, and which Dr. Whitman bought in 1847 just before
his death. But the ideas of Mr. Pamburn and the Company
prevailed at that time and the men proceeded up the river.
Dr. Whitman's station was selected on the Walla Walla
Eiver, at the mouth of Mill Creek, six miles from the present
city of Walla Walla, and twenty-five from the Hudson's Bay
Company's fort of that name. It was named Wai4-lat-pu,
"the place of rye grass." A house was soon built, the mission
horses, cattle and goods brought there, and Mr. Gray left in
charge, while Mr. Spalding and Dr. Whitman went to the
Nez Perces country to select a station for Mr. Spalding. Dr.
1 This promise was thoroughly fulfilled as long as the mission
lasted. All that the missionaries had to do was to make out their
orders for goods, which were sent by the Company to England, and
were paid for by drafts on the American Board. Generally, too, when
these goods arrived by ship at Vancouver, the Company sent them
up the Columbia as far as Fort Walla Walla at a very reasonable
charge for freight.

52 Marcus Whitman
Whitman then returned to his station to erect more buildings,
and Mr. Spalding went to Vancouver for the ladies. He pro
cured an outfit valued at over a thousand dollars, clothing,
bedding, material for building and farming, medicines, Indian
goods and the like, and with the ladies, with whom, however,
Dr. McLoughlin was quite loth to part, left Vancouver, Novem
ber 3rd, arriving at Fort Walla Walla on the 13th. Here
they were met by a large party of Nez Perces, who in council
granted Mr. Spalding, according to a promise made at the
American rendezvous, a title to the Lapwai ' mission station
as a home for himself and wife for life. Soon afterward Mr.
Spalding and wife left for that place, where they arrived
November 29th. They had to camp in a lodge made of buffalo
skins until December 23rd, when their house was so far fin
ished that they moved into it.
After remaining about three weeks at the Fort at Mr. Pam-
burn's earnest request, Mrs. Whitman reached her home at
Wai-i-lat-pu on the 10th of December. There she found, as a
result of the Doctor's labors, a house and lean-to enclosed, with
a good chimney and fireplace and the floor laid; but with no
doors or windows (except blankets), nor bedstead, chairs or
table, or anything from which to make them except green Cot
tonwood, and all boards to be sawed by hand. The long bridal
tour was ended, and they were ready to receive callers.
She was happy, and wrote, "Where are we now, and who
are we that we should be thus blessed of the Lord? I can
scarcely realize that we are thus comfortably fixed and keep
ing house, so soon after our marriage, when considering what
was then before us."
Besides Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, who were about ninety
miles distant, their nearest missionary neighbors were the
Methodists in the Willamette Valley, near where Salem now
is, about three hundred and fifty miles away. There were four
men, Eev. Jason Lee, P. L. Edwards, Eev. Daniel Lee, and
Cyrus Shepherd. These had crossed the Continent in 1834 and
begun mission work, having established a school called "The
Oregon Mission Manual Labor School," where some dozens of
Indian children were in attendance. They had sent for rein
forcements to come by way of Cape Horn, and these had

Across the Continent 53
started, but had not yet arrived. They were noble pioneers,
who then and there laid the foundations of what proved to be
the first American settlement on the Pacific Coast, and laid it,
providentially and fortunately, with Christianity at the center.
Besides these neighbors there were the Hudson's Bay Com
pany's forts; Boise, about two hundred and fifty, and Hall,
five hundred miles toward the east; Walla Walla, twenty-five,
and Vancouver, three hundred miles westward; Umpqua, two
hundred miles southerly from Vancouver ; Colville and Okano
gan, two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles northward;
and Astoria, the earliest settlement in the country, at the
mouth of the Columbia, almost deserted, except by a few em
ployes of the Company. This was all except Indians.

CHAPTEE III.
ACROSS THE PLAINS — CONTINUED.
Mrs. Whitman's Journal.
As the journey of Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding was
the first one ever made by white women across the Continent,
the following account of it by Mrs. Whitman is given.1 The
first part is in the form of letters; the latter in that of a
journal.2 On Board Steamboat at Siam, March 15, 1836.
Dear, Dear Mother — Your proposal concerning keeping a
diary as I journey, comes before my mind often. I have not
found it practicable while traveling by land, although many
events have passed which, if noted as they occurred, might have
been interesting. We left Pittsburg this morning at ten
o'clock. It is delightful passing down the waters of the beau
tiful river.
March 28. We have just come on board the Majestic. It
is rightly named, for it is one of the largest boats on the river.
We are now sailing on the waters of the great Mississippi.
We arrived at Cincinnati Thursday noon; found Brother
Spalding. Said he had been waiting for us anxiously for a
1 A few unimportant parts are omitted. Mrs. Spalding also kept
a journal during the journey, but it is entirely different from that of
Mrs. Whitman's, being mainly an account of her own religious feel
ings and experiences, and, in the words of Hon. S. A. Clark, is too
sacred for the public gaze.
2 These were obtained by the author and G. H. Himes, Secretary
of the Oregon Pioneer Association, and were first published in the
Walla Walla Union of January, 1889, and in the Transactions of the
Oregon Pioneer Association in 1891 and 1893.

Across the Continent 55
fortnight. Spent the remainder of the week in making ar
rangements for our journey, and on the Sabbath had a very
interesting time with the disciples of Jesus there ; felt strength
ened and comforted as we left them to pursue our journey into
the wilderness. Much good feeling was manifested in the
churches — a deep interest appeared to be taken in the missions.
Especially our two Indian youths attracted the gaze and ad
miration of a crowd on Sabbath evening. We left Tuesday
noon on the Junius and expected to arrive in St. Louis before
the Sabbath, but our expectation was not realized, and Satur
day night found us on the waters of the Mississippi, eighty-
nine miles from St. Louis. We felt it our duty not to travel
on the Sabbath, and determined to leave the boat, although
many on board tried to persuade us to remain, and have
preaching on the Sabbath, and of the number, one was a Pres
byterian minister from New York, who appeared quite anxious
to detain us. At ten o'clock we landed at Chester, Illinois,
and had a most delightful Sabbath of rest, with the few dis
ciples of Jesus we found there. An aged minister who had
been toiling in this part of the vineyard ever since the year
1817, we found of a kindred spirit. He preaches to several
congregations. Said he had not had a brother minister to
preach for him since he had been there, and to have a mission
family call and enjoy the privileges of the Sabbath with him,
seemed like angels' visits. He had heard of their passing and
repassing often. Mr. Spalding preached in the forenoon, and
in the afternoon my husband requested the children and youth
to meet in a Sabbath School, and we distributed a number of
books among them. Of the number, we found one young man
who professed to be a Eoman Catholic — said he wanted to
know our religion — had not a Protestant Bible, but if he had
one would read it attentively. My husband gave him a Testa
ment, for which he appeared grateful.
Since we came on board, we have come on very pleasantly.
Our accommodations are better here than on any previous
boat. 19th, Tuesday morning. We shall expect to see St. Louis
today. Evening. We are now in port. Husband has been to
the office expecting to find letters from dear, dear friends at

56 Marcus Whitman
home, but found none. Why have they not written? Seeing
it is the very last, last time they will have to cheer my heart
with intelligence from home, home, sweet home, and the friends
I love. But I am not sad. My health is good. My mind com
pletely occupied with present duty and passing events. St.
Louis has a commanding situation.
Wednesday, 30 th. A boat is in port, ready to take us up
the Missouri, and will leave today. When we were in Pitts
burg we heard that the Fur Company's steamboat, "Diana,"
had left St. Louis. We then expected to make our journey
from Liberty to Bellview by land, probably on horseback, 300
miles of which would have been the most difficult part of the
journey, on account of the season and high water. But Provi
dence has ordered it otherwise. Since we arrived here we
learn that the "Diana" snagged herself and sunk, but in shal
low water, so that no lives were lost. We have the promise
of overtaking her before we reach Liberty. She is now lying
up for repairs and drying her freight. We had a call from a
gentleman this morning who has resided in the mountains.
Richard knew him very well — is going back with us. He was
formerly from Cincinnati. It seems to me now that we are
on the very borders of civilization, although we shall pass
many towns on our way to Liberty. At this moment my feel
ings are peculiar. I hardly know how to define them. I have
not one feeling of regret at the step which I have taken, but
count it a privilege to go forth in the name of my Master,
cheerfully bearing the toil and privation that we expect to en
counter. I intend to write home from Council Bluffs if I am
not prevented, and give some statements which I cannot now.
We could not pack all contained in that box sent us from An
gelica. What we could not, Brother Whitman took home to
sell for us, and send the avails to St. Louis. How anxiously
I looked for a line or two from some one of the dear family
in that box somewhere, but I saw none. Jane, don't forget to
write to them for me. It is out of my power to write as
much as I should like to. How often I think of Christians in
Angelica — those beloved sisters and brothers, with whom we
have knelt before the altar of prayer. Surely, now I feel the
influence of their prayers, although widely separated. Say

Across the Continent 57
to them we wish them to rejoice with us, and thank God for
His kind protection, and the prosperity which has attended
us since we left home. We are making arrangements for
crossing the mountains, and shall expect to, unless prevented
in the Providence of God. I think I should like to whisper
in mother's ear many things which I cannot write. If I could
only see her in her room for one-half hour ! This much I can
say, mother, I have one of the kindest husbands, and the very
best every way.
I have become very much interested in the Nez Perces lads.
They are very affectionate and seem to wish to please us in
everything. We think they will be of great service to the
mission in various ways.
On Board Steamboat Chariton. Thursday, March 81, 1886.
We left St. Louis immediately after dinner, passed many
delightful residences in Missouri on the banks of the Missis
sippi, just as we leave the city. Twilight had gone when we
entered the waters of the great Missouri, but the moon shone
in her brightness. It was a beautiful evening. My husband
and myself went upon the top of the boat to take a more
commanding view of the scenery. How majestic, how grand
was the scene. "Surely, how admirable are Thy works, O
Lord of Hosts." I could have dwelt on the scene still longer
with pleasure, but Brother Spalding called us to prayers, and
we left beholding the works of God for His worship.
April 1st. Nothing of much importance occurred today.
My eyes are satiated with the same beautiful scenery all along
the coasts of this mighty river, so peculiar to this western
country. One year ago today my husband first arrived in St.
Louis on his exploring route to the mountains. We are one
week earlier passing up the river this year than he was last
year. April 2nd. Evening, ten o'clock. We have come on well
since we left St. Louis. Sailed all night last night, which is
a rare thing on this river, on account of the snags and sand
bars. We are now at Jefferson City, about half-way to Liberty
from St. Louis.
Monday, fyth. We passed the wreck of the steamer Siam
today about noon. It is indeed a melancholy sight. She ran

58 Marcus Whitman
upon a snag and sank last winter. She was not quite a year
old. No lives lost. We stopped today at Chariton about an
hour. Thursday, 7th. Very pleasant, but cold. Mary, we have
had a sick one with us all the way since we joined Dr. Sat-
terlee. Mrs. Satterlee has had a very bad cough and cold
which has kept her feeble. She is now recovering, and is as
well as can be expected.1 The rest of us have been very well,
except feeling the effects of drinking the river water. I am an
exception, however; my health was never better since 1 have
been on the river. I was weighed last week and came up to
136 pounds. I think I shall endure the journey well, perhaps
better than any of the rest of us. Mrs. Spalding does not look
or feel quite healthy enough for our enterprise. Riding affects
her differently from what it does me. Everyone who sees me
compliments me as being the best able to endure the journey
over the mountains. Sister S. is very resolute, no shrinking
with her. She possesses much fortitude. I like her very
much. She wears well upon acquaintance. She is a very
suitable person for Mr. Spalding, has the right temperament to
match him. I think we shall get along very well together.
We have so far. I have such a good place to shelter — under
my husband's wings. He is so excellent. I love to confide in
his judgment and act under him. He is just like mother in
telling me of my failings. He does it in such a way that I
like to have him, for it gives me a chance to improve. Jane,
if you want to be happy, get as good a husband as I have got,
and be a missionary. Mary, I wish you were with us. You
would be as happy as I am.
Since we have been here we have made our tent. It is
made of bedticking. Is a conical form, large enough for us all
to sleep under, viz : Mr. Spalding and wife, Dr. Whitman and
wife, Mr. Gray, Richard Tak-ah-too-ah-tis, and John Aitz ; quite
a little family; raised with a center pole, and fastened down
with pegs, covering a large circle. Here we shall live, eat and
sleep for the summer to come at least, perhaps longer. Mary,
you inquired concerning my beds and bedding. I will tell
1 She died soon after.

t

ifl» *Cs fi*

^v#

(¦«<

.><¦¦

REV. HENRY H. SPALDING

WILLIAM H. GRAY
Assistant Missionary to Dr. Whitman

Across the Continent 59
you. We five spread our India rubber cloth on the ground,
then our blankets, and encamp for the night. We take plenty
of Mackinaw blankets, which answer for our bed and bedding,
and when we journey, place them over our saddle and ride on
them. I wish you could see our outfit.
I had made for me in Brother Augustus' shoe store in Eush
ville a pair of gentleman's boots, and from him we supplied
ourselves with what shoes we wanted. We have each of us a
life preserver, so that if we fall into the water we shall not
drown. They are made of India rubber cloth, air tight, and
when filled with air and placed under the arm, will prevent
one from sinking. Each of us take a plate, knife and fork
and tin cup! Husband has got me an excellent side saddle
and a very easy horse. He made me a present of a mule to
ride the other day. I do not know which I shall like best.
I have not tried the latter. Eichard says, "That's a very bad
mule — can't catch buffaloes." That is the test with him. An
animal's speed makes him good, in his eye. I will write you
from Council Bluffs, and at every opportunity (to send) when
Mr. Parker returns. We have lately received a letter from
Mrs. Parker. O, what a spirit it breathed. When we were
there she said, if we could not get a minister to go with us,
we might keep Mr. Parker until one came, if we would only go
on, and even now she has given permission for him to stay
a year longer, and visit another tribe to the South.
Alas ! My husband does not come tonight. The wind has
blown so hard that I expect he has not been able to cross the
river. Brother Gray is with him ; I shall not feel so anxious
about him on that account, so adieu for tonight. It is most
ten o'clock, and the family have all gone to rest. I should like
to tell you how the western people talk, if I had room. Their
language is so singular that I could hardly understand them,
yet it is very amusing. In speaking of quantity, they say,
"heap of man, heap of water, she is a heap sick," etc. If you
ask, "How does your wife do today?" "O, she is smartly
better, I reckon, but she is powerful weak ; she has been mighty
bad, what's the matter with your eye?"
Platte River, just above the Forks. June 8, 1836, Friday
eve, six o'clock. We have just encamped for the night near the

60 Marcus Whitman
bluffs, over against the river. The bottoms are a soft, wet
plain, and we were obliged to leave the river yesterday for
the bluffs. The face of the country yesterday afternoon and
today has been rolling sand bluffs, mostly barren, quite unlike
what our eyes have been satiated with for weeks past. No
timber nearer than the Platte, and the water tonight is very
bad, got from a small ravine. We have usually had good
water previous to this.
Our fuel for cooking since we left timber (no timber except
on rivers) has been dried buffalo dung. We now find plenty
of it, and it answers a very good purpose, similar to the kind
of coal used in Pennsylvania (I suppose now Harriet will
make up a face at this, but if she were here she would be glad
to have her supper cooked at any rate in this scarce timber
country). The present time in our journey is a very impor
tant one. The hunter brought us buffalo meat yesterday for
the first time. Buffalo have been seen today, but none taken.
AVe have some for supper tonight. Husband is cooking it.
No one of the company professes the art but himself. I ex
pect it will be very good. Stop; I have so much to say to
the children that I do not know in what part of my story to
begin. I have very little time to write. I will first tell you
what our company consists of. We are ten in number — five
missionaries, three Indian boys and two young men employed
to assist in packing animals.
Saturday, lfih. I wrote last night till supper. I told you
how many bipeds there were in our company; now for the
quadrupeds : Fourteen horses, six mules, and fifteen head of
cattle. We milk four cows. We started with seventeen, but
we killed one calf, and the Fur Company, being out of pro
vision, have taken one of our cows for beef. It is usually
pinching times with the Company before they reach the buf
falo. We have had plenty, because we made ample provision
at Liberty. We purchased a barrel of flour, and baked enough
to last us with killing a calf or two until we reached the
buffalo. The Fur Company is large this year ; we are really a mov
ing village; nearly four hundred animals, with ours, mostly
mules, and seventy men. The Fur Company have seven wag-

Across the Continent 61
ons, drawn by six mules each, heavily loaded, and one cart
drawn by two mules, which carries a lame man, one of the
proprietors of the Company. We have two wagons in our
Company. Mr. and Mrs. S., husband and myself ride in one.
Mr. Gray and the baggage in the other. Our Indian boys
drive the cows, and Dulin the horses. Young Miles leads our
forward horses, four in each team. Now, E., if you want to
see the camp in motion, look away ahead, and see the pilot,
and the Captain, Fitzpatrick, just before him; next the pack
animals, all mules, loaded with great packs. Soon after you
will see the wagons, and in the rear our Company. We all
cover quite a space. The pack mules always string along, one
after the other just like Indians. There are several gentlemen
in the Company, who are going over the mountains for plea
sure. Captain Stewart,1 he is an Englishman, and Mr. Celam.
We had a few of them to tea with us last Monday evening.
Captains Fitzpatrick, Stewart, Major Harris and Celam. I
wish I could describe to you how we live, so that you can real
ize it. Our manner of living is far preferable to any in the
States. I never was so contented and happy before, neither
have I enjoyed such health for years. In the morning as
soon as the day breaks, the first that we hear is the words,
"Arise, Arise!" Then the mules set up such a noise as you
never heard, which puts the whole camp in motion. We en
camp in a large ring, baggage and men, tents and wagons
on the outside, and all the animals, except the cows, which are
fastened to pickets, within the circle. This arrangement is
to accommodate the guard, who stand regularly every night
and day, also when we are in motion, to protect our animals
from the approach of Indians, who would steal them. As I
said, the mules' noise brings every man on his feet to loose
them and turn them out to feed. Now, H. and E., you must
think it very hard to have to get up so early after sleeping
on the soft ground, when you find it hard work to open your
eyes at seven o'clock. Just think of me; every morning at
the word "Arise," we all spring. While the horses are feed
ing, we get breakfast in a hurry and eat it. By this time the
1 Mr. Lee speaks of him in his journal — he went over when he did,
and returned.

62 Marcus Whitman
words, "Catch up! Catch up!" ring through the camp for
moving. We are ready to start usually at six, travel till
eleven, encamp, rest and feed, start again about two, travel
until six or before, if we come to a good tavern, then encamp
for the night.
Since we have been in the prairie we have done our own
cooking. When we left Liberty we expected to take bread to
last us part of the way, but could not get enough to carry
us any distance. We found it awkward work to bake out of
doors at first, but we have become so accustomed to it now
that we do it very easily. Tell mother I am a very good house
keeper on the prairie. I wish she could just take a peep at
us while we are sitting at our meals. Our table is the ground,
our tablecloth is an India rubber cloth, used when it rains
as a cloak. Our dishes are made of tin, basins for tea cups,
iron spoons and plates for each of us, and several pans for
milk and to put our meat in when we wish to set it on the
table. Each one carries his own knife in his scabbard, and it
is always ready for use. When the table things are spread,
after making our own forks of sticks, and helping ourselves
to chairs, we gather around the table. Husband always pro
vides my seat, and in a way that you would laugh to see. It
is the fashion of all this country to imitate the Turks. Messrs.
Dunbar and Allis1 supped with us, and they do the same. We
take a blanket and lay down by the table, and those whose
joints will let them follow the fashion; others take out some
of the baggage (I suppose you know that there are no stones
in this country; not a stone have I seen of any size on the
prairie). For my part, I fix myself as gracefully as I can,
sometimes on a blanket, sometimes on a box just as it is con
venient. Let me assure you this, we relish our food none the
less for sitting on the ground while eating. We have tea and
a plenty of milk, which is a luxury in this country. Our milk
has assisted us very much in making our bread since we have
been journeying. While the Fur Company has felt the want of
1 Missionaries who started for Oregon in 1834 with Rev. S. Parker,
but who settled among the Pawnees, when he found he could not get
to Oregon that year.

Across the Continent 63
food, our milk has been of great service to us ; but it was con
siderable work to supply ten persons with bread three times
a day. We are done using it now. What little flour we have
we shall preserve for thickening our broth, which is excellent.
1 never saw anything like buffalo meat to satisfy hunger. We
do not want anything else with it. Supper and breakfast we
eat in our tent. We do not pitch it at noon. Have worship
immediately after supper and breakfast.
Noon. The face of the country today has been like that of
yesterday. We are now about thirty miles above the Forks,
and leaving the bluffs for the river. We have seen wonders
this forenoon. Herds of buffalo hove in sight. One, a bull,
crossed our trail, and ran upon the bluffs in rear of the camp.
We took the trouble to chase him so as to have a near view.
Sister Spalding and myself got out of the wagon, and ran
upon the bluff to see him. This band was quite willing to grat
ify our curiosity, seeing it was the first. Several have been
killed this forenoon. The Company keeps a man out all the
time to hunt for the camp.
I wish you were all here with us, going to the dear Indians.
I have become very much attached to Eichard. He's the one
you saw at our wedding. I love to teach him, to take care of
him, and hear him talk. There are five Nez Perces in the
Company, and when they are together they chatter finely.
Samuel Temoni, the oldest one, has just come into camp with
the skin and some of the meat of a buffalo which he has killed.
He started this forenoon of his own accord. It is what they
like dearly, to hunt buffalo. So long as we have him with us
we shall be supplied with meat.
Now the man from the mountains has come who will take
this to the office. We have just met him and we have stopped
our wagon to write a little. Give my love to all. I have not
told you half I want to. We are all in health this morning
and making rapid progress in our journey. By the Fourth of
July our Captain intends to be at the place where Mr. Parker
and husband parted last fall. We are a month earlier pass
ing here than they were last spring. Tell mother that if I had
looked the world over I could not have found a husband more

64 Marcus Whitman
careful and better qualified to transport a female such a dis
tance. Husband says "stop." Farewell to all I1
Platte River, south side, six days above the Fort Laramie
Fork, near the foot of the Rocky Mountains, June 27, 1836.
Dear Brother and Sister Whitman: We were in perplexity
when we left Liberty, but it has been overruled for good. I
wrote Mother Loomis from the Otoe Agency. We were in still
greater perplexity there, while crossing with, our baggage. Hus
band became so completely exhausted with swimming the river
on Thursday, May 9th, that it was with difficulty he made
the shore the last time. Mr. Spalding was sick ; our two hired
men were good for nothing; we could not obtain much assis
tance from the Otoes, for they were away from the village.
We had but one canoe, made of skins, and that partly eaten
by the dogs the night before. We got everything over by Fri
day night. We did not get ready to start until Saturday af
ternoon. By this time the [American Fur] Company had
four and a half days the advance of us. It seemed scarcely'
possible for us to overtake them, we having two more difficult
streams to pass before they would pass the Pawnee villages.
Beyond there we dared not venture more than one day. We
were at a stand ; but with the advice of Brethren Merrill and
Dunbar — missionaries among the Pawnees — after a concert of
prayer on the subject, we concluded to start and go as far as
it would be prudent for us. Brother Dunbar kindly consented
to become our pilot, until we could get another. He started
with us and came as far as the Elkhorn Eiver, then the man
Major Dougherty sent for, for us, came up, and Mr. Dunbar
returned. We had passed the river on Monday morning and
taken down the rope, when our pilot and his Indian came up.
It was with difficulty we crossed him and returned Mr. Dun
bar. While on the opposite shore, just ready to leave us, he
called to us to receive his parting advice, with a word of
caution, which will never be forgotten. Our visit with him
and Brother Merrill's family was indeed refreshing to our
thirsty spirits — kindred spirits rejoicing in the self-denials
1 Dr. Whitman wrote a letter from this place also, at this time, but
as it is almost entirely a repetition of what has already been given, it
is not inserted. Oregon Pioneer Transactions, 1893, p. 109.

Across the Continent 65
and labors of missionary life. The next day, in the morning,
we met a large party of Pawnees going to the fort to receive
their annuities. They seemed very much surprised and pleased
to see white females ; many of them had never seen any before.
They are a noble Indian — large, athletic forms, dignified coun
tenances, bespeaking an immortal existence within. When we
had said what we wished to them, we hurried on, and arrived
ac the Elkhorn in time to cross all our effects. Here, I must
tell you how much good Eichard, John and Samuel did us.
They do the most of driving the cattle and loose horses. Oc
casionally husband and myself would ride with them as com
pany and encouragement. They came up to the river before
us, and seeing a skin canoe on the opposite side, they stripped
themselves, wound their shirts around their heads, and swam
over and back again with the canoe by the time we came up.
We stretched a rope across the river and pulled the goods over
in the canoe without much difficulty.
Monday and Tuesday we made hard drives — Tuesday es
pecially. We attempted to reach the Loup Fork that night,
and a part of us succeeded. Those in the wagons drove there
by 11 o'clock, but it was too much for the cattle. There was
no water or feed short of this. We rode with Eichard and
John until 9 o'clock, and were all very much fatigued. Eich
ard proposed to us to go on and he and John would stay on
the prairie with the cattle, and drive them in in the morning.
We did not like to leave them, and so we concluded to stay.
Husband had a cup tied to his saddle, in which he milked what
we wanted to drink ; this was our supper. Our saddle blank
ets, with our India rubber cloaks, were our beds. Having of
fered up our thanksgiving for the blessings of the day, and
sought protection for the night, we committed ourselves to
rest. We awoke in the morning much refreshed and rode into
camp before breakfast — five miles. The Fur Company was
on the opposite side of the river, which we forded, and, without
unloading our wagon much, were ready to move again about
noon. We wished to be with the Company when they passed
the Pawnee village. This obliged us to make a day's drive of
the camp in half a day, which was too bad for our horses. We
did not reach them until 1 o'clock at night. The next day we

66 Marcus Whitman
passed all their villages. We, especially, were visited by them,
both at noon and at night; we ladies were such a curiosity
to them. They would come and stand around our tent, peep
in, and grin in their astonishment to see such looking objects.
Since we came up with the camp I rode in the wagons
most of the way to the Black Hills. It is astonishing how
well we get along with our wagons where there are no roads.
I think I may say it is easier traveling here than on any turn
pike in the States. On the way to the buffalo coun.try we had
to bake bread for ten persons. It was difficult at first, as we
did not understand working out doors; but we became ac
customed to it, so that it became quite easy. June found us
ready to receive our first taste of buffalo. Since that time I
have had but little to do with cooking. Not one in our num
ber relishes buffalo meat as well as my husband and I. He has
a different way for cooking every different piece of meat. I
believe Mother Loomis would give up to him if she were here.
We have had no bread since. We have meat and tea in the
morn, and tea and meat at noon. All our variety consists
in the different ways of cooking. I relish it well, and it agrees
with me. My health is excellent. So long as I have buffalo
meat, I do not wish anything else. Sister Spalding is affected
by it considerably — has been quite sick.
We feel that the Lord has blessed us beyond our most san
guine expectations. We wish our friends at home to unite
with us in thanksgiving and praise for His great mercies to
us. We are a month earlier this year than husband was last,
and the Company wish to be at Eendezvous by the 4th of July.
We have just crossed the river and shall leave here tomorrow
morning. Now, Sister Julia, between you and me, I just want
to tell you how much trouble I have had with Marcus, two or
three weeks past. He was under the impression that we had
too much baggage, and could not think of anything so easy
to be dispensed with as his own wearing apparel ; those shirts
the ladies made him just before he left home, his black suit,
and overcoat — these were the condemned articles. Sell them
he must, as soon as he gets to the fort. But first I would
not believe him in earnest. All the reasons I could bring
were of no avail — he still said he must get rid of them. I

Across the Continent 67
told him to sell all of mine, too; I could do without them
better than he could. Indeed, I did not wish to dress unless
he could. I finally said that I would write and get Sister
Julia to plead for me, for I knew you would not like to have
him sell them, better than I should. This was enough; he
knew it would not do to act contrary to her wishes, and said
no more about it.
July 16th. When I wrote this letter I expected an oppor
tunity to send it immediately, but we did not meet the party
expected, and have had no opportunity since. We are now at
the Eocky Mountains, at the encampment of Messrs. McLeod
and McKay, expecting to leave on Monday morning for Walla
Walla. It seems a special favor that that company has come
to Rendezvous this season; for otherwise we would have had
to have gone with the Indians a difficult route, and so slow
that we should have been late at. Walla Walla, and not had
the time we wanted to make preparations for winter. Hus
band has written the particulars of our arrival, meeting the
Indians, etc., to Brother Henry. One particular I will men
tion, which he did not. As soon as I alighted from my horse
I was met by a company of matron native women, one after
another shaking hands and saluting me with a most hearty
kiss. This was unexpected and affected me very much. They
gave Sister Spalding the same salutation. After we had been
seated a while in the midst of the gazing throng, one of the
chiefs, whom we had seen before, came with his wife and very
politely introduced her to us. They say they all like us very
much, and thank God that they have seen us, and that we
have come to live with them.
It was truly pleasing to see the meeting of Eichard and
John with their friends. Eichard was affected to tears. His
father is not here, but several of his tribe and brethren are.
When they met, each took off his hat and shook hands, as re
spectfully as in civilized life. Eichard does not give up the
idea of again seeing Eushville.
July 18th. Under the protection of Mr. McLeod and his
company we left the Eendezvous and came ten miles in a
southwesterly direction. The Flatheads and some of the Snake
Indians accompanied us a short distance. We make but one

68 Marcus Whitman
camp a day. On the 22nd we had a tedious ride, as we trav
eled till half-past 4 p. m. I thought of mother's bread as a
child would, but did not find it on the table. I should relish
it extremely well; have been living on buffalo meat until I
am cloyed with it. Have been in a peaceful state of mind
all day. Had a freedom in prayer for my beloved parents;
blessed privilege that such a sinner as I may have access to
a mercy seat, through such a Saviour as Jesus Christ. It is
good to feel that He is all I want, and all my righteousness;
and if I had ten thousand lives, I would give them all for
Him. I long to be more like Him — to possess more of His meek
spirit. 25th. Came fifteen miles today; encamped on Smith's
Creek, a small branch of Bear Creek. The ride has been very
mountainous — paths winding on the sides of steep mountains.
In some places the path is so narrow as scarcely to afford
room for the animal to place his foot. One after another we
pass along with cautious step. Passed a creek on which was
a fine bunch of gooseberries nearly ripe.
Husband has had a tedious time with the wagon today.
It got stuck in the creek this morning when crossing, and he
was obliged to wade considerably in getting it out. After that,
in going between the mountains, on the side of one, so steep
that it was difficult for horses to pass, the wagon was upset
twice ; did not wonder at this at all ; it was a greater wonder
that it was not turning somersaults continually. It is not
very grateful to my feelings to see him wearing out with such
excessive fatigue, as I am obliged to. He is not as fleshy as
he was last winter. All the most difficult part of the way he
has walked, in laborious attempts to take the wagon. Ma
knows what my feelings are.
26th. Did not move camp today. Mr. McKay has been
preparing to send out trappers from this place. Husband
has been sick today, and so lame with the rheumatism as to be
scarcely able to move. It is a great privilege that we can lie
still today, on his account, for he needs rest.
27th. Had quite a level route today — came down Bear
Eiver. Mr. McKay sent off about thirty of his men as trap
pers today. Several lodges of Indians also left us to go in

Across the Continent 69
another direction, and we expect more to leave us tomorrow.
They wish to go a different route from Mr. McLeod, and desire
us to go with them ; but it would be more difficult and lengthy
than Mr. McLeod's. We are still in a dangerous country ; but
our company is large enough for safety. Our cattle endure
the journey remarkably well. They supply us with sufficient
milk for our tea and coffee, which is indeed a luxury. We are
obliged to shoe some of them because of sore feet. Have seen
no buffalo since we left Eendezvous. Have had no game of
any kind except a few messes of antelope, which an Indian
gave us. We have plenty of dried buffalo meat, which we
have purchased from the Indians — and dry it is, for me. It
appears so filthy ! I can scarcely eat it ; but it keeps us alive
and we ought to be thankful for it. We have had a few meals
of fresh fish, also, which we relish well, and have the prospect
of obtaining plenty in one or two weeks more. Have found
no berries; neither have I found any of Ma's bread (Girls,
do not waste the bread ; if you knew how well I should relish
even the dryest morsel, you would save every piece carefully).
Do not think I regret coming. No, far from it; I would not
go back for a world. I am contented and happy, notwith
standing I sometimes get very hungry and weary. Have six
weeks' steady journeying before us. Feel sometimes as if it
were a long time to be traveling. Long for rest, but must not
murmur. Feel to pity the poor Indian women, who are continually
traveling in this manner during their lives, and know no other
comfort. They do all the work and are the complete slaves
of their husbands. I am making some little progress in their
language; long to be able to converse with them about the
Saviour. 28th. Very mountainous all the way today ; came over an
other ridge ; rode from 8 a. m. till 2 p. m. We thought yester
day the Indians were all going to leave us, except two or three ;
but not one has. They fear to on account of the Blackfeet
tribe, who would destroy them all, if they could. One of the
axle-trees of the wagon broke today; was a little re
joiced; for we were in hopes they would leave it, and have
no more trouble with it. Our rejoicing was in vain, for they

70 Marcus Whitman
are making a cart of the back wheels this afternoon, and lash
ing the fore wheels to it — intending to take it through in
some shape or other. They are so resolute and untiring in
their efforts that they will probably succeed. Had some fresh
fish for breakfast and some antelope for supper sent us by Mr.
McLeod and other friends in camp. Thus the Lord provides
and smooths all our ways for us, giving us strength.
July 29th. Mr. Gray was quite sick this morning, and in
clined to fall behind. Husband and I rode with him about
two hours and a half, soon after which he gave out entirely. I
was sent on, and soon after husband left him, to come and get
the cart; but I overtook an Indian, who went back and soon
met husband, and both returned to Mr. Gray. The Indian
helped him on his horse, got on behind him, supported him in
his arms, and in this manner slowly came into camp. This
was welcome relief, and all rejoiced to see them come in ; for
some of us had been riding seven hours, others eight, without
any nourishment.
[The next sheet of the journal is missing, which contains
the account of their arrival at Fort Hall, where, she says] :
We were hospitably entertain by Captain Thing, who keeps
the fort. It was built by Captain Wyeth, a gentleman from
Boston, whom we saw at the Rendezvous on his way East.
Our dinner consisted of dry buffalo meat, turnips and fried
bread, which was a luxury. Mountain bread is simply coarse
flour and water mixed and roasted or fried in buffalo grease.
To one who has had nothing but meat for a long time this
relishes well. For tea we had the same, with the addition
of some stewed service berries.
The buildings of the fort are made of hewed logs, with
roofs covered with mud brick, chimneys and fireplaces also
foeing built of the same; no windows except square holes in
the roof, and in the bastion a few port holes large enough for
guns only. The buildings are all enclosed in a strong log wall.
This affords them a place of safety when attacked by hostile
Indians, as they frequently are, the fort being in the Black-
foot country. Since dinner we visited the garden and corn
fields. The turnips in the garden appeared thrifty — the tops
very large and tall, but the roots small. The peas looked

POET HALL, Exterior

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WIS

FORT HALL, Interior

\
Across the Continent 71
small, but most of them had been gathered by the mice. Saw
a few onions that were going to seed, which looked quite nat
ural. This was all the garden contained. He told us his own
did extremely well until the 8th of June, when the frost of
one night completely prostrated it. It has since come up again
but does not look as well as it did before. This is their first
attempt at cultivating.
The buildings at Fort William, on Laramie Fork of the
Platte, are made the same, but are larger and more finished
than here. Here we have stools to sit on — there we had very
comfortable chairs bottomed with buffalo skin. Thus you
see we have a house of entertainment almost or quite as often
as Christian of the Pilgrim's Progress did. We expect one
more before we get to Walla Walla; that is Snake Fort
[Boise.], belonging to Mr. McKay, who is journeying with us.
From this on our company will be small. The Indians
all leave us today, except one or two, who go with us to assist
in driving the cattle — Kentuck, who went with Mr. Parker last
year, and the chief, Rottenbelly. The whole tribe are ex
ceedingly anxious to have us go with them. They use every
argument they can invent to prevail on us to do so — and not
only argument, but strategy. We all think it not best; we
are very much fatigued, and wish to get through as soon as
possible. To go with them would take us two months or more,
when now we expect to go to Walla Walla in twenty-five days.
When we get there rest will be sweet to us; so it will be to
the Christian when he gets to Heaven. Will father and
mother get there before I do? If so, then they will be ready
to greet me on the threshold. Here we have raised our Eben-
ezer, saying, "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us." Now we
leave it and pass on. Our animals are nearly ready. It is
now half-past two, and we expect to go but a short distance
and encainp.
August 5th. Morn. Came all of ten miles last evening
and did not arrive here until after dark. Mr. McLeod and his
company started earlier than we did, intending to come but
a little way. We could not get ready to come with him, and
the man who piloted us led us wrong — much out of the way.
Those on whom we depended to drive cattle disappointed us.

12 Marcus Whitman
Husband and myself fell in behind them to assist John Aits,
who was alone with them. This made us later into camp than
the rest of our company. We came through several swamps,
and all the last part of the way we were so swarmed with
mosquitoes as to be scarcely able to see — especially while
crossing the Port Neuf, which we did just before coming into
camp. It is the widest river I have forded on horseback. It
seemed the cows would run mad for the mosquitoes ; we could
scarcely get them along.
Mr. McLeod met us and invited us to tea, which was a
great favor. Thus blessings gather thick around us. We
have been in the mountains so long we find the scenery of this
valley very grateful to the eye — a large stream on my right
and one on my left, skirted with timber. At Fort Hall was
our first sight of Snake River. We shall follow the south side
of it for many days. We have passed many places where the
soil is good, and would be fertile if there were frequent rains ;
but usually the country is barren, and would be a sandy desert
were it not for the sage brush.
Eve. We passed the American Falls on Snake River just
after dinner. The roar of the water is heard at a considerable
distance. We stopped during the greatest heat for rest and
dinner. Now that the Indians are no longer with us, we shall
expect to make two camps. I expect this to be a great mercy
to us weak females, for it was more than we could well endure
to travel during the heat of the day without refreshment.
August 6th. Route very bad and difficult today. We
crossed a small stream full of falls. The only pass where
we could cross was just on the edge of rocks above one of the
falls. While the pack animals were crossing, both ours and
the Company's, there was such a rush as to crowd two of our
horses over the falls, both packed with dried meat. It was
with great difficulty they were got out, one of them having
been in nearly an hour, much to his injury. We have a little
rice to eat with our dry meat, given us by Mr. McLeod, which
makes it relish quite well.
August 7th. Sabbath. Came fifteen miles and camped on
a fine place, with plenty of good grass for our weary animals.

Across the Continent 73
Thus are blessings so mingled, that it seems as if there was
nothing else but mercy and blessing all the way. Was there
ever journey like this performed, where the sustaining hand of
God has been so manifest every morning. Surely the children
of Israel could not have been more sensible of the pillar of
fire by night than we have been of that hand that has led us
thus safely on. God has heard prayer in our behalf, and even
now, while I am writing on this holy day, is the sweet incense
of prayer ascending before the throne of Heavenly grace. Nor
are we forgotten by our beloved churches, at home in the pray
ers of the Sanctuary, we are too sensible of its blessed effects
to believe otherwise; and Oh! how comforting is this thought
to the heart of the missionary. We love to think and talk of
home, with such feelings as these. It warms our hearts and
strengthens and encourages us in the work of our beloved
Master, and makes our journeyings easy.
August 8th. Snake River. We have an excellent camp
ground tonight; plenty of feed for the cattle and horses. We
think it remarkable that our cattle should endure the journey
as well as they do. We have two sucking calves that appear
to be in very good spirits; they suffer some from sore feet,
otherwise they have come on well and will go through. Have
come eighteen miles today, and have taken it so deliberately
that it has been easy for us. The hunters came in last night
well loaded; they had been in the mountains two days after
game, and killed three elk and two antelope. This is the first
elk meat we have had, and it is the last opportunity we expect
to have of taking any more game. We are told that many
have traveled the whole distance from Rendezvous to Walla
Walla without any fresh meat. We think ours will last us
until we reach the salmon fishing at Snake Falls. Thus we are
well provided for, contrary to our expectations. Mr. McLeod
has excellent hunters ; this is the reason why we live so well.
There is but little game, and that is found at great distance
from the route.
11th. Tuesday and Wednesday have been tedious days,
both for man and beast — lengthy marches without water;
rocky and sandy. Had a present tonight of a fresh salmon ;
also a plate of fried cakes from Mr. McLeod (Girls, if you

74 Marcus Whitman
wish to know how they taste, you can have the pleasure by tak
ing a little flour and water, make some dough and roll it
thin, cut it into square blocks, then take some beef fat and fry
them. You need not put either salt or pearlash in your dough.
Believe me, I relish them as well as I ever did any made at
home). 12th. Friday. Raised camp this morning at sunrise, and
came two hours' ride to the salmon fishery. Found a few
lodges of Diggers of the Snake tribe, so-called because they live
on roots during winter, who had just commenced fishing. Ob
tained some and boiled it for our breakfast. Find it good
eating; had we been a few days earlier we should not have
been able to obtain any fish, for they had but just come up.
They never go higher than these falls, and come here every
season. Friday Eve. Dear Harriet, the little trunk you gave me
has come with me so far, and now I must leave it here alone.
Poor little trunk, I am sorry to leave thee, thou must abide
here alone, and no more by thy presence remind me of my dear
Harriet. Twenty miles below the falls on Snake River, this
shall be thy place of rest. Farewell, little trunk, I thank thee
for thy faithful services, and that I have been cheered by thy
presence so long. Thus we scatter as we go along. The hills
are so steep and rocky that husband thought it best to lighten
the wagon as much as possible, and take nothing but the
wheels, leaving the box with my trunk. I regret leaving any
thing that came from home, especially that trunk, but it is
best. It would have been better for me not to have attempted
to bring any baggage whatever, only what was necessary to
use on the way, it costs so much labor, besides the expense of
animals. If I were to make the journey again, I would make
quite different preparations. To pack and unpack so many
times, and cross so many streams where the packs frequently
get wet, requires no small amount of labor, besides the injury
of the articles. Our books, what few we have, have been wet
several times. In going from Elmira to Williamsport, this
trunk fell into the creek and wet all my books, and Richard's,
too, several times. The sleigh box came off, and all of us
came near a wetting likewise. The custom of the country is

Across the Continent 75
to possess nothing, and then you will lose nothing while travel
ing. Farewell for the present.
13th. Saturday. Dear Harriet, Mr. McKay has asked the
privilege of taking the little trunk along, so that my soliloquy
about it last night was for naught. However, it will do me
no good, it may him. We have come fifteen miles and have the
worst route in all the journey for the cart. We might have
had a better one, but for being misled by some of the Company,
who started out before the leaders. It was two o'clock before
we came into camp.
They were preparing to cross Snake River. The river is
divided by two islands into three branches, and it is fordable.
The packs are placed upon the tops of the highest horses, and
in this way we crossed without wetting. Two of the tallest
horses were selected to carry Mrs. Spalding and myself over.
Mr. McLeod gave me his, and rode mine. The last branch we
rode as much as half a mile in crossing and against the cur
rent, too, which made it hard for the horses, the water being
up to their sides. Husband had considerable difficulty in
crossing the cart. Both the cart and mules were turned up
side down in the river, and entangled in the harness. The
mules would have been drowned but for a desperate struggle
to get them ashore. Then after putting two of the strongest
horses before the cart, and two men swimming behind to steady
it, they succeeded in getting it across. I once thought that
crossing streams would be the most dreaded part of the jour
ney. I can now cross the most difficult stream without the
least fear. There is one manner of crossing which husband has
tried, but I have not, neither do I wish to. Take an elk skin
and stretch it over you, spreading yourself out as much as pos
sible, then let the Indian women carefully put you on the water,
and with a cord in the mouth they will swim and draw you
over. Edward, how do you think you would like to travel in
this way?
15th. Yesterday Mr. McLeod, with most of his men left
us, wishing to hasten his arrival at Snake Fort, leaving us a
pilot and his weakest animals to come in with us at our leisure.
This is a relief to us, as it is difficult to bring our cattle up to
the speed they wish to travel. We passed the hot springs just

76 Marcus Whitman
before noon, which was quite a curiosity. Boiled a bit of dry
salmon in one of them in five minutes.
16th. This eve found plenty of berries called hawthorn on
the stream where we have encamped. They are large as a
cherry and taste much like a mealy sweet apple. Our route on
this side of Snake River is less hilly and difficult than on the
south side, and said to be two days shorter.
19th. Arrived at Snake Fort [Boise] about noon. It is
situated on Bigwood River, so called because the timber is
larger than any to be seen this side of the mountains. It con
sists chiefly of cottonwood and is small compared with timber
in the States. Snake Fort is owned and was built by Mr.
Thomas McKay, one of our Company, whom we expect to leave
here. He, with Mr. McLeod, gave us a hearty welcome ; dined
with them. Mr. McLeod was ready to leave on the morrow,
but said he would stay a day longer to give us the opportunity
of doing some necessary work, for which we were thankful.
20th. Saturday. Last night I put my clothes in water,
and this morning finished washing before breakfast; this is
the third time I have washed since I left home, once at Fort
William and once at Rendezvous. Mr. McLeod called this
evening to see if we were ready to leave. He observed we had
been so engaged in labor as to have no time for rest, and pro
posed for ourselves to remain over the Sabbath. This I can
assure you was a favor for which we can never be too thankful,
for our souls need the rest of the Sabbath as well as our
bodies. 21st. Sabbath. Rich with heavenly blessings has this day
of rest been to my soul. Mr. Spalding was invited to preach
iii the Fort at 11 o'clock. The theme was the "Character of
the Blessed Saviour." All listened with good attention.
22nd. Left the Fort yesterday, came a short distance to
the crossing of Snake River, crossed and encamped for the
night. The river has three branches, divided by islands, as it
was when we crossed before. The first and second places were
very deep, but we had no difficulty in crossing on horseback.
The third was deeper, still ; we dare not venture on horseback.
This being a fishing post of the Indians, we easily found a

Across the Continent 77
canoe made of rushes and willows, on which we placed our
selves and our saddles (Sister Spalding and myself), when
two Indians on horseback each with a rope attached to the
canoe towed us over. O! if father and mother and the girls
could have seen us in our snug little canoe, floating on the
water ! We were favorites of the Company. No one else was
privileged with a ride on it. I wish I could give you a correct
idea of this little bark. It is simply bunches of rushes tied to
gether and attached to a frame made of a few sticks of small
willows. It was just large enough to hold us and our saddles.
Our baggage was transported on the top of our tallest horses,
without wetting.
As for the wagon, it is left at the Fort, and I have nothing
to say about crossing it at this time. Five of our cattle were
left there also, to be exchanged for others at Walla Walla.
Perhaps you will wonder why we have left the wagon, having
taken it so nearly through. Our animals were failing and the
route in crossing the Blue Mountains is said to be impassable
for it. We have the prospect of obtaining one in exchange
at Vancouver. If we do not, we shall send for it, since we
have been to so much labor in getting it thus far. It is a
useful article in the country.
Now for Edward's amusement, and that he may know how
to do when he comes over the Rocky Mountains, I will tell
how we got the cattle over the rivers. Our two Indians boys,
Richard and John, have had the chief management of driving
them all the way, and are commendable for the patience they
have manifested. They have had some one or two to help
usually, but none are so steady drivers as themselves. When
a stream is to be crossed, where it is necessary for the animals
to swim, Richard comes to my husband and asks if he may go
over with his horse and clothes and then come back after the
cows. Having obtained consent, he rides over, accompanied
by his fellow drivers, all stripped to the shirt. Then they
return with their horses if the stream is wide and difficult. If
not, they leave their horses, tie their shirts over their heads,
swim back, collect the cows and drive them through, all swim
ming after them. If the stream is very wide, and they return
with their horses, they drive them swimming on their horses

78 Marcus Whitman
behind them. This saves them from the too great fatigue of
swimming the river twice. They love to swim, as they love to
eat, and by doing so, have saved me many an anxious feeling,
for the relief it has given my husband many times. In this
case all the horses and mules were driven across likewise.
Usually, the best Indian swimmer was selected, and mounted
the horse that was good for leading to go before the animals
as a guide, while many others swam after them to drive them
over. When once under way, such a snorting and halloaing
you never heard. At the same time you can see nothing save
so many heads floating upon the water. Soon they gain the
opposite shore, triumphantly ascend its banks, shake them
selves, and retire to their accustomed employment.
26th. Friday. On account of our worn out cattle and
horses, it was thought best to separate from Mr. McLeod's
party, at least some of us, and travel more deliberately. Two
mules and a horse have almost entirely given out. It is neces
sary for some of our party to go to Vancouver immediately
for supplies and to see Mr. Parker before he leaves. It was
thought best for my husband and Mr. Gray to go, as Mr. Mc
Leod intended to make but a day's stop at Walla Walla. We
came on with him, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, the hired
man, with most of our baggage, and the Nez Perces chief, Rot-
tenbelly, to pilot them in. We parted from them about three
o'clock, and came as far as the Lone Tree. The place called
"The Lone Tree" is a beautiful valley, in the region of Powder
River, in the center of which is a solitary tree, quite large, by
the side of which travelers usually stop and refresh them
selves. We left our tent for Mrs. Spalding, as we expect to
be out only a few nights, while she may be out many. Mr.
McLeod kindly offered his for my use, and when I arrived in
camp, found it pitched and in readiness for me. This was a
great favor, as the wind blew quite hard, and the prospect was
for a cool night.
August 27th. Came in sight of the hill that leads to Grand
Ronde. This morning Mr. McLeod remained behind in pur
suit of game, and did not come into camp until we had made
a long nooning. Although we had begun to feel a little con
cerned about him, yet about three o'clock he came into camp

Across the Continent 79
loaded with wild ducks, having taken twenty-two. Now,
mother, he did just as he always did during the journey, sent
over nine of them. Here also Richard caught fresh salmon,
which made us another good meal, and if we had been out of
provisions we might have made a dinner upon the fresh water
clams, for the river was full of them.
Girls, how do you think we manage to rest ourselves every
noon, having no house to shelter us from the scorching heat,
or sofa on which to recline? Perhaps you think we always
encamp in the shade of some thick wood. Such a sight I have
not seen, lo, these many weeks. If we can find a few small
willows, or a single lone tree, we think ourselves amply pro
vided for. But often our camping places are in some open
plain, and frequently a sand plain ; but even here is rest and
comfort. My husband, who is one of the best the world ever
knew, is always ready to provide a comfortable shade with one
of our saddle blankets spread upon some willows or sticks
placed in the ground. Our saddles, fishamores and the other
blankets, placed on the ground, constitute our sofa, where we
recline and rest until dinner is ready. How do you think you
would like this? Would you not think a seat by mother in
some cool room preferable? Some times my wicked' heart
has been disposed to murmur, thinking I have no rest from
the heat when we stopped, but have always been reproved
for it by the comfort and rest received. Under the circum
stances I have never wished to go back. Such a thought
never finds a place in my heart. "The Lord is better to us
than our fears." I always find it so.
28th. This morning lingered with husband on the top of
the hill that overlooks the Grand Eonde, at the foot of which
is a beautiful cluster of pitch and spruce pine trees, but no
white pine like that I have been accustomed to see at home.
Grand Eonde is, indeed, a beautiful place. It is a circular
plain, surrounded by lofty mountains, and has a beautiful
stream coursing jthrough it, skirted with quite large timber.
The scenery, while passing through it, is quite delightful in
some places, and the soil rich; in other places we find the
white sand and sedge, as usual, so common to this country.
We nooned upon the Grand Eonde Eiver.

80 Marcus Whitman
The camas grow in abundance, and it is the principal re
sort of the Cayuses and many other tribes to obtain it, as they
are very fond of it. It resembles an onion in shape and color ;
when cooked is very sweet and tastes like a fig. Their manner
of cooking them is very curious ; they dig a hole in the ground,
throw in a heap of stones, heat them to a red heat, cover them
with green grass, upon which they put the camas, and cover
the whole with earth. When taken out it is black. This is
the chief food of many tribes during the winter. After dinner
we left the plain and ascended the Blue Mountains. Here a
new and pleasing scene presented itself— mountains covered
with timber, through which we rode all the afternoon ; a very
agreeable change. The scenery reminded me of the hills in
my native county of Steuben.
29th. Had a continuation of the same scenery as yesterday
afternoon. Eode over many logs and obstructions that we had
not found since we left the States. Here I frequently met old
acquaintances in the trees and flowers, and was not a little
delighted; indeed, I do not know as I was ever so much af
fected with any scenery in my life. The singing of birds, the
echo of voices of my fellow travelers, as they were scattered
through the woods, all had a strong resemblance to bygone
days. But this scenery was of short duration ; only one day.
Before noon we began to descend one of the most terrible
mountains for steepness and length, I have yet seen. It was
like winding stairs in its descent, and in some places almost
perpendicular. The horses appeared to dread the hill as much
as we did. They would turn and wind around in a zigzag
manner all the way down. The men usually walked, but I
could not get permission to, neither did I desire it much. We
had no sooner gained the foot of this mountain, when another
more steep and more dreadful was before us. After dinner and
rest we descended it. Mount Pleasant in Prattsburg would
not compare with these Mount Terribles. Our ride this after
noon exceeded anything we have had yet, and what rendered
it the more aggravating was the fact that the path all the way
was very stony, resembling a newly macadamized road. Our
horses' feet were very tender, all unshod, so that we could not
make the progress we wished. The mountain in many places

Across the Continent 81
was covered with this black broken basalt. We were very late
in making camp tonight. After ascending the mountain we
kept upon the main divide until sunset, looking in vain for
water and a camping place. While upon this elevation, we
had a view of the valley of the Columbia Eiver. It was beau
tiful. Just as we gained the highest elevation, and began to
descend, the sun was dipping his disk behind the western hori
zon. Beyond the valley we could see two mountains, Mount
Hood and Mount St. Helens. These lofty peaks were of a
conical form, separated from each other by a considerable
distance. Behind the former, the sun was hiding part of his
rays, which gave us a more distinct view of this gigantic cone.
The beauty of this extensive valley contrasted well with the
rolling mountains behind us, and at this hour of twilight was
enchanting, and quite diverted my mind from the fatigue un
der which I was laboring. We had yet to descend a hill as
long but not as steep or as stony as the other. By this time
our horses were in haste to be in camp, as well as ourselves,
and mine made such lengthy strides in descending that it shook
my sides surprisingly. It was dark when we got into camp,
but the tent was ready for me, and tea, also, for Mr. McLeod
invited us to sup with him. Dearest mother, let me tell you
how I am sustained by the Lord in all this journey. For two
or three days past I have felt weak, restless, and scarcely able
to sit on my horse, yesterday in particular. But see how I
have been diverted by the scenery, and carried out of myself
by conversation about home and friends. Mother will recol
lect what my feelings were, and had been for a year previous
to my leaving home ; the last revival I enjoyed on my visit to
Onondaga, and the scenes there. These I call my last im
pressions of home, and they were of such a character that
when we converse about home, these same feelings are revived,
and I forget that I am weary and want rest. This morning
my feelings were a little peculiar; felt remarkably strong and
well, so much so as to mention it ; but could not see any reason
why I should feel any more rested than on the morning pre
vious. When I began to see what a day's ride was before me,
then I understood it. If I had had no better health today
than yesterday I should have fainted under it. Then the

82 Marcus Whitman
promise appeared in full view. "As thy days so shall thy
strength be," and my soul rejoiced in God, and testified to
the truth of another evidently manifest, "Lo, I am with you
always." 30th. In consequence of the lengthy camp yesterday and
failure of animals, two of the Company's men left their ani
mals behind, with packs also. These occasioned some anxiety,
lest the wolves should destroy their beaver. Today they sent
back for them, and we made but a short move, to find more
grass. On following the course of the stream on which we en
camped last night, we found cherries in abundance, and had
time to stop and gather as many as we wished. They are very
fine, equal to any we find in the States. When we arrived, Mr.
Gray had the dinner waiting for us. This afternoon the men
rested and made preparations to enter Walla Walla. The
men who went for the animals returned late. We all regretted
this hindrance, for Mr. McLeod intended to see Walla Walla
today, and return again with a muskmelon for Mrs. Whitman
(so he said). He will go in tomorrow. It is the custom of
the country to send heralds ahead to announce the arrival of a
party, and prepare for their reception.
31st. Came to the Walla Walla Eiver, within eight miles
of the Fort. [Now Wallula]. Husband and I were very
much exhausted with this day's lengthy ride. Most of the
way was sandy, with no water for many miles. When we left
Mr. Spalding, husband rode an Indian horse, which he had
never mounted before, and found him a hard rider in every
gait, except a gallop; and slow in his movements, nor could
he pace, as mine did, so for the last six days we have galloped
most of the way, where the ground would admit of it.
September 1st, 1836. You can better imagine our feelings
this morning than we can describe them. I could not realize
that the end of our long journey was so near. We arose as
soon as it was light, took a cup of coffee, ate of the duck we
had given us last night, and dressed for Walla Walla. We
started while it was yet early, for all were in haste to reach
the desired haven. If you could have seen us you would have
been surprised, for both man and beast appeared alike to be im
pelled by the same force. The whole company galloped almost

FORT WALLA WALLA

Across the Continent 83
the whole of the way to the Fort. The first appearance we
saw of civilization was the garden, two miles this side of the
Fort. The fatigues of the long journey seemed to be forgotten
in the excitement of being so near the close. Soon the Fort ap
peared in sight, and when it was announced that we were near,
Mr. McLeod, Mr. Pambrun, the gentleman of the house, and Mr.
Townsend [a traveling naturalist], sallied forth to meet us.
After the usual introduction and salutation, we entered the
Fort and were comfortably situated in cushioned arm chairs.
They were just eating breakfast as we rode up, and soon we
were seated at the table, and treated to fresh salmon, potatoes,
tea, bread and butter. What a variety, thought I. You can
not imagine what an appetite these rides in the mountains give
a person. I wish some of the feeble ones in the States could
have rode over the mountains ; they would have said, like me,
that victuals, even the plainest kinds, never relished so well
before. After breakfast we were shown the novelties of the place.
While at breakfast, however, a young rooster placed himself
upon the sill of the door and crowed. Now, whether it was
the sight of the first white woman, or out of compliment to
the company, I know not, but this much for him, I was pleased
with his appearance. You may think me simple for speaking
of such a small circumstance. No one knows the feelings oc
casioned by objects once familiar after a long deprivation, es
pecially when it is heightened by no expectation of meeting
with them. The door yard was filled with hens, turkeys, and
pigeons. In another place we saw cows and goats in abun
dance, and I think the largest and fattest cattle and swine I
ever saw.
We were soon shown to a room which Mr. Pambrun said
he had prepared for us, by making two bedsteads, or bunks, on
hearing of our approach. It was the west bastion of the Fort,
full of port holes in the sides, but no windows, and filled
with firearms. A large cannon, always loaded, stood behind
the door by one of the holes. These things did not disturb
me. I am so well pleased with the possession of a room to
shelter me from the scorching sun that I scarcely notice them.
Having arranged our things, we were soon called to a feast

84 Marcus Whitman
of melons, the first I think, I ever saw or tasted. The musk
melon was the largest, measuring eighteen inches in length,
fifteen around the small end, and nineteen around the large
end. You may be assured that none of us were satisfied or
willing to leave the table until we had filled our plates with
chips. At four o'clock we were called to dine. It consisted of
pork, turnips, cabbage, tea, bread and butter — my favorite
dishes, and much like the last dinner I ate with Mother Loomis.
I am thus particular in my description of eatables, so that you
may be assured that we find something to eat beyond the Eocky
Mountains as well as at home. We find plenty of salt, but
many here prefer to do almost and some entirely without it
on their meats and vegetables.
Sept. 2. Have busied myself today in unpacking my trunk
and arranging my things for a visit to Vancouver. Mother
will wonder at this, and think me a strange child for wishing
lo add three hundred miles to this journey ; not from necessity,
but my husband is going, and I may as well go as to stay here
alone. If we were obliged to go on horseback, I think I should
not wish to undertake it, but we are going in a boat, and it
will not take us more than six days to go there. It is a very
agreeable change and I think that I shall enjoy it as well as to
stay here. I feel remarkably well and rested, do not need to
lounge at all, and so it is with us all. I can scarcely believe
it possible of myself, but it is true. I feel as vigorous, and
as well able to engage in any domestic employment as I ever
did in my life. I have not yet introduced you to the lady of
the house. She is a native from a tribe east of the moun
tains. She appears well, does not . speak English, but her
native language and French. The cooking and housework is
done by men, chiefly. Mr. Pambrun is from Canada, and
much the gentleman in his appearance.
Sept. 3. Mr. McLeod and Townsend left for Vancouver
today, but Mr. McLeod is so loaded as not to be able to give
us a comfortable passage. Mr. Pambrun is going by himself
next week, and offers us a passage with him.
About noon Mr. and Mrs. Spalding arrived with their com
pany, having made better progress than was anticipated. Here

Across the Continent 85
we are all at Walla Walla, through the mercy of a kind Provi
dence, in health, and all our lives preserved. What cause for
gratitude and praise to God. Surely, my heart is ready to
leap for joy at the thought of being so near the long desired
work of teaching the benighted ones the knowledge of the Sa
viour, and having completed this journey under such favorable
circumstances. Mr. Pambrun said to us the day we arrived,
that there never had been such a company previous to ours
that came into the Fort so well fed as ours for the last days
of the journey. All our friends of the East Company, who
knew anything about the Company, dreaded this part for us
very much, but the Lord has been with us, and provided for us
all the way, and blessed be His holy name. Another cause
for gratitude is the preservation of our animals, in this diffi
cult, dangerous and lengthy route, while many parties pre
vious to ours have had every animal taken from them, and
left on foot in a dangerous land, exposed to death. Two horses
have given out with fatigue and have been left, two have been
stolen or lost, but most that we have now have come all the
way from the settlements, and appear well. Two calves have
been lost ; the remainder came on well, except those we left at
Snake Fort.
Sabbath, J^th. This, has been a day of mutual thanksgiving
with us all. Assembled at the Fort at twelve o'clock for wor
ship; our feelings are better imagined than described. This
first Sabbath in September, a Sabbath of rest, first after com
pleting a long journey, first in the vicinity of our future labors.
All of us here before God. It is not enough for us alone to be
thankful; will not my beloved friends at home, the disciples
of Jesus, unite with us in gratitude and praise to God for His
great mercy? It is in answer to your prayers that we are
here, and are permitted to see this day under such circum
stances. Feel to dedicate myself renewedly to His service
among the heathen. And may the Lord's hand be as evidently
manifest in blessing our labors among them, as it has in bring
ing us here, and that, too, in answer to your prayers, beloved
Christian friends.
5th. Mr. and Mrs. Spalding have concluded to go with us
to Vancouver, as nothing can be done by either of the party

86 Marcus Whitman
about location until the Indians return from their summer's
hunt. Expect to leave tomorrow. Have had exceedingly high
winds for two days and nights past, to which this place is
subject. Our room shakes, and the wind makes such a noise
that we can scarcely hear each other converse.
Sept. 7, 1836. We set sail from Walla Walla yesterday at
two o'clock p. m. Our boat is an open one, manned with six
oars and the steersman. I enjoy it much ; it is a very pleasant
change in our manner of traveling. The Columbia is a beauti
ful river. Its waters are clear as crystal and smooth as a sea
of glass, exceeding in beauty the Ohio ; but the scenery on each
side of it is very different. There is no timber to be seen, but
there are high perpendicular banks of rocks in some places,
while rugged bluffs and plains of sand in others, are all that
greet the eye. We sailed until near sunset, when we landed,
pitched our tents, supped our tea, bread and butter, boiled ham
and potatoes, committed ourselves to the care of a kind Provi
dence, and retired to rest.
This morning we arose before sunrise, embarked and sailed
until nine o'clock, and are now landed for breakfast. Mr.
Pambrun's cook is preparing it, while husband and myself are
seated by a little shrub, writing. We are this moment called.
Farewell. 8th. Came last night quite to the Chute [above The
Dalles] , a fall in the river not navigable. There we slept, and
this morning made the portage. All were obliged to land, un
load, carry our baggage, and even the boat for half a mile. I
had frequently seen the picture of the Indians carrying a
canoe, but now I saw the reality. We found plenty of Indians
here to assist in making the portage. After loading several
with our baggage and sending them on, the boat was capsized,
then placed upon the heads of about twenty of them, who
marched off with it, with perfect ease. Below the main fall
of water are rocks, deep, narrow channels, and many frightful
precipices. We walked deliberately among the rocks, viewing
the scene with astonishment, for this once beautiful river
seemed to be cut up and destroyed by these huge masses of
rock. Indeed, it is difficult to find where the main body of
water passes. In high water we are told that these rocks are

Across the Continent 87
all covered with water, the river rising to such an astonishing
height. After paying the Indians for their assistance, which was a
twist of tobacco about the length of a finger to each, we re
loaded, went on board, sailed about two miles, and stopped for
breakfast. This was done to get away from a throng of In
dians. Many followed us, however, to assist in making an
other portage, three miles below this.
Sept. 9th. We came to The Dalles just before noon. Here
our boat was stopped by two rocks of immense size and height,
all the water of the river passing between them in a very nar
row channel, and with great rapidity. Here we were obliged
to land and make a portage of two and a half miles, carrying
the boat also. The Dalles is the great resort of Indians of
many tribes for taking fish. We did not see many, however,
for they had just left.
Now, mother, if I was with you by the fireside, I would re
late a scene that would amuse you, and at the same time call
forth your sympathies. But for my own gratification I will
write it. After we landed, curiosity led us to the top of a
rock to see the course of the river through its narrow channel.
But as I expected to walk that portage, husband thought it
would be giving me tbwntuch fatigue to do both. I went with
him to its base, t(**refn.wn there until his return. I took a
handful of hazel nuts and thought I would divert myself with
cracking and eating them. I had just seated myself in the
shade of the rock, ready to commence work, when feeling some
thing unusual on my neck, I put my hand under my cape and
took from thence two insects, which I soon discovered to be
fleas. Immediately I cast my eyes upon my dress before me,
and to my astonishment, found it was black with these crea
tures, making all possible speed to lay siege to my neck and
ears. This sight made me almost frantic. What to do I knew
not. Husband was away, Sister Spalding had gone past hear
ing, to stand still I could not. I climbed up the rock in pur
suit of my husband, who soon saw and came to me. I could
not tell him, but showed him the cause of my distress. On
opening the gathers of my dress around the waist every plait
was lined with them. Thus they had already laid themselves

88 Marcus Whitman
in ambush for a fresh attack. We brushed and shook, and
shook and brushed for an hour, not stopping to kill, for that
would have been impossible. By this time they were reduced
very considerably, and I prepared to go to the boat. I was
relieved from walking by the offer of a horse from a young
chief. This was a kindness, for the way was mostly through
sand, and the walk would have been fatiguing. I found the
confinement of the boat distressing on account of my miserable
companions, who would not let me rest for a moment in any
one position. But I was not the only sufferer. Every one in
the boat was alike troubled, both crew and passengers. As
soon as I was able to make a change in my apparel, I found
relief. We made fine progress this morning till 9 o'clock,
when we were met with a head wind, and obliged to make
shore. We met the crew last night with the Western Express.
This express goes from and returns to Vancouver twice a
year. Eve. Have lain still all day because of the wind. This is
a detention, as we intended to have been at Vancouver by to
morrow evening. A party of Indians came to our camp this
eve. Every head was flattened. These are the first that I have
seen near enough to be able to examine them. Their eyes have
a dull and heavy expression. *
10th. High winds, and not alrW^y A at all today.
11th. We came to the Cascades for breakfast; another
important fall in the river, where we are obliged to make a
portage of a mile. The boat was towed along by the rocks
with a rope over the falls. This is another great place for
salmon fishing. A boat load was just ready for Vancouver
when we arrived. I saw an infant here whose head was in
the pressing machine. This was a pitiful sight. Its mother
took great satisfaction in unbinding and showing its naked
head to us. The child lay upon a board between which and
its head was a squirrel skin. On its forehead lay a small,
square cushion, over which was a bandage drawn tight around,
pressing its head against the board. In this position it is kept
three or four months or longer, until the head becomes a fash
ionable shape. There is a variety of shapes among them, some
being sharper than others. I saw a child about a year old

Across the Continent 89
whose head had been recently released from pressure, as I sup
posed from its looks. All the back part of it was of a purple
color, as if it had been sadly bruised. We are told that this
custom is wearing away very fast. There are only a few tribes
of this river who practice it.
Sept. 12. Breakfasted at the sawmill five miles from Van
couver, and made preparations for entering it. You may be
surprised to hear of a sawmill here, when I said that there
was no timber on the Columbia. Since we passed the Cascades
the scene is changed, and we are told there is timber all the
way to the coast.
Eve. We are now in Vancouver, the New York of the Pa
cific Ocean. Our first sight as we approached the fort was
two ships lying in the harbor, one of which, the Neriade, Cap
tain Eoyal, had just arrived from London. The Columbia,
Captain Dandy, cajnje last May, and has since been to the Sand
wich Islands and returned. On landing we first met Mr. Town-
send, whom we saw at Walla Walla. He is from Philadelphia,
and has been in the mountains for two years. He is sent here
by a society to collect the different species of bipeds and quad
rupeds, peculiar Ao. Ais ceuntry. We brought a parcel of let
ters to him, "the fir^rhe^had received since he had left home.
Mr. Townsend led us into tke Fort. But before we reached
the home of the chief factor, Dr. McLoughlin, we were met by
several gentlemen, who came to give us a welcome, Mr. Doug
las, Dr. Tolmie, and Dr. McLoughlin, of the Hudson Bay Com
pany, who invited us in, and seated us on the sofa. Soon we
were introduced to Mrs. McLoughlin and Mrs. Douglas, both
natives of the country — half-breeds. After chattering a little
we were invited to walk in the garden.
What a delightful place this is; what a contrast to the
rough, barren sand plains, through which we had so recently
passed. Here we find fruit of every description, apples,
peaches, grapes, pears, plums and fig trees in abundance ; also
cucumbers, melons, beans, peas, beets, cabbage, tomatoes and
every kind of vegetable too numerous to mention. Every part
is very neat and tastefully arranged, with fine walks, lined on
each side with strawberry vines. At the opposite end of the
garden is a good summer house covered with grape vines. Here

90 Marcus Whitman
I must mention the origin of these and apples. A gentleman,
twelve years ago, while at a party in London, put the seeds
of the grapes and apples which he ate into his vest pocket.
Soon afterwards he took a voyage to this country and left
them here, and now they are greatly multiplied.
After promenading as much as we wished, and returning,
we were met by Mrs. Copendel, a lady from England, who ar
rived in the ship Columbia last May, and Miss Maria, daughter
of Dr. McLoughlin, quite an interesting young lady. After
dinner we were introduced to Eev. Mr. Beaver and lady, a
clergyman of the Church of England, who arrived last week
in the ship Neriade. This is more than we expected when we
left home, that we should be privileged with the acquaintance
and society of two English ladies. Indeed, we seem to be nearly
allied to Old England, for most of the gentlemen of the Com
pany are from there and Scotland.
We have not found Eev. Samuel Parker here, to our great
disappointment. He went to Oahu in the ship Columbia, a
few weeks before we arrived. We have mourned about it con
siderably, for we thought it would be so acceptable to our dear
parents and friends at home to hear him say that he had seen
us alive here after completing this logjg, unheard-of journey.
Besides, I wish to send home many things which I cannot now.
More than all this, his counse^aud advice would have been
such a relief to us, at this important time, as to location, char
acter of the Indians, and the like. But it was wisely ordered,
and we submit. He appears to have been a favorite here, and
to have done much good. The Messrs. Lee left Vancouver on
Saturday last for their station on the Wallamet. Mr. Daniel
Lee has been out of health, and for the year past has been at
Oahu. He returned on the Neriade, benefited by his visit.
Sept. 13. This morning visited the school to hear the chil
dren sing. It consists of about fifty-one children who have
French fathers and Indian mothers. All the laborers here are
Canadian French, with Indian wives. Indeed, some of the
gentlemen of the Company have native wives and have adopted
the customs of the country not to allow their wives to eat with
them. French is the prevailing language here. English is
spoken only by a few.

Across the Continent 91
Just before dinner we went on board the Neriade, the first
ship I ever saw. She is a man-of-war, and goes to the North
west coast soon.
The Columbia returns to London this fall. The Company
have lost three ships on the coast.
Sept. llf. We were invited to a ride to see the farm — have
rode fifteen miles this afternoon. We visited the barns, stock,
etc. They estimated their wheat crops at four thousand bush
els this year, peas the same, oats and barley between fifteen
and seventeen hundred bushels each. The potato and turnip
fields are large and fine. Their cattle are numerous, estimated
at a thousand head in all the settlements. They have swine
in abundance, also sheep and goats, but the sheep are of an
inferior kind. We find also hens, turkeys and pigeons, but no
geese. You will ask what kind of beds they have here. I can tell
you what kind of bed they made for us, and I have since found
it a fashionable bed for this country. The bedstead is in the
form of a bunk, with a rough board bottom, upon which are
laid about a dozen of the Indian blankets. These with a pair
of pillows, covered with calico cases, constitute our beds, sheets
and covering. There are several feather beds in the place,
made of the feathers of wild ducks, geese, cranes and the like.
There is nothing here suitable for ticking. The best and only
material is brown linen sheeting. The Indian ladies make
theirs of deer skin. Could we obtain a pair of geese from
any quarter I should think much of them.
Sept. 16. Every day we have something new to see. We
went to the stores, and found them filled above and below with
the cargo of the two ships, all in unbroken bales. They are
chiefly Indian goods, and will be sent away this fall to the
several different posts of the Company in the ship Neriade.
We have found here every article for comfort and durability
that we need, but many articles for convenience, and all fancy
articles are not here. Visited the dairy also, where we found
butter and cheese in abundance. Saw an improvement in the
manner of raising cream. Their pans are an oblong square,
quite large but shallow, flaring a little, made of wood and
lined with tin. In the center is a hole with a long plug. When

92 Marcus Whitman
the cream has risen, they place the pan over a tub or pail, re
move the plug, and the milk will run off, leaving only the cream
in the pan. I think that these must be very convenient in a
large dairy. They milk between fifty and sixty cows.
On visiting the mill, we did not find it in a high state of im
provement. It goes by horsepower, and has a wire bolt. This
teemed a hard way of getting bread, but better so than no
bread, or to grind by hand. The Company have one at Col-
ville that goes by water, five days' ride from Walla Walla, from
whence we expect to obtain our flour, potatoes and pork. They
have three hundred hogs.
Dr. McLoughlin promises to loan us enough to make a
beginning and all the return he asks is that we supply other
settlers in the same way. He appears desirous to afford us
every facility for living in his power. No person could have
received a more hearty welcome or be treated with greater kind
ness than we have been since our arrival.
Sept. 17th. A subject is now before the minds of certain
individuals, in which I feel a great interest. It is that we
ladies spend the winter at Vancouver, while our husbands go
to seek their locations and build. Dr. McLoughlin is certain
that it will be the best for us, and I believe is determined to
have us stay. The thought of it is not very pleasant to either
of us. For several reasons I had rather go to Walla Walla,
where if we failed to make a location, or of building this fall,
we could stay very comfortably, and have enough to eat, but
not as comfortably or have as great a variety as here; besides
there is the difficulty of ascending the river in high water, not
to say anything of a six months' separation, when it seems
to be least desirable; but all things will be ordered for the
best. Sept. 18. Mr. Beaver held two services in a room in Dr.
McLoughlin's barn today. Enjoyed the privilege much. This
form of worship, of the Church of England, differs in no way
from that of the Episcopalians in the States. The most of
the gentlemen of the Fort are Scotch Presbyterians, very few
being Episcopalians. The great mass of the laborers are So
man Catholics, who have three services during the Sabbath,
one of which is attended at this house, at which Dr. McLough-

Across the Continent 93
lin officiates in French. He translates a sermon or a tract and
reads a chapter in the Bible and a prayer. The singing in Mr.
Beaver's church was done by the children, some of their tunes
having been taught them by Eev. Mr. Parker, and others by the
Mr. Shepherd, of the Methodist Mission.
Sept. 19. The question is decided at last, that we stay here
about four or five weeks. There is so much baggage to be
taken up now, that the boat will be sufficiently loaded without
us. Have the cheering promise that our husbands will come
for us in a short time if prospered. One thing comforts us,
they are as unwilling to leave us as we are stay, and would
not, if it were possible for us to go now. From this we are
sure that they will make every effort to return for us soon. We
are told that the rainy season will commence soon, and con
tinue through the winter and late in the spring, while at Walla
¦Walla there is none. Vancouver, too, is subject to fever and
ague. These are quite good reasons for preferring Walla
Walla, even if we had to live in a lodge.
Have been making some necessary purchases for our two
Indian boys, Eichard and John, which we are glad to do,
partly as a reward for their faithful care of the cattle during
the journey. We left them at Walla Walla. They regretted
our leaving them, and now I cannot feel willing to stay away
from them all winter. Their anxiety to study continues the
same, especially Eichard. We love them both, and feel deeply
interested in their welfare, and shall treat them as our own
as long as they deserve it.
Sept. 20. Dr. McLoughlin gave my husband a pair of
leather pantaloons today. All the gentlemen here wear them
for riding, for economy. Eiding horseback and carrying a
gun is very destructive to cloth pantaloons.
Our husbands have been making preparations to leave us
today, but have found so much to do, that they could not get
ready to leave much before tonight. They have concluded to
start the boat a short distance and camp, while they, with Mr.
Pambrun and Mr. Gray, remain in the Fort, to leave early in
the morning.
Sept. 21. Our friends left us this morning early. One
thing I should have mentioned, as decided upon before they

94 Marcus Whitman
left, was the propriety of making two stations. After consid
eration, it was decided best to do so for several reasons. The
Cayuses, as well as the Nez Perces, are very anxious to have
teachers among them. They are a numerous tribe,1 and speak
the same language as the Nez Perces. There are other fields
open, ready for the harvest, and we wish that there were many
more laborers here ready to occupy them immediately. Sev
eral places have been recommended, which our husbands in
tend visiting before they fix upon any place. You will recol
lect that we had Grand Eonde in view as a location when we
left home. Our reasons for not fixing upon that place are in
surmountable. The pass in the Blue Mountains is so difficult,
and the distance so great that it would be next to impossible
to think of obtaining supplies sufficient for our support. We
could not depend upon game, for it is very scarce and uncer
tain. Mr. Parker recommends a place on the Kooskooska
(Clearwater) Eiver, six days' ride above Walla Walla. 1
hope to give you our exact location before I send this.
Sept. 22. Dr. McLoughlin has put his daughter in my care,
and wishes me to hear her recitations. Thus I shall have
enough to do for diversion while I stay. I could employ all
my time in writing and work for myself if it were not for his
wishes. I have not given you a description of our eatables here.
There is such a variety I know not where to begin. For break
fast we have coffee or cocoa, salt salmon and roast ducks with
potatoes. When we have eaten our supply of them, our plates
are changed and we make a finish on bread and butter.
For dinner we have a greater variety. First we are always
treated to a dish of soup, which is very good. All kinds of
vegetables in use are taken, chopped fine, and put into water
with a little rice and boiled to a soup. The tomatoes are a
prominent article, and usually some fowl meat, duck or other
kind, is cut fine and added. If it has been roasted once it is
just as good (so the cook says), and then spiced to the taste.
After our soup dishes are removed, then comes a variety of
meats to prove our tastes. After selecting and changing, we
1 Not numerous, but wealthy and influential.

Across the Continent 95
change plates and try another, if we choose, and so at every
new dish have a clean plate. Eoast duck is an everyday dish.
Boiled pork, tripe, and sometimes trotters, fresh salmon or
sturgeon, yea, articles too numerous to be mentioned. When
these are set aside, a nice pudding or an apple pie is next intro
duced. After this a water and a muskmelon make their ap
pearance, and last of all cheese, bread or biscuit and butter
are produced to complete the whole. But there is one article
on the table I have not yet mentioned and of which I never par
take, that is wine. The gentlemen frequently drink toasts to
each other, but never give us an opportunity of refusing, for
they know that we belong to the Teetotal Society. We have
talks about drinking wine, but no one joins our society. They
have a Temperance Society here and at Wallamet, formed by
Mr. Lee. Our tea is very plain. Bread and butter, good tea,
plenty of milk and sugar.
Sept. 80th. We are invited to ride as often as once a week
for exercise, and we generally ride all the afternoon. Today
Mrs. McLoughlin rode with us. She keeps her old habit of rid
ing gentleman fashion. This is the universal custom of In
dian women, and they have saddles with high backs and fronts.
We have been recommended to use these saddles, as a more easy
way of riding, but we have never seen the necessity of chang
ing our fashion.
I sing about an hour every evening with the children, teach
ing them new tunes, at the request of Dr. McLoughlin. Thus
I am wholly occupied, and can scarcely find as much time as I
want to write.
Oct. 18th. The Montreal Express came this afternoon, and
a general time of rejoicing it is to every one. News from dis
tant friends, both sad and pleasing.
Mr. Spalding has come with it, and brought a letter from
my husband filled with pleasing information. The Lord has
been with them since they left us, and has prospered them be
yond all expectations. They have each selected a location, my
husband remains there to build, while Mr. Spalding comes after
us. Cheering thought this, to be able to make a beginning in
our pleasing work so soon.

CHAPTEE IV.

MISSION WORK.

The Cayuse Indians, among whom Dr. Whitman settled,
were a small, but rich, powerful and influential tribe. Early
writers differ largely in their estimates of their number. Eev.
S. Parker, in 1836, gives two thousand, which is evidently far
too high. Captain C. Wilkes, in 1841, puts the number down
as five hundred. Dr. A. G. Dart, Superintendent of Indian Af
fairs for Oregon, says that in 1851 there were 38 men, 48 wo
men, and 40 children, a total of 126. A census of 1853 says a
hundred and twenty. When Dr. Whitman went there it is
probable that they did not number over three hundred. But
they had very large bands of horses, and were a proud and
haughty tribe. Joining them on the west were the Walla
Wallas, which Mr. Parker places at 500, Captain Wilkes at 200,
Dr. Dart at 130. To the northeast were the Nez Perces, where
Mr. Spalding had located, which was by far the strongest, most
numerous, and most friendly to Americans of all the tribes
east of the Cascade Mountains. All estimates place them be
tween seventeen and twenty-five hundred. North were the
Spokanes, numbering eight hundred, according to Mr. Parker,
232 according to Dr. Dart, and 450 according to the census.
of 1853. The Cayuses originally had a language of their own, but
having intermarried largely with the Nez Perces, they had
mainly adopted that of this tribe, so that when books were
printed in the Nez Perces, the Cayuses used them. The Walla
Wallas likewise used largely the same language, so that Dr.
Whitman could reach them and also assist Mr. Spalding when
needed. All belonged to the Sahaptin family, while the Spo
kane language belongs to the Selish family, which is spoken
in British America and in northern and western Washington.
Dr. Whitman's account of some of their manners and cus-

Mission Work 97
toms, which was published in the Missionary Herald for Sep
tember, 1843, is as follows :
Migrations. "Their migrations are much in the following
order and manner. The spring return is the most general
and uniform. During this period, the congregations on the
Sabbath are from two to four hundred, and from twenty to
fifty on weekday evenings. Planting commences about the
middle of April, which is also the period for commencing the
raush harvest. To obtain this farinaceous root, known to
travelers and traders as the biscuit root, they disperse along
the streams coming out of the Blue Mountains. Some are not
more than ten or fifteen miles from the station, while others
are thirty or forty. This root forms a great staple of native
food, and will be likely to continue such for a long time. From
six to eight weeks are spent in gathering, drying and deposit
ing this root. During this time, and about the 10th or 15th
of May, the salmon arrive, and some fruits are ripe, which re
ceive their share of attention. At this season all the smaller
tributaries of the Columbia are barred by a web or wicker-work
of willows for taking salmon. The skill of the natives is fa
vorably displayed in this simple contrivance, and their toil is
amply repaid by the quantity taken. While thus occupied,
they visit the station to attend to the cultivation of their
crops — a labor, in most cases, performed with ease and neat
ness. The latter part of June is the usual period for buffalo
hunters to set out on their expedition. A migration of from
forty to sixty miles takes them across the Blue Mountains
into the Grande Eound. The river of Grande Eound is well
supplied with fish, and the mountains abound with bear, deer,
etc. The wheat harvest, which begins the latter part of July,
and the care of their other crops, bring many to the station,
who remain till the 1st of October, or until the potato harvest is
past. During this period there are more in the neighborhood
of the station than at any other period, except the spring. Our
congregation averages from fifty to two hundred. A great
number come and remain for a short time, and then leave,
while others take their places. During this period, their at
tention is divided between their crops and herds, hunting and
fishing, and preparing dried fruit. Soon after the potatoes

98 Marcus Whitman
are secured, they begin to disperse to their winter quarters.
From fifty to sixty only remain during the winter."
Indian Superstitions. "Their belief is that the present race
of beasts, birds, reptiles and fish were men, who inhabited the
globe before the present race. Although doomed to their pres
ent state their language is still retained, and these beasts,
birds, reptiles and fish have the power to convey this language
to those people into whom they see fit to pass. To obtain this
boon, boys are required to leave the lodge and repair to the
mountains alone, and there to stay for several days without
food in order to be addressed by some of these supernatural
agencies. Some return without any assurance of the kind;
others believe themselves to be addressed, and they are very
free to communicate what was said to them, while others pro
fess great secrecy and claim great reverence on account of
their mysterious possession.
"At these times they profess to be told what is to be their
future character, and in what way they may secure honor,
wealth and long life; how they will be invulnerable, and if
wounded, by what means they will be healed. The surgical
knowledge imparted generally consists in directions how to
cast off the extravasated blood, and then to sit in a stream of
water and sing according to certain rules. At these times they
say that one person becomes possessed of power to strike or
shoot another with an invisible influence or arrow, so that
disease and death will follow. This is the foundation of the
system of sorcery, as seen in the so-called medicine-men.
"Most of their efforts to cure the sick consist in obtaining
one medicine-man to counteract another, who is supposed to
have caused the sickness. The sorcerer employed for this pur
pose calls to his aid a number of persons, who sing and beat
upon sticks with a horrible noise, while he himself sings and
talks and practices sundry contortions, using at the same time
a variety of incoherent expressions, supposed to be the lan
guage of the former race of men, as delivered to him by the
beast, bird, reptile or fish which is helping him in his conjura
tions. After a sufficient display of this sort of machinery and

Mission Work 99
a full lecture to his coadjutors about the disease, its cause
and cure, he proceeds to extract the evil by placing his hands on
the diseased or painful spot, and then, if successful, he casts
himself upon the floor, with his hands in water, as though
what he had extracted burnt him. He then shows what he
has drawn out, and afterwards drives it off into the broad
space and prognosticates a cure; but when he sees a prospect
of death, he often points out some one who, he says, is causing
the sickness, and declares the other to be possessed by a more
powerful agent than himself, so that he cannot overcome him.
Should death occur in such a case as this, they watch the dying
person to see if any expression of his fastens suspicion upon
the person named; and all are careful to remember if any
hard words had passed, or any cause whatever confirms the
supposition. Very often in cases of this kind, nothing can
save the conjuror. The number and horror of such deaths
that have come under my observation have been great.
"In the same way individuals arrogate to themselves power
over the winds, the clouds, the rain, the snow, and the seasons —
in short, all and every desired or desirable object is sought for
from this source. Some are losing their confidence in such
things, while others are yet strong in the belief of their reality.
A Mode of Gaining Supernatural Power. "A young man
shot himself through the body last July, in order to convince
his countrymen of the strength of his supernatural protecting
agent. The ball entered the abdomen a little to the right and
below the umbilicus, and came out by an oblique line above
and near the spine on the same side. This occurred sixty
miles from my house, at the Grande Eound, and the third
day he encamped near me for the night, and I saw him and
examined his wound in the morning. He was walking about
and making his preparations to depart; and soon he rode off
on horseback. This was the second trial of his strength, hav
ing shot himself through in much the same way, about two
years before. The body was preserved from the flash by his
leather shirt. He will now be regarded as a strong mystery,
or medicine-man."

100 Marcus Whitman
Beginning of Missionary Work.
During the first year or two everything was favorable for
missionary work. The Indians had received some instruction
from members of the Hudson's Bay Company, so that at the
lodge of the chief of the Cayuses religious worship was held
every morning, night, and on the Sabbath. This consisted of
singing, a form of prayer, and an address from the chief.
Hence the Indians received the Doctor gladly, and were dis
posed to accept religious instruction. A year after he first be
gan work, he made a journey to Lapwai, Mr. Spalding's sta
tion, leaving his own premises, stock and produce almost en
tirely without protection, and on his return found everything
safe. On the 4th of March, 1837, on Mrs. Whitman's twenty-ninth
birthday, their first and only child was born, a daughter. She
was named Alice Clarissa^ after her two grandmothers. For a
time she was visited almost daily by the Indian chiefs and
principal men, while the women thronged the house to see her.
They called her Cayuse te-mi (girl) because she was born on
Cayuse land, and as long as she lived she was a strong bond
between the missionaries and the Indians. In regard to her,
Mrs. Whitman wrote to her home relations: "O, the respon
sibilities of a mother. To be a mother in heathen lands, among
savages, gives feelings that never can be known only to those
who are such. You see our situation. If ever we needed your
prayers and sympathies, it is at the present time. Ye mothers
of the maternal associations, let me beg an interest in your
prayers, especially, for your unworthy sister, now that she has
- become a mother, and for her little one. I feel utterly, incom
petent for the place, and were it not for the strong hand of the
Lord, I should sink under the responsibilities resting upon me."
One trouble which the Doctor had at first was that, when he
needed help, he could not depend on the Indians, because they
did not like to work steadily. He was assisted in this trouble,
however, by employing a few Hawaiians, of whom there were
a number then in the country. Another trouble which he met
was in regard to sickness and the medicine men. In the spring
of 1837 many of the Indians were sick with inflammation of

-$!* '

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THE WHITMAN MISSION (WAIILATPU) IN 1843

Mission Work 101
the lungs. The Doctor attended them, but many of them after
getting better would overeat or expose themselves, and have
relapse, after which they must have their medicine men. One
old chief, Umtippe, told the Doctor that if his wife should die
one night, he would kill him. The anxiety and excitement
nearly made the Doctor sick, but fortunately none died to
whom the Doctor gave medicine. Notwithstanding these trials
Mrs. Whitman, however, felt that their situation was far pref
erable to that of some missionaries east of the Eocky Moun
tains, because no alcohol was to be Had, the Indians did not
steal (so that she left her clothes out over night, feeling as
safe about them as when in Prattsburg), and there was not a
man or woman, and scarcely a child but what was clothed,
some with American clothes, some with a shirt and leggings/
with a blanket or buffalo robe over their shoulders, and the
women and girls with dresses made entirely of skins.
By March, 1838, the Doctor wrote to the Board : "During
the winter we have been greatly favored by having a few very
kind Indians near us, so that we have had a school of from fif
teen to twenty scholars, many of whom have made good pro
ficiency in learning to read the English language. Those who
have been away for the winter hunt are now returned, and
the present number of children is greater than we have books
or ability to teach. The only books we have for teaching were
kindly and gratuitously furnished us by our Methodist breth
ren of the Willamette Mission."
This school was kept in their kitchen, which was crowded
much of the time. Mrs. Whitman copied a book of seventy-two
pages, in the Nez Perces language, which Mr. Spalding intended
to send to the Sandwich Islands, that it might be printed.
This was probably not done, as a press was received from the
Islands the next year.
Doctor Whitman added : "The disposition of the Indians
appears much more friendly than last year, but still I need
not tell you we have many perverse dispositions to encounter,
for which we' often feel we lack wisdom, and should be dis
couraged were it not for the promises of God to be with us
and enlighten us. We have two meetings for the Indians on

102 Marcus Whitman
the Sabbath, and in the evening what we call a Sabbath school
for the children and youth. The attention to religious instruc
tion is good and solemn. Worship is strictly maintained in
the principal lodges morning and evening. Lately I have been
explaining the Ten Commandments and our Saviour's first
and great commandment, to which they listen with strict at
tention, and, from their inquiries, I think they understand
them. "My plan for teaching the children is not to take them to
board, but let them live with their parents, and come for in
struction. When their parents are to be gone for a short time
I will give them food and let them lodge in my Indian room
until their parents return. Some of the parents begin to be
unwilling to be absent, because it takes their children off from
learning to read.
"The Indians are making arrangements for planting, and I
am in hopes they will do much. But their fear that other In
dians will steal from them is a great hindrance to them, and
all are anxious to plant where I can watch their crops; for,
as they say, the Indians fear me, but do not fear them. In
dians from a distance are continually coming for seed to plant,
and as I am not straightened, it affords me great pleasure to
give them. There seems to be a general interest among the
neighboring Indians to plant. I am anxious to cultivate large
ly, as I expect we may have associates, and perhaps some of our
friends from the Sandwich Islands may spend some time with
us for their health. Our situation renders it necessary to en
tertain many friends and passing strangers.
"It has seemed important to make a beginning that would
encourage the Indians at the outside, that we might the sooner
gain access to them, and try the influence of cultivation and a
settled manner of life, not forgetting that it is the gospel which
ve come to bring, and that our great business is with the mind,
and not the body. But while we acquire their language, and
are preparing to instruct them, they are not idle spectators.
They must be encouraged in the most useful habits. Every
thing seems encouraging in our prospects. May the Lord bless
us, and direct our efforts in the best way !"

Mission Work 103
The summer of 1838 was very favorable for vegetation, and
the mission crops were abundant. Many of the Indians also
had fair crops, enough to show them how much more comfort
ably they might live by agriculture than by the chase, and
many more prepared to follow their example the following
year. In March, 1838, Mrs. Whitman wrote her parents that two
years had passed and she had not received a single letter from
the loved ones there. The following July, on the 11th, two
years and four months after leaving home, she received the first
letters, dated January and August of the year before. More
were received in August, brought by the band of missionaries
who came that year, and then she had to wait two years longer
for her next letters from the East. Of newspapers, too, she
says, in September, 1838, that she had seen none of any kind
except a few numbers of the New York Observer for 1836.
She wrote her sister about that time that they must calculate
that it would be three years before either of them could expect
to receive an answer to any letter which they should write.
She, however, wrote, September 25, 1838, "When the contem
plated railroad over the Isthmus of Darien shall have been
opened, which is expected to take place within two or three
years, I hope communications will be more frequent than they
are at the present time." This is the first mention of a rail
road at that place seen by the author, and seems strange, when
we take into consideration the state of the coast at that time.
Visits, too, were very infrequent. It was not until Novem
ber, 1837, that she was able to go and see her nearest white
female neighbor, Mrs. Spalding, after a separation of about a
year. At that time the four parents gave their two daughters
to God in baptism, for Mr. and Mrs. Spalding had their little
Eliza, born November 15th, 1837. Of this event, Mrs. Whit
man wrote: "We had the unspeakable satisfaction of giving
away our babes to God, and having the seal of that blessed
covenant placed upon their foreheads. Surely, dear mother,
if this is a comfort to mothers in a Christian land, it is doubly
so in the midst of heathen. We also had the privilege of com
memorating the dying love of the Saviour, a blessing which we

104 Marcus Whitman
have not enjoyed since we sat at the table with our beloved
friends in Angelica, on the eve of our marriage. O, ye privil
eged ones, who can sit together in heavenly places, and mount
upon wings as eagles, little do you realize the feelings of the
solitary missionary in the land of darkness, as Egyptian dark
ness itself."
A visit in the spring of 1838 from Eev. Jason Lee, of the
Methodist Mission in the Willamette Valley, greatly refreshed
them. He had arrived in the country in 1834, and was in 1838
returning East for more laborers. He also carried with him
a memorial to Congress, signed by thirty-six persons, about
three-fourths of all the white male inhabitants of the Willam
ette Valley, asking our government to take formal and speedy
possession of the country. His preaching, his visit, here and
at Mr. Spalding's, his conference on religious questions, and
without doubt also on the national subject of the possession
of the country, were all like a refreshing rain to a thirsty
land.1 In August, 1838, the Indians at Dr. Whitman's seemed so
much interested in the Gospel that the Doctor sent for Mr.
Spalding, who came, and a series of meetings was held. It
seemed as if some had decided for Christ. At the close of
these meetings, August 18th, a church was organized of seven
members, Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, Jo
seph Mahi and wife, Hawaiians, and Charles Compo, a settler
from the mountains and Mr. Parker's interpreter in 1835, who
had become a Christian at Dr. Whitman's. This church was
Presbyterian in name, the first of that denomination on' the
Pacific Coast. It was, however, Congregational in practice,
as long as the mission lasted, not being connected with any
Presbytery or Synod, but being governed by a majority of its
members. When the reinforcement to the mission arrived,
the latter part of the month, all united with it, making sixteen
members. Mr. Spalding was pastor of it, a position he held
1 Rev. H. K. Hines has described this event graphically in his mis
sionary "History of the Pacific Northwest," Chapter 8.

Mission Work 105
for thirty-eight years, until his death, and Dr. Whitman was
chosen its ruling Elder.1
After the first winter it was thought that the need for more
missionaries was so great that Mr. Gray was sent East in 1837
to obtain the needed help. He was successful in this, and re
turned to Oregon in 1838 with his wife, Eeverends A. B. Smith,
Elkanah Walker, and Cushing Eells and their wives, and Mr.
Cornelius Eogers. Mr. Gray and his wife during the latter
part of the journey went ahead of the others and arrived at
Walla Walla on August 14th, the rest on August 29th. Messrs.
Walker and Eells went north the same fall and selected a sta
tion among the Spokane Indians, called Tshim-a-kain, but they
were not able to prepare homes in which they could winter,
and consequently wintered at Dr. Whitman's. There, Decem
ber 7th, 1838, Cyrus Hamlin Walker was born, who, though not
the first American white boy born on the coast, was the first
to live to be of any age. The next March these two families
left for their place of work, where they remained nine years.
Mr. Smith and wife stayed at Waiilatpu during the winter, but
the next spring began a new station among the Nez Perces at
Kamiah, sixty miles east of Mr. Spalding's. Mr. Gray and
his wife and Mr. Eogers went to Lapwai for the winter. From
a letter received by the Board, written by Dr. Whitman in
July, it appeared that previous to their arrival he had given
up all hope of having any help for that year at least, but when
they arrived, he wrote, "We feel like Paul when he met the
brethren from Eome, we thank God and take courage."
1 Although the mission was broken up after the massacre of Dr.
Whitman in 1847, yet so many Indians united with it that it remained
in existence until after Mr. Spalding's return to Lapwai in 1871, when
it grew rapidly, having at one time several hundred members. In
1888 its semi-centennial was celebrated at Walla Walla and Dr. Whit
man's grave. A large number of prominent persons were present
at that time, among them Hon. W. H. Gray, who had joined it almost
fifty years previous, and Rev. Myron Eells, who was baptized in it
in his infancy, and who by request represented the American Board
at that time. All of the original seven members were then dead, and
of the sixteen mentioned above who united with it in 1838, the only
ones living besides Mr. Gray were Rev. Cushing Eells, then at Ta
coma, Washington, and Mrs. M. R. Walker, at Forest Grove, Oregon.

106 Marcus Whitman
In April, 1839, a printing press arrived from the Sandwich
Islands, for the benefit of the mission. It was the first one
on the Pacific Coast, and on it was done the first printing
on the coast. It had been sent by the American Board in 1819
to the Sandwich Islands to be used by the mission there. That
was the year when the first missionaries were sent to those
islands, and, in 1822, their language had been so far reduced
to writing that the press came into use. It was the pioneer
press there as well as now on the Pacific Coast. It was a
Ramage writing, copying and seal press, No. 14. After using
it for twenty years the Hawaiian mission had grown so that it
needed a larger press, and consequently, the native church at
Honolulu bought it, with type, furniture, paper and a few
other articles, altogether valued at five hundred dollars, and
donated it to the Oregon Mission of the American Board. E.
0. Hall, a practical printer, at the Islands, came to Oregon
with it. His wife's health was quite poor, and it was hoped
that the voyage and change would do her good, and as there
was no printer in Oregon, he came also to teach the art of
printing. On April 30th Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and Mr. and
Mrs. Spalding met it and Mr. and Mrs. Hall at Fort Walla
Walla. By common consent it was taken on horseback to Lap
wai, where, on the sixteenth of May, it was set up, and on the
eighteenth the first proof sheet was struck off. On the twenty-
fourth a small booklet of eight pages in Nez Perces was
printed.1 1 Lapwai remained the home of the press until 1846, and during
that time, as near as can now be learned, there were printed an elemen
tary book of twenty pages, another of fifty-two pages of 800 copies, an
other in 1840 of eight pages, some simple laws adopted through the
influence of Dr. E. White, U. S. Sub. Indian Agent, in 1843, a small
Nez Perces and English vocabulary, a hymn book, 1842, and a trans
lation of Matthew. All of these were in the Nez Perces language.
Dr. Whitman was appointed by the mission to prepare the one of 800
copies, but he was so busy professionally and felt that Messrs. Smith
and Rogers were so much better qualified in the language that he
employed them to prepare it. The rest were prepared, as far as can
be learned, by Mr. Spalding. In 1842 one of sixteen pages in the Spo
kane language was printed. This was prepared by Messrs. Walker
and Eells, chiefly by the former, who may properly hence be called
the pioneer book writer of the State of Washington, as Mr. Spalding

Mission Work 107
On Sabbath, June 23rd, 1839, Dr. and Mrs. Whitman met
with their first great sorrow through the death by accidental
drowning of the only child they ever had, Alice Clarissa,
aged about two years and three months. Without the knowl
edge of her parents she had gone to the banks of the Walla
Walla River, not far from the house, taking a cup to get a
drink where they were accustomed to get water for family use,
and fell in. Her mother was in the house, her father a short
distance away on the premises. The alarm was conveyed to
them almost instantly, and they and others rushed to the
stream, seeking for their child with frantic eagerness. But
the strong current had carried her down and lodged her in a
clump of bushes under the bank. They passed the spot a
number of times while life remained in the child; but they
found her too late. Word was immediately sent to Mr. Spald
ing, who, with his wife and Mr. Hall, came to Dr. Whitman's
as soon as possible.
Mr. Spalding says : "Our brother and sister appear to be
remarkably reconciled to the afflictive Providence which has
removed from them their dearest earthly treasure. Her par
ents feel that their sins have made it necessary for their Heav-
was of Idaho. Mr.- Hall remained in the country until 1840, when he
returned to the Sandwich Islands. By that time he had taught
Messrs. Spalding and Rogers the art of printing so well that they
carried it on with the help of some of the Indians. In 1844 M. G.
Foley, an emigrant of that year, was employed to take charge of it,
and his name appears as printer on some of the booklets. In 1846,
six persons in Salem, Oregon, wished to publish a paper: Daniel
Leslie, Joseph Holman, W. H. Wilson, J. B. McClaine and Messrs.
Robinson and Judson. They sent A. Hinman to see if the mission
press could be obtained. Having interviewed all the missionaries, he
obtained it on certain conditions, and packed it on horseback to The
Dalles. The conditions were such, however, that the company de
clined to accept them, and the press remained at The Dalles until
•iter the Whitman massacre, when, with the consent of Mr. Spalding,
Rev. J. S. Griffin took it to his home near Hillsboro, and printed on
it eight numbers of the "Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist."
It remained with Mr. Griffin for a score or so of years, when it was
taken to Salem and deposited in the State Historical Rooms. After
wards the Oregon Historical Society obtained it, and removed it to
their rooms for historical relics at Portland, where it now rests. It
has not been used since about 1849.

108 Marcus Whitman
enly Parent thus sorely to afflict them. Mrs. Whitman very
humbly remarked, 'It has been a great pleasure to take care
of our little one thus far, and I can cheerfully give her up.' "
She was buried on the 27th, Mr. Pambrun of Fort Walla Walla,
and a few domestics being present. Mr. Spalding preached the
sermon from II. Kings iv:26. "She is the first of our num
ber," he said, "to find a grave in these dark regions." He and
his wife remained at Waiilatpu for a week, after which the
Doctor and Mrs. Whitman went home with them for a short
time. The missionaries were not angels, but human beings, and
there was considerable trouble between some of them about
this time, especially between Messrs. Gray, Spalding, Whitman
and Smith. On account of this Dr. Whitman had concluded
to leave the mission and take the consequences ; but the read
ing of Henry on "Meekness" checked him, and the death of
Alice completely broke down all his hard feelings. Thus the
affliction was so overruled that it played no unimportant part
in keeping the Doctor in the mission, and consequently in the
performance of his subsequent great life-work.
In regard to this event Mrs. Whitman wrote that on that
morning, at family prayers, Alice had chosen for the hymn
to be sung, "Rock of Ages," which was a favorite of hers. It
being the Sabbath, it was sung again at the services at noon.
She sang it with great clearness and with such ecstacy as al
most to lift her out of her chair. "And no wonder," says her
mother, "for what words could be more appropriate to her than
those : 'While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyelids close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages ! cleft for me
Let me hide myself in thee.' "
Her mother added, "That we loved her most ardently is
true, and it is no less true that we feel keenly the severe pangs
of a separation from her, who was so much the joy and comfort
of our hearts in our lonely situation, yet it is the Lord that

Mission Work 109
hath done it and He hath dealt with us as a tender parent deals
with the children whom he loves. O, how often have I felt
and thought what a privilege it would be, if I could see and
unburden to my dear parents the sorrows of my broken and
bleeding heart, since we have been bereft of our dear, sweet
babe. Although deprived of this inestimable consolation, yet,
dearest father, I desire to ask you to unite with us in praise
and gratitude to God, that He has so mercifully sustained me,
and that when crushed to the earth, because His hand lay
heavily upon me, His grace was manifest to preserve and sus
tain my soul from murmuring or repining at His dealings with
us. This unspeakable consolation is ours, and our daughter
is at rest in the bosom of Him who said, 'Suffer little children
to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.' We
rejoice, too, that we have been permitted to become parents,
and that she has been spared to us as long as she was, and
for the pleasure we had of witnessing the development of her
ardent, active mind.
"On what a tender thread hang these mortal frames, and
how soon we vanish and are gone. She will not come to me,
but I shall soon go to her. You know not, neither can I tell
you, how much He comforts and sustains me in this trying
moment. He enables me to say, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord
hath taken away; blessed, ever blessed be the name of the
Lord.' "
The arrival of Catholic missionaries about this time was a
source of trial to Dr. Whitman. The first were Vicar General
F. N. Blanchet and Rev. M. Demers, who reached Fort Walla
Walla November 18th, 1838. They remained at first but one
day, celebrating mass and baptising three persons. As this
was the nearest that these priests came to any of the mission
stations of the American Board, it was not strange that Dr.
Whitman was more affected than the other missionaries. Mr.
P. C. Pambrun, then in charge of the Fort, was a Catholic,
and although his family were at Vancouver, yet his three girls
and wife were baptized there in December, and the marriage of
Mr. and Mrs. Pambrun was blessed on the same day by the
priest. While Mr. Pambrun was personally very kind to the
Whitmans, yet Mrs. Whitman says that he secured the baptism

1 1 0 Marcus Whitman
of one of the principal Cayuses, and acted upon his band,
keeping many away who would gladly have come to them. In
1841 he was accidentally injured by a horse and died. His
place was then filled by Archibald McKinley, a Scotch Presby
terian, and a very true friend to the Whitmans.
Both the Catholic and Protestant missionaries of that day
agree in saying that the object of the Catholics at that time
was to draw the minds of the Indians away from the Protes
tant missionaries. In October, 1839, Mrs. Whitman wrote:
"A Catholic priest has recently been at Walla Walla, and held
meetings with the Indians, and used their influence to draw all
the people away from us. Some they have forbidden to visit
us again, and fill all of their minds with distraction about the
truths we teach and their own doctrines; say we have been
talking about their bad hearts long enough, and too long, say
we ought to have baptized them long ago, etc., etc. The con
flict has begun; what trials await us we know not."
Still there was some encouragement. In October, 1839,
Mrs. Whitman wrote, "We never had greater encouragement
about the Indians than at the present time." The Cayuses
became much interested in the books printed in their language,
and that was an incentive to them to attend the school, so that
in the same month the Doctor wrote that the school had aver
aged sixty or eighty scholars for a month.
The following incident, of which the Doctor wrote, which
occurred about this time, was one of the encouraging items of
his life. An Indian boy lay dying. The father said to him,
"You are dying now, do you know it?" He replied, "I am not
dying ; I shall always live. This will be but for a little while,
and then I shall always live." The father again said, "Do you
think?" He replied, "Yes, I think." "What do you think
about?" was the question. "About Heaven. I love God more
than any one else," was the reply; and he died without a
struggle or groan, like going to sleep.
In 1839 Rev. J. S. Griffin, Mr. A. Munger, and their wives
arrived at Dr. Whitman's. They were independent mission
aries to the Indians, not being under any missionary society,
but intending to support themselves. Mr. Griffin and his wife
soon went to Mr. Spalding's, where they worked during the

Mission Work 1 1 1
winter. Afterwards, having tried one or two plans for work
ing alone among the Indians, and finding them impracticable,
they went to the Willamette Valley, settled near Hillsboro, and
remained there as long as they lived, both dying at a good
old age.
Mr. Munger was a good mechanic, and as Dr. Whitman
was needing one, he remained at Waiilatpu during the winter.
Afterwards he became partly deranged, and it was thought
best for him to return East. He started with his wife and
infant child, in company with a Hudson's Bay Company party,
in 1841. When, however, they reached the American Rendez
vous on Green River, they found no representatives of the
American Fur Company there, and so had to turn back. On
the way he became worse, and burned and otherwise injured
himself so that he died. Mrs. Munger then went to the Will
amette, married Henry Buxton, Sr., and lived at Forest Grove
for many years. Another person, afterwards well known in
Oregon, to come to Dr. Whitman's that year was William
Geiger, who, with a Mr. Johnson from New York, arrived in
August, 1839. Mr. Geiger had lived in Mrs. Whitman's town
of Angelica. He passed on to the Willamette, but came back
in 1842 and had charge of Dr. Whitman's station during the
winter of 1842-3, while the Doctor went East. He was there
again in 1845 and 1846 as teacher. He settled at Forest
Grove, Oregon.
Another person to arrive was Mr. T. J. Farnham. He did
not remain long in the country, but was quite a writer, publish
ing two books about his travels on the Pacific Coast. In his
Travels Across the Great Western Prairies, the Anahuac and
Rocky Mountains,1 he gives the following account of his arrival
and visit at Dr. Whitman's, which is here given both because
it is by one not connected with the mission, and because it is
much more full on some points than any by the missionaries :
"September 23rd. A ride of five miles brought us in sight
of the groves around the mission. We crossed the river, passed
the Indian encampment hard by, and were at the gate of the
mission fields in presence of Dr. Whitman. He was speaking
"P. 147, etc.

1 1 2 Marcus Whitman
Skyuse [Cayuse] at the top of his voice to some lazy Indians,
who were driving their cattle from his garden, and giving or
ders to others to yoke the oxen, get the axes, and go into the
forest for the lower sleepers of the new mission house. Mr.
Hall, printer at the Sandwich Islands, soon appeared in work
ing dress, with his ax on his shoulder. Next came Mr. Munger,
pulling the pine shavings from his plane. All seemed desirous
to ask me how long a balloon line had been running between
the States and the Pacific, by which single individuals crossed
the Continent.1 The oxen were, however, yoked and axes glis
tening in the sun, and no time to spend, if they would return
from their labor before nightfall, so that the whence and the
wherefore of my sudden appearance among them were left for
an after explanation. The Doctor introduced me to his ex
cellent lady and departed to his labor.
"The afternoon was spent in listless rest from the toils of
my journey. At sunset, however, I strolled out and took a
bird's-eye view of the plantation and plain of the Walla Walla.
The old mission house stands on the northeast bank of the
river, about four rods from the water side, at the southeast
corner of an enclosure containing about two hundred and fifty
acres, two hundred of which are under good cultivation. The
soil is a thin stratum of clay, mixed with sand, and a small
proportion of vegetable mold, resting on a base of coarse gravel.
Through this gravel water from the Walla Walla filtrates, and
by capillary attraction is raised to the roots of vegetation in
the incumbent earth. The products are wheat, Indian corn,
beans, pumpkins, Irish potatoes, etc., in the fields ; and beets,
carrots, onions, turnips, rutabagas, water, musk and nutmeg
melons, squashes, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, etc.,
in the garden — all of good quality and abundant crops. The
Doctor returned near night with his timber, and appeared
gratified that he had been able to find the requisite number of
sufficient size to support the floor. Tea came on and passed
away in earnest conversation about native land, and friends
left there, of the pleasures they derived from their present oc-
1 Mr. F. had come the last part of the way alone, except as he had
his Indian guide and the guide's family for company.

Mission Work 1 1 3
cupation, and the trials that befell them while commencing
the mission, and afterwards.
"The morning of the 24th opened in the loveliest hues of
the sky. When the smoking vegetables, the hissing steak,
bread white as snow, and the newly churned butter, graced
the table, and the happy countenances of countrymen and
countrywomen shone around, I could with difficulty believe my
self in a country so far distant from, and so unlike my native
land and all its features. But during breakfast this pleasant
illusion was dispelled by one of the causes which induced it.
Our steak was horseflesh! On such meat this poor family
live on most of the time. It enables them to exist, to do the
Indians good, and thus satisfies them. But can it satisfy those
who give money for the missionaries that the allowance by
their agents for the support of those who abandon parents and
home, and surrender themselves not only to the mercy of the
savages, but their offspring also, and should be so meager as to
compel them to eat horseflesh? This necessity existed in 1839
at Walla Walla.
"The breakfast being over, the Doctor invited me to stroll
over his premises. The garden was first examined — its loca
tion on the banks of the Walla Walla, the beautiful tomato
and other vegetables burdening the grounds. Next, to the
fields. The Doctor's views of the soil and its mode of receiving
moisture from the river were such as I have previously ex
pressed. Then, to the new hous§. The adobe walls had been
erected a year. It was about 40x120 feet, and one and a half
stories high. To the main building was attached another of
equal height, designed for a kitchen, with chambers above de
signed for servants. Mr. Munger and a Sandwich Islander
were laying the floors, making the doors, etc. The lumber
was a very superior quality of yellow pine plank, which Dr.
Whitman had cut with a whip-saw among the Blue Mountains,
fifteen miles distant. Next, to the 'corral.' A fine yoke of
oxen, two cows, an American bull, the beginning of a stock of
hogs, were thereabouts. At last, to the grist-mill. It con
sisted of a spherical wrought-iron burr, four or five inches in
diameter, surrounded by a counterburred surface of the same
materials. The spherical burr was permanently attached to a

1 1 4 Marcus Whitman
shaft of a horizontal waterwheel. The surrounding surface
was firmly fastened to timbers in such a position that when
the water-wheel was put in motion the operation of the mill
was similar to that of a coffee mill. It was a crazy thing, but
for it the Doctor was grateful. It would, with the help of him
self and an Indian, grind enough in a day to feed his family
for a week, and that was better than to beat it with a pestle
and a mortar. It appeared to me quite remarkable that the
Doctor should have made so many improvements since the
year 1836 ; but the industry which crowded every hour of the
day, his untiring energy of character, and the very efficient aid
of his wife in relieving him in a great degree from the labors
of the school, are perhaps circumstances which render possi
bility probable, that in three years one man, without funds
for such purposes, without other aid for that business than that
of a fellow missionary for short intervals, should fence, plow,
build, plant an orchard, and do all the other laborious acts of
opening a plantation on the face of that distant wilderness,
learn an Indian language, and do the duties, meanwhile, of
physician to the associate stations on the Clearwater and Spo
kane. In the afternoon Dr. Whitman and his lady assembled
the Indians for instruction in reading. Forty or fifty children
between the ages of seven and eighteen, and several older peo
ple, gathered on the shady side of the new mission house, at
the ringing of a hand bell, and seated themselves in an orderly
manner on ranges of wooden benches. The Doctor then wrote
monosyllables, words, and instructive sentences on a large
blackboard suspended on a wall, and proceeded first to teach
them the nature and power of the letters, in representing the
simple sounds of the language, and then the construction of
words, and their uses in forming sentences expressive of
thought. The sentences written during these operations were
at last read, syllable by syllable, and word after word, and ex
plained, until the sentiments contained in them were compre
hended. And it was delightful to notice the undisguised avid
ity with which these people would devour a new idea. It
seemed to produce a thrill of delight that kindled up the coun
tenances, and animated the whole frame. A hymn in the Nez
Perce language, learned by rote from their teachers, was then

THE PRINTING PRESS

Mission Work 1 1 5
sung, and the exercises closed with prayer by Dr. Whitman
in the same tongue.
"Twenty-fifth. I was awakened at early dawn by the merry
sounds of clapping boards, the ax, the hammer, and the plane
— the sweet melodies of the parent of virtue at the cradle of
civilization. When I rose, everything was in motion. I said
everything was alive. Not so. The Skyuse village was in
the deepest slumber, save a few solitary individuals, who were
stalking with slow and stately tread up a neighboring butte to
descry the retreat of their animals. Their conical skin lodges
dotted the valley above the mission, and imparted to the land
scape a peculiar wildness. As the sun rose, the inmates began
to emerge from them.
"This is the imperial tribe of Oregon. They are also a tribe
of merchants (often doing the trading between the Indians
east of the Blue Mountains and those towards The Dalles).
They own large numbers of horses. A Skyuse is thought to be
poor who has not fifteen or twenty of them. One fat, hearty
old fellow owns something over two thousand, all wild except
so many as he needs for use or sale.
"Twenty-seventh. I attended the Indian school today. Mrs.
Whitman is an indefatigable instructress. The children read
in monosyllables from a primer lately published at the Clear
water station. They afterwards sung. They learn music
readily. At nightfall I visited the Indian lodges in company
with Dr. Whitman. The Skyuse have two distinct languages
— the one used in ordinary intercourse, the other on extraor
dinary occasions, as in war, councils, etc. Both are said to be
copious and expressive. They also speak the Nez Perce and
Walla Walla.
"The course pursued by Dr. Whitman and the other Pres
byterian missionaries to improve the Indians is to teach them
the Nez Perce language, according to fixed grammatical rules,
for the purpose of opening to them the arts and religion of
civilized nations through the medium of books. They also
teach them practical agriculture and the useful arts for the
purpose of civilizing their physical condition. By these means
they hope to make them a better and happier people.
"This was the evening before the Sabbath, and Dr. Whit-

1 1 6 Marcus Whitman
man, as his custom was, invited one of the most intelligent In
dians into his study, translated to him the text of Scripture,
from which he intended to teach the tribe on the morrow, ex
plained to him its doctrines, and required of him to explain in
return. This was repeated again and again, until the Indian
obtained a clear understanding of its doctrines.
"The 29th was the Sabbath. At 10 o'clock, the Skyuse as
sembled for worship in the open air. The exercises were ac
cording to the Presbyterian form — the hymn, the prayer, the
hymn, the sermon, the hymn, and the blessing, all in the Nez
Perce tongue. The principal peculiarity about the exercises
was the mode of delivering the discourse. When Dr. Whitman
arose and announced the text, the Indian, who had been in
structed on the previous night, rose and repeated it, and as
the address proceeded, repeated it also, by sentence or para
graph, till it was finished. This is the custom of the Skyuse
in all their public speaking; and the benefit resulting from it,
in this case, apparently, was giving the doctrines which the
Doctor desired to inculcate a clearer expression in the proper
idiom of the language. During the recess the children assem
bled in the Sabbath-school. In the afternoon the service was
similar to that of the morning. Everything was conducted
with much solemnity. After the service the Indians gathered
in their lodges and conversed together concerning what they
had heard. If doubt arose as to any point, it was solved by
the instructed Indian. Thus passed the Sabbath among the
Skyuse." Mr. Farnham had belonged to what was called the "Peoria
Party," organized at Peoria, Illinois, in the spring of 1839,
largely because of the lectures and influence of Rev. Jason Lee
of the Methodist mission, who had returned in 1838 for more
help. It was originally composed of nineteen men, none of
whom knew anything of mountain life. Their avowed object
was to take possession of Oregon for the United States, and
they carried a flag, given them by Mrs. Farnham, on which
was the motto, "Oregon or the Grave." When asked if they
thought their party sufficient to drive out the Hudson's Bay
Company, their Captain, Mr. Farnham, replied, "O, yes,
plenty." They did not, however, get along well together ; seven

Mission Work 1 1 7
returned to Peoria. The rest became demoralized, and divided.
A few reached Oregon that year, others wintered in the moun
tains and finished their journey the next year. Among them
was Robert Shortess, who wintered at Dr. Whitman's and pro
ceeded down the Columbia the next March. In his account of
the party, he speaks quite favorably of Dr. Whitman's mission
and the few Indians there.1
Mr. Farnham in this account refers to the eating of horse
flesh. During all the earlier years of the mission cattle were
altogether too scarce and too valuable to use for food. The
Hudson's Bay Company had all there were in the country, ex
cept those owned by the missions, and that Company would
not sell any. The missionaries wished to get enough cattle for
their own use, and also enough to begin small bands for the
Indians; hence they seldom, if ever, at first, killed them for
food, and so horseflesh was a common article of food. The
horses, however, used for this purpose were not those which
were old and worn out and good for nothing else; but as
horses were very abundant, they used the best there were,
fattened on the rich bunch grass of the region, and not
as unpalatable as some might suppose. It is said that at one
time, after cattle became so abundant that beef was occasion
ally used, there was company at the Doctor's, one man of
whom said he would never eat horseflesh; he would go with
out meat rather than do it. At meal time the Doctor said:
"Gentlemen, there are two kinds of meat on the table — beef
and horseflesh. I shall not help you to either, but you may
help yourselves, .and we will see whether you can tell the dif
ference." They looked at both carefully, helped themselves,
and when they had finished that man was quietly told that he
had eaten the horseflesh and left the beef.
In 1837 Mrs. Whitman wrote that they had bought and
killed ten wild horses of the Indians as a supply for their men
and visitors, but she added in the letter to her friends, "This
will make you pity us, but you had better save your pity for
more worthy subjects. I do not prefer it to other meat, but
can eat it very well when we have nothing else."
1 For a full account of this party see "Oregon Pioneer Transac
tions," 1896, p. 92.

1 1 8 Marcus Whitman
In 1838 the first cow used for beef east of the Cascades was
killed. She was twenty years old, without a tooth in her head,
and belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. Being useless to
keep longer, she was beefed at Fort Walla Walla and a part
was sent to Dr. Whitman's station.
In October, 1841, horse-meat went out of use there. Seven
hogs were killed that fall at Dr. Whitman's, also a beef fed on
grass, which yielded a hundred and forty-eight pounds of tal
low after it was tried out. Mrs. Whitman then wrote, "We do
not need to kill any more horses for meat."
Returning now to the missionary work, we find that the
next winter there were but few Indians at the station, they
being absent for food, but they returned in the spring so as to
plant their crops. The interest in agriculture seemed to in
crease. They wished to buy hoes and plows for themselves,
and they seemed to feel that they cultivated the land for their
own benefit, and not to please the Doctor as they had previ
ously done. The school during that winter numbered ten schol
ars, and was taught by Mrs. Whitman ; but as the Indians re
turned it increased to forty or fifty. A new book, just printed,
of fifty-two pages, larger and more correct than the first one,
made a fine addition to their means of instruction.
The following winter (1840-41) the Doctor and his family
were much afflicted with sickness, and consequently were able
to do but little for the Indians. The Doctor, however, held the
usual Sabbath services, except when he was sick abed, and
then Mr. Gray supplied his place. The Indians were very quiet,
having settled some important difficulties among themselves;
a troublesome chief, Cutlip, died, and the rest appeared better
disposed than ever toward the mission work. The demand for
plows was greater than the supply, and the interest in farming
increased. In a letter to his brother, dated May, 1841, the Doctor gives
the following account of his labors and sickness: "My labor
was excessive last fall, after the death of our dear Joseph. At
the same time I was called suddenly to go to Mr. Smith's sta
tion, which I did, without sufficient precaution for my health.
After I got home, we had much to do to prepare for winter,
and, winter approaching, we had much to do to prepare a race

Mission Work 1 1 9
for our mill, at which I worked very hard. By these several
causes I was reduced to the same affliction of which I com
plained before I left the United States.
"After taking medicine for two weeks, and feeling some
what relieved, I was called to see a sick man at Walla Walla,
twenty-five miles distant. Mrs. Whitman went with me. We
stayed two nights. In the morning we found that the water
had risen, so that on returning it was most difficult to cross.
Mrs. Whitman was on a strong horse, and, by having her saddle
set up high, and putting on my boots, she came across safely.
Unfortunately, I chose a tall but weak horse, and set myself
with both feet on one side of the horse, to try and keep out of
the water. But in crossing the beast rolled and tumbled until
she threw me into the water, and I had to swim some rods to
the shore. J had on a great many clothes to keep me from ex
posure, as 1 had been taking blue pills for nearly three weeks.
It was the last of December. Some Indians, in passing at the
same time, were there and had a fire, and rendered us very im
portant assistance. We were yet twelve miles from home, but
by means of two blankets, which we had kept dry, I was en
abled to wrap up and keep comfortable, while my clothes were
so far dried as to enable me to come back by substituting a
blanket for my overcoat. But the second day after I found
myself so much worse that I was obliged to be bled, and for'
some weeks I kept my bed and room, and from that time to
this I have not recovered, nor do I ever expect fully to do so.
I am, however, now in comfortable health, but unfit for bodily
labori I have no idea that you know how hard I have worked
in this country, besides all my care, both of my family and the
Indians, and the labor of acquiring the language and teaching
the people and going at the calls of the mission."
The following item from a letter of March, 1841, shows
plainly Mrs. Whitman's feelings about herself: "Of all per
sons, I see myself to be the most unfit for the place I occupy
on heathen ground. I wonder that I was ever permitted to
come; not that I would shrink from anything the Lord would
call me to endure, but that I am unworthy of a place or a name
among His chosen people, especially His dear missionaries."
The Joseph mentioned in the Doctor's letter was a Ha-

120 Marcus Whitman
waiian who had been with the Doctor some years, and was one
of the original members of the church. He was very faithful ;
the Doctor depended much on him, and felt his loss greatly.
He died August 8, 1840. Mrs. Whitman says of him : "Our
loss is very great. He was so faithful and kind ; always anx
ious and ready to relieve us of every care, so that we might
give ourselves to our appropriate missionary work, increasingly
so to the last. He died as a faithful Christian missionary
dies — happy to die in the field — rejoiced that he was permitted
to come and labor for the good of the Indians, while his heart
was in Heaven all the time. Who that could witness him in
his dying moments and see the calm and sweet serenity of his
countenance, but would feel it to be a privilege to be a mis
sionary and be the means of saving one suah soul from the
midst of a heathen darkness. His wife is just as faithful,
but she is a feeble person. I know not how we could do with
out her." She, however, returned to the Sandwich Islands in
1841 with Rev. A. B. Smith.
In 1840 Rev. Harvey Clark and Messrs. P. B. Littlejohn,
Alvin T. Smith and their wives arrived at Dr. Whitman's and
stayed for a while. They also came as independent mission
aries to the Indians, but found it impracticable. Mr. Clark
settled at Forest Grove, in Oregon, where he organized a Con
gregational Church, and laid the foundation of Tualatin Acad
emy and Pacific University. He died there March 25, 1858.
Mr. Smith went to Mr. Spalding's and worked for a time,
but afterwards settled at Forest Grove, where he was known
as a firm, upright Christian, and where he died at a good old
age. This company remained at Dr. Whitman's at least two
months, and their society was appreciated. Mrs. Whitman
wished that Mr. Clark had been connected with the mission
of the American Board, for she felt that he would have been
a very valuable acquisition, but under their instructions from
the Board it could not be.
That fall these three couples, besides Mr. Griffin, Mr. Mun
ger, Mr. Gray and their wives, were all at the Doctor's at one
time, making two houses full. In regard to this plan of
independent missionaries, Mrs. Whitman wrote: "We wish

Mission Work 121
that they had come out under the Board, both for our sakes,
theirs, and the mission cause. We fear they will suffer. At
any rate, they cannot do anything at present, and for a good
while to come, of missionary work, but take care of themselves.
We hope no more will come in this way. Those who came last
year got themselves into difficulties when they started; it in
creased all the way, and they still are not reconciled, and we
fear never will be. They are living upon us ; have done noth
ing yet, but explore a little, and appear to know not what to do,
but rather die than to give up their plans and say to the
Christian world, 'It is wrong to go out in opposition to the
Board.' "
The housekeeping arrangements were for a long time a trial.
Even as late as 1840 the Whitmans were living in the house
they first built, which was very open. It was of adobes, or
sun burnt brick. They began a new one in 1838, but were not
able to finish it so as to move into it until 1840, after Mr.
Munger came to help them. There was no good wood for
boards nearer than the Blue Mountains, about fifteen miles
away, and no wagons, so that it was necessary to drag some
of the timber on sleds that distance, and then saw them with
pit-saws. At other times they sawed them in the mountains
and packed the boards on horses to the station. For tables,
bedsteads and the like, they used the alder which grew near
home. For lime to whitewash the adobes they burned fresh
water clam shells. It was a great relief for them when the
house was finished, to move where they could have a room or
two to themselves, after living thus for four years, where Mrs.
Whitman had to do her cooking generally in the presence of
the Indians, who would come in whenever they wished. To
clean after them was also a great trial both to her feelings and
also to her strength, but she felt that she must do it, for they
had come to elevate the Indians, and not to sink down to a
level with them. A cook stove received in 1842 is spoken of as
a great comfort and help.
During 1841 there was much trouble with the Indians,
who demanded the right to go into any room they pleased, to
have pay for the use of their lands, to have Dr. Whitman teach
them that part of the Bible which they wanted to hear and not

1 22 Marcus Whitman
what he thought best (for they did not like to hear about their
sins), to turn their horses into his gardens and corn field, and
the like, but as all this may have some reference to his death,
it will be reserved for a separate chapter. Yet, notwithstand
ing all these difficulties, there was not a word of murmuring
or complaint or a desire to return East, even on a visit. In
1840 Mrs. Whitman wrote: "Our united choice would be to
live and die here, to spend our lives for the salvation of this
people. We have ever been contented ¦ and happy, notwith
standing all our trials, and let come what will, we had rather
die in the battle than to retreat, if the Lord will only appear
for us, and remove all that is in the way of His salvation, take
up every stumbling block out of our hearts and from this mis
sion, and prosper His own cause here. Our ardent prayer is,
'Lord, let not this mission fail,' for our Board says it is the
last effort they will make for the poor Indians."
We will now take another view of Dr. Whitman's mission,
as it was seen by Mr. Joseph Drayton, of Commodore Wilkes'
exploring squadron, which visited the Coast in 1841. He and
his companions reached the place about dark, and were wel
comed by Dr. Whitman and Mr. and Mrs. Gray. This account
says that there were two houses built of adobes to insure cooler
habitation in summer.
"All the premises looked comfortable. They have a fine
kitchen garden, in which grow all the vegetables raised in the
United States, and several kinds of fine melons. The wheat —
some of which stood seven feet high — was in full head and
nearly ripe. Indian corn was in tassel, and some of it meas
ured nine feet in height. They will reap this year about three
hundred bushels of wheat, with a quantity of corn and pota
toes. The missionaries live quite comfortably and seem con
tented. They are, however, not free from apprehensions of
Indian depredations. Dr. Whitman, being an unusually large
and athletic man, is held in much respect by the Indians, and
they have made use of his services as a physician, which does
not seem to carry with it so much danger here as among the
tribes of the lower country, or farther north. The mission
aries have quite a number of cattle and horses, which require
little or no attention. As respects missionary success, it is

Mission Work 123
very small here. The Indians are disposed to wander, and
seldom continue more than three or four months in the same
place. After they return from the Grand Ronde, which is in
July, they remain for three or four months, and then move off
to the north and east to hunt buffalo. Dr. Whitman has 124
on his rolls, male and female, that receive instruction in the
course of the year. He preaches to them on the Sabbath when
they are on the Walla Walla River. The school consists of
about twenty-five scholars daily, and there is some little dispo
sition to improve in these Indians. The great aim of the
missionaries is to teach them that they may obtain a sufficient
quantity of food by cultivating the ground. Many families
have now patches of wheat, corn and potatoes growing well,
and a number of these are to be seen near the missionary farm.
The Indians have learned the necessity of irrigating their crops
by finding that Dr. Whitman's succeeded better than their
own. They therefore desired to take some of the water from
his trenches, instead of making new ones of their own, which
he very naturally refused. They then stopped up the Doctor's.
This had well-nigh produced much difficulty, but finally they
were made to understand that there was water enough for
both, and they now use it with as much success as the mis
sionaries." At the other stations of the mission the work was carried
on with varying success. At Tshimakain, where Messrs.
Walker and Eells labored, there was a school most of the
time and regular preaching. At first the Indians were quite
enthusiastic, but as the novelty wore off, the work became more
difficult. The Spokane Indians were by no means as intelli
gent and enterprising as the Nez Perces and Cayuses, and the
work during the lifetime of the mission was never as encour
aging as that among the other tribes, but it was quite deep
and in the end brought forth excellent results. At Kamiah,
among the Nez Perces, where Mr. Smith and his wife had
gone, there had been some troubles, mainly about land in 1840,
so that Mr. Spalding and Dr. Whitman had been called to go
there to assist in settling them, but before they arrived all
had been peaceably settled. However, in the spring of 1842
Mr. Smith found his own health somewhat impaired and that

124 Marcus Whitman
of Mrs. Smith alarmingly so, and they felt it best to leave the
place and go to the genial climate of the Sandwich Islands.
This they did in 1841, and the station was not afterwards oc
cupied by any missionaries of the American Board.
At Mr. Spalding's there was more successful work than at
any other of the stations. The Indians took great interest in
agriculture, the school, and religion. Two protracted meet
ings were held among them, one in the winter of 1838-9, and
the other during that of 1841-2. Thousands attended these,
and here in November, 1839, the first two Indians joined the
mission church, Timothy and Joseph. The former was ever
noted as a friend to the whites and one who clung to his re
ligion, even when all teachers had been driven away; but the
latter turned at the time of the massacre of Dr. Whitman,
pillaged Mr. Spalding's house, and was the father of the young
Joseph who became renowned as the leader in the war against
the whites in 1877. There were discouragements here, how
ever, so that both Mr. Spalding and his wife were insulted, his
mill dam was torn away, and the gate at the head of his ditch
was carried away.
In 1841 Mr. Eogers resigned his connection with the mis
sion and went to the Willamette Valley, and ih 1842 Mr. Gray
and family followed him, thus leaving three stations, with four
men and their wives to manage them. Two missionaries, how
ever, had been sent from the East by the Board to join the
mission in November, 1840, Eev. J. D. Paris and Mr. W. H.
Eice, with their wives. These started by water and reached the
Sandwich Islands in May, 1841.
The Methodist missions in the Willamette received three
reinforcements by way of Cape Horn. The first arrived in
May, 1837, and consisted of Dr. E. White, A. Beers, and their
wives, W. H. Wilson, Miss Susan Downing, Miss Elvira John
son and Miss Ann M. Pitman. Of these Miss Pitman was mar
ried to Eev. Jason Lee and Miss Downing to Cyrus Shepherd
July 16th, 1837, the first white marriages on the Pacific Coast.
Mrs. Lee died July 16th, 1838. Dr. White remained in con
nection with the mission until 1841, when he resigned and re
turned East, whereupon he was appointed Sub-Indian Agent
for Oregon, the first United States officer for the Pacific Coast.

Mission Work 125
He continued in this capacity until 1845, when he returned
East to remain. The second reinforcement arrived in Septem
ber, 1837, and consisted of Eev. Mr. Leslie and family, Eev.
H. K. W. Perkins and wife, and Miss Margaret Smith. The
third reinforcement arrived in May, 1840, because of the per
sonal work of Rev. J. Lee, whose return East in 1838 has al
ready been mentioned. This consisted of thirty-six adults
and seventeen children. Among them were Reverends A. F.
Waller, G. Hines, J. L. Parrish, L. H. Judson and J. Olley,
Dr. L. H. Bagcock, and Mr. (afterwards Governor) George
Abernethy. With this assistance missions were begun among
the Indians at Clatsop under Mr. Parrish, at Nisqually under
Mr. Richmond, and at The Dalles under Messrs. D. Lee and
Perkins, while others labored among the whites.
Of other settlers in Oregon in 1840, nearly all of whom were
in the Willamette Valley, there were, outside of the Hudson's
Bay Company, thirty-six Americans, twenty-five of whom had
native wives. Many of these had been trappers in the moun
tains, but had settled at last in the garden spot of Oregon.
Including all who were connected with the missions there
were a hundred and thirty-seven Americans and sixty-three
Canadian French. In 1841 Mrs. Whitman speaks of an emi
gration of twenty-four persons, two of them with a large num
ber of children. In 1842 a larger emigration came, organized
mainly through the efforts of Dr. E. White, who came with it
after his appointment as Sub-Indian Agent. It consisted of
about a hundred and ten persons, over fifty of whom were
eighteen years old or upwards, and capable of bearing arms.

CHAPTER V.

MISSION WORK  CONTINUED.

Some troubles existed in the mission from 1838 to 1842, es
pecially between Messrs. Gray, Smith, Spalding and Whitman,
and these facts, together with the fact that the Indians did not
seem to be as many as were at first estimated and other dis
couragements, decided the Prudential Committee of the Board
at Boston to send an order to discontinue the stations among
the Cayuses and Nez Perces, to discharge Messrs. Spalding,
Gray, Rogers and Smith, and to transfer Dr. Whitman to the
station among the Spokanes. By the time, however, that this
order was received, in the fall of 1842, Messrs. Smith, Gray
and Rogers had left the mission voluntarily, and affairs had
taken such a favorable turn that a meeting of the mission was
held at Dr. Whitman's, September 26-28, 1842, at which it
was determined to see if this decision could not be reversed.
The mission, as a body, sent a petition to the Board to this ef
fect. Mr. Spalding wrote earnestly on the subject. Messrs.
Walker and Eells wrote privately their earnest protest, because
it would open the way for the Catholics; because it would
soon be the death of their station among the Spokanes, as it
could not live long if the others should be discontinued, and
because, if the southern stations should remain, they would
have beneficial influence on the whites who were sure to come.
Mr. A. McKinley, then in charge of Fort Walla Walla, wrote
in the same line, and Dr. Whitman determined to make a per-'
sonal appeal to the Board. There is no evidepce, however,
that he would have gone East during the dead of that winter,
if at all, had he not had other objects in view. He believed
that there was great danger that the Northwest Coast, or a
part of it, would fall into the hands of Great Britain, and he
wished to visit Washington to see if he could not do some
thing to prevent it, and also, as another means for the same

Mission Work 127
object, to induce as many emigrants as he could to come to
Oregon. But as these are subjects of great importance, they
will be discussed separately hereafter. At the same time,
however, he intended to try to accomplish two missionary
objects. One was to try to induce the Board, if possible, to
reverse the decision which would destroy his station and that
of Mr. Spalding, and in this he was successful ; the other was
to induce a few lay Christian families to come as missionaries,
so as to release the regular missionaries from secular pursuits,
to contribute to the social and religious advancement of the
Indians, and to form the nucleus of settlements, in order to
withstand Roman Catholic influence. In this he was not suc
cessful, to his great regret.
A report of these difficulties reached the Sandwich Islands,
so that when Messrs. Paris and Rice arrived there, because
of this report and the great need of laborers at the Islands,
it was thought best for them to remain there temporarily, an
arrangement which was afterwards made permanent by the
Board. A part of the immigration of 1842 arrived at Dr.
Whitman's September 14. Says Captain Medorem Crawford
in his journal of that date : "I was never more pleased to see
a house or white people in my life; we were treated by Dr.
and Mrs. Whitman with the utmost kindness. We got what
provision we wanted on the most reasonable terms." In the
immigration was A. L. Lovejoy, then about thirty-two years
old. Dr. Whitman asked him if he thought he could go East
during that winter, and Mr. Lovejoy thought it might be pos
sible. Then the Doctor asked him if he would accompany
him, and after a little thought he consented to do so. As
this journey was undertaken mainly for the purpose of doing
what he could to save the country to the United States, the
account of it will be given in a later chapter.
After Dr. Whitman's visit to Washington and other places
on national business, he went to Boston, where he arrived
March 30, 1843. He attended to the missionary business at
Boston and secured the rescinding of the order to discontinue
the two southern stations of the mission. After spending
three days at his former home in New York State, he bade it
good-bye forever on the 20th of April, and stated West, with

128 Marcus Whitman
his nephew, Perrin B. Whitman, then a young man. Nearly
every incident of this journey, worthy of note, has reference
to his assistance to the emigration of that year, the first one
to reach the Columbia River with wagons, and these services
were so great that they will be discussed separately, after this
sketch of his missionary life is completed.
While at Boston Dr. Whitman made the following state
ment about the results of his mission work : "Many are bene
fitted by this station who seldom, if ever, bring their families
here. Individuals from different places visit us for the pur
pose of being taught or receiving medicine, or other favors.
Occasional visits are also made to some of these places, and
instruction is imparted. In this way an extensive acquain
tance is made, and much useful information and religious in
struction given.
"Those who resort to this station are the Waiilatpu, Walla
Walla and Numipa Indians. The attention given to us during
religious worship is generally good; instruction is listened to
with solemnity and interest. Worship is maintained by the
principal men, morning and evening, at which most are pres
ent. Those who do not attend have what comes nearer to
family worship in their separate lodges. Their migrations
do not occasion any departure from this practice, as far as I
am apprised.
"I have abundant evidence of the restraining power of re
ligious truths upon the minds of the natives, both from their
remarks and my own observation. A chief of great notoriety
for his jugglery has often told me what he would have done in
such and such cases, which he named, intimating in what way
he would have taken revenge ; but, he added, 'I am now made
weak by what I have been taught of my future accountability.'
Murder, violence and revenge are a terror to him now. The
most violent and ungovernable fits of rage I have ever seen
among them have calmly passed into kindness, and perhaps
submission, under the restraining influence of the gospel."
During the absence of the Doctor in the East, affairs at his
station were somewhat checkered. Mrs. Whitman was left
there, and arrangements were made for Mr. William Geiger,
a young Christian man who had come to the country in 1839,

Mission Work 129
to have charge. But Dr. Whitman left so suddenly that Mr.
Geiger, who was then in the Willamette Valley, did not arrive
until after the Doctor left. Before he arrived, however, and
only four days after the Doctor left, an Indian entered the
house one night, and attempted to insult Mrs. Whitman; but
her own efforts and the presence of a young man in the house,
prevented this. Thinking it not prudent to remain there
longer, at the urgent request of Mr. McKinley of Fort Walla
Walla, who sent a wagon for her, she left the station and went
to the fort. Shortly after, she went to the Methodist mis
sion at The Dalles, where she remained during the winter, as
her health was not very good and she did not feel able to go
by land to either of the other stations of the American Board.
In May, 1843, she visited her own home, when Dr. E. White
held a council with the Cayuses, after which she went to the
Willamette and Astoria to visit friends.
In November, 1842, the Doctor's grist-mill and several hun-
dren bushels of grain were burned by an Indian. Yet, not
withstanding these adverse events, before the Doctor returned
in the fall of 1843, the Indians seemed anxious to have him
come back, and one of them said to Mrs. Whitman, "Oh, that I
could eat the word of God to the full !"
The following extracts from letters written by her during
this time are here inserted, as being of interest. October 4,
1842, she wrote to the Doctor: "The line you sent me today
by Aps. did me great good. I thought I was cheerful and
happy before it came, but, on the perusal of it, I found that it
increased my happiness fourfold. I believe the Lord will pre
serve me from being anxious about you, and I was glad to hear
you say, with so much confidence, that you trusted in Him for
safety. He will protect you, I firmly believe. Night and day
shall my prayer ascend to Him in your behalf, and the cause
for which you have sacrificed the endearments of home, at the
risk of your life, to see advancing more to the honor and glory
of God. Mr. Gray and family did not leave here till this
morning." Saturday evening, 8th. I do not feel as lonely this evening
as I have always formerly done when you have been away. I
hope you do not have a sad moment about me. Where are you

1 30 Marcus Whitman
tonight, my love, preparing to spend the holy Sabbath? My
heart has met thine at the mercy-seat, and I trust blessings
are in store for you on the morrow, both for body and mind;
and, methinks, you have taken leave of Monsieur Payette and
gone a comfortable day beyond. Again, let me say, be not
anxious for me, for the sympathies of all are excited for me
the moment they hear you have gone. I shall be well taken
care of, and, no doubt, have more letters to answer than I am
able to write. Received one today from Mr. Spalding, express
ing the kindest sympathy and concern, both for you and my
self, and desire for the success of your undertaking. It is
the Lord sustains me. I know it is that, or I should not feel
as happy about you as I do. Oh, may we continue to feel it
until we are both brought together again, rejoicing in His
goodness! . . . How will you feel, dear husband, when
you seat yourself in sister Julia's house, or with our mothers,
and do not see the windows filled with Indians, and the doors,
also? Will you not feel lost? I can scarcely imagine how
you will feel. Could it, consistently with duty, have been so,
I should rejoice to be a partaker with you of the feelings pro
duced by a visit to those dear firesides, but I am happy in re
maining while you are permitted the prospect, and I hope the
reality, of seeing those beloved objects once more.
9th. Sabbath Eve. My dear husband would like to know
what kind of a Sabbath we have had here, for I know his heart
is with this people. Ellis [a Nez Perce Chief], who brought
me Mr. Spalding's letter, was their minister today. This af
ternoon I had a Bible class in English with him, John and
Mungo [Hawaiians], besides the time I spent with the chil
dren. He read, and appeared to understand very well. He
thinks he loves the Saviour. I urged the duty of secret prayer,
in addition to family worship, and showed him the passage in
Matthew. He said he would in the future attend to the duty
daily. He told me yesterday that if he had been here he would
have gone with you to the States. Although I am alone as to
associates, and my husband is gone, yet I have not been lonely
today. The presence of the Saviour fills every vacancy. My
little children appear thoughtful and solemn."
Under date of February 7, 1843, Mrs. Whitman wrote from

Mission Work 131
Washkopam (The Dalles) to her parents, as follows: "It is
with feelings of interest that I think of the home of my child
hood; and why should I not, since every object I hold most
dear on earth is there? Last evening was monthly concert;
being too feeble to meet with the brethren and sisters here, I
spent most of the evening in my room. How can I describe
the hallowed influences that seemed to be shed around me,
the inward peace and sacred sense of the presence of God in
my soul. I could think of nothing else, but surely beloved
friends must be praying for me. This cannot be in answer to
my own individual prayers that I perceive all this. I felt as if
in spirit I was in the midst of that loved circle, feeling the in
fluence, and enjoying the sweets with you. My father, my
mother, my sisters and brothers, and my beloved husband, too
— what earthly objects can be dearer to me than these? They
are my all, yet widely separated from me. I speak as if you
were enjoying the society of my dear husband, and at this time,
if the Lord has spared his life, and prospered him, according
to his and my expectations, you are. Beloved parents, what
do you think of your lonely child in this lonely world? You
pray for her, I know; you must, or she would not feel the al
most constant support of the Saviour's presence, which is
granted under the trying circumstances in which I am placed.
How do you like to see your son? How do you enjoy his so
ciety, after so long an absence? Did you ever dream of seeing
him there without me? I flatter myself that it would add a
little to the happiness of you all, if I was there with him. I
am sure it would to mine, but if you enjoy his and make him
happy, I shall be satisfied. I never have felt much as though
I should see my friends again in the flesh. Since my husband
has gone without me, I feel it more doubtful than ever; but
we know not in what way the Lord may lead us. It is a great
satisfaction to me to think that he will see them, and be able
to give me information concerning them which I can get in
no other way, and from no other source, should the Lord spare
him to me. . . . My eyes are almost gone ; my poor health
affects them materially, and writing is very injurious to me.
I am spending a very happy winter here, and I trust that it
has been, and will be for my spiritual good. The society and

132 Marcus Whitman
progress of such a society of living and growing Christians is
very refreshing to me1 after having lived so much alone, im-
merged in care and toil."
Most of the rest of the letter is occupied with an account
of the burning of their mill, the councils with the Cayuses, a
visit with Mr. C. Rogers and his death, and that of others at
Oregon City by drowning, and her feelings about it. She closes
with the following, which with the foregoing, probably gives
the best picture of her own inner life extant : "It is very try
ing to be here in this desolate land without my husband, and
were it not for sustaining grace I should sink under it; but
the favors of the Lord are many and great, in giving us so
many friends to cheer and comfort us. My health is very
poor. This increases the trial. In consequence, I have too
many gloomy and despairing and dark forebodings, which I
have not strength to rise above. The Lord gives me much
of His gracious presence and increased spiritual enjoyment in
communion with Him, for which I desire to be thankful. My
paper will not contain all that a poor heart pants to pour forth
into the bosom of dear, long-absent parents ; a privilege which
would doubtless be too much for my weak nature to endure.
With pleasing delight I look forward to that happy time when
we may meet in yonder happy world, and enjoy in full fruition
what eye hath not seen nor ear heard of things prepared for
us. I love you all increasingly, and shall till I die. Believe
me, dear friends, I am happy in making this sacrifice for
Christ — it is for Him we have made it, and I rejoice in it;
yea, and will rejoice, however trying to the flesh. I see no
reason to regret my husband going home without me, nor shall
I, if I suffer loss in all things.
"May we all meet in Heaven, prays your unworthy, your
lonely, but your ever loving daughter, NARCISSA."
On his return, when Dr. Whitman arrived at the Grand
Eonde Valley, he received a letter from Mr. Walker, urging
him to hasten on, as Mr. and Mrs. Spalding were very sick.
Accordingly he went direct to Mr. Spalding's, where he ar-
"That society consisted of Rev. D. Lee, Rev. H. K. W. Perkins,
Mr. H. B. Brewer and their wives.

Mission Work 1 33
rived Sept. 25th. He found them both convalescent, but his
presence was very needful, as both of their children were taken
with the same disease. He then went home, but soon pro
ceeded to the station among the Spokanes, on professional
business, arriving on the 3rd of October. Having remained
there a few days, he returned to his station, with Mr. Walker,
reaching it about the 10th, and soon after went down the Co
lumbia for his wife. He met her at The Dalles, on her way
to join him, in company with Eev. Jason Lee.
Writing to the Board, November 1st, he stated that the
Indians had succeeded well in cultivating the soil that year,
and had never treated him or the mission as well as then.
Those at his station also treated the immigrants very kindly,
though other Indians, the lowest and least formidable, had
annoyed the immigrants. He urged the Board to send a min
ister for his station, fitted to preach to the Indians, and also
to come. in contact with the frontier men and to be able to
meet the Eomanists. He also says: "You will do as you
think best about encouraging teachers and others to come out
as immigrants, and labor for a time for the mission. There
can be no doubt that this upper country will soon be settled,
and we very much need good men to be located, two, three or
four in a place, to secure a good influence for the Indians, and
form a nucleus for religious institutions, and keep back Eo-
manism. The country must be occupied by Americans or for
eigners ; if it is by the latter, they will be mostly papists."1
A letter written by Mrs. Whitman, May 18, 1844, to Miss
L. C. Porter, of Prattsburg, shows that she, too, was very de
sirous of having good people come to the country. Among
other things she says : "I try to induce my friends to come to
see me, and seek a home in Oregon. A wide door of useful
ness is open here to the most philanthropic and benevolent
heart. Multitudes are flocking to this land, and will in still
greater numbers, and for every purpose. And our anxious de
sire is that the salt of the earth should be found among them,
also; and that this entire country may be seasoned with
heavenly influences from above. The powers of darkness have
1 "Missionary Herald," 1844, p. 177.

1 34 Marcus Whitman
long held undivided sway over this land, and we feel that Satan
will not quietly yield his dominions to another. He is on the
alert with all his hosts, and in as many ways as he has num
bers employed, to gain the entire victory, to keep and drive
from the field all who disturb or molest his quiet. Many
souls are here for whom Christ died, and multitudes more,
unconcerned, are hastening to this far-distant land to seek
their fortune of worldly goods, regardless of their treasures in
Heaven. But thanks be to the Hearer of Prayer, many have al
ready found Christ in Oregon who have long rejected Him in a
gospel land."
She also mentions that, soon after her return to her home,
for three months her health was in a very precarious condi
tion, and that at one time she was very near the gates of
death. During the first part of the next winter — -1844-45 — there
were but few Indians at the station, and the school was sus
pended, but by the close of February nearly all had returned,
and two or three hundred attended public worship. There
was no marked change, but a gradual increase of knowledge,
and less attachment to papal forms.
There were at this time several causes of disquiet among
the Indians, which had an adverse influence on missionary
work, partly on account of troubles between whites and In
dians, and partly because of trouble between the Indians. The
laws made by Dr. E. White. U. S. Sub-Indian Agent, in the
spring of 1843, of which more full mention will be made here
after, did not prove to be as successful as had been at first
hoped. The Indians resorted to them chiefly to support claims
against the whites, but not to settle difficulties among them
selves. Their own offenders often went unpunished. A quar
rel had also arisen between the Cayuses and the Snake In
dians. An Indian doctor was also murdered at Dr. Whitman's
station. There was trouble, too, at Oregon City between the
whites and Molalla Indians, in which Mr. G. W. Le Breton was
killed. This excited the Cayuses, as they and the Molallas
talked the same language, it being said that they had been
separated in some ancient wars.
From this time there are but few letters from Dr. Whit-

Mission Work 135
man in the Missionary Herald. There was an increasing de
sire by the Indians for the instruction of their children both in
English and Indian, an increase in religious knowledge, and
an upward tendency to industry and enterprise, owing partly
to better markets, occasioned by the annual immigrations,
while at the same time there was more cavilling and opposition
to religion. In 1844 the Doctor rebuilt his flouring mill, and the next
year he built a saw-mill in the Blue Mountains, on Mill Creek
[which obtains its name from this fact], about twenty miles
from his station.
As teachers and assistants he had with him Mr. A. Hin
man, during the winter of 1844-45; Mr. William Geiger, in
1845 and 1846 ; and Mr. Andrew Eodgers, an emigrant of 1845,
from that time till the massacre. Mr. Eodgers, while there,
began studying for the ministry with the expectation of becom
ing a missionary. Of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and their work,
Mr. Eodgers wrote in 1846 as follows:
"I think Mrs. Whitman is one of the best women in the
world. She has a family of eleven children (and also one of Mr.
Walker's during the winter), and, strange to say, not one of
them is her own [In a later letter he calls her 'my mother'].
I can hardly tell you what kind of a man the Doctor is, for he
is so much of an all-sorts-of-a-man, yet a very kind, generous,
persevering man. I suppose, as to taking the lead in mission
ary affairs, he takes the lead. Of the difficulties and trials
of a missionary life, few of us in the States have any definite
idea. Indeed, no one can well do so until he has been among
them for some time. Those things that are regarded as trials
at home (leaving home and friends) are not considered such
at all when they get here. They have doubtless done much
good here, but it respects temporal affairs more than spirit
ual. Not that they have not labored as much for the latter as
the former — much more. But the natural heart is always and
in every place averse to religion, both in savage and civilized
countries — Indians or white men."
In May, 1847, the Doctor wrote : "We think the affairs of
this station, in regard to the Indians, are in a very favorable
state, such as gives promise of continued prosperity." Dr.

1 36 Marcus Whitman
Whitman still prosecuted his labors with cheerfulness and
assiduity. As, at this time, there was unusual sickness, he
spent much time in administering to their wants, not forget
ting, however, their spiritual necessities. It was his purpose,
at no distant time, to build a place of worship for the Indians,
and he was taking measures to build some store houses for
their use.
Dr. Whitman was also very anxious to provide means of
grace for the whites, who were crowding into the country.
In his latest communication to the Board he dwelt with great
earnestness on this topic, and was urgent that the American
Home Missionary Society and American Tract Society should
enter the field without delay. The destinies of Oregon, he
thought, depended, in a very important sense, upon the in
fluences which should be thrown into it during the first years
of its history, and he could not shut his eyes to the fact that
Eomanism and irreligion were gaining a strong position in
places which promised to be central points at a future day.
October 18, 1847, less than a month and a half before his
death, he wrote to the Board : "It is a matter of surprise to
me that there are so few pious men, who are ready to asso
ciate together and come to this country, where they could be so
useful in setting up and maintaining religious society, and es
tablishing the means of education. Is it indeed so, that none
of the good people of the East can come to Oregon, for the
double purpose of availing themselves of the government
bounty of land, and of doing good to the country? Or do I
lose my object in writing you so often upon the subject? Is it
a matter of regret to you, and to the pastors generally, to
lose a few of the best members of society, and church and
business men, that they may benefit both themselves and the
cause of religion, education, and their country? It is not too
late yet, I hope, but I am sure if anything is done as it should
be, that the people should come next year. The interior of
Oregon is unrivalled probably for the growing of stock, of
which sheep are the best. This interior will not be sought
after, and I fear we are to have the half-breed and French
population from the Willamette, as they show a disposition
to sell out there and come here. It cannot be that we shall let

Mission Work 137
them have the ascendancy here. If we do, you may well see
what will be the consequence. My plan is for you to confer
with the pastors and individuals in some way, and lay the mat
ter open before them. Let there be either a selection of men for
the work or volunteers. Let them be the best of pastors and
church members, for it is a work that needs good men. Why
will pastors neglect to select their best and worthiest men
to do good by their persons, their property and their in
fluence? Can a mind be found so narrow as not to be willing
to part with a pastor; or a pastor not willing to part with
a church member, simply because they are good men and useful
where they are? I fear this is the feeling, and I remember a
conversation I had with you, which clearly showed that you
knew that spirit prevailed to a considerable extent. I do be
lieve ministers can be found, who will send out either good
men for general distribution in the colony, as the wants of the
colony shall be seen by them, or who will come out with those
who will locate, so as to make a religious society. One or
more ought to be with the intent to found a college. I know
of no place so eligible as The Dalles, close by our station.
There is a salubrious climate and near proximity to market,
and the main settlement will be secured. A good school there
would not want for support even now ; and this might be the
embryo of the intended college."
Here then were some of Dr. Whitman's far-reaching plans —
colonies for the benefit of the Indians and the future good of
the white settlement, with good schools and a college in view.
The Dalles had been transferred during that season as a mis
sion station by the Methodists to the American Board, through
Dr. Whitman's agency. Mr. Walker had been requested to
occupy it, and had at first concluded to do so, but had after
wards declined. It was hence temporarily occupied by Mr. A.
Hinman and P. B. Whitman, the Doctor's nephew. Accord
ing to his nephew, the Doctor himself intended to move there
in the spring of 1848, not however with the idea of abandoning
his station, but of manning it in some other way.
The last letter which the author has seen by Mrs. Whit
man, dated July 6, 1847, and written to her mother, speaks in
much the same way. She was especially anxious to have her

I 38 Marcus Whitman
brother and sister, Edward and Jane, come and help in the
work, and she also speaks of the importance of The Dalles.
Of the work among the Indians, she says : "Our prospects
as a mission, we feel, were never brighter than at the present
moment." And in the same letter, under date of August 23,
she adds: "Very many of the principal Indians are dying,
and some have been killed by other Indians, in going south
into the regions of California. The remaining ones seem at
tached to us the closer, cultivate their farms quite extensively,
and do not wish to see any Americans settle among them here.
They are willing to have them spend the winter here, but in
the spring they must all go on. They would be willing to have
more missionaries stop, and those devoted to their good. They
expect that eventually this country will be settled by them, but
they wish to see the Willamette filled up first. Husband is
wearing out fast. His heart and hands are so full all the
time that his brethren feel solicitous about him. His benevo
lence is unbounded, and he often goes to the full extent of his
ability, and often beyond, in doing good to the Indians and
white men. Last winter my family averaged twenty, this
summer sixteen."
Mrs. Whitman also speaks of the last meeting of the mis
sion at which it was determined to build more mission houses
at their station, so that the mission families could winter there
and send their children to a school there ; and so take a large
amount of work from her hands, work occasioned by her board
ing some of these mission children. Mr. Walker was to move
to The Dalles ; Mr. Eells to Dr. Whitman's, spending the win
ters for the benefit of the whites, and his summers itinerating
among the Indians ; and Mr. Spalding's family was also to be
there. Fortunately, as the result proved, Mrs. Walker's health
was such that she did not feel able to move to The Dalles, as
contemplated, consequently Mr. Eells remained among the Spo
kanes with him, and, for some reason not given, Mr. Spalding,
too, stayed at his home.
Father Brouillet has published a statement made by Mr.
Thomas McKay that the Doctor had told him that for a couple
of years before his death "he had ceased to teach the Indians
because they would not listen to him." But the statement

COLUMBIA RTVER AND THE DALLES

Mission Work 139
above, given directly by both the Doctor and Mrs. Whitman
about the very favorable condition of their mission, must set
tle that point.
Mrs. Whitman also speaks of her large family. She had no
child of her own, but had opened her heart to take care of
those of others. In 1841 she took two half-breed girls, Mary
Ann, the daughter of James Bridger (out of whose back the
Doctor had cut an arrow in 1835), and Helen Mar, the daughter
of Joseph L. Meek, another mountain man, who afterwards set-
tied near Hillsboro, in the Willamette, where he became quite
prominent. The next year a half-breed boy, whose father
was a Spaniard, but who had left him, was brought to Mrs.
Whitman by his grandmother. He was about two years old,
and was called David Malan. He had been put down by his
mother in a hole and left to die, but was rescued by other
relatives. Again he was found by an interpreter in the same
place, surrounded by other boys, who were tormenting him by
burning his naked body with sticks of fire. When Mrs. Whit
man learned this, she could not shut her heart against him.
Among the immigrants of 1844 was a man named Sager,
who had a family consisting of his wife and seven children,
between the ages of infancy and thirteen. The father died of
typhoid fever on Green Eiver, and the mother sank under her
burdens when she reached Snake Eiver and there died. The
immigrants cared for the children until they reached Dr.
Whitman's, but would take them no farther. The Doctor and
his wife took the strangers in at first for the winter, but af
terwards adopted them and cared for them as long as they
lived. Mrs. C. S. Pringle, one of these children, afterwards gave
the following account of this event. It was written in answer
to a charge made by Mrs. F. F. Victor that the Doctor was
mercenary, making money out of the immigrants. "In April,
1844, my parents started for Oregon. Soon after starting we
were all camped for the night, and the conversation after a
while turned upon the probability of death before the end of the
journey should be reached. All told what they would wish their
families to do in case they should fall by the way. My father

140 Marcus Whitman
said, 'Well, if I should die, I would want my family to stop
at the station of Dr. Whitman.' Ere long he was taken sick
and died, but with his dying breath he committed his family
to the care of Captain Shaw, with the request that they should
be left at the station of Dr. Whitman. Twenty-six days after
his death, his wife died. She, too, requested the same. When
we were in the Blue Mountains, Captain Shaw went ahead to
see about leaving us there. The Doctor objected, as he was
afraid the Board would not recognize that as a part of his
labor. After a good deal of talk he consented to have the
children brought, and he would see what could be done. On
the seventeenth day of October we drove up to the station, as
forlorn a looking lot of children as ever was. I was a cripple,
hardly able to walk, and the babe of six months was danger
ously ill. Mrs. Whitman agreed to take the five girls, but the
boys must go on (they were the oldest of the family). But
the 'mercenary' Doctor said, 'All or none.' He made arrange
ments to keep the seven until spring, and then if we did not
like to stay, and he did not want to keep us, he would send us
below. An article of agreement was drawn up in writing be
tween him and Captain Shaw, but not one word of money or
pay was in it I had it in my possession for years after I
came to the (Willamette) Valley, having received it from Cap
tain Shaw. Before Captain Shaw reached The Dalles he was
overtaken by Dr. Whitman, who announced his intention of
adopting the seven, on his own responsibility, asking nothing
of the Board for their maintenance. The next summer he went
to Oregon City and legally became our guardian, and the ac
tion is on the records of Clackamas County. Having done
this, he farther showed his mercenary nature by disposing of
our father's estate in such a way that he could not realize a
cent from it. He exchanged the oxen and old cows for young
cows, and turned them over to the two boys to manage until
they should grow to manhood ; besides this he gave them each
a horse and saddle, which, of course, came out of his salary,
as we were not mission children, as the three half-breeds were
that were in the family. After doing all this he allowed the
boys opportunities to accumulate stock by work or trade. Of
ten he has said to us, 'You must all learn to work, for father

Mission Work 141
is poor and can give you nothing but an education. This I
intend to do to the best of my ability.' "
Besides these, for the sake of the school which was kept at
Dr. Whitman's, they had one or two of Mr. Spalding's and Mr.
Walker's children. These, with the teacher and a few others
stopping with them, sometimes made a family of about twenty.
Another incident with an immigrant is here related, given
almost in the words of the narrator, Joseph Smith, who came
to the country in 1846. He says : "I was mighty sick cross
ing the Blues, and was so weak from eating blue mass that
they had to haul me in the wagon till we got to Dr. Whitman's
place on the Walla Walla Eiver. Then Mother Whitman came
and raised the wagon cover and says, 'What is the matter
with you, my brother?' 'I am sick, and I don't want to be
pestered much, either.' 'But, but, my young friend, my hus
band is a doctor, and can probably cure your ailment ; I'll go
and call him.' So off she clattered, and purty soon Doc. came,
and they packed me in the cabin, and soon he had me on my
feet again. I eat up a whole band of cattle for him, as I had
to winter with him. I told him I'd like to work for him, to
kinder pay part of my bill. Wall, Doc. set me to making rails,
but I only made two hundred before spring, and I got to wor-
ryin' 'cause I hadn't only fifty dollars, and a saddle horse, and
I reckoned I owed the Doctor four or five hundred dollars for
my life. Now, maybe I wasn't knocked out when I went and
told the Doctor I wanted to go on to Webfoot and asked him
how we stood ; and Doctor p'inted to a Cayuse pony, and says,
'Money I have not, but you can take that horse and call it even,
if you will.' "
A memorable event was the death of Joseph S. Findley at
their house in 1846. He was an immigrant of 1840, and became
an earnest Christian while at Dr. Whitman's. He had con
sumption, but Mrs. Whitman spoke of it as the triumphant
death of a brother in Christ, whom she saw enter joyfully the
New Jerusalem above. He had united with the church in Feb
ruary, and died the 28th of March.
At Tshimakain very little of importance occurred in the
missionary work. There were no great encouragements, nor
special discouragements. At Mr. Spalding's there was a little

142 Marcus Whitman
more to encourage. In 1844 nineteen were received into the
mission church, all but one of whom at least were Nez Perces.
A single Cayuse was thus received.
The Methodist missions had been much more discouraging.
The Indians had largely vanished, one or two scholars in their
school had died, and this prejudiced the parents against it;
other difficulties arose, so that in 1844, while the Superintend
ent, Eev. J. Lee, had gone East, he was superseded by Rev.
George Gary. Having examined the field, in 1845 he closed
all the missions among the Indians except the one at The
Dalles. In 1847 this was transferred, as already stated, to the
American Board. Thus their foreign missionary work in Ore
gon closed.
In the meantime large immigrations came every year, be
ginning with 1843, and the Willamette Valley was rapidly fill
ing up. In 1843 a provisional government had been formed,
to provide for the government of the people until the United
States should extend its jurisdiction over the country. In
1846 the treaty had been made with England, which settled
the boundary line between the two nations, though the provis
ional government was not superseded by the regular territorial
government until 1849, owing to the slow action of Congress.

CHAPTER VI.

NATIONAL WORK.

As the subject of the national bearings of Dr. Whitman's
work has been discussed more than any other with which he
was concerned, and even more widely than any other historical
subject on the Pacific Coast, the treatment of it will be divided
into three parts : First, a statement concerning the early his
tory of Oregon and its political conditions in 1842; second, a
statement of what, in the author's opinion, the Doctor did ac
complish according to the evidence; third, a consideration of
six objections which have been raised to the claim that he went
East with a national object in view.
I. Oregon, as first known, included the country between
the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Rocky Mountains on the
east, the forty-second degree of north latitude, or the northern
boundary of California, on the south, and fifty-four degrees,
forty minutes, on the north. Its first discoverers belonged to
different nations. Juan De Fuca, a Greek pilot, is said to have
entered a large opening between the forty-seventh and forty-
eighth degrees of latitude in 1592, and to have spent twenty
days in exploring it. Some writers believe the story to be a
myth, but his name is forever fixed to a part of Puget Sound.
To rediscover this opening was the desire of the nations. Vis-
caino, a Spaniard, sailed north to forty-three degrees in 1602
and 1603. Juan Perez, another Spaniard, in 1774 and 1775
sailed to the fifty-eighth degree, seeing land at a few places.
About 1775 Heceta and Bodega, Spaniards, sailed to the forty-
eighth degree, probably also discovering the mouth of the Co
lumbia River, but not entering it. Captain James Cook, an
Englishman, discovered Cape Flattery in 1778. La Perouse,
a Frenchman, made further discoveries in 1786.
Portlock and Dixon, Englishmen, were at Queen Char
lotte's Island in 1787. The next year Duncan and Colnett,

144 Marcus Whitman
Englishmen, made further discoveries in the same region. In
1787 Captain Berkely, an Englishman, rediscovered the Straits
of Juan De Fuca, though he did not explore the passage.
Lieutenant Meares, another Englishman, but sailing under the
Portuguese flag, in 1788 bought some land of the Indians at
Nootka Sound, where he says he raised the British flag. He
also saw the Straits of Fuca. In 1792 Captain Robert Gray,
an American, discovered the Columbia River, which he named
after his vessel, entering its mouth. The same year Vancou
ver, an Englishman, explored Puget Sound thoroughly, and
after Gray's discovery of the Columbia entered it, proceeded
some distance up the river, and took possession of it in the
name of England. Russia, too, coming from Asia by way of
Bering Straits had made some discoveries, just when is a lit
tle uncertain, but by means of them she claimed the country
between Bering Strait and the mouth of the Columbia.
Two prominent overland journeys were also made; one by
Alexander Mackenzie, a subject of Great Britain, who reached
the Pacific Coast, between latitude fifty-two and fifty-three, in
1793; and the other under the direction of President Jeffer
son, by Lewis and Clark, who reached the mouth of the Co
lumbia in 1805.
This practically completed the period of exploration, in
which the Spanish, Russians, English and Americans had the
main share, while the French had a small part. They, how
ever, under De Soto, had discovered the Mississippi River,
and, according to some writers, claimed not only all the coun
try drained by its branches to the Rocky Mountains, but by
contiguity still further west to the Pacific Ocean. Others deny
this, and it matters but little, because in 1803 the United
States bought of France Louisiana and all the rights of the
French on the continent in connection with the discovery of
the Mississippi.
The next period was that of the fur hunters, although some
of the vessels already mentioned had visited the coast far more
for furs than for discovery. The first of these was the North
west Company of Montreal. Simon Frazier, of that Company,
built a fort on Frazier's Lake, in about fifty-four degrees,
north latitude. In 1809 William Weir and nine others, Amer-

National Work 1 45
icans, crossed the Eocky Mountains, trapped down the Co
lumbia, and wintered on its lower waters. The Missouri
Fur Company made the first American settlement west of the
Eockies in 1809, establishing Fort Henry on the headwaters
of Snake Eiver [It was abandoned in 1810 because of the
hostility of the Indians] . In 1810 Captain Jonathan Winship
sent a vessel around Cape Horn and established a post on the
south side of the Columbia near its mouth, but it was flooded
by the June freshet of the Columbia and abandoned. In 1811
John Jacob Astor built Astoria, intending it to be the head
quarters on the Pacific Coast of the Pacific Fur Company, a
very great enterprise, but on account of the war of 1812 be
tween England and the United States, it passed into the hands
of the Northwest Company of Montreal, which from 1813 to
1821 reigned supreme in Oregon. It is said that Astor's com
pany lost a million dollars in this enterprise.
Thus both Great Britain and the United States had strong
claims to the country. An attempt was made in 1818 to settle
the question of ownership by treaty between them, but it was
impossible to do so, and it was agreed that for ten years the
country should be open to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of
the two powers. It being no more possible to settle the ques
tion ten years later, it was agreed to continue the same arrange
ment indefinitely, either party being at liberty to withdraw
from it by giving twelve months' notice. This is known as
the period of "Joint Occupancy." Spain, too, had some strong
claims, but in 1819 the United States bought from her Florida
and also all of her rights on the Pacific Coast north of Cali
fornia, thus eliminating her from the contest. Eussia, al
though in 1821 she had by public decree claimed all the coun
try as far south as forty-five degrees and fifty minutes, yet be
cause of strong protestations both by the United States and
Great Britain in 1824, withdrew them so far as to claim noth
ing south of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes. The contest
for possession was accordingly narrowed down to Great Brit
ain and the United States.
When the treaty of 1818 was made, the Northwest Company
had virtually complete possession. About that time trouble
arose between it and the Hudson's Bay Company which re-

146 Marcus Whitman
suited in bloodshed in Manitoba. The British government set
tled the trouble by consolidating the two companies in 1821,
under the name of the Hudson's Bay Company. From that
time for about twenty years it reigned supreme in Oregon,
although Americans made several attempts to gain a foothold.
In 1821 the brig Owyhee and schooner Convoy, owned in Bos
ton, entered the mouth of the Columbia to trade with the In
dians, and returned the next year.
The Eocky Mountain Fur Company was composed of Will
iam Sublette, David Jackson and Jedediah S. Smith. The
latter crossed the Continent into California in 1827, and at
tempted to come north into Oregon, but was attacked in the
Eogue Eiver Valley by the Indians. He lost all his furs, and
all but Smith and three others were killed. They found their
way to Vancouver. Dr. McLoughlin obtained from the In
dians some of the furs, which he bought of Smith, but the
Eocky Mountain Company retired from the field.
The North American Fur Company was formed by Astor,
after the failure of his enterprise at Astoria, for trade east
of the Eockies. Usually it kept on its side, but agreed with
the Hudson's Bay Company to meet their traders and the In
dians for trade at some rendezvous in the Eocky Mountains
each summer, after which each company retired to its own side.
After a time its traders crossed the mountains, but never dared
lo go very far, and never built any post west of them.
Major Pilcher in 1828 conducted a private enterprise with
forty-five men on Snake Eiver and Flathead Lake, going to
Fort Colville, and then returning East. His party were all
cut off except himself and two men, and it is said that his furs
were taken by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Ewing Young in 1829 led the next band of American trap
pers into the field of the Hudson's Bay Company. He went
mainly into Northern California, where the Company had by
this time gone, and into Southeastern Oregon. He afterwards
gave up the business, returned to Oregon, and settled in the
Willamette Valley, dying there in 1840.
Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, of the United States Army,
in 1832 obtained leave of absence for two years to explore
Oregon and the Eocky Mountains. He came as far as Walla

National Work 147
Walla, but owing to the competition of the Hudson's Bay
Company his enterprise was financially a failure.1
Captain N. J. Wyeth in 1832 crossed the Continent with
a view to trading in furs and canning salmon on the Lower
Columbia. He sent a ship around the Horn, but it was lost
on the way, and the enterprise proved a failure for that year.
He returned East, and in 1834 sent another vessel around
the Horn, the May Dacre, while he crossed the Continent,
starting with seventy men. He built Fort Hall, and then came
to the mouth of the Columbia, where he met his vessel, and
built Fort William on Sauvie's Island. Fort Hall was fairly
in the country of the Hudson's Bay Company, and they built
Fort Boise, where they undersold him. His enterprise on
Sauvie's Island also proved a failure, and he found himself
obliged to sell out to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1837. He
himself returned East in 1836, having lost a fortune of about
thirty thousand dollars. This was practically the end of the
American fur trade west of the Eocky Mountains.2
One more enterprise ought, however, to be mentioned. In
1827 Hall J. Kelley, a school teacher in Boston, who had be
come much interested in Oregon, presented a petition to Con
gress, asking for a grant of land for an association of emi
grants. But Congress felt that the United States had not
fully acquired Oregon and consequently could grant no title
to any land in it. He then obtained a charter for an emi
gration company from the Legislature of Massachusetts in
1830-31. He started with a small party by way of Mexico and
California. His party deserted him, but still he kept on, and
having met Ewing Young, to whom reference has already been
made, they came together to Oregon in 1834. He was then
sick, and was sent home by Dr. McLoughlin by way of the
Sandwich Islands. After that he worked for Oregon in the
way of lectures and with Congress, but his efforts for a colony
were fruitless, although he scattered much information about
the country which in after years bore good fruit. He never
returned to Oregon.
1 "Bonneville's Adventures," by Washington Irving.
2 "Wyeth's Journals," by Oregon Historical Society

148 Marcus Whitman
Thus, between 1808 and 1838 the Americans made twelve
efforts, either individually or in companies, to trade with the
Indians on the Northwest Coast, or to settle in it, and all
proved failures. By 1834, when the first missionaries came
to the country, there remained between latitudes 42 and 54 of
all those who had been in it not more than fifteen persons
whose presence was not attributable to the Hudson's Bay
Company, and hardly one-half of these remained permanently
in the country. They were mostly free trappers, adventurers,
mountain men, sailors, and persons connected with Wyeth's
first expedition. Several of them were married to native
women. Even early in 1836 when Captain Wyeth left the
country, there were only three more permanent residents, all
of whom belonged to Wyeth's party, exclusive of the four
Methodist missionaries, and not an American white woman
was among them. This was a poor showing for peopling the
country with Americans, when hundreds had entered it, and
hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent by Americans
in trying to build up a business in it.
The Hudson's Bay Company had thus made joint occupancy
to mean occupancy by themselves, and they intended if possible
to have it continue. They did this both as loyal British sub
jects, and because, as Chief Factor McDonald, of Fort Colville,
said to Dr. Cushing Eells, if England should obtain it, it
would be made over to the Hudson's Bay Company as a fur
producing country. Mr. McDonald expected that England
would obtain it, and in the hearing of Dr. Eells asked the
question: "Who fifty years hence will compose the inhabi
tants of the country ?" and then himself answered the question
by saying, substantially, "The descendants of the Hudson's
Bay Company." Dr. Whitman said with reference to the same
class (of mixed blood) : "Fifty years hence they will not be
found."1 For this reason Dr. McLoughlin, ruler of the Hud
son's Bay Company on this coast, placed all the American mis
sionaries either south or east of the Columbia, for while he
had strong hopes that Great Britain would obtain all of Ore
gon, he believed that she would certainly retain all north of
1 "Missionary Herald," December, 1866, pp. 370-371.

National Work 149
that river, and he did not wish any Americans north of it.
When the Bishop of Juliopolis wrote to Sir George Simpson,
asking that two Catholic priests might go under the protection
of the Hudson's Bay Company to Oregon, he replied, Febru
ary 17, 1838 : "When the Bishop first mentioned this subject,
his view was to form a mission on the banks of the Willamette,
a river falling into the Columbia from the south. To the
establishing of a mission there the Governor and Committee
in London and the Councils in Hudson's Bay had a decided
objection, as the sovereignty of that country is still undecided ;
but I last summer intimated to the Bishop that if he would
establish the mission on the banks of the Cowlitz Eiver, or
on the Cowlitz Portage, falling into the Columbia from the
northward, and giving his assurance that the missionaries
would not locate themselves on the south side of the Columbia
Eiver, but would form their establishment where the Com
pany's representatives might point out as the most eligible
situation on the north side, I should recommend to the Gov
ernor and Committee to afford a passage to the priests, and
such facilities towards the successful accomplishment of the
object in view as would not involve any great inconvenience
or expense to the Company's service."
The Bishop yielded to these suggestions, and Governor
Simpson added that the Company would assist them. It did
so.1 The Company knew the value of the country, its resources
of timber, agriculture, fish, minerals and the like, though they
made special effort to produce the impression that it was of
little value. In their business of collecting furs they had an
opportunity to travel its whole length and breadth and see its
value. Previous to 1843 Mrs. McDonald, wife of the Chief
Factor at Fort Colville, had a collection of mineral specimens,
a part of which she presented to Mrs. Eells. In 1843 employes
of that Company told Charles A. Geyer, a German botanist,
who was traveling with them, that they knew that precious
metals existed in a certain place from actual investigation. In
fact gold had been taken from near the Columbia Eiver, sent
1 "History of the Catholic Church in Oregon," p. 24.

150 Marcus Whitman
to England, made into a watch seal, brought back, and worn
by a gentleman connected with the Company. Still, special
effort was made to produce the impression that the country
was of little value.
When the Company saw that the Americans were beginning
to come into the country in considerable numbers, they brought
in 1841 a colony of about eighty persons from the Eed Eiver
settlement of Manitoba, whom they at first settled near the
waters of Puget Sound, so as to counteract American settlers.
But they intended, if possible, to hold all of Oregon. In 1841-2
Sir George Simpson, Governor-General of the Company, made
a tour around the world. In his book about it he discusses
the question of the possession of the country quite fully. He
says: "The United States will never possess more than a
nominal jurisdiction, nor long possess even that, on the west
side of the Eocky Mountains; and supposing the country to
be divided tomorrow to the entire satisfaction of the most un
scrupulous patriot in the Union, I challenge conquest to bring
my prediction and its own power to the test, by imposing the
Atlantic tariff on the parts of the Pacific."
After discussing the question a little further to the detri
ment of the claims of the United States, and showing its de
fects, he concludes by saying: "On behalf of England direct
arguments are superfluous, for until some other power puts a
good title on paper, actual possession must be held of itself
conclusive in her favor."1
This powerful Company not only had virtual possession,
but determined to continue in the possession, even if it should
cost them a hundred thousand pounds sterling. As early as
1827, when the renewal of the treaty of 1818 was under con
sideration, England had said: "In the interior of the terri
tory in question the subjects of Great Britain have had for
many years numerous settlements and trading posts, several
of these posts on the tributary streams of the Columbia, sev
eral upon the Columbia itself, some to the northward, and
others to the southward of that river. And they navigate the
Columbia as the sole channel for the conveyance of their pro-
1 Simpson's "Journey Around the World," pp. 151-152.

National Work 1 5 1
duce to the British stations, nearest the sea, and for the ship
ment of it from thence to Great Britain. It is also by the
Columbia and its tributary streams that these posts and settle
ments receive their annual supplies from Great Britain. In
the whole territory in question the citizens of the United
States have not a single settlement or trading post. They do
not^use that river either for the purpose of transmitting or re
ceiving any produce of their own, to or from other parts of
the world."1
At the same time, according to Greenhow, they "claimed
and received the aid and consideration of government for their
energy and success in expelling the Americans from the Co
lumbia regions, and forming settlements there by means of
which they were rapidly converting Oregon into a British
Colony."2 After a treaty continuing "Joint Occupancy" had been re
newed indefinitely from 1828, occasional references were made
in official circles to the subject.
In August, 1831, Edward Livingston, Secretary of State,
instructed Martin Van Buren, our minister at London, to open
discussion at the Court of St. James with the view of settling
the Oregon question. Nothing of importance, however, was
done. On February 7, 1838, Senator Linn, of Missouri, introduced
a bill into the United States Senate to authorize the occupation
of the Columbia or Oregon Territory, building a fort, occupy
ing the country with the military force of the United States,
and extending the revenue laws over the territory, but the bill
did not pass. In March of the same year Eev. Jason Lee and
P. L. Edwards prepared a memorial to Congress which was
signed by J. L. Whitcomb and thirty-five others, and carried
to Washington by Mr. Lee of the Methodist Mission. This
spoke of the advantages of the country and asked our Govern
ment to take formal and speedy possession of Oregon. This
was supplemented in January, 1839, by a letter from Mr. Lee
to Hon. Caleb Cushing, pressing the subject still further.
1 Greenhow's "Oregon and California," p. 454.
2 Barrows' "Oregon," p. 67.

152 Marcus Whitman
Again, in 1839, Eev. D. Leslie and about seventy others
sent to Congress another memorial from Oregon, asking for
the formation of a territorial government for Oregon. In
1840 two memorials from Ohio and one from Kentucky were
sent to Congress on the same subject. Two of these, one
from Ohio, and the one from Kentucky, asked for grants of
land, and the other that the laws of the United States might
be extended over Oregon. In March, 1840, Mr. Linn intro
duced further resolutions asking the government to settle the
Oregon boundaries, establish a line of military posts from Fort
Leavenworth to the Eocky Mountains, grant a thousand acres
of land to every white male inhabitant of Oregon over eighteen
years of age, and appoint an Indian Agent.1
In December, 1841, President Tyler in his first annual mes
sage recommended the establishment of a line of military posts
from Council Bluffs to the Pacific Ocean.2
But nothing was done for two reasons: Southern people
were afraid on account of the slavery question, for the acqui
sition of Oregon would probably add more territory to the non-
slaveholding North; and some Northern persons were afraid
that it would cause unfriendly relations between the United
States and Great Britain.
In the meantime some efforts were made in the Willamette
Valley looking towards the organization of a provisional gov
ernment for Oregon ; that is, a government which should last
until the United States should extend her jurisdiction over
the region. The first effort was in February, 1841, owing
to the death of Ewing Young, with a large estate and no known
heirs. For several reasons the effort failed. The next year
the subject was revived, but by that time the Government had
done one thing which led the people to hope that the desired
action by Congress was about to be taken. This was the send
ing out of Dr. Elijah White as Sub-Indian Agent. Dr. White
had come to Oregon in 1837 as a physician of the Methodist
Mission. He remained until 1841, when he resigned and re
turned East, and was then appointed by the Government in the
1 Brown's "Political History of Oregon," vol. 1, pp. 54-61.
2 "Messages and Papers of the Presidents," vol. 4, p. 87.

National Work 153
above mentioned capacity.1 Commodore Wilkes, then in the
Columbia Eiver with his vessels, also advised that nothing be
done. The next year, 1843, after Dr. Whitman had gone East, and
before his return, this provisional government was organized.
It continued in operation until 1849, when the United States
assumed complete control.
Such was the condition of the country in 1842 before Dr.
Whitman went East. He had not been long on the Coast be
fore he gained quite correct ideas of the situation. It became
clear to him that the Hudson's Bay Company were using their
utmost endeavors to obtain the country for England, so that it
might be made over to them for their own use. He had
learned, too, of its value and resources, having then traveled
over a considerable part of it, both east and west of the Cas
cade Mountains, and he had met many persons, Americans as
well as British subjects, who had been over parts where he
had not been. He wrote Eev. Mr. Walker several times about
it. One expression was as follows : "This country will soon
be settled by the whites; it belongs to the Americans; it is
.-a great and rich country; what a country this would be for
the Yankees; why not tell them about it?"2
Says Hon. A. L. Lovejoy, who went East with him: "My
party camped some two miles below Dr. Whitman's place. The
•day after our arrival, Dr. Whitman called at our camp, and
asked me to accompany him to his house, as he wished me to
draw up a memorial to Congress to prohibit the sale of ardent
spirits in this country. The Doctor was alive to the interests
of this coast, and manifested a very warm desire to have it
properly presented at Washington." '
Eev. H. K. W. Perkins, a missionary of the Methodists at
'The Dalles in the early forties, wrote in 1849: "He (Dr.
Whitman) looked upon them (the Indians) as doomed at no
•distant day to give place to a settlement of enterprising Amer
icans. With an eye to this, he laid his plans and acted. His
1 Brown's "Political History of Oregon," vol. 1, pp. 82-88, and
lEells' "Indian Missions," pp. 187-189.
2 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 11.
* "Life of Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D. D.," p. 272.

154 Marcus Whitman
American feelings, even while engaged in his missionary toils,
were suffered to predominate. He wanted to see the country
settled. . . . With his eye bent on this he was willing,
meantime, to do what he could for the poor, weak, feeble,
doomed Oregonians" (Indians).1
He felt strongly on the subject. At the time his missionary
associates thought that he was disturbed to an unwarranted
degree, but afterwards they acknowledged that he was right.2
For many years the eastern boundary question, especially
between Maine and British America, had been a source of con
stant trouble. It had never been settled since the United
States had become a nation. In December, 1841, the British
Government determined to send Lord Ashburton to the United
States, with full power to settle this question and all other
subjects in controversy between the two governments. This
included the Oregon question. Lord Ashburton arrived at
Washington April 4, 1842, and on the eleventh Governor Fair
field of Maine was notified of his arrival and its object. The
Maine boundary was settled by the treaty made by Lord Ash
burton and Daniel Webster, then Secretary of the United
States, signed on August 9, 1842. The Oregon question came
up for consideration, but nothing was done about it. In re
gard to it, President Tyler, in a special message to the Senate,
August 11, 1842 (written by Mr. Webster), said: "After sun
dry informal communications with the British Minister on the
subject of the claims of the two countries to territory west
of the Eocky Mountains, so little probability was found to
exist of coming to any agreement on that subject at present
that it was not thought expedient to make it one of the subjects
of formal negotiation, to be entered upon between the govern
ment and the British minister, as part of his duties under his
special mission." *
1 "Oregonian," November 21, 1895.
'"Missionary Herald," 1866, pp. 371, 372, and Eells' "Whitman
Pamphlet," p. 11.
8 "Webster's Works," vol. 6, pp. 270, 272, 273, 351, and "Messages
and Papers of the Presidents," p. 166.

National Work 155
The pressing of this subject at this time, it was feared,
would have endangered the other questions, believed to be
more important. The treaty was confirmed the same month.
II. What Dr. Whitman did.
On May 16, 1842, the emigration of that year left Inde
pendence, Missouri, for Oregon. This had been for many years
the place of rendezvous for the emigrants before making their
regular start across the Continent. The start was made forty-
two days after Lord Ashburton's arrival at Washington. In
this emigration were a hundred and twelve persons, among
whom were A. L. Lovejoy, Medorem Crawford and Dr. E.
White, the newly appointed Indian Agent for Oregon. The
two latter kept journals of this trip which have been published.
Mr. Crawford arrived at Dr. Whitman's September 14, but Dr.
White several days earlier, having left the main party August
23rd [They left their wagons at Fort Hall]. They brought
letters for Dr. Whitman and news about Oregon and Lord
Ashburton. Some of the letters had reference to the discon
tinuance of the southern stations of the mission, which has
already been treated of in the last chapter. These emigrants
gave Dr. Whitman information about the danger of the United
States losing Oregon. This aroused him still more. He called
a meeting of the mission to discuss various subjects, the most
important one being that a purpose of his to go East imme
diately to do what he could to save Oregon to the United
States be approved. The meeting was held September 26-28,
and although Messrs. Walker and Eells thoroughly disap
proved of it, yet when they found how earnest he was, and
that he was determined to go, even if he had to resign his
connection with the mission to do so, they voted in favor of
it, as did all the rest. The time set for his departure was
October fifth, and letters were to be prepared and forwarded
to him to carry East accordingly. For some reason he started
two days earlier, and when the letters of Messrs. Walker and
Eells reached his station, he was already two days on the
way. Mr. Lovejoy, under date of February 14, 1876, furnished

156 Marcus Whitman
the following graphic description of the sufferings endured
during this journey ?
"We left Waiilatpu October 3, 1842, traveled rapidly,
reached Fort Hall in eleven days, remained two days to re
cruit and make a few purchases. The Doctor engaged a guide,
and we left for Fort Winte. We changed from a direct route
to one more southern, through the Spanish country, via Salt
Lake, Taos and Santa Fe. On our way from Fort Hall to
Fort Winte we had terribly severe weather. The snows re
tarded our progress and blinded the trail, so we lost much
time. After arriving at Fort Winte, and making some pur
chases for our trip, we took a new guide and started for Fort
Uncumpagra, situated on the waters of Grand Eiver, in the
Spanish country. Here our stay was very short. We took a
new guide and started for Taos. After being out some four
or five days we encountered a terrific snow storm, which forced
us to seek shelter in a deep ravine, where we remained snowed
in for four days, at which time the storm had somewhat
abated, and we attempted to make our way out upon the high
lands, but the snow was so deep and the winds so piercing and
cold, we were compelled to return to camp and wait a few
days for a change of weather. Our next effort to reach the
highlands was more successful; but, after spending several
days wandering around in the snow, without making much
headway, our guide told us that the deep snow had so changed
the face of the country that he was completely lost and could
take us no further. This was a terrible blow to the Doctor,
but he was determined not to give it up without another effort.
We at once agreed that the Doctor should take the guide
and return to Fort Uncumpagra and get a new guide, and I
remain in camp with the animals until he could return, which
he did in seven days with our new guide, and we were now
on our route again. Nothing of much import occurred but
1 This letter was written to Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D.D., and was
first published in an address of his delivered before "The Pioneer and
Historical Society of Oregon," Feb. 22, 1876. It appears in the
"Biography of Dr. Atkinson," p. 272. A very similar one to W. H.
Gray is found in Gray's "History of Oregon," p.' 324, dated Novem-
ber 6, 1869.

LOST IN THE SNOW

National Work 157
hard and slow traveling through deep snow until we reached
Grand Eiver, which was frozen on either side about one-third
across. Although so intensely cold, the current was so very
rapid that about one-third of the river in the center was not
frozen. Our guide thought it would be dangerous to attempt
to cross the river in its present condition, but the Doctor, noth
ing daunted, was the first to take the water. He mounted his
horse; the guide and myself shoved the Doctor and his horse
off the ice into the foaming stream. Away he went, com
pletely under water, horse and all, but directly came up, and
after buffeting the rapid foaming current, he reached the ice
on the opposite shore a long way down the stream. He leaped
from his horse upon the ice and soon had his noble animal by
his side. The guide and myself forced in the pack animals,
and followed the Doctor's example, and were soon on the op
posite shore, drying our frozen clothes by a comfortable fire.
We reached Taos in about thirty days, having suffered greatly
from cold and scarcity of provisions. We were compelled to
use mule meat, dogs and such other animals as came in our
reach. We remained at Taos a few days only, and started for
Bent's and Savery's Fort, on the head waters of the Arkansas
Eiver. When we had been out some fifteen or twenty days
we met George Bent, a brother of Governor Bent, on his way
to Taos. He told us that a party of mountain men would leave
Bent's Fort in a few days for St. Louis, but said we would not
reach the fort with our pack animals in time to join the party.
The Doctor, being very anxious to join the party so he could
push on as rapidly as possible to Washington, concluded to
leave myself and guide with the animals, and he himself, tak
ing the best animal, with some bedding and a small allowance
of provision, started alone, hoping by rapid travel to reach the
fort in time to join the St. Louis party, but to do so he would
have to travel on the Sabbath, something we had not done
before. Myself and guide traveled on slowly and reached the
fort in four days, but imagine our astonishment when on mak
ing inquiry about the Doctor we were told that he had not ar
rived nor had he been heard of. I learned that the party for
St. Louis was camped at the Big Cottonwood, forty miles from
the fort, and at my request Mr. Savery sent an express, tell-

158 Marcus Whitman
ing the party not to proceed any further until we learned
something of Dr. Whitman's whereabouts, as he wished to ac
company them to St. Louis. Being furnished by the gentle
man of the fort with a suitable guide, I started in search of
the Doctor, and traveled up the river about one hundred miles.
I learned from the Indians that a man had been there who
was lost and was trying to find Bent's Fort. They said they
had directed him to go down the river and how to find the
fort. I knew from their description it was the Doctor. I
returned to the fort as rapidly as possible, but the Doctor had
not arrived. We had all become very anxious about him.
"Late in the afternoon he came in very much fatigued and
desponding; said that he knew that God had bewildered him
to punish him for traveling on the Sabbath. During the whole
trip he was very regular in his morning and evening devotions,
and that was the only time I ever knew him to travel on the
Sabbath. "The Doctor remained all night at the fort, starting early
on the following morning to join the St. Louis party. Here
we parted. The Doctor proceeded to Washington. I re
mained at Bent's Fort until spring, and joined the Doctor the
following July near Fort Laramie, on his way to Oregon, in
company with a train of emigrants."
When they reached Fort Hall Captain Grant, desirous to
prevent the Doctor from going, told him a falsehood, that a
war had broken out between the Pawnees and Cheyennes, and
that it was not safe for him to proceed. But this did not stop
the Doctor, though he took a route far to the south through
New Mexico; but it was evidently his salvation, for because
of the great depth of snow which fell that winter and the extra
severe cold, the party would probably have perished had they
taken the usual route.
The width of the Grand Eiver where they crossed it was
about six hundred feet, making two hundred feet of ice on
each side. General Lovejoy afterwards told Colonel J. K.
Kelley, who was at one time United States Senator from Ore
gon, that when "they were penned in that dreadful ravine, they
one evening saw a camp fire on the bluffs above, and Whitman
made his way up the steep bank to learn if they were savages

National Work 1 59
or white men. He had reached where a fallen tree protected
him from their view, and soon saw that they were whites,
though they used the Spanish language. They were surprised
when he appeared, and seized their guns, but when they real
ized his being a white man, greeted him cordially, and sent some
down to assist his friends up there with their animals. They
were a company from Taos, New Mexico, who had hunted
buffalo. They had abundance of jerked meat, fed them bounti
fully, treated them kindly, and took them to Taos. It was a
friendly procedure."1
On account of the loss of valuable time provisions became
short. A dog that had followed them was eaten; a mule
came next, presumably not fat, after its journey, but it lasted
them to Santa Fe. When they came to one of the tributaries
of the Arkansas Eiver it was frozen over, but with ice hardly
thick enough to bear a man, and the firewood was all across the
river. Wood they must have ; so the Doctor took the ax and
wormed himself across the stream. Having obtained plenty
of wood he skated it back and returned it safety; but unfor
tunately split the ax-helve. It was tied up with a piece of
fresh deer skin, but as it lay at the edge of the tent that night
a hungry wolf, wishing for the piece of deer skin, stole it and
also the ax. Had this occurred a thousand miles back, there
is no telling what might have been the result, for an ax was
one of the most necessary articles of camping.2
When Dr. Whitman arrived at St. Louis he made his home
at the house of Dr. Edward Hale, a dentist. In the same
house was William Barrows, then a young school teacher, af
terward a clergyman and author of Barrows' Oregon.
Beaching Cincinnati, he went to the house of Dr. Weed.8
Here, according to Prof. Weed,* he obtained a new suit of
clothes, but whether he wore them all the time until he left
1 "Pioneer Days of Oregon History," by S. A. Clarke.
2 "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon," by O. W. Nixon, pp.
117, 118.
3 The father of Professor George L. Weed, who has written two
articles about him, one in the "Philadelphia Public Ledger" of May 25,
1895, and the other in the "Ladies' Home Journal" of November, 1897.
4 Barrows' "Oregon," Chapter 18.

1 60 Marcus Whitman
the East or not is a question. Some writers speak of him as
appearing in his buckskins, or something akin to them, after
wards both at Washington and Boston. Some, as Dr. S. J.
Parker, say he was not so dijessed. It is just barely possible
that both may be true — that he kept his buckskins and buffalo
coat and occasionally wore them. It is quite certain that he
did not throw them away, as according to accounts he wore
his buckskins in returning to Oregon the next summer.1
The next visit on record was at Ithaca, New York, at the
home of his old missionary friend and fellow traveler, Eev.
Samuel Parker. Here after the surprise of his arrival was
over, he said to Mr. Parker : "I have come on a very important
errand. We must both go at once to Washington, or Oregon
is lost, ceded to the English." Mr. Parker, however, did not
think the danger to be so great, and not for lack of interest in
the subject, but because of other reasons, did not go. Dr.
Whitman went alone, and reached Washington.2
The Doctor, or his brother, had been a classmate of the
Secretary of War, James M. Porter. Through him the Doctor
obtained an introduction to Daniel Webster, then Secretary
of State, with whom he talked about Oregon and the saving of
it to the United States, but Mr. Webster received him very
coolly, and told him it was too late, as far as he was concerned,
for he had considered it, decided it, and turned it over to the
President, who could sign Oregon away or refuse to do so.
Accordingly Dr. Whitman went to President Tyler, and for
some time they talked about Oregon. Even the Cabinet were
called together, it is said, and an evening was spent on the sub
ject. The objection was made that wagons could never be
taken to Oregon and that consequently the country could never
be peopled overland by emigrants, while the distance around
Cape Horn was altogether too great to think of taking settlers
to the country in that way. In reply to this, Dr. Whitman
told of the great value of the country and of his plans to lead
an emigration through with their wagons the next summer.
He stated that he had taken a wagon into Oregon six years
"Barrows' "Oregon," pp. 174-177.
2 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 15.

National Work 161
before to Fort Boise, that others had taken one from Fort Hall
to Walla Walla, and that with his present knowledge, having
been over the route twice, he was sure he could take the emi
grant wagons through to the Columbia. The President then
said that he would wait, before carrying the negotiations any
further, until he could hear whether Dr. Whitman should suc
ceed, and if he should there would be no more thought of trad
ing off Oregon. This satisfied the Doctor.
He then went to New York to see Mr. Horace Greeley, who
was known to be a friend of Oregon. He went there dressed
in his rough clothes, much the same that he wore across the
Continent. When he knocked at the door a lady came, Mrs.
Greeley or a daughter, who, on seeing such a rough-looking
person, said to his inquiries for Mr. Greeley, "Not at home."
Dr. Whitman started away. She went and told Mr. Greeley
about him, and Mr. Greeley, who was of much the same style
and cared but little for appearances, looked out of the window,
and seeing him going away, said to call him in. It was done,
and they had a long talk about this Northwest Coast and its
political relations.1
From New York Dr. Whitman went to Boston, where the
officers of the American Board at first received him coldly, be
cause he had left his station for the East without permission
from them, on business so foreign to that which he had been
sent to Oregon to accomplish. Afterwards, however, they
treated him more cordially.
From Boston he went to New York State and visited rela
tives. Then taking with him his nephew, Perrin B. Whitman,
he bade them good-bye and left for Missouri. While there he
did all he could to induce people to join the emigration for Ore
gon, then went with the emigration, assisting the guide, Cap
tain Gantt, until they reached Fort Hall, and aiding the emi
grants very materially. Fort Hall was as far as Captain
Gantt had agreed to guide them, and from that place Dr. Whit
man guided them or furnished an Indian guide, so that the
emigrants reached the Columbia Eiver safely with their wagons.
'Testimony of Hon. A. Hinman, Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet,"
p. 14.

162 Marcus Whitman
"Over the hills rode Whitman,
Scaled the snow-capped mountain wall,
Over the pathless plains in winter,
Boldest rider of them all.
Down deep ravines, in canyons hoary,
Over roaring, rapid streams,
Through savage lands, with murder gory,
The eye of the statesman gleams ;
For he sees far off in the future
For his own fair country won,
The wonderful vales and hills and dales,
Of bounteous Oregon.
Over the hills rode Whitman,
Bearing an empire's fate,
From sea to sea on his good gray steed,
A courier that could not wait —
Far away to the west was a fairer land
Than Moses beheld of old,
A land of fruits and evergreen hills,
Where the gray Columbia rolled.
Over the hills rode Whitman,
And into the halls of State,
Where Webster sat with kingly men
Engaged in high debate.
There in the nation's Congress
Our missionary won
The rich veined hills and laughing rills
Of bounteous Oregon."1
'Mrs. E. E. Dye, in October, 1891.

CHAPTEE VII.

NATIONAL WORK. OBJECTIONS.

Six objections have been made to the statements in the last
chapter in regard to what Dr. Whitman did. It has been
said that he did not go East with any national object in view,
or even to Washington; that he did not do anything to save
Oregon or any part. of it to the United States; that at that
time it was impossible for him or any one to have done so, as
there was no danger of Oregon being lost;" that the whole
story was an immense afterthought, gotten up for some special
purpose ; that he did nothing worthy of mention to induce the
immigration of 1843 to start ; and that he likewise did nothing
worth speaking of to enable it to reach the Columbia Eiver.
These objections will now be considered, the first four in this
chapter and the remaining two in the next.
It is true that much of the evidence given is from memory
and written many years after the events occurred, but the
reason is that the objections were never made public until
thirty-five or forty years after Dr. Whitman went East. It
has been said that such evidence is not good when unaccom
panied with contemporary written documents, but to the au
thor this objection is of little weight. Members of the West
ern historical and pioneer societies know well that one great
object of these societies is to rescue from oblivion important
items of history, while the actors and witnesses are living, even
though they may be three score and ten or four score years
old, and though the events may have occurred forty to sixty
years previous. There are very many persons in the West
who have seen and helped to make important events of history,

164 Marcus Whitman
but who never had the advantage of a good education and to
whom writing is so great a task that they seldom write any
thing for publication. These historical societies are glad to
write down and publish the statements of such persons, even
if they are made two or three score years after the events oc
curred. 1. The first objection to be considered is that Dr. Whit
man, when he went East, went solely on missionary business,
to save his station and that of Mr. Spalding from being given
up, and to procure more laborers, but that he had no national
object in view, and that he did not even go to Washington.
(a) Dr. Cushing Eells arrived in Oregon in 1838, was one
of Dr. Whitman's co-laborers, was present at the meeting of
the Oregon mission which authorized the Doctor to go, and was
its clerk. He says in a statement, sworn before L. E. Kellogg,
a Notary Public in Spokane County, August 23, 1883: "Sep
tember, 1842, a letter written by Dr. Whitman, addressed to
Eev. Messrs. E. Walker and C. Eells at Tshimakain, reached
its destination, and was received by the persons to whom it
was written. By the contents of said letter, a meeting of the
Oregon Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions was invited to be held at Waiilatpu. The
object of said meeting, as stated in the letter named, was to
approve of a purpose formed by Dr. Whitman that he go East
on behalf of Oregon, as related to the United States. In the
judgment of Mr. Walker and myself that object was foreign
to our assigned work. With troubled thoughts we anticipated
the proposed meeting. On the following day, Wednesday, we
started, and on Saturday, P. M., camped on the Touchet, at
the ford near the Mullan bridge. We were pleased with the
prospect of enjoying a period of rest, reflection and prayer —
needful preparation for the antagonism of opposing ideas.
We never moved camp on the Lord's Day. On Monday, A. M.,
we arrived at Waiilatpu, and met the two resident families of
Messrs. Whitman and Gray. Eev. H. H. Spalding was there.
All the male members of the mission were thus together. In

National Work — Objections 165
the discussion the opinion of Mr. Walker and myself remained
unchanged. The purpose of Dr. Whitman was fixed. In his
estimation the saving of Oregon to the United States was of
paramount importance, and he would make the attempt to do
so, even if he had to withdraw from the mission in order to ac
complish his purpose. In reply to considerations intended to
hold Dr. Whitman to his assigned work, he said: 'I am not
expatriated by becoming a missionary.' The idea of his with
drawal could not be entertained, therefore to retain him in the
mission a vote to approve of his making the perilous endeavor
prevailed. He had a cherished object, for the accomplishment
of which he desired consultation with Eev. David Greene, secre
tary of correspondence with the mission at Boston, Mass., but
I have no recollection that it was named in the meeting. A
part of two days was spent in consultation. Eecord of the
date and acts of the meeting was made. The book containing
the same was in the keeping of the Whitman family. At the
time of their massacre, Nov. 29, 1847, it disappeared. The
fifth day of October following was designated as the day on
which Dr. Whitman would expect to start from Waiilatpu.
Accordingly letters, of which he was to be the bearer, were re
quired to be furnished him at his station in accordance there
with. Mr. Walker and myself returned to Tshimakain, pre
pared letters, and forwarded them seasonably to Waiilatpu.
By the return of the courier information was received that Dr.
Whitman started on the 3rd of October. It is possible that
transpirings at old Fort Walla Walla hastened his departure
two days.
"Soon after his return to this coast, Dr. Whitman said to
me he wished he could return East immediately, as he believed
he could accomplish more than he had done, as I understood
him to mean, to save this country to the United States. I
asked him why he could not go. He said, 'I cannot go without
seeing Mrs. Whitman.' She was then in the Willamette
Valley."

I 66 Marcus Whitman
This meeting was held September 26-28, according to Dr.
Eells' memory and Mr. Walker's journal of that time.1
(b) Mrs. Mary E. Walker came to Oregon at the same time
as Dr. Eells and was the wife of Eev. E. Walker. As it had
not been publicly denied at this time that Dr. Whitman went
East for national purposes, it was not possible to obtain the
evidence of Mr. Walker, because he died in 1877. Mrs. Walker
says: "Forest Grove, Oregon, June , '83.
Rev. M. Eells :
Sir — In answer to your inquiries about Dr. Whitman, I
will say that he went East in 1842, mainly to save the country
from falling into the hands of England, as he believed there
was great danger of it. He had written Mr. Walker several
times before about it. One expression I well remember he
"The following is from Mr. Walker's journal of September 28,
1842: "Then (some time after breakfast) the question was submitted
to us of the Doctor's going home, which we felt that it was of too
much importance to be decided in a moment, but finally came to the
conclusion that if he could put things at that station in such a state,
we would consent to his going, and with that left them and made a
start for home." At first it seems as if this contradicted Dr. Eells'
statement in regard to their having heard of this desire before leaving
their station, but it is not necessarily so. If either of the two wit
nesses were to arise today and say that the letters were received as
Dr. Eells states; that they went to Dr. Whitman's dreading all the
time to discuss the matter; that on arrival on Monday they had at
first heard nothing about his proposed trip East and hoped that the
project had been abandoned, and themselves had said nothing on the
subject, but that on Wednesday he spoke of it, we would believe
them. The writer has been through exactly similar experiences. No
one who knew Dr. Eells will believe that he either forgot or mis
stated purposely the above, as he was noted for his integrity and his
tenacious memory. Before Mr. Walker's journal had been searched,
the writer heard Dr. Eells trying to fix the date of the meeting. Hav
ing October 3rd as the date of Dr. Whitman's leaving, for a starting
point, he then counted backward the camping places of the trip and
what he did each day, until he had fixed September 26-28 as the date
of the meeting, exactly as recorded in Mr. Walker's journal, although
between thirty-five and forty years had intervened. Dr. Eells did
forget many things, but what he remembered he remembered very
correctly almost universally.

National Work — Objections 167
wrote, about as follows: 'This country will soon be settled
by the whites. It belongs to the Americans. It is a great
and rich country. What a country this would be for Yankees ?
Why not tell them of it.' He was determined to go East on
this business, even if he had to leave the mission to do so."1
[Rev. H. H. Spalding came to Oregon in 1836 with Dr.
Whitman. He died in 1874, before the controversy in regard
to Dr. Whitman arose, hence his statement with direct refer
ence to this subject was not obtained. In a general way,
however, he left a statement, but it is evidently so full of mis
takes that it will be considered separately in Chapter IX.]
(c) Hon. W. H. Gray came to Oregon in 1836 with Dr.
Whitman, and was connected with the mission from that time
until 1842. He says that the Doctor said to him, as he bade
him good-bye and mounted his horse to see what could be done
at Washington, "If the Board dismisses me, I will do what I
can to save my country." He also said, "My life is of but little
worth if I can save this country for the American people." 2
(d) William Geiger, M. D., lived at Forest Grove, Oregon,
a man of unquestioned integrity. In a statement sworn to be
fore S. Hughes, a Notary Public of that place, he says :
"Forest Grove, Oregon, June 5, 1883.
Rev. M. Eells :
Sir — In answer to your inquiries about Dr. M. Whitman I
will say that I came to this country in 1839, and was at Dr.
Whitman's request in charge of his station in 1842-3 while he
went East, and remained there after his return about three
weeks, and had many conversations with him on the object of
his going, after his return. I was there again in 1845 and 1846.
His main object in going East was to save the country to
the United States, as he believed there was great danger of its
falling into the hands of England. Incidentally he intended to
obtain more missionary help, and for this object I sent provis
ions to Fort Hall for them in 1843. The immigration of 1842,
especially Mr. A. L. Lovejoy, brought word that there was dan-
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 11.
2 Gray's "History of Oregon," p. 609.

1 68 Marcus Whitman
ger that the English would obtain Oregon, hence Dr. Whit
man went East." 1
(e) Hon. Alanson Hinman now lives at Forest Grove,
Oregon. He has been a member of the Oregon Legislature;
since 1854, one of the trustees of Pacific University, at Forest
Grove, and for twenty years President of the Board. His tes
timony is as follows: "Forest Grove, Oregon, June 8, 1883.
Rev. M. Eells :
Sir — In answer to your inquiries about Dr. Whitman, I
will say that I came to this coast in 1844, and remained that
winter at Walla Walla (then Waiilatpu) teaching school for
Dr. M. Whitman. About the next June (1845), I came to the
Willamette with Dr. Whitman. In 1847, at the time of his
massacre, I was temporarily in charge of the station at The
Dalles, with Mr. P. B. Whitman.
Dr. Whitman told me that he went East in 1842 with two
objects, one to assist the mission, the other to save the country
to the United States. I do not think he would have gone that
winter had it not been that the danger seemed to him very
great that the country would be obtained by England, but
would have deferred the journey until spring."
(f ) A. L. Lovejoy was Dr. Whitman's traveling companion
during his journey East in 1842-3. Afterwards he was several
times a member of the Oregon Legislature, President of its
Council (Senate), Attorney-General of the Territory, its Chief
Justice, Mayor of Oregon City, and a member of the convention
that formed the constitution of Oregon. Few of the pioneers
have done more for the State or have been more honored by it
than Mr. Lovejoy. He says that "The whole burden of Dr.
Whitman's speech during the long ride was to immediately
terminate the treaties of 1818 and 1828, and extend the laws
ot the United States over Oregon." 2
Says the editor of the Willamette Farmer: "Mrs. Lovejoy
assures us that he (Mr. Lovejoy) was aware of Whitman's aims
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 3.
"Paper by Miss M. S. Barlow, in "Oregon Pioneer Transactions,"
1895, p. 74.

A. L. LOVEJOY

National Work — Objections 169
and motives; knew that his great object in the journey was
to save Oregon from British rule, and gives him credit in great
part for accomplishing his patriotic intention."1
Again, after giving an account of his trip across the Conti
nent: "Here we parted (at Bent's Fort). The Doctor pro
ceeded to Washington. I remained at Bent's Fort until spring
and joined the Doctor the following July near Fort Laramie
on his way to Oregon, in company with a train of emigrants.
He often expressed himself to me about the remainder of his
journey, and the manner in which he was received at Washing
ton." 2
(g) Perrin B. Whitman came to Oregon in 1843 with his
uncle. He says, October 11, 1880 : "Dr. Whitman's trip East,
in the winter of 1842-43, was for the double purpose of bring
ing an immigration across the plains, and also to prevent,
if possible, the trading off of this Northwest Coast to the
British Government. . . . While crossing the plains I re
peatedly heard the Doctor express himself as being very anx
ious to succeed in opening a wagon road across the Continent
to the Columbia River, and thereby stay, if not entirely pre
vent, the trading of this Northwest Coast, then pending be
tween the United States and the British Government. In
after years the Doctor, with much pride and satisfaction, re
verted to his success in bringing the immigration across the
plains, and thought it one of the means of saving Oregon to
his government. I remained with him continuously till Au
gust, 1847, when he sent me to The Dalles." a
Again, "I heard him say repeatedly on the journey, and
after we reached his mission, Waiilatpu, that he went to the
States in the winter of 1842 and 1843 for the sole purpose of
bringing an immigration with wagons across the plains to Ore
gon." (h) Rev. William Barrows, D.D., afterwards author of
Barrows' Oregon, but then a school teacher in St. Louis, met
Dr. Whitman there. He says : "It was my good fortune that
'Seattle "Post-Intelligencer," Nov. 17, 1882.
2 "Biography of G. H. Atkinson," p. 274.
'"Weekly Astorian," Dec. 17, 1880, and Eells' "Whitman Pamph
let," p. 13.

1 70 Marcus Whitman
he should be quartered at St. Louis as a guest under the same
roof, and at the same table with myself. The announcement
of his arrival in the little city of twenty thousand, as it was
then, came as a surprise and novelty. In those times it was
a rare possibility for one to come up in mid-winter from Bent's
Fort or Santa Fe, much more from Fort Hall and the Colum
bia. The Rocky Mountain men, trappers and traders, the ad
venturers in New Mexico, and the contractors for our military
posts, the Indian men laying up vast fortunes, half from the
government and half from the poor Indian, gathered about Dr.
Whitman for fresh news from their places of interest. Those
who had friends on the plains or in the mountains or in Span
ish territory, sought opportunity to ply him with questions,
for none had come over since the river closed, or crossed the
frontier inward since the winter set in. What about furs
and peltries? How many buffalo robes would come down by
June on the spring rise of the Missouri? Were the Indian
goods at the posts in flush, or fair or scant supply? What
tribes were on the war path? What were the chances of
breaking Indian treaties, and for removals from old reserva
tions? Who seemed to have the inside favor with the Indian
Agents? What American fur traders had the Hudson's Bay
Company driven to the wall? What could he say of the last
emigrant company for Oregon in which one Amos Lawrence
Lovejoy went out? What had become of so and so, who were
in previous companies that broke up at Fort Hall ?
"But the Doctor was in great haste, and could not delay to
talk of beaver and Indian goods, and wars, and reservations,
and treaties. He had questions and not answers. Was the
Ashburton treaty concluded? Did it cover the Northwest?
Where and what and whose did it leave Oregon? He was
soon answered. Webster and Ashburton had signed that
treaty on the 9th of August preceding. On the 26th the Sen
ate had ratified it, and on the tenth of November President
Tyler had proclaimed it the law of the land. Then instantly
he had other questions for his St. Louis visitors. Was the
Oregon question under discussion in Congress? What opin
ions, projects or bills concerning it were being urged in Senate
and House? Would anything important be settled before the

National Work — Objections 1 71
approaching adjournment on the fourth of March? Could he
reach Washington before the adjournment? He must leave
at once, and he went.
"Marcus Wfiitman once seen, and in our family circle, tell
ing of his one business — he had but one — was a man not to be
forgotten by the writer. With all the warmth, and almost
burden, of skin and fur clothing, he bore the marks of the ir
resistible cold and merciless storms of his journey. His fin
gers, ears, nose, and feet had been frost-bitten, and were giving
him much trouble. Dr. Whitman was in St. Louis, midway be
tween Washington and Oregon, and carried business of weighty
import, that must not be delayed by private interests and cour
tesies. In the wilds and storms of the mountains he had fed
on mules and dogs, yet now sumptuous and complimentary
dinners had no attraction for him. He was happy to meet
men of the army and of commerce and fur, but he must hasten
on to see Daniel Webster. Exchanging saddle for stage — for
the river was closed by ice — he pressed on, and arrived at
Washington March 3rd."1
(i) Rev. Henry M. Field, D. D., afterwards for about
forty years editor of the New York Evangelist, was in 1842-3
pastor of a Presbyterian church in St. Louis. He says: "I
there met and welcomed Dr. Whitman, still bearing on his
person the marks of his fatigue and sufferings, and was one
of those who cheered him on his way to Washington, where
he made reports to government, based upon a personal knowl
edge of the country, of which hardly another man at the cap
ital knew anything."2
(j) Samuel J. Parker, M. D., was the son of the Rev.
Samuel Parker, who came to Oregon in 1835, and with whom
Dr. Whitman then traveled to the Eocky Mountains. Dr. S. J.
Parker was in 1843 twenty-four years old. In a letter from
Ithaca, N. Y., dated February 16, 1883, to the author, he wrote :
"I was at home in the room in which I now write (I own the
old homestead), when Dr. Whitman unexpectedly arrived in a
rather rough, but not as outlandish a dress as some writers
1 Barrows' "Oregon," pp. 174-177.
2 "Oregonian," Nov. 21, 1895.

1 72 Marcus Whitman
say he had on. After the surprise of his arrival was over, he
said to my father, 'We must both go at once to Washington,
or Oregon is lost, ceded to the English.' " 1
(k) Dr. Edward Hale, M. D., then seventy years old, wrote
to Eev. H. H. Spalding, in a letter from North Cornwall, Conn.,
dated July 19, 1871 : "I had the pleasure of entertaining Dr.
WThitman at St. Louis on his last visit Eastward to confer with
the President and heads of departments in relation to the set
tlement of the northeastern boundary question with Great
Britain, by bartering away for a song the whole of the North
west Pacific Territory. Also on his return to Oregon my house
was his home while in St. Louis." '
(1) Says Judge James Otis, of Chicago, in a letter to Eev.
Thomas Laurie, D. D., of Providence, E. I., in 1885 : "In the
month of April, 1843, Dr. M. Whitman and myself were at the
same hotel in Buffalo, N. Y., waiting for the ice to leave the
harbor so that we could take the steamboat for Cleveland,
Ohio. After some four days we took the stage for Dunkirk,
and thence went by boat to Cleveland. He was a good talker
and a man of great observation. He gave me an account of
his experience among the western Indians ; his trip to Wash
ington." s
(m) Says Governor Alexander Eamsey, of Minnesota, in
a letter to the author, dated August 15, 1883 :
"Dear Sir: I was first elected to Congress from Pennsyl
vania in October, 1842. For technical reasons the election
went for naught, and I was re-elected in 1843, and again in
1845, serving throughout the 28th and 29th Congresses, from
December, 1843, to March, 1847. In the winter of 1842-43 I
visited Washington and called upon Mr. Joshua Giddings,
who was at that time boarding at Mrs.  , on Capitol
Hill, in what was then called Duff Green's Eow. The building
is still standing. When so visiting, Mr. Giddings introduced
me to Dr. Whitman, who talked to me and others of the diffi-
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 15.
2 This letter is now in the possession of the author's heirs.
2 "Missionary Herald," 1885, pp. 353, 354.

National Work — Objections 1 73
culties of his journey, of the character of the country, Indian
affairs, British encroachments, etc." 1
(n) Dr. Silas Eeed saw Whitman in Washington.2
(o) John Tyler, a son of the President, and his private sec
retary, said that "he remembered Whitman very well, that he
was in Washington 1842-3, full of his project to carry emi
grants to Oregon, that he waited on the President, and re
ceived from him the heartiest concurrence in his plans." "
(p) Hines' History of Oregon, although not published un
til 1851, was evidently written about 1845, the year he closed
his connection with the Methodist mission and returned East,
for it gives no material history of the country after that year.
In his journal of April 1, 1843,4 he gives an account of the
Indian troubles, which Dr. E. White, the Sub-Indian Agent,
was called to Walla Walla to settle, Mr. Hines accompanying
him. He says: "The arrival of a large party of emigrants
at this time (1842), and the sudden departure of Dr. Whitman
to the United States, with the avowed intention of bringing
back with him as many as he could enlist for Oregon, served to
hasten them to the above conclusion," that is, that there was
"A deep laid scheme of the whites to destroy them, and take
possession of their country." "
(q) Questions may here be asked. According to the tes
timony at the meeting of the mission which authorized the
Doctor to go East, it was expected that he would start on
the fifth of October. Messrs. Walker and Eells were to pre
pare a letter which the Doctor was to carry. When this letter
reached the Doctor's station he had been about two days on the
way. So the letter was carried back." It is addressed to the
American Board, and is a strong plea for not abandoning the
1 "Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 16.
2 "Life and Times of the Tylers," vol. 2, p. 439.
8 Letter of President L. G. Tyler, a son of President John Tyler,
and himself president of College of William and Mary, Virginia, to
Dr. W. A. Mowry, dated June 6, 1898.
1 Hines' "Oregon," p. 143.
5 Hines' "Oregon."
8 A copy of it was afterwards sent to the Board. The original is
now in the possession of the author's son.

I 74 Marcus Whitman
stations of Messrs. Whitman and Spalding, covering fourteen
pages of letter paper. If now the Doctor went purely for
missionary purposes, to save his station, why did he not wait
for this letter, which would have been a great help to him ?
(r) Although the order had been given to discontinue the
station of Messrs. Whitman and Spalding, yet in view of
changed conditions at the time when this order was received
(namely, the withdrawal of Messrs. Smith, Gray and Eogers
from the mission, the reconciliation of all parties remaining
in the mission, the importance of Dr. Whitman's station to
Americans who should come to the country, and to the success
of Mr. Spalding's work among the Nez Perces), it had been
voted by the mission to continue those stations until new rep
resentations could be made to the Board and new instructions
received. Was it then necessary for Dr. Whitman to risk his
life to secure what he had already secured, when most certainly
his station would have been continued, if he had waited until
spring to go?
(s) At first he was not cordially received at Boston.
Says Dr. Geiger: "Mr. Hill, treasurer of the Board, said to
him, in not a very pleasant way, 'What are you here for, leav
ing your post?' Says P. B. Whitman, 'The Board censured
him in very strong terms for leaving his post of duty ; also in
formed him that they had no money to spend in opening the
western country to settlement.' " Says Dr. Whitman, in a let
ter to the Board, dated April 1, 1847: "I often reflect on the
fact that you told me that you were sorry I came" (East) . Af
ter this he speaks of the great value of his services to the emi
gration and of the influence the emigration virtually had in
securing Oregon to the United States. Now, why was the
Board so sorry he went, if he went solely or mainly to help his
mission? (t) Why did the Doctor go to Washington at all, or to
Washington first, if his intention was wholly or mainly to save
his station? To have done so would have been the height of
absurdity — would have made him one of the most foolish of
human beings — to have hastened to Washington to prevent the
American Board at Boston from discontinuing his mission sta
tion. When Eev. Jason Lee went East in 1838 mainly on mis-

National Work — Objections 1 75
sionary business, yet carrying a petition from the people of Ore
gon to our government, asking for the extension of the laws of
the United States over Oregon, he hastened first to report to
his home Board in New York, and afterwards went to Wash
ington. Not so Dr. Whitman, which shows which business he
thought the most important.
(u) Lastly, the testimony of Dr. Whitman in regard to
where he went and why he went should be introduced. After
his return to his station, in accordance with a request made
by the Secretary of War, he prepared and sent to him a bill
v,hich it was hoped would be passed by Congress for establish
ing a line of military posts from the western boundary of
Missouri to the Willamette Valley for promoting safe inter
course with the Territory of Oregon, and for various purposes.
Accompanying it was a letter from the Doctor, which was not
dated, but which was endorsed as having been received at
Washington, June 22, '44. It begins with these words :
"To the Honorable James M. Porter, Secretary of War.
In, compliance with the request you did me the honor to make
last winter, while at Washington, I herewith transmit you the
synopsis of a bill."1 Again, April, 1847, he wrote his home
Board as follows : "It was to open a practical route and safe
passage, and secure a favorable report of the journey from the
emigrants, which in connection with other objects, caused me
to leave my family, and brave the toils and dangers of the
journey, notwithstanding the unusual severity of the winter
and the great depth of snow."2
Thus, according to the testimony of Hon. A. Hinman, Hon.
A. L. Lovejoy, Dr. Edward Hale, Judge James Otis, Dr. H. M.
Field, Dr. S. Eeed, John Tyler, Governor A. Eamsey, and
1 Brown's "Political History of Oregon," vol. 1, p. 148.
2 "Missionary Herald," 1885, p. 350. Prof. Bourne tries to get rid
of this evidence by saying, "As the years passed, Dr. Whitman at
tached so much importance to his services to the emigration, that he
evidently came to regard such services as the purpose of his journey
tc the East." This plainly means that the Doctor got so twisted by
the results, that he claimed for the object what was not the object,
and that the Professor has learned what it was fifty-seven years af
terwards, better than the Doctor did five years after.

I 76 Marcus Whitman
Whitman himself, he went to Washington ; and, from evidence
given by Dr. Cushing Eells, W. H. Gray, Hon. A. L. Lovejoy,
Mrs. M. E. Walker, Dr. William Barrows, Dr. S. J. Parker,
Hon. A. Hinman, Dr. W. Geiger, P. B. Whitman, John Tyler,
Dr. E. Hale, Hines' History of Oregon, and Whitman him
self, he went not alone for missionary purposes, but mainly
to do what he could to save Oregon to the United States.
One reason why some of those who were acquainted with the
Doctor, especially some of the immigrants of 1843, have said
that they did not believe he went for any other than mission
ary purposes, was because in their travels with him they never
heard him say anything about it. But this proves nothing,
for all know that a person may go to a place with several
objects in view, some of which he will tell to certain friends,
while he will not tell others, for reasons perfectly satisfactory
to himself. This subject will be discussed more fully later.1
2. The second objection to be considered is the assertion
that he did not do anything to save the North Pacific Coast or
any part of it to the United States. In reply, the following
evidence is given :
(a) Says Dr. William Geiger : "Either himself or brother
had been a classmate of the Secretary of War, and Dr. Whit
man went to him, and through him obtained an introduction
to Secretary Webster. But Webster said that it was too late,
that he had signed the papers and given them to the President.
He would not introduce him to the President. Dr. Whitman
went back to the Secretary of War, and through him obtained
an introduction to the President, who heard his statements of
the' value of Oregon, and the possibility of taking an emigra
tion there. At last the President promised to wait before pro
ceeding further in the business, until Dr. Whitman should see
whether he could get the emigration through. 'That is all I
want,' said Dr. Whitman. He immediately sent back word
to Missouri to those who wished to go, and had it published in
the papers and in a pamphlet.
"He then went to Boston. When he first met Mr. Hill,
Treasurer of the Board, Mr. Hill received him quite roughly.
1 See objection "four" in this chapter.

National Work — Objections 1 77
Mr. Hill said, 'What are you here for — leaving your post?'
And at last said, in a not very pleasant way, as he offered him
some money, 'Go and get some decent clothes.' Dr. Whitman
turned on his heel and left. The next day Mr. Hill was more
cordial. If Dr. Whitman told me this once, he told it to me
perhaps twenty times. He told it to me first on his return at
Mr. Spalding's station, as I was there temporarily on account
of sickness in Mr. Spalding's family. About the same time
he told Mr. Spalding the same. He afterwards told it to us
both, and in riding together afterwards on the road he said
the same, and these repeated statements, which were always
precisely alike, impressed it on my mind, or I might perhaps
have forgotten them. As far as I know, he told this only to
Mr. Spalding and myself, and said he had his reasons for not
telling everybody."1
Again : "Dr. Whitman praised the country as of immense
value to the United States, and said that he had heard that
there was a possibility of its being transferred to Great Brit
ain. But Webster replied, 'You are too late, Doctor, Oregon
is already bargained away.' Whitman still pleaded strongly
for Oregon, but with no effect. Webster knew that the fisher
men of his state had millions of annual interest in the New
foundland fisheries, and he cared far more to favor them than
to save Oregon. So he spoke of the distance, of the worthless-
ness of the country, and of the impossibility of making roads
to Oregon. Finally he said that the question had been consid
ered and turned over to President Tyler, who could sign Ore
gon away or refuse to do so, but so far as he had an interest
in it, it was already decided, and had passed entirely from his
hands. "Through the Secretary of War Dr. Whitman then was
introduced to the President, and for three or four hours they
talked about the country. Finally the President said that
if they could get a wagon road across from the western fron
tier, that fact would settle the question, but if it could neither
be practically settled by land or by sea, as claimed, it would be
better to let the country go, than to try to retain, settle and
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," pp. 3, 4.

1 78 Marcus Whitman
defend it. Dr. Whitman responded, 'Hold on and I will take
an emigration and their wagons through next summer.' They
talked it all over, and the Doctor explained his plans at length.
The President said he had signed no papers, and would hold
now to see the issue of Dr. Whitman's undertaking. 'If you
succeed,' he said, 'we will keep Oregon.' And this was the
stimulus which made the Doctor so persevering on that point,
all the next summer. Dr. Whitman replied emphatically,
bringing his hand down vigorously on his thigh, 'I'll take them
through.' And as Dr. Whitman and Dr. Geiger rode along
from Lapwai to Walla Walla, he exultingly added, striking
another significant blow with his hand, 'And I have brought
them through.' " 1
(b) Says Eev. H. H. Spalding: "The Doctor pushed on
to Washington, and immediately sought an interview with Sec
retary Webster — both being from the same state — and stated
to him the object of his crossing the mountains, and laid be
fore him the great importance of Oregon to the United States.
But Mr. Webster lay too near Cape God to see things in the
same light with his fellow statesman, who had transferred his
worldly, interests to the Pacific Coast. He awarded sincerity
to the missionary, but could not admit for a moment that the
short residence of six years could give the Doctor the knowl
edge of the country possessed by Governor Simpson, who had
almost grown up in the country, and had traveled every part
of it, and represents it as one unbroken waste of sand deserts
and impassable mountains, fit only for the beaver, the gray
bear, and the savage. Besides he had about traded it off with
Governor Simpson to go into the Ashburton treaty ( !) for a
cod fishery in Newfoundland.
"The Doctor next sought through Senator Linn an inter
view with President Tyler, who at once appreciated his solici
tude and his timely representations of Oregon, and especially
his disinterested though hazardous undertaking to cross the
Eocky Mountains in winter to take back a caravan of wagons.
He said that although the Doctor's representations of the char-
1 "Oregonian," June 1, 1895, and "Whitman College Quarterly,"
March, 1898.

National Work — Objections 1 79
acter of the country, and the possibility of reaching it by wagon
route, were in direct contradiction to those of Governor Simp
son, his frozen limbs were sufficient proof of his sincerity, and
his missionary character was a sufficient guaranty for his
honesty, and he would therefore as President rest upon these
and act accordingly; would detail Fremont with a military
force to escort the Doctor's caravan through the mountains;
and no more action should be had toward trading off Oregon
till he could hear the result of the expedition. If the Doctor
could establish a wagon route through the mountains to the
Columbia Eiver, pronounced impassable by Governor Simpson
and Ashburton, he would use his influence to hold on to Ore
gon. The great desire of the Doctor's American soul, Chris
tian withal, that is, the pledge of the President that the swap
ping of Oregon with England for a cod fishery should stop for
the present, was attained, although at the risk of life, and
through great sufferings, and unsolicited and without the
promise or expectation of a dollar's reward from any source.
And now, God giving him life and strength, he would do the
rest, that is, connect the Missouri and Columbia Eivers with a
wagon track so deep and plain that neither national envy nor
sectional fanaticism would ever blot it out." 1
(c) Says Hon. W. H. Gray, in a letter to the writer: "I
met him in Oregon City in my own home, after his return
from Washington. Spent an afternoon and evening with him,
and learned of him the result of his visit to Washington, and
the treatment he received from Webster and from the Pru
dential Board or Committee of Missions.1 What I learned
from Dr. Whitman personally was : "Mr. Webster was favor
able to making a change of the eastern boundary, and giving
the western or Oregon country for what had recently been in
dispute, as Mr. Webster thought it would be a good exchange ;
and was not induced to listen to his (Dr. Whitman's) reasons
against such a change. But the President listened more fa
vorably, and said no such change or giving up of Oregon
should be made, if he could get wagons and an emigration into
1 "Executive Document, No. 37," 41st Congress, third session Sen
ate 1871, p. 22.
•Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 9.

180 Marcus Whitman
Oregon. . . . Mr. Webster was strongly in favor of the
Newfoundland codfishery. He was held in check by Benton,
Adams and others. Benton had a better knowledge of Ore
gon than Webster, who had been or become unpopular for his
yielding on the Eastern or Maine question with Ashburton.
The petition that had been sent by the missionaries, and the
statements made by different parties, added to the personal
representations made by Dr. Whitman, as to the practicability
of a wagon route, and the fact that the Doctor's mission in
1836 had taken cows and wagons to Fort Boise, and that they
could be taken to the Columbia Eiver — that fact, as affirmed
by Dr. Whitman, stopped all speculations about giving up Ore
gon, till the practical road question was settled." l
(d) Says P. B. Whitman, in a letter to the author dated
February 10th, 1882 : "Secretary Webster received him coolly.
He said he almost 'snubbed him,' but the President, Mr. Tyler,
treated him and the possibility of a wagon road across the
plains to the Columbia Eiver, with a just consideration. He,
the President, gave the Doctor a hearing, and promised him
that the Ashburton treaty, then pending [a mistake], would
not be signed until he would hear of the success or failure of
the Doctor in opening a wagon road to the Columbia Eiver."2
Again he adds: "Dr. Marcus Whitman arrived at my
uncle's house about noon on the fifteenth of April, 1843,
At the dinner table the Doctor asked me if I would accompany
him to Oregon. I promised to go provided Captain Green [his
great uncle] and my father would consent. My mother died
four years before, when I was nine years old. Dr. Whitman
started immediately after dinner, taking me with him to visit
my father in Yates County. We arrived at Middlesex, the
home of the Doctor's mother, where we found my father that
day. We remained there four or five days visiting his people,
some of whom he had not seen for seventeen years. He was,
of course, pressed to extend his visit, but he always replied
that he would sacrifice not only the pleasure of a visit with his
mother, but all else in the world rather than fail to meet an en-
1 Pamphlet by W. H. Gray, "Did Dr. Whitman Save Oregon,"
p. 17, and Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," pp. 8-9.
2 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 13.

National Work — Objections 181
gagement to be on the west side of the Missouri Eiver at the
appointed time to conduct a party of American citizens across
the plains. He said, 'They have my pledge to guide a wagon
train to the Columbia Eiver before the summer is over.'
"During the visit with his mother and my father I heard
him say repeatedly that he had been to Washington City, and
had an interview with President Tyler about the colonization
of Oregon with American citizens. He said also that the
President had promised anxiously to wait for news of the suc
cess or failure of the attempt to cross the mountains to the
shores of the Columbia with wagons. The success or failure
of the effort would in a measure determine the question of title
to the Oregon country. I know Dr. Whitman carried home
to the Pacific this promise from President Tyler, and that the
ambition to save Oregon to the United States spurred him on
to great self-sacrifice and labor that required almost more than
mortal strength. ... On April 20, 1843, Dr. Whitman
bade his mother farewell, and we departed for Oregon, making
the first halt at Westport, Missouri. The rendezvous of the
emigrants was at Independence, a few miles from Westport.
The Doctor remained for a time at the home of Dr. Waldo, a
brother of the Oregon pioneer, Hon. Daniel Waldo, of Marion
County. He gave Dr. Waldo an account of his trip across
the great plains, and emphasized the fact that it was made to
save the Pacific Northwest to the United States government.
His whole soul was in the success of the wagon journey to the
banks of the Columbia, and he assured Dr. Waldo that the
President had promised him to withhold the transfer of the
territory to the British until he learned whether he succeeded
or not. He talked of this object of his visit with the enthus
iasm of a sanguine nature, and he had but one object — to save
Oregon. "While waiting for the large train of immigrants to or
ganize for the journey, Dr. Whitman visited for a week with
Eev. Mr. Berryman, Superintendent of the Methodist Indian
Mission. During that visit I heard him repeat the substance
of that interview with the officials in Washington City, and
recite his hopes and fears about the dangers and blessings upon

1 82 Marcus Whitman
the failure or success of his effort to colonize Oregon with true
Americans."1 (e) Says Hon. A. L. Lovejoy: "He often expressed him
self to me about the remainder of his journey, and the manner
in which he was received at Washington, and by the Board of
Foreign Missions at Boston. He had several interviews with
President Tyler, Secretary Webster, and a good many members
of Congress, Congress being in session at that time. He urged
the immediate termination of the treaty with Great Britain
relative to this country, and begged them to extend the laws
of the United States over Oregon, and asked for liberal induce
ments to emigrants to come to this coast. He was very cor
dially and kindly received by the President and members of
Congress, and without doubt the Doctor's interviews resulted
greatly to the benefit of Oregon and to this Coast." 2
(f) Says Judge J. Otis, in a letter to Dr. Thomas Laurie:
"They (the President and Cabinet) were called together, and
Dr. Whitman spent an evening with the Cabinet, answering
their questions, and giving them his views as to the importance
of Oregon, and the steps that needed to be taken in order to
secure it for this country." This Dr. Whitman told him at
Buffalo, N. Y.3
(g) Dr. Whitman, November 5, 1846, wrote to Eev. L. P.
Judson : "I had adopted Oregon as my country, as well as
the Indians for my field of labor, so that I must superintend
the emigration of that year, which was to lay the foundation
for the speedy settlement of the country if prosperously con
ducted and safely carried through; but if it failed and be
came disastrous, the reflex influence would be to discourage
for a long time any further attempt to settle the country
across the mountains, which would be to see it abandoned al
together. ... I have returned to my field of labor, and
on my return brought a large immigration of about a thousand
individuals safely through the long and the last part of it an
untried route to the western shores of the Continent. . . .

1 "Oregonian," December 4, 1895.
2 "Biography of Dr. G. H. Atkinson," p. 275.
""Missionary Herald," 1885, p. 354.

National Work — Objections 183
"Time is not so short yet but it is quite important that such
a country as Oregon should not on one hand fall into the ex
clusive hands of the Jesuits, nor on the other under the English
government"1 April 1, 1847, soon after Dr. Whitman heard of the treaty
between the United States and Great Britain, he wrote to his
home Board: "I often reflect on the fact that you told me
you were sorry I came East. It did not then nor has it since
altered my opinion in the matter. American interests, ac
quired in the country, which the success of the immigration
in 1843 alone did and could have secured, have become the
foundation of the late treaty between England and the United
States in regard to Oregon, for it may be easily seen what
would have become of American interests had the immigra
tion of 1843 been as disastrous as have been the two attempts
in 1845 and 1846 to alter the route then followed [both of these
years his route having been abandoned for another]. The
disaster was great again last year to those who left the track
which I made for them in 1843, as it has been on every attempt
to improve it, not that it cannot be improved, but it demon
strates what I did in making my way to the States in the
winter of 1842-3, after the third of October. . . . Any one
can see that American interests as now acquired have had
more to do in securing the treaty, than our original rights.
From 1835 till now it has been apparent that there was a choice
of only two tilings: (1) the increase of British interests to
the exclusion of all other rights in the country, or, (2) the
establishment of American interests by citizens (on the
ground) ."1
There is no doubt that Dr. Whitman, after his experience
at Washington and with the immigration of 1843, knew what
he was saying fully as much as those who have denied him
any political or national intent (and who had then hardly
learned to read). These statements of his fit as exactly into
those Messrs. Geiger, Spalding, P. B. Whitman and Gray, as a
1 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1893, p. 200.
1 For another letter of similar import dated October 18, 1847, see
close of Chapter VIII, p. 231.

184 Marcus Whitman
tenon does into a mortise. It is plain from this and other
writings of the Doctor that he felt that the Catholics and Hud
son's Bay Company were in reality working together; that if
the Catholics won, it would not only break up his mission, but
the English would obtain the country; and if the English
won, the result would be the same. Hence, in order to save
the whole mission the country must be saved to the United
States. It is alleged that the statement about Governor Simpson
being in Washington about that time has no good foundation.
The statement was first made by Mr. Spalding, but afterwards
contradicted by some who denied the claims made for Dr.
Whitman. The only reason given for this contradiction was
that Governor Simpson could cot have been in Washington be
cause of his journey around the world, and because Mr. Spald
ing's statement was unsupported by other evidence.
As Governor Simpson reached London, after his journey
around the world, in October, 1842, he could very easily have
been in Washington by February, or March, or before. Dr.
W. F. Tolmie came from England to Oregon in 1834, and for
a long time was in charge of Fort Nisqually, under the
Hudson's Bay Company. When that Company closed its
business on the American side of the line, he moved to Victoria,
where he lived many years and where he died, always loyal
to England. December 15, 1884, he wrote to the author as
follows : "Mrs. Victor is decidedly mistaken in stating on the
alleged authority of George Barber Eoberts, recently deceased
at Cathlamet, Washington Territory, that George Simpson,
afterwards Sir George, was not at Washington, D. C. Recol
lect having heard that he had been there diplomatizing for the
Company. Cannot recall to mind in what year. ... It
was not the custom of the leaders of the H. B. Company to let
their business in its intricacies be known to persons in the po
sition held by the late Mr. Roberts" [a subordinate clerk at
Vancouver] .
As there is not a particle of evidence from his book or any
other source that Governor Simpson was not at Washington
either before his journey around the world or after the spring
of 1843, the possibility is that he was there as Messrs. Gray

National Work — Objections 185
.and Spalding say. Moreover, Mr. Buchanan in March, 1844,
^quoted from Simpson, who extolled the country, and said that
the possession of it by Great Britain may become an object of
very great importance, and that they were strengthening their
•claims to it (independent of their claims of prior discovery and
occupation for the purpose of the Indian trade), by forming
the nucleus of a colony through the establishment of farms,
and the settlement of some of their retiring officers and ser
vants as agriculturists.1 W. H. Gray says that Dr. Whitman
while at Fort Walla Walla learned about the Hudson's Bay
•Company having arranged for English settlers to come and to
..settle in Oregon, and at the same time that Governor Simpson
was to go to Washington and secure the settlement of the
question as to boundaries on the ground of the most numerous
.and permanent settlement in the country.2
As Governor Simpson had said that they were "resolved,
even at the cost of one hundred thousand pounds sterling to
• expel the Americans from traffic on that coast,"5 it would cer
tainly be in accordance with this statement that he would use
all of his influence to carry it out, even to his going to Wash
ington; also, that while there he would not go to work with
•some one who had no influence, but would work with Mr.
Webster, who had considered the question while negotiating
the Ashburton treaty, who had very low views of the value of
Oregon, and who hoped to negotiate the treaty which would
settle the Oregon question.
3. The third objection which has been waged is that it
was impossible at that time for Dr. Whitman or any one else
to have done anything to save Oregon, as there was nothing
to save, for all was safe; that there is no evidence that any
treaty was then in progress; and that no State papers have
been found which speak of Webster trading off Oregon for the
Newfoundland codflsheries. Here the question very seriously
1 "Congressional Record," vol. 13, p. 349.
2 Gray's "History of Oregon," p. 289.
3 Barrows' "Oregon," p. 85.

186 Marcus Whitman
arises, shall we accuse these witnesses of falsehood, and reject
all their evidence, especially that of Messrs. Gray, P. B. Whit
man, Geiger, and Marcus Whitman, as well as that of Mr.
Spalding. In the author's opinion it is not necessary to do so,
for so much light has already been found that no one need to
be accused of falsehood, and it can be shown how these state
ments may be reconciled with known events at Washington.
It is, however, not necessary to find any papers which
would prove that a formal treaty was then in progress. Hon.
George H. Williams, of Oregon, late Attorney-General of the
United States, who was one of the commissioners to negotiate
the treaty of Washington which settled the Alabama claims,
says that no record of a treaty is made until it is negotiated
and approved by the President; and that cabinet officers and
foreign ministers negotiate treaties for the President to ap
prove.1 Here is where some have made, unknowingly perhaps, a
great mistake, because they believed that papers referring to a
treaty must be found, or else no treaty could have at the time
been under consideration. A treaty is simply an acquiescing
on both sides in rights already secured. The treaty with Eng
land by which she acknowledged the independence of the
United States was not the main event which made us an inde
pendent nation. Back of that was the Eevolutionary War
which compelled England to sign the treaty. That "de facto"
made us independent. So the treaty with Mexico was not
the main event which gave Texas to the United States, but the
Mexican War, which compelled Mexico to sign the treaty.
Numerous instances of this kind might be cited, of wars, or
discoveries, or prior settlements, or other things which were
previous to the treaty and the cause of it, the treaty being
merely the formal gathering up of rights already secured. So
in this case, even if a treaty had not been actually in progress,
the preliminaries to one might have been, and might be upset
by Dr. Whitman's work, and so might he "de facto" save the
country. The friends of Dr. Whitman claim this to be a fact,
1 "Oregonian," June 1, 1895.

National Work — Objections 187
taking his interviews at Washington into consideration, in con
nection with his work with the immigration.1
It is proper here to consider what were the views of promi
nent men in Congress, of Government, and of Daniel Webster,
Secretary of State, concerning Oregon, and then to learn what
negotiations or correspondence there were.
(a) The views of Prominent Men in Congress : That some
of these men were friendly to Oregon, such as Senators Benton,
Linn and others, is clear, but that a majority were friendly is
not so evident. In the United States Senate, in 1844, a reso
lution was offered to give the necessary twelve months' notice
to Great Britain for the termination of the treaty which
granted joint occupancy to both nations. All the senators
claimed our rights to be good as far north as 49 degrees, and
yet for various reasons a majority opposed the motion — some
for fear it would involve us in war, some for fear that it would
have a bad effect on the negotiations which it was said would
soon be made, and for which preliminary arrangements were
in progress, some because of the worthlessness of the country,
and some because they wanted no more territory. In regard
to these latter points, Mr. Dayton, of New Jersey, said (Febru
ary 23 and 26, 1844), as he quoted a description of the country
from the Christian Advocate of February 7th: "With the
exception of the land along the Willamette and strips along a
few of the water courses, the whole country is among the most
irreclaimable barren wastes of which we have read, except the
Desert of Sahara. Nor is this the worst of it. The climate
is so unfriendly to human life that the native population has
dwindled away under the ravages of its malaria to a degree
which defies all history to furnish a parallel in so wide a range
of country."
1 The author once asked Dr. C. Eells if he knew whether any treaty
was in progress at Washington, which was prevented by Dr. Whit
man's visit, as no records of one could be found. His reply was sub
stantially that he did not, but that something was going on which the
Doctor thwarted, and thus saved the country. Gray's discovery of
the Columbia River, the settlement at Astoria, and the purchase of
Florida and the Spanish rights on the Pacific Coast had much to do
in securing Oregon to the United States, though done long before.

188 Marcus Whitman
He also read from the Louisville Journal, as republished in
the National Intelligencer, of Washington : " 'Of all the coun
tries on the face of this earth, it (Oregon) is one of the least
favored by Heaven. It is the mere riddlings of creation. It
is almost as barren as the Desert of Africa, and quite as un
healthy as the Campania of Italy. Now, that such a terri
tory should excite the hopes and cupidity of citizens of the
United States, inducing them to leave comfortable homes for
its heaps of sand, is, indeed, passing strange.
" 'Eussia has her Siberia, and England has her Botany Bay,
and if the United States should ever need a country to which
to banish its rogues and scoundrels, the utility of such a re
gion as Oregon would be demonstrated. Until then we are
perfectly willing to leave this magnificent country to the In
dians, trappers and buffalo, that roam over its sand banks and
by the sides of its rushing and unnavigable rivers.'
"I confess these descriptions are somewhat below my esti
mate. I had thought it a poor country as a whole, but not
quite so poor as these authentic accounts would make it. Yet,
these accounts are substantially correct as applied to the coun
try as a whole, though I have no doubt there are some green
spots, some strips along the streams, which may be good and
even perhaps rich, for agricultural purposes, and it is to these
spots that the glowing descriptions have been applied. . . .
Judging from all sources of authentic information to which
I have had access, I should think the territory, taken together,
a very poor region for agricultural purposes, and in that re
spect unworthy of consideration or contest at the hands of
this government.
"How will the speedy settlement of Oregon affect us? In
my judgment is must be injuriously. . . . The admission
of Oregon as a state of this Union seems to me as undesirable
on the one hand as it is improbable on the other — undesirable
because, by the aid of the representative principle, we have
already spread ourselves to a vast and almost unwieldly ex
tent. I have no faith in the unlimited extension of this gov
ernment by the aid of that principle. . . . We have al
ready conflicting interests, more than enough, and God forbid
that the time should ever come when a state on the banks of

National Work — Objections 189
the Pacific, with its interests and tendencies of trade all look
ing toward the Asiatic nations of the East, shall add its jarring
claims to our already distracted and overburdened confed
eracy. "But it is not only in my judgment undesirable, but im
probable. Distance and the character of intervening country
are natural obstacles forbidding the idea. By water, the dis
tance around Cape Horn is said to be about 18,000 miles. By
land, the distance by the only line of travel is about five thou
sand miles from this spot to Vancouver in the Valley of the
Willamette. We are much nearer to the remote nations of
Europe than to Oregon. And when considered with reference
to the facilities of communication, Europe is in comparison our
next door neighbor. And this state of things must continue
unless some new agent of communication shall cast up. The
power of steam has been suggested. Talk of steam communi
cation — a railroad to the mouth of the Columbia. Why, look
at the cost and bankrupt condition of railroads proceeding al
most from your capital, traversing your great thoroughfares.
A railroad across twenty-five hundred miles of prairie, of des
ert and of mountains. The smoke of an engine across those
terrible fissures of that rocky ledge, where the smoke of a vol
cano only has rolled before ! Who is to make this vast inter
nal or rather external improvement? The State of Oregon
or the United States. Whence is to come the power? Who
supply the means? The mines of Mexico and Peru disem
boweled would scarcely pay a penny in the pound of the cost.
Nothing short of the lamp of Aladdin will suffice for such an
expenditure. The extravagance of the suggestion seems to me
to outrun everything which we know of modern visionary
scheming. The South Sea bubble, the Dutchman's speculation
in tulip roots, our own in the town lots and multicaulis, are all
common-place plodding in comparison. But all the suggestion
seems to me properly part and parcel of this great inflated
whole." This connection being out of the question, Mr. Dayton pro
ceeded to discuss the question if Oregon might not be a colony,
similar to the British colonies, and of this idea he made as
much sport as he did of the railroad.

190 Marcus Whitman
Other senators said that if we obtained Oregon we could
not hold it, as it would set up itself as an independent nation
after a time.
Mr. Archer, after describing the difficulties in getting to
the Willamette, and the worthlessness of the intervening re
gion, said: "These led to the third and last tract of valley
oa the seaboard of the Pacific, suited for an Asiatic (not an
American) dependency, if it were to be regarded of value as a
dependency at all. This was destitute of harborage and could
never command any by art. The country, taken in its whole
extent, could at no day certainly have a very large production,
nor any considerable trade."1
Said Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, in 1845:
"By a presumptuous assertion of a disputed claim to a worth
less territory beyond the Eocky Mountains, we have kindled
anew on the hearth of our mother country the smothered fires
of hostile strife. . . . What just man would sacrifice a
single human life to bring under our rule both Texas and Ore
gon. . . . Some stolen Texas, some distant, worthless
Oregon." 2
George A. Prentice, in March, 1844, inveighed against en
tering into a war for the attainment of a lot of worse than
useless territory, referring to Oregon.
Senator Winthrop, of Massachusetts, in 1844, quoted and
commended these sentences from Senator Benton's speech of
1825 (although in 1844 Benton had entirely changed his
views) : "The ridge of the Eocky Mountains may be named
as a convenient, natural, and everlasting barrier. Along this
ridge the western limits of this republic should be drawn, and
the statue of the fabled god, Terminus, should be erected on
its highest peak, never to be thrown down."
Again, in 1845, he added: "Are our western brethren
straitened for elbow room, or likely to be for a thousand years ?
Have they not too much land for their own advantage al
ready? .... I doubt whether the West has a particle
of real interest in the possession of Oregon. . . . The West
1 "Congressional Globe," vol. 13, p. 275, etc.
'Seattle "Post-Intelligencer," April 23, 1891.

National Work — Objections 191
has no interest, the country has no interest in extending our
territorial possessions." 1
Senator McDuffie, of South Carolina, in January, 1843 (a
little while before Dr. Whitman reached Washington), after
ridiculing steam power to connect the Pacific and Atlantic
coasts, said: "I would not for that purpose (of agriculture)
give a pinch of snuff for the whole territory. If there were
an embankment of five feet to be removed, I would not consent
to expend five dollars to remove it, and enable our population
to go there. I thank God for His mercy in placing the Eocky
Mountains there." 2
(b) On the actions of the government Benton said : "The
great event of carrying the Anglo-Saxon race to the shore of
the Pacific Ocean, and planting that race firmly on that sea,
took place at this time, beginning in 1842, and largely increas
ing in 1843. It was not an act of the government, leading the
people and protecting them; but like all the other great emi
grations and settlements of that race on our Continent, it was
the act of the people going forward, without government aid
or countenance, establishing their possession, and compelling
the government to follow with its shield and spread it over
them. So far as the action of the government was concerned,
it operated to endanger our title to the Columbia, to prevent
emigration, and to incur the loss of the country. . . . The
title to the country being thus endangered by the acts of the
government, the evidence of it devolved on the people, and
they saved it." In doing so, he refers to the emigration of
1843, and adds: "To check these bold adventurers was the
object of the government; to enact them was the object of
some western members of Congress, on whom (in conjunction
1 Barrows' "Oregon," p. 200.
2 "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon,'7 pp. 41, 42. It is a little
refreshing to know that some of these statements were answered by
quotations from the missionaries, Messrs. Parker, Spalding, and oth
ers, and that Mr. Wentworth, of Illinois, said, January 24, 1844, "Re
ligious enterprise and missionary zeal have done the most that has
been done thus far for the settlement of Oregon." "Congressional
Record," vol. 13, p. 92.

192 Marcus Whitman
with the people) the task of saving the Columbia evidently de
volved." 1
Albert Gallatin, in 1846, said: "It is a remarkable fact
that although the convention has now been in force twenty-
seven years, Congress has actually done nothing with respect
to either of those objects (the promoting of emigration, or the
protection of our citizens). Enterprising individuals have,
without any aid or encouragement by government, opened a
wagon road eighteen hundred miles in length, through an arid
or mountainous region, and made settlements on or near the
shores of the Pacific, without any guaranty for the possession
of the land improved by their labors." 2
In 1843 a bill passed the Senate making some legal provis
ions for Oregon, but it was lost in the House under an adverse
report made by John Quincy Adams.8
The further indifference of government may be seen from
the fact that it was more than two years after the treaty of
1846 was made before Congress organized the Territory of
Oregon; notwithstanding the great desire of the people of
Oregon to have it done. Because of the appeal of Dr. Whit
man to the provisional government of Oregon, as he felt that
there was great danger from the Indians unless the govern
ment should extend its protection over the people, Governor
Abernethy sent J. Q. Thornton, in 1847, to Washington to urge
speedy action in the matter. He went by water. Because of
the Whitman massacre soon after Judge Thornton left, the
Legislature of Oregon sent J. L. Meek, in the winter of 1847-8,
to Washington to still further show the need. The two worked
together, and on the last day of the session, August 13, 1848,
the Territory of Oregon was organized by Congress.
Even further Congress showed its indifference for the Ore
gon settlers by not passing any law by means of which these
thousands of settlers in Oregon could have any title to their
land for two years longer, until September, 1850.
(c) Webster's Position. It is important to know Web-
1 "Benton's Thirty Years," vol. 2, chapter 112.
2 "Oregon Question," by Albert Gallatin, p. 36.
2 Barrows' "Oregon," p. 198.

National Work — Objections 193
ster's position, because he was, in March, 1843, Secretary of
State, with power largely to shape the foreign policy of the
United States ; because he had already negotiated the Ashbur
ton treaty, in which the Oregon question had been considered ;
and because he was remaining in the cabinet with the hope of
being "the one to negotiate the treaty which should settle the
Oregon question. The plan of the administration was this:
Either a special mission to England, on which it was expected
Mr. Webster would be sent, so that he might be better able to
negotiate the treaty ; or a mission to China, to which Mr. Ever
ett, our minister to England, would be transferred, thus al
lowing Mr. Webster to go to England in Mr. Everett's place,
where he could still negotiate the treaty. But the special mis
sion to England failed in Committee, the mission to China
passed Congress, but Mr. Everett declined to go to China, and
so Mr. Webster failed to go to England. Thus his hopes of
reaching England for that purpose died, and this having been
his main reason for remaining in the Cabinet, he soon resigned,
and all danger of England ever gaining all or any part of Ore
gon then passed forever.1
But in March, 1843, Mr. Webster had not given up these
hopes, and hence the necessity of knowing his position. True,
in 1846, in a speech before the Senate, he stated that when he
made the Ashburton treaty in 1842 he had said : "The govern
ment of the United States has never offered any line south of
49 degrees, and it never will." As far as the last sentence is
concerned, "it never will," when said in 1842, this was merely
his opinion, as he could not tell what the government would
certainly do. As far as the first sentence is concerned, Mr.
Benton gives the reason. In 1843, he said, senators were
sounded by the American negotiator, Mr. Webster, each on the
point which lay nearest to him which was to go into the treaty,
and whatever they agreed to was put into the treaty, in order
that they might feel bound to sustain the treaty by their votes.
"The President said that there were conferences about Ore
gon, qualified as informal, which is evidence there would have
been formal negotiations if the informal had promised suc-
1 "Oregon Historical Society Quarterly," September, 1900, p. 240.

194 Marcus Whitman
cess. The informal did not so promise, and the reason was
that the two Senators from Missouri, being sounded on the
subject of a conventional divisional line, repulsed the sug
gestion with an earnestness which put an end to it. If they
had yielded the Valley of the Columbia would have been di
vided. . . ." Hence, according to Mr. Benton, Mr. Webster
was willing privately to yield all north of the Columbia in
August, 1842, and would have done so had it not been for
Senators Benton and Linn.
While we accept Mr. Webster's statement made above, that
the government had never offered any line south of forty-nine
degrees, yet that statement does not settle the question of Mr.
Webster's private opinion, nor any change which may have
taken place in his opinion between August, 1842, when the
Ashburton treaty was made, and March, 1843 (when Dr. Whit
man reached Washington), on account of the influence of Sir
George Simpson or others. Nor does it settle the point but
what Webster, although he may have claimed that the rights
of the United States extended as far north as forty-nine de
grees, may have been willing to have exchanged some of those
rights for an "equivalent" consideration. On these points
other evidence must be introduced.1
As to his private opinion at the time the Ashburton treaty
was made, Mr. Webster himself said in 1846, in the same speech
in which he had stated that "The United States had never of
fered any line south of forty-nine degrees," that he had added,
that while this "must be regarded as the general line of boun
dary, not to be departed from for any line farther south,"
yet, "the use of the Columbia River by England, permanently
or for a number of years, and the use of the straits and sounds
in the adjacent sea, and the islands along the coast, would be
all matters of friendly negotiations." This evidently means
that he was willing to yield all this to England. His idea of
the value of Oregon may be gathered from the fact that in
1846 he said that the St. John's River, on the northeast boun
dary of Maine, was for all purposes of human use worth a
1 Benton's "Thirty Years," vol. 2, p. 476.

National Work — Objections 195
hundred times as much as the Columbia was or ever would be.1
This was three years after Dr. Whitman was there, and after
Oregon as a national question had entered into the presiden
tial election of 1844, and about the time the Oregon treaty was
made. Twiss, an English writer, in his Oregon Territory, says:
"It were idle to speculate upon those future destinies, whether
the circumstances of the country justify Mr. Webster's antici
pations that it will form at some not very far distant day an
independent confederation, or whether the natural divisions of
Northern and Southern Oregon are likely to attach, ultimately,
the former by community of interests to Canada, and the lat
ter to the United States."2
In 1845, too, before the Oregon treaty was made, Mr. Web
ster said, in opposing the admission of Texas: "The govern
ment is very likely to be endangered, in my opinion, by a fur
ther enlargement of the territorial surface, already so vast,
over which it is extended,"3 thus like Winthrop and many
others placing himself on record against the territorial enlarge
ment of the United States. Thus far Mr. Webster's private
opinions have been given.
Here then we have Mr. Webster's' ideas : Oregon not worth
much, not a hundredth part as much as the Valley of the St.
Johns; not wanted because the United States already had as
much territory as she ought to have; and that it might set it
self up as an independent confederation, even if the United
States should obtain a nominal title to it.
(4) But there was talk of trading off Oregon. In 1827
a resolution had been introduced into Congress by Mr. Knight,
of Rhode Island, asking the President to open negotiations
with Great Britain to exchange Oregon for Upper Canada. In
1844, Mr. Choate, Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Webster's
state, Webster not then being in the Senate, having left it to
accept the position of Secretary of State, and then in 1843
having resigned that position], hinted again at "equivalents
1 "Webster's Speeches," vol. 5, p. 102.
2 P. 264, written January, 1846.
' Barrows' "Oregon," p. 200.

196 Marcus Whitman
for Oregon." This alarmed Mr. Breese, of Illinois, who did
not know what was meant unless it might be money or some
thing like Mr. Knight's idea of 1827. Thus there was talk of
trading off Oregon.
Early in 1844 a bill was introduced before the Senate ask
ing for all the correspondence and instructions on the subject
of Oregon since March 4, 1841. January, 1844, Mr. Benton
said while discussing this bill : "The Senator from Ohio, Mr.
Allen, has read you a part of the debate in Parliament in Feb
ruary last (1843),1 in which the British minister, Sir Robert
Peel, has made a very extraordinary declaration — a declara
tion in full terms — that President Tyler has made propositions
on the subject of Oregon, which would render it impossible for
him to have signed the bill which passed the Senate at the last
session to grant land to the Oregon settlers. His word is
'impossible.' " Mr. Benton was indignant that anything should
have been done which would render it impossible for the Presi
dent to have signed a bill passed by the Senate, and wanted
to know why the American people could not know as much on
the subject as the British Parliament.
The bill, however, before the Senate was lost by a vote of
31 to 14, the correspondence was not obtained, and the writer
has not been able to learn any more about the communication
of the President to Great Britain. But it is plain from this
that some very important papers had about that time been
sent to England which threatened the possession of Oregon by
the United States.
In a speech of Senator D. R. Atchison, of Missouri, Febru
ary 22, 1844, in Congress, he said : "Give us the countenance
of our government; give us your protection; give us govern
ment and laws and we will soon fill up the country (Oregon),
we will take possession of it, and we will keep that possession.
Do but assure us that we will not be traded off— that we are
not to become British subjects — that we are to remain mem
bers of the glorious Republic, we will take possession, and we
will keep that possession in defiance of British power." 2
^his was just before Dr. Whitman reached Washington.
2,See "Oregonian," November 26, 1897.

National Work — Objections 197
Another item, too, is significant. Soon after the Ashbur
ton treaty was signed in August, 1842, Lord Aberdeen had,
through H. S. Fox, the British minister at Washington, con
sulted with Secretary Webster about resuming negotiations on
the Oregon question. This was October 18, 1842. On Novem
ber 25, following, Mr. Webster had replied, saying that the
President concurred in the suggestion and would make a
communication to our minister in England at no distant day.
The next letter extant, however, is dated nearly a year later,
October 9, 1843. Then Hon. A. P. Upshur, who had succeeded
Mr. Webster as Secretary of State, wrote Edward Everett, our
minister in London, saying: "The offer of the forty-ninth
parallel of latitude, although it has been once rejected, may be
again tendered, together with the right of navigating the Co
lumbia River upon equitable terms; beyond this, the Presi
dent is not prepared to go." Why was this delay of nearly
a year? It certainly gave time for the President to know
practically that the immigration which Dr. Whitman had
promised to lead through was a large one, and so that Oregon
could be peopled overland from the United States. If this is
not so, can any one answer the question, why, when the Presi
dent had said he would make the Oregon question the subject
of immediate attention, and promised that at no distant day a
communication would be sent on the subject, none is now on
record for nearly a whole year?
If all the statements made can thus be reconciled, there is
no contradiction, and they after all make Dr. Whitman a
saviour of Oregon. The saving of Oregon was undoubtedly
like a chain of several links, of which if any one had been
broken, all attached to the end would have been lost. This
was one of the links, and he prevented it being broken. The
evidence is that both he and Governor Simpson were unofficial
earnest workers for their respective countries, and that he won.
In confirmation of this a writer, E. D. F., in the New York
 , of January 27, 1870, says that an eminent legal
gentleman of Massachusetts, a personal friend of Mr. Webster
with whom he had several times conversed on the subject, re
marked to the writer of this article : "It is safe to assert that
our country owes it to Dr. Whitman and his associate mission-

198 Marcus Whitman
aries, that all the territory west of the Rocky Mountains and
south as far as the Columbia River is not now owned by Eng
land and held by the Hudson's Bay Company." l
4. The fourth objection which has been raised is that the
story cannot be true because it was not published earlier.
Says Mrs. F. F. Victor in the Astorian: "This I do say, and
can substantiate it, that until Mr. Gray, about 1866, set this
story afloat, nobody had ever heard of it." Says Hon. E.
Evans : "No living person in Oregon or Washington prior to
July 4, 1865, ever heard national motive or political influence
attributed to the winter journey of Dr. Whitman in 1842-3."2
He also asserted his belief that no one on this coast originated
the myth, but that it was done by the American Board at Bos
ton, that in 1864-5 the Hudson's Bay Company were prosecut
ing their mammoth claim against the United States, "one
huge item of which was for having mollified the savage dispo
sition of the natives," and that if the Company could gain a
reward for this, how much more would the Board gain, if it
could be proved that political benefits had accrued from the
presence of the missionaries in the country, and that grants
of land would be but a trifle for such services ; that Dr. S. B.
Treat originated the story, and then sent to the Pacific Coast
for proofs of it.
Professor Bourne also takes the position that the story can
not be true because it was not published earlier than 1864. It
may here be stated (1) that it was first published about 1864;
(2) that it was heard long before by different parties. The
first time that the writer knows that it was published was in
1 864 in the Sacramento Union and San Francisco Pacific. The
winter before, the tomahawk with which Dr. Whitman had
been killed was presented to the State of Oregon at the Legis
lature. At that time this story about Dr. Whitman's trip
East was related as told to the speaker, Speaker Moore. Hon.
1This article has always been credited to the "New York Inde
pendent," but a search in that paper has failed to find it. The writer
has the whole printed article found in Mr. Spalding's papers after
his death, and signed "E. D. F.," or "E. D. B.," the last letter being
slightly torn.
2 "Oregonian," December 23, 1884.

National Work — Objections 199
S. A. Clarke wrote it out and sent it to the Sacramento Union.
The San Francisco Bulletin published the same about the same
time.1 About the same time Mr. Spalding sent it to The Pa
cific. In 1866-8 it was published in a long series of articles
by Mr. Spalding in the Albany (Oregon) Democrat, and by Mr.
Gray in the Astorian. Dr. Cushing Eells, by request, sent it
to the American Board in 1866, and it was published in the
Missionary Herald in December.
There were three reasons why it was not published earlier.
(a) The work had been done in 1843. The seed thus sown
did not bring forth fruit until 1846 when the treaty was made.
One reason why the story was not published soon after was
that it would have been very unwise to have done so before
the breaking up of the mission in 1847. The mission was en
tirely dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company for their sup
plies. Far inland as they were situated, they could not have
existed without the help of the Company and its protection.
Had Dr. Whitman proclaimed what he did, which was to take
away the country from the English and so from the Company,
and thus break up their business in Oregon, as was really
done, it would undoubtedly have alienated and angered them,
and thus broken up the mission. The evidence, however, is that
Dr. Whitman or some one who knew of his motives did tell it
at first. What is written in Mr. Hines' journal about the
Doctor's avowed intention to bring back as many emigrants
as he could was evidently written before his return. P. B.
Whitman says that Mr. A. McKinley told him that the Doctor
made that great ride to rob his people of a vast territory, and
that he openly declared his purpose before he made the jour
ney.2 The evidence is that Dr. Whitman did say this before he
went, but that afterwards, seeing the danger to the mission of
its being made public, he was far more guarded. Hence, on
his way back it does not appear that he told it to any of the
immigrants, for they were to settle in the Willamette Valley,
and would have constant intercourse with the officers of the
1 See "Danville Advertiser," N. Y., May 4, 1865, which copied it.
2 "Oregonian," December 4, 1895.

200 Marcus Whitman
Hudson's Bay Company at Vancouver. Likewise, Dr. Geiger
says that "he had his reasons for not telling everybody,"1 and
that he "asserted that he was so anxious to prevent trouble
and hold in check the hostility that would be natural in those
who upheld British interests, that he never alluded to his wish
to save Oregon from British ascendancy nor conversed with any
one on that subject on the journey." '
(b) Mrs. Walker gives a second reason: "Much," she
says, "was said about that time about the Methodist mission
aries coming here, and then leaving their legitimate missionary
calling to make money, and for other purposes, and some dis
grace was brought on the missionary cause. Mr. Walker and
associates felt that Dr. Whitman, in leaving missionary work
and going on this business, was likely also to bring disgrace
on the cause, and were so afraid of it that for a long time they
would hardly mention the object of Dr. Whitman's journey
publicly. I remember plainly that Mr. Walker often prayed
after Dr. Whitman had gone, that if it was right for him to go
on this business he might be preserved, but if not his way
might be hedged up. When the statements first began to be
made publicly of this political object of Dr. Whitman's journey
East, we were then afraid that disgrace would be brought on
our mission."8 To show that there was reason for this fear, a
few quotations are in order, for while the author does not say
that they are true, yet they show what was said at the time.
Rev. C. G. Nicolay says of the missionaries : "On the Willam
ette they sink into political agents and would-be legislators."*
Rev. Stephen Olin, a Methodist bishop, says, concerning the
same mission : "The missionaries were in fact mostly engaged
in secular affairs — concerned in claims to large tracts of land,
claims to city lots, farming, merchandizing, grazing, horse
keeping, lumbering, and flouring. We do not believe that the
history of missions exhibits another such spectacle," and he
adds that "the mission became odious to the growing popula-
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 4.
2 "Oregonian," June 1, 1895.
3 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 11.
* Nicolay's "Oregon Territory," edition 1846, p. 178.

National Work — Objections 201
"tion." 1 These things having been written by Protestant clergy
men, it is easy to see what remarks would be made by rough
mountaineers, who cared almost nothing for religion, however
unjust their remarks might have been ; and hence, the justness
•of the reasons given by Mrs. Walker.
(c) A third reason why the story was not published
earlier, even after the death of the Doctor, was that neither
Messrs. Walker or Eells were writers for the press. Outside
¦ of their reports to the Board, which it was necessary for them
to make, and some sermons and addresses written for delivery
but published by request, one or two articles is all that either
ever wrote, and none previous to 1866. To them it was a great
task to write for the press. Mr. Spalding was, however, a
willing writer. But in 1843 the one great thing uppermost in
his mind was the causes of the Whitman massacre. He be
lieved the Catholics to be the prime cause. To prove this was
"his great desire, for it overshadowed all other subjects. He
published his views in the Oregon American and Evangelical
¦ Unionist of Hillsboro, Oregon, which was edited by Rev. J. S.
•Griffin. This was in 1848-9. But Mr. Griffin's printer left
for the recently discovered gold mines of California after Mr.
Spalding had written a few" articles. These articles were se
vere against the Catholics. No other printer could be ob
tained, and the paper suspended. It was not long before Mr.
; Spalding sought other papers in which to publish his views.
But newspapers in those early days were very few in Oregon,
; and they refused him the use of their columns, for they knew
how severe he was on the Catholics, and did not wish to an
tagonize them. He felt it keenly and often spoke of it to his
friends. Hence it was not until 1864 that he found a place
for publishing his articles, and it was in The Pacific. By this
time years had passed, and he was led to look at other sub
jects connected with the missions as being of equal importance,
and so wrote of Dr. Whitman's trip East. Had Mr. Spald
ing lived fifteen years longer than he did, he would undoubtedly
have thought it a little hard to be told that the story was not
1 "History of the Catholic Church in Oregon," p. 13.

202 Marcus Whitman
true because not published earlier, when for many years he
had been trying in vain to reach the public through the press.
But although not published earlier, it was known to many.
In reply to inquiries made by the author he has received sev
eral letters on this subject, which are here given, together with
a little more evidence in the same line. As this objection was
not raised until early in the eighties, most of the witnesses had
to depend on their memories.1 Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D. D.,
came to Oregon in 1848. Under date of March 19, 1885, he
wrote: "I filed many letters that came to me in early years,
and his (Mr. Spalding's) among the rest, and packed them in
a box, but mice and rats got in and made their nests, and the
larger portion were lost. Hence I cannot fix the date (when I
first heard the story). It had been in my mind some years
(previous to 1865) as a great historical fact to the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and to Chris
tian institutions on this Northwest Coast, and to the nation
as well. While East in 1865, I called upon Rev. S. B. Treat,
secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., and made known the facts
as stated to me by Mr. Spalding. He was much surprised
that Dr. Whitman had done so much to save Oregon, and thus
prepare the way to secure California by concurrent events. He
intimated that Brother Spalding wrote and said extravagant
things sometimes, and that they must be careful of quoting
and relying on him implicitly. I replied that I knew Brother
Spalding's rather erratic way of leaping to conclusions, but
on more acquaintance I usually found him very correct in the
statement of facts, though strong in prejudice against the
Jesuits and some who seemed to uphold them. I then said
to him, 'Mr. Treat, I wish you to know these facts, as they
are for the honor of God in your missions in Oregon, and for
the encouragement of the churches. I refer you to Rev. Cush
ing Eells to confirm what I say. He is very careful in all his
statements. You all rely upon him.' He said, 'We do, and I
will write him.' He did so, and your father (C. Eells) con
firmed what I said, and added more facts, which they used
1 Nearly all of this was published in the "Oregonian" of May 21,
1885.

National Work — Objections 203
at their annual meeting at Pittsfield and made a strong impres
sion." Dr. A. H. Steele, late of Olympia, in referring to the state
ment of Mr. Evans that no one knew, before 1865, that it was
claimed for Dr. Whitman that he had saved the country, said:
"Mr. Walker told me that in Oregon City ten years before
that." Prof. Thomas Condon, of Eugene, Oregon, wrote that he
heard Mr. Spalding speak of Dr. Whitman's journey East the
same year he came to Oregon, 1855, but heard more especially
about his intentions and efforts to induce emigrants to come to
Oregon. Mr. G. F. Colbert, of Crawfordsville, Oregon, wrote, April
8, 1885 : "As to the facts in the case about Dr. Whitman and
his winter journey East, I know nothing, as it all took place
before I came to the country, but when Victor, Evans and Com
pany say that nobody ever heard that the Doctor's object was
to save Oregon to the United States until 1865 or 1866, they are
mistaken. I certainly heard Mr. Spalding tell about it in the
fall of 1852, and it doejs appear to me that I heard him tell it
a dozen times before 1865." Mrs. Colbert went to Brownsville
to teach school in the fall of 1852, and while boarding around
made her home for a time in Mr. Spalding's family. She be
lieves she heard that statement about Dr. Whitman privately
from him at that time, though she thinks she heard it pre
viously in public from him in a sermon.
Rev. Horace Lyman came to Oregon in 1849, and says that
he heard within a year or two after his arrival that Dr. Whit
man's main object in going East was a political one.1
Judge R. P. Boise, of Salem, Oregon, came in 1857, and im
mediately visited his fellow townsman, Cushing Eells, at For
est Grove. In his address before the Oregon Pioneer Asso
ciation in 1876, he alludes to this visit, and says that he (Mr.
Eells) thought that while the missions to the Indians had in a
measure been a failure, yet that God had guided here the feet
of the missionaries as the forerunners of civilization ; that
had they not been here in those early days, and advised the
'"Oregonian," February 15, 1885.

204 Marcus Whitman
United States government of the value of the country, it would
have passed under the British crown, and the flag of the Union
never floated over it.1
The late Rev. O. Dickinson, of Salem, who came to Oregon
in 1853, says under date of March, 1885: "I cannot call to
mind any circumstance which will fix the date of hearing about
Dr. Whitman's specific object in his journey to the States, the
winter spoken of, but I know I heard both Mr. Atkinson and
Mr. Spalding speak of it at quite an early day, and as I recol
lect about 1857."
Says Mr. Luther White, of Brownsville, Oregon, in a letter
dated April 8, 1885 : "I became acquainted with Rev. H. H.
Spalding in the summer of 1849. Sometime in September
following I had an interview with him. I asked him what he
thought was the probable cause of the massacre. Mr. Spalding
related the incident of Dr. Whitman's journey in the winter to
the Atlantic States as perhaps the prime cause. I heard Jo
siah Osborne relate the same thing in substance. I think Mr.
Osborne said he received his information from Dr. Whitman.
The conversation with Mr. Osborne was after the conversation
with Mr. Spalding, I think in 1850." 2
Says Mr. James Blakely, of Brownsville, under date of
April 14, 1885 : "I heard Rev. H. H. Spalding speak of Dr.
Whitman's going East for purposes stated in your letter (to
do what he could to save the country), as early as 1849, and
am ready at any time to make affidavit to that effect."
Mr. H. L. Brown, of Brownsville, who came across the
plains in 1846, wrote April 7, 1885: "My first acquaintance
Avith Rev. H. H. Spalding was in the winter of 1848-9, when he
and P. B. Whitman came to my house and remained several
days, and to the best of my recollection he made the statement
to me at that time that the object of Dr. Whitman's trip back
East in 1842-3 was to use his influence with the authorities at
Washington for the purpose of saving Oregon to the American
1 Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association, 1876, p. 26.
2 This letter was written in reply to one asking Mr. White when
he first heard that Dr. Whitman's main object in going East was t:
save the country. Mr. Osborne came to Oregon in 1847, and with
his family was at Dr. Whitman's at the time of the massacre.

National Work — Objections 205
people, and bringing a train of emigrants across the plains in
1843. I then went to California in the spring of 1849, and
did not return home until January, 1850, when I found H. H.
Spalding my nearest neighbor, and from that time on for sev
eral years I can state positively that I "heard Mr. Spalding fre
quently relate that the main object of Dr. Whitman's trip back
East was to use his influence with the authorities as above
stated, and to bring a train of emigrants across the plains to
the Columbia River.
"Also I can further state that I was a member of the terri
torial Legislature of Oregon in 1854-5, when I became ac
quainted with Hon. A. L. Lovejoy, who was a member of said
Legislature, when I heard him relate the story of his trip
across the plains with Dr. Whitman in 1842-3, and to the best
of my recollection, his statement in regard to the object of Dr.
Whitman's trip back East was substantially the same as that
made by H. H. Spalding."
The late Mr. Horace Hart, of Prescott, Washington, a broth
er of the first Mrs. Spalding, April 10, 1885, wrote : "In regard
to the story about Dr. Whitman's journey East in 1842-3, to
save a part of this Northwest Coast to the United States, I will
state that both Mr. Spalding and his wife told me of it in the
fall of 1846, and I feel tolerably certain that I heard Dr. Whit
man and Mr. Spalding talking about it in the winter of 1847,
while the Doctor was at Mr. Spalding's mission on the Lap
wai." Thus here are eleven witnesses (not even counting Dr. At
kinson), who heard this story from the three men connected
with the mission at its close, H. H. Spalding, E. Walker and
C. Eells, and also from A. L. Lovejoy and J. Osborne, from 1846
to 1857. Dr. Atkinson's statement as to how the American
Board first fully realized it, is not new to many who were ac
quainted with him.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
(5) A fifth objection has been raised that Dr. Whitman
did nothing worth mentioning to induce any of the immigrants
of 1843 to start for Oregon. Some writers claim that three
things determine what nation shall possess any new country —
priority of discovery, taking formal possession, and actual set
tlement, especially the first and last. The first with relation
to Oregon was a disputed point between Great Britain and the
United States. It was becoming plain, therefore, that the last,
the actual settlement, was to decide the question. The English
saw it and were working for it. As far as trade was concerned,
the Hudson's Bay Company had gained the victory, and had
driven from Oregon every American company which had at
tempted to engage in the fur business. But they knew that fur
traders alone would not hold Oregon. Actual settlers would
do far more than they could do.
A settlement, begun by the Methodist missionaries and in
creased by free trappers and a few others, was growing up in
the Willamette Valley. The Hudson's Bay Company could not
drive them out by means which could possibly be recognized as
legal, as they had the fur companies. It was necessary to re
sort to other tactics. They realized that the only way to
overcome the influences of this settlement was to bring enough
of their own people to outnumber the Americans. It was not
very difficult to do this at that time.
In the fall of 1840, according to Gray's History of Oregon,
there were 137 Americans in the country, including mission
aries, settlers, women and children, and early in 1842 the
number was not far different. At the same time there were
63 Canadians, exclusive of those who were directly in the em
ploy of the Hudson's Bay Company. Hence, it would not re
quire a great increase of British subjects to outnumber the

The Immigration of 1843 207
Americans, especially when we consider what use might have
been made of the persons directly connected with the Company,
of whom there were more than flve hundred west of the Rocky
Mountains. Accordingly, in 1841, an immigration of about
eighty persons was brought from the Red River settlement at
Manitoba, and there is good reason to believe that it was the
intention of the Company to bring another immigration a year
or two later. At least that is the testimony of one of the im
migrants of 1841; but they were so dissatisfied with their
treatment by the Company after their arrival that the colony
scattered, and so no more immigrants came from that place.
In 1811-12 the same company had adopted a similar policy
to cut off the trade of the French Northwest Fur Company,
and the Red River settlement, directly in the line of their
trade, was the result.
Dr. Whitman realized these facts, evidently, more clearly
than any other American on the Coast. A favorite idea with
Senator Benton was that the best way to settle the Oregon
question was to plant thirty thousand rifles in the Willamette
Valley. These, he thought, would hold the country. But to
do this was not very practical, as it would involve action by
the government, which at best is usually slow, and would also
look as if the United States intended to take military posses
sion of the country, which would be an infraction of the treaty
then existing, allowing joint occupation.
Dr. Whitman believed in the same principle of possession
by settlement, but had a more practical plan of carrying it out.
It was to plant a few thousand settlers in the country with
sheep instead of rifles. It is not, however, true that he in
duced the whole of the immigration of 1843 to start, for other
causes had been at work. Some of those immigrants never
heard of him until they were well on their way. Senator Ap
pleton had prepared a Congressional report, which was read
by some people with care. Senator Linn, of Missouri, had not
long previously introduced a bill into Congress granting six
hundred and forty acres of land to each man and one hundred
and sixty acres to each child who should emigrate to Oregon.
With his colleague, Senator Benton, he worked earnestly for
the Northwest Coast, and this had the effect of inducing more

208 Marcus Whitman
of the people of Missouri to come among the first immigrant®
than came from any other state.
Consequently, Hon. J. M. Shively, late proprietor of As
toria, Oregon, began in November, 1842, to work earnestly for
the object, holding meetings in Missouri and going to Washing
ton to further the cause. Senator Linn's bill did not finally
pass as it was first introduced, but there was considerable prob
ability that it would, and this was one means of interesting
Hon. P. H. Burnett in the subject, who also held meetings with
the same object in view. Mr. Robert Shortess had crossed the
plains in 1839, and he wrote letters to friends in Missouri
describing the country, which caused the Applegates and some
others to determine to come, and by the use of the press they
aroused others. But Mr. Shortess, according to Rev. J. S.
Criffin, who also came in 1839, wrote some of his letters from
Dr. Whitman's and doubtless received some of his information
from the Doctor. It would not be strange if the Doctor knew
of these efforts of Mr. Shortess. Dr. White in 1842 brought an
immigration of 137 persons, and the efforts aroused others who
could not come that year, but who did come in 1843. Mr.
James Athey, of Oregon City, and Hon. J. W. Nesmith were
among those thus influenced to come.
The immigration of 1842, by far the largest which had then
come, showed very plainly the growing interest about Oregon
in the States. Even as early as May 12, 1842, Mr. Gray had
written to the Board : "There will probably be a large party
of emigrants coming to this country in the spring of 1843.
Some young men are now returning with the expectation of
bringing out a party next spring."
(a) We will first consider the Doctor's intentions and ef
forts in this line. One of his reasons for going East was, as
Rev. Gustavus Hines expresses it, "With the avowed inten
tion of bringing back with him as many as he could enlist for
Oregon." "
Says P. B. Whitman: "Dr. Whitman's trip East, in the
winter of 1842-43, was for the double purpose of bringing an
immigration across the plains, also to prevent, if possible, the
1 "American Historical Review," January, 1901, p. 294.

The Immigration of 1843 209
trading off of this Northwest Coast to the British Govern
ment." Dr. S. J. Parker, son of Eev. Samuel Parker, in speaking of
Dr. Whitman's two visits to his father, in 1843, both before
going to Washington and after, says: "At both times the
subject of emigration was talked of. Dr. Whitman said many
in Illinois and Missouri, etc., were ready to go and would go
in the spring, as soon as the grass grew." 1
Says Dr. Geiger, after giving his account of Dr. Whitman's
interview at Washington, and of the promise he received from
the President that he would wait before proceeding further
with the Oregon business, until the Doctor should see whether
he could get the immigration through, "he immediately sent
back word to Missouri to those who wished to go, and had it
published in the papers and in a pamphlet." 2
The following was written by Whitman from the Shaw
nee mission near Westport, Missouri, May 28, 1843, to his
brother-in-law, J. G. Prentiss: "You will be surprised to
learn that I am here yet. I have been, as it were, waiting for
three weeks. When I got to St. Louis I found I had time and
so I went to Quincy (111.) and saw sister Jane, but Edward
was not there. ... I shall start tomorrow or next day.
Some of the emigrants have been gone a week and others are
just going. The number of men will be over two hundred, be-
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 26.
2 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 4. The objection has been raised
more than once that this was not so, because no such pamphlet and
no such statements in any papers have been found. This to the au
thor is no valid objection, for he has lived so long on the frontier as
to know that many pamphlets go so completely out of existence that
some are never found, and some only by the merest chance. It is
almost or quite impossible to obtain full files of many of the news
papers published in the forties. He has never heard that any search
has been made among the papers of Missouri of 1843 for anything of
this kind. Even books go to the unknown.
For example, he had never seen Palmer's "Journal of Travels Over
the Rocky Mountains in 1845-6," a book of 189 pages, although two
editions were published, in 1847 and 1852, and yet he has tried both
in the East and West to obtain a copy. All he knows of it is from
the testimony of those who have seen it. It is many more times
probable that a small pamphlet of 1843 would go to the unknown.

210 Marcus Whitman
sides women and children. This tells for the occupation of
Oregon. A great many cattle are going, but no sheep, from
a mistake of what I said when passing. Next year will tell
for sheep. . . . You will be best judge what can be done,
and how far you can exert yourself in these matters, and
whether the secret service fund can be obtained. As now de
cided in my mind, this Oregon will be occupied by American
citizens. Those who go only open the way for more another
year. Wagons will go all the way, I have no doubt, this year.
. . . Sheep and cattle, but especially sheep, are indispensable
for Oregon. ... I mean to impress on the Secretary of
War that sheep are more important to Oregon interests than
soldiers. We want to get sheep and stock from Government
for Indians, instead of money for their lands. I have written
him on the main interests of the Indian country, but I mean
still to write him a private letter touching some particular in
terests. I shall not be at all surprised to see some, if not all,
of you on our side of the mountains. Jackson talked favor
ably." 1 From this it will be seen that he was trying to induce
his friends to go to Oregon, and that he had said something
about immigrants going there when he was passing through
Missouri, on his way East, as he was misunderstood about
sheep. The following, written by Mr. Prentiss to the author, from
West Almond, N. Y., November 18, 1883, bears further on
the subject : "If I could see and talk to you of what the Doc
tor said to me on the subject of his trip, and how anxious he
was to continue his journey and get all to go with him he came
in contact with in this town, and eight miles from here at West
Almond, where I then lived, and on his way to Cuba, where my
father and mother lived at that time, it would explain much
that he wrote me about. His project was, so far as the In
dians were concerned, to induce the Government to pay them
off for their land in sheep, and leave them to be a herding peo
ple. Hence he wrote in his letter to me about a secret fund
that was controlled by the Cabinet, etc., and in his urgent
solicitations was so anxious to have Mr. Jackson, a brother-in-
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 33.

The Immigration of 1843 211
law, and myself to go. He would have it, my aged parents,
Judge Prentiss and wife, might endure the journey, and his
solicitations outside of the family were just as urgent, portray
ing the beauties of that country to all that would listen to his
story." 1
To induce people to emigrate to Oregon and to make sure
cf their reaching the Columbia Eiver with their wagons, was
to be the proof of his statement at Washington that Oregon
was worth saving.
(b) How much the Doctor did accomplish the author has
for many years endeavored to learn from the emigrants of
1843. Thus far he has learned in various ways from thirty-
eight. It is not necessary here to reproduce the letters of
those who were not influenced in any way by the Doctor to
come. They were Hon. Lindsay Applegate and Hon. Jesse Ap-
plegate, and A. Hill, who were induced to start because of Mr.
Shortess' letter; Mr. Matheny, W. J. Dougherty, John B. Mc-
Lane, J. G. Barker, J. M. Shively, N. K. Sitton (who came be
cause of reading Lewis and Clark's expedition), Mrs. Jesse
Looney, P. G. Stewart, W. C. Hembree, H. A. Straight, D. S.
Holman, William Wilson, S. M. Gilmore, H. D. O'Bryant, O.
Brown, James Athey, and Hon. J. W. Nesmith (who came be
cause of Dr. White's work the year before), and Gov. P. H.
Burnett, and W. T. Newby (who came because of the Linn
bill), twenty-two persons in all.2
On the other hand, the following letters and statements
give evidence that Dr. Whitman did induce some to start who
would not otherwise have done so.
William Waldo, January 21, 1883, wrote : "I have to say
that Dr. Whitman was in some of the Eastern States in the
winter of 1842 and 3, and wrote several newspaper articles in
relation to Oregon, and particularly in regard to the health
of the country. These letters decided my father to move to
this country, as he had already determined to leave Missouri.
. . . I first saw him on the Big Blue Eiver. ... I was
then about ten years of age, but I remember him very dis-
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 34.
2 See Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet" for letters from some of these.

212 Marcus Whitman
tinctly, for the reason that he was a very remarkable man in
many respects." !
Mrs. C. B. Cary, February 21, 1883, wrote the author: "It
was a pamphlet Dr. Whitman wrote that induced me to come
to Oregon. Met him first on the plains."
John Hobson, January 30, 1883, wrote : "My father's fam
ily came to St. Louis in March, 1843, from England on our way
to Wisconsin, but on account of snow and ice in the river we
could not proceed, and while detained there we met the Doctor
(Whitman) and several others, who were talking of coming
to Oregon ; so by his description of the country, and proffered
assistance in getting here free of charge, my father with fam
ily, and Miles Eyers and family, Messrs. Thomas Smith, a Mr.
Eicord, and J. M. Shively, all agreed to come. All came. Mr.
Eyers was drowned in Snake Eiver, while crossing above Boise.
Thomas Smith went to California in 1847. Mr. Eicord went to
the Sandwich Islands and never returned. J. M. Shively re
sides in Astoria, when at home, but is now in California for
his health. The Doctor assisted Eyers and father in purchas
ing wagons and mules in St. Louis."
John Zachrey, February 7, 1868, wrote to Eev. H. H. Spald
ing : "My father and his family emigrated to Oregon in 1843,
from the State of Texas. I was then 17 years old. The occa
sion of my father starting that season for this country, as also
several of our neighbors, was a publication by Dr. Whitman, or
from his representations concerning Oregon, and the route
from the States to Oregon. In the pamphlet the Doctor de
scribed Oregon, the soil, climate, and its desirableness for Amer
ican colonies, and said he had crossed the Eocky Mountains
that winter, principally to take back that season a train of
wagons to Oregon. We had been told that wagons could not
be taken beyond Fort Hall; but in this pamphlet the Doctor
assured his countrymen that wagons could be taken from Fort
Hall to the Columbia River, and to The Dalles, and from thence
by boats to the Willamette; that himself and mission party
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 30.
J. M. Shively afterwards said he did not start because of Dr.
Whitman's work.

The Immigration of 1843 213
had taken their families, cattle and wagons through to the
Columbia six years before. It was this assurance of the mis
sionary that induced my father and several of his neighbors to
sell out and start at once for this country." 1
Mrs. C. S. Pringle, March 24, 1884, wrote the author : "In
early life I resided near Uncle Enoch Garrison and wife, who
came in '43. Mrs. Garrison often told me the incidents of
the trip, and said that they read circulars issued by Dr. Whit
man that caused them to come to Oregon, and I think that she
said that they saw and talked with him about it."
William Martin, present sheriff of Umatilla County, was
living in Missouri in 1842 when the Oregon fever seized the
Waldo family, and engaged himself to work for the Waldo
family for one year, which included the journey to Oregon, and
six months after his arrival. He and his cousin, James P.
Martin, came with the Waldo outfit. He also remembers that
in the winter preceding his departure from Missouri the news
came in St. Louis papers that Mr. Whitman had arrived from
Oregon and gave notice that he would pilot an emigration
across the plains and take them through to the Columbia with
their wagons. This encouraged many to make the journey,
who would not otherwise have come." 2
Hon. Nineveh Ford, July 23, 1888, wrote the author : "In
relation to Dr. Whitman, he went back to the States, '42. In
my opinion the history that he gave of Oregon induced hun
dreds of persons to Oregon, me with others." "
The evidence also is that Nathan Eaton, Charles Eaton, A.
J. Hembree, J. A. Stoughton, and P. B. Whitman came be
cause of the representations of the Doctor.*
This makes sixteen out of thirty-eight, or over two-fifths.
P. G. Stewart, already referred to as saying he was not in
duced through Di, Whitman's efforts to start, added, August
1 Spalding's "Congressional Pamphlet," p. 26.
2 "Oregonian," January 3.
' It is said that Mr. Ford, after writing the above, positively denied
before his death that anything that the Doctor did induced him to
immigrate. '"Oregonian," November 21, 1895, and "Whitman College Quar
terly," March, 1898.

214 Marcus Whitman
4, 1887, in a letter to the author : "My recollection is that Dr.
Whitman joined us several days after we started. There were
a number of wagons overtook us about the same time. These
people I have since learned were induced to come to Oregon
by Dr. Whitman."
(6) The sixth and last objection is that Dr. Whitman did
nothing worth mentioning to help the immigrants, so that
they should reach the Columbia River with their wagons.
According to Governor P. H. Burnett, on the 18th of May,
the immigrants who were at the rendezvous twelve miles west
of Independence, Mo., and just beyond the State line, held a
meeting and appointed a committee to see Dr. Whitman and
attend to other business, and then adjourned to meet at the
Big Springs on Saturday, May 20th. On that day Governor
Burnett says he attended the meeting and met Dr. Whitman.1
As it has been denied that Dr. Whitman was there at that
time, I will add that Senator Nesmith, in a letter to the author,
says that he met Dr. Whitman for the first time either on that
day or a day or two afterwards. Captain John Gantt, an old
army officer, who had been over a part of the route several
times with the fur trappers, was then employed as guide as
far as Fort Hall. According to other authority, Dr. Whit
man did not wish to serve as guide, as he did not wish to take
that responsibility on himself. He worked, however, in har
mony with the guide, according to Hon. Jesse Applegate, and
his knowledge of the country and of the best ways of traveling
at times made him guide de facto. On the 22nd of May the
immigration started on their untried journey, or at least that
part of it started in which Gov. Burnett was, though from
Dr. Whitman's letters it is plain that he did not leave the Paw
nee mission until several days later. They numbered 295 men
over 16 years of age, capable of bearing arms; about 875 per
sons, including women and children, 111 wagons, and about
two thousand horses and cattle.
At first the main body of the immigrants organized with the
intention of traveling in one body, but it was soon found that
it was too cumbrous to travel successfully. Mr. W. J. Dough-
1 "Recollections of an Old Pioneer," p. 101.

The Immigration of 1843 215
erty says there was then considerable discussion as to whether
or not it would be safe to divide into two companies. Dr.
Whitman, he says, thought it was, and advised them to do so.
This advice was followed and proved to be safe. At the cross
ing of the Big Blue this division was made, and the two col
umns traveled within supporting distance of each other as far
as Independence Rock, on the Sweetwater. From this point
all danger from the Indians was over, and the immigrants sep
arated into small parties better suited to the narrow mountain
paths and the small pastures.
The Laramie River was so high from the melting of the
snow that it could not be forded. Boats were made out of
wagon-beds to form a ferry, and then it was necessary that a
line be passed to the opposite shore. Says Mr. Waldo : "No
one was willing to risk himself in swimming the river and car
rying the line but Dr. Whitman, which he did successfully.
With the line made fast around his waist, he plunged in and
soon landed safe on the other shore, thus forming a complete
ferry." "Those who saw him at the North Fork of the Platte River
in June (July), where he bid them throw away their skin
boats, prepared for crossing, and saw him for three days
crossing and re-crossing that wide stream, swimming his horse
to find the best ford ,and at last heard him order the one hun
dred or more teams and wagons to be chained together and
driven in one long line, to ford for two miles that river, swollen
by spring floods, cheering the drivers, permitting not a mo
ment's halt lest they should sink in the quicksands, will never
forget the man and the deed." 1
One man, Thomas Ayres, it is said, then recently married,
did not fancy this mode of crossing; so with his bride in a
light wagon he started across independent of the train and
Dr. Whitman's advice, but after both of them had received a
thorough wetting because of their rashness, he acknowledged
that the Doctor knew more than he did about the business, and
that newly married people should not put on too much style
in an emigrant train.
1 G. H. Atkinson's "Address before the Pioneer and Historical So
ciety of Oregon," p. 10.

2 1 6 Marcus Whitman
Says Hon. Jesse Applegate, in A Day With a Cow Column
in 1843: "But a little incident breaks the monotony of the
march. An emigrant's wife, whose state of health has caused
Dr. Whitman to travel near the wagon for the day, is now
taken with violent illness. The Doctor has had the wagon
driven out of the line, a tent pitched, and a fire kindled. Many
conjectures are hazarded in regard to this mysterious pro
ceeding, and as to why this lone wagon is to be left behind;
and we, too, must leave it, hasten to the front and note the
proceedings, for the sun is getting low in the west. There are
anxious watchers for the absent wagon, for there are many
matrons who may be afflicted like its inmate before the journey
is over, and they fear the strange and startling practice of the
Oregon doctor will be dangerous. But as the sun goes down
the absent wagon rolls into camp, the bright, speaking face
and cheery look of the Doctor, who rides in advance, declare
without words that all is well, and both mother and child are
comfortable." "I would fain now and here pay a passing tribute to that
noble and devoted man, Dr. Whitman. I will obtrude no other
name upon the reader, nor would I his, were he of our party,
or even living ; but his stay with us was transient, though the
good he did was permanent, and he has long since died at his
post. From the time he joined us on the Platte until he left
us at Fort Hall, his great experience and indomitable energy
were of priceless value to the migrating column. His constant
advice, which we knew was based on a knowledge of the road
before us, was, 'Travel, travel, travel; nothing else will take
you to the end of your journey ; nothing is wise that does not
help you along; nothing is good for you that causes a mo
ment's delay.' His great authority as a physician, and com
plete success in the case above referred to, saved us many pro
longed and perhaps ruinous delays from similar causes, and it
is no disparagement to others to say that to no other individual
are the emigrants of 1843 so much indebted for the successful
conclusion of their journey as to Dr. Marcus Whitman. . . .
The encampment is a good one. One of the causes that threat
ened much future delay has just been removed by the skill
and energy of that 'good angel' of the emigrants, Dr. Whit-

The Immigration of 1843 217
man, and it has lifted a load from the hearts of the elders.
Many of these have assembled around the good Doctor, at the
tent of the pilot (which is his home for the time being), and
are giving grave attention to his wise and energetic counsel.
The careworn pilot sits aloof, quietly smoking his pipe, for he
knows the brave Doctor is strengthening his hands. But time
passes ; the watch is set for the night. . . . Even the Doc
tor and the pilot have finished their confidential interview,
and have separated for the night." 1
Dr. Whitman then went ahead and soon wrote back a letter
stating that the Catholic missionaries had discovered, by the
help of their Flathead guide, a pass through the mountains by
way of Fort Bridger, which was shorter than the old route,
and the emigrants followed this route to their advantage.
"At the crossing of Snake River, all the teams were chained
together in a long string, the strongest in the lead, and the
weakest in the middle," says Hon. S. A. Clarke. "For quite a
space the water was swift and deep. As soon as the teams
were in position, Dr. Whitman tied a rope around his wrist,
and starting his horse into the swift stream, swam him over
it. He then called for several others to do the same, and
when there were enough of them to give the required force, the
lead team was started into the current, and by the strength
of the men and horses on the other side, they were drawn
across. The long line of cattle swung down the stream in the
¦center, carried down by the strong current, but as soon as the
lead teams touched bottom on the further side, everything was
-safe." Hon. Nineveh Ford added the following incident in a con
versation with the editor of the Walla Walla Gazette, in 1890 :
•"In crossing the Snake River Dr. Whitman hitched all the
wagons together. I had a stout team of oxen and I thought I
could make it without hitching on. I drove in last behind the
caravan. The wagons and teams formed a dam and raised the
water and threw it back on me until it was beating my team
down to a precipice and a whirlpool not more than thirty yards
Ibelow. I turned the heads of the team up-stream, or tried to,
'"Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1876, pp. 63-64.

218 Marcus Whitman
to see if they could not hold up, but they could not move. We
stood there until the whole train went out on land on this side
of the Snake River, Dr. Whitman leading the caravan. They
got out all safe, and left me way back in the river. Dr. Whit
man saw me and rode back on his horse and threw a rope to me
and told me to hitch it on my lead oxen, and he then put it to
the horn of his saddle. In this way he towed me out on main
land. I have felt grateful to him ever since, and when he was
massacred it affected me very much."
Nothing more of special interest occurred until they reached
Fort Hall. This was held by the Hudson's Bay Company as
the key to Oregon, as far as wagons, and, consequently, any
large emigration were concerned, and they did not propose to
turn this key and unlock this gateway, if they could help it,
or allow any one else to do so.
Mr. John Dunn, who was for eight years in the employ of
the Hudson's Bay Company, and who wrote his work on the
Oregon Territory in 1843 or 1844,1 says that those who have
passed through the gorge and over the towering heights of the
Eocky Mountains give as their testimony that there is no se
cure, expeditious or commodious track which can ever be
used as a highway; and that, although more favorable ac
counts had been given by those who had passed over during
the previous year or two, yet these accounts were mere bravado.
In 1840 Eev. H. Clark and a few missionary associates
had come as far as Fort Hall with wagons. They were told
by the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company that it was im
practicable, if not impossible, to take their wagons to Walla
Walla. Consequently, their teams and wagons were exchanged
for pack animals and fixtures.
In 1842 the same misrepresentations were again successful
with the first regular company of emigrants of 137 persons,
led by Dr. E. White,2 and now, in 1843, the same plan was
again tried. Even two years later, in 1845, after the emi
grants of 1843 and 1844 had taken their wagons to the Colum
bia, says Gen. Joel Palmer, "the two crossings of Snake Eiver
1 Dunn's "Oregon Territory," pp. 345, 346.
2 Hasting's "Oregon and California," p. 20.

The Immigration of 1843 219
and the crossing of the Columbia and other smaller streams
were represented by those in charge of this fort as being at
tended Avith great danger; it Avas also said that no company
heretofore attempting the passage of those streams succeeded
but with the loss of men from the violence and rapidity of the
currents. In addition to the above, it was asserted that three
or four tribes of Indians in the middle regions had combined
for the purpose of preventing our passage through their coun
try. In case we escaped destruction at the hands of the sav
ages, we were told that a more fearful enemy, famine, would
attend our march, as the distance was so great that winter
would overtake us before making the Cascade Mountains. On
the other hand, as an inducement to pursue the California
route, we were informed of the shortness of the route, when
compared with that to Oregon, as also of the many other su
perior advantages it possessed."
But the emigrants of 1845 knew that those of 1844 and 1843
had taken their wagons through ; those of 1844 knew the same
to be true of those of 1843; but those of 1843 had no such
precedent before them — in fact, no precedent but failure.
Dr. Whitman evidently realized as much as Captain Grant
did that here was the key to Oregon, and he proposed to un
lock the door. It is doubtful whether any other man could
have done so. He knew that in 1836 he had taken a cart as
far as Fort Boise. He knew that in 1840 Dr. Robert Newell,
Col. J. L. Meek, and two others, had taken three wagons to
Walla Walla; and, although Dr. Newell had found it so dif
ficult that he had on his arrival at Dr. Whitman's expressed
his regret that he had undertaken the job, yet Dr. Whitman had
said to him : "Oh, you will never regret it. You have broken
the ice, and, when others see that wagons have passed, they,
too, will pass, and in a few years the valley will be full of our
people." At an opportune moment when Dr. Whitman was absent
from camp at Fort Hall, similar discouraging representations
were made to the emigrants of 1843. They were told that they
must trade off their wagons or go to California. When Dr.
Whitman came into camp, he found them in a sad state ; some
in tears, some almost ready to accept the statements made,

220 Marcus Whitman
and some, according to Mrs. C. S. Pringle, about ready to deal
summarily with the Doctor for having induced them to come
on such a trip. But he knew that "what man had done man
could do," and, at this juncture, is said to have addressed them
substantially as follows: "My countrymen, you have trusted
me thus far ; believe me now. I will take your wagons to the
Columbia River."
Says Hon. J. W. Nesmith of this event: "Captain Grant
endeavored to dissuade us from proceeding further with our
wagons, and showed us the wagons that the emigrants of the
preceding year had abandoned as an evidence of the impracti
cability of our determination. Dr. Whitman was persistent
in his assertion that wagons could proceed as far as the Grand
Dalles of the Columbia River, from which point he asserted
they could be taken down by rafts or batteaux to the Willam
ette Valley, while our stock could be driven by an Indian trail
over the Cascade Mountains, near Mount Hood. Happily,
Whitman's advice prevailed, and a large number of the wagons,
with a portion of the stock, did reach Walla Walla and The
Dalles, from which points they were taken to the Willamette
the following year. Had we followed Grant's advice, and aban
doned the cattle and wagons at Fort Hall, much suffering must
have ensued, as a sufficient number of horses to carry the
women and the children of the party could not have been ob
tained; besides, wagons and cattle were indispensable to men
expecting to live by farming in a country destitute of such ar
ticles."1 Gov. P. H. Burnett adds similar testimony as fol
lows: "We had now arrived at a most critical period in our
most adventurous journey, and we had many misgivings as to
our ultimate success. We had yet to accomplish the untried
and most difficult portion of our long and exhaustive journey.
We could not anticipate at what moment we might be com
pelled to abandon our wagons in the mountains, pack our
scant supplies upon our poor oxen, and make our way on foot
through this terribly rough country, as best we could. We
fully comprehended the situation, but we never faltered in our
inflexible determination to accomplish the trip, if within the
1 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Society," 1873-5, p. 47.

The Immigration of 1843 221
limits of possibility, with the resources at our command. Dr.
Whitman assured us we could succeed, and encouraged and
aided us with every means in his power. I consulted Mr.
Grant as to his opinion of the practicability of our taking our
wagons through. He replied that, while he would not say that
it was impossible for us Americans to make the trip with our
wagons, he could not see himself how it could be done. He
had only traveled the pack trail, and, certainly, no wagons
could follow that route ; but there might be a practicable road
found by leaving the trail at certain points." 1
Says Mr. J. Baker, in a letter to the author: "He (Dr.
Whitman) was up every morning and getting all hands ready
for the day's march. Some time before we arrived at Fort
Hall, the Doctor left us and said he would go on and, if he
could not find a pilot to conduct us through, he would wait
at Fort Hall till we came up.
"The Doctor remained there until we came up, and told us
that he could not get a pilot that he could rely upon to con
duct us through. Captain Grant, after advising us to aban
don our wagons or leave them and pack through, said, 'I was
going to say that it was impossible to get through with your
wagons, but I will not say that for if the Americans took a
notion to remove Mount Hood they. would do it.' This I got
from Captain Grant's own mouth.
"Dr. Whitman was present, and said, at the same time,
'Never leave your wagons. I will take you through to my
place this season, and I think you can go to The Dalles; but
you cannot cross the Cascade Mountains this year.' "
Orus Brown, of the same emigration, adds in a letter to
Rev. H. H. Spalding, January 16, 1868: "I asked Captain
Grant if he thought we could get through with our wagons;
he answered, 'Yes, if you have a regiment to each wagon.' "
H. D. O'Bryant also says in a letter to the same gentleman,
March 5, 1868, that he heard Captain Grant repeatedly make
the assertion that the wagons of the emigrants could not reach
Oregon; that it was a worthless country, that there was no
timber on the Columbia River except driftwood, but California
1 "Recollections of an Old Pioneer," p. 117.

222 Marcus Whitman
was a splendid country, and he advised the emigrants by all
means to go to California.
Says P. B. Whitman: "When we arrived at Fort Hall I
heard the commandant tell the immigrants that Dr. Whitman
would starve them all to death if he got them down in the
Green (Snake) River country. He said they could never get
their wagons to the Columbia in their lives. I went and told
Dr. Whitman about it, and he got the immigrants together
and gave them a harangue. He told them he could get them
to the Columbia River if he lived ; that they had just to stick
to their wagons and follow him and he would get them through.
There had been other small immigrations with wagons, but
they had all come just that far and left their wagons, and got
rid of their cattle, by driving them off or giving them away.
1 heard Dr. Whitman urge his followers to hold their cattle,
as they were the ones that would make them a living when they
got to the Willamette. He also told them they could not break
the soil properly with Indian ponies. They all stuck to their
wagons." 1
On account of the need of his professional services at the
Lapwai mission, it became necessary for the Doctor to leave
the main body of the emigrants, as they left Fort Hall, and
proceed ahead. With the expectation that Dr. Whitman would
bring some emigrants back with him, especially those who
would aid in missionary work, Mr. Wm. Geiger, in charge of
Dr. Whitman's station during his absence, had sent some
provisions by Indians to Fort Hall. Most of these Dr. Whit
man distributed to the emigrants before he started. Says J.
B. McLane in a letter to the writer :
"The Doctor was a man among men, and was a warm friend
of mine. You may judge something of the man by the follow
ing facts : When we left Fort Hall we secured a light wagon
and put two horses to it for the purpose of leaving a track for
the wagons to follow; from the fact that he expected Mrs.
Spalding, and I think your mother, to be sick about that time,
he left us at Grande Ronde and went on (to Mrs. Spalding's)
before going home to his place. The Indians had brought con-
1 "Whitman College Quarterly," June, 1898, p. 35.

The Immigration of 1843 223
siderable flour to him at Fort Hall, and the morning we left
there he distributed all the provisions he had to the needy
emigrants, except about fifty pounds for flve of us who were
in his mess, and the only ones who went ahead of the wagons.
I was the driver of the light wagon. I must state another
fact — that he picked up some beef bones the morning we left
Fort Hall, and a young calf that was dropped that morning;
and of course, it was too young to traArel, and it was knocked
on the head and put in my wagon for us to eat. But I lost
that calf out before we arrived at camp ; it was rather young
for us."
While the Doctor preceded the main emigration and left a
wagon track, he also procured Indian guides for those behind
him. Says Hon. J. W. Nesmith: "Istikus, a Cayuse chief,
and other Indians were returning from the buffalo country, and
Dr. Whitman recommended him as a guide. He was a faithful
old fellow, perfectly familiar with all the trails and topography
of the country from Fort Hall to The Dalles, and although not
speaking a word of English, and no one of our party a word
of Cayuse, he succeeded by pantomime in taking us over the
roughest wagon road I ever saw."
In relation to the latter part of the journey, Dr. Whitman
wrote: "I tried to leave the party at different points, but
found that I could not do so without subjecting the emigrants
to considerable risk. At the Grande Ronde, east of the Blue
Mountains, I received a letter from Mr. Walker urging me to
hasten to Mr. and Mrs. Spalding, who were both dangerously
sick. Having engaged one of the Cayuses to conduct the party
across the Blue Mountains into the main Columbia Valley,
which he did in a very judicious manner, I went directly to
Mr. Spalding's, where I arrived on the 25th of September."
Having visited Dr. and Mrs. Spalding, whom he found
convalescent, he went to his station, and then north a hundred
and fifty miles to the station of Messrs. Walker and Eells on a
professional visit, and then returned to greet some of the emi
grants, who were by that time arriving at his own station.
Says Governor Burnett :
"On the 10th of October we arrived within three miles of
Dr. Whitman's mission, and remained in camp until the 14th.

224 Marcus Whitman
The exhausting tedium of such a trip and the attendant vexa
tions, have a great effect upon the majority of men, especially
those of weak minds. Men under such circumstances become
childish, petulant and obstinate. I remember, while we were
at the station of Dr. Whitman, who had performed much hard
labor for us, and was deserving of our warmest gratitude, he
was most ungenerously accused by some of our people of selfish
motives in conducting us past his establishment, where we
could procure fresh supplies of flour and potatoes. This fool
ish, false and ungrateful charge was based upon the fact that
he asked us a dollar a bushel for wheat and fifty cents for po
tatoes. As our people had been accustomed to sell their wheat
at from fifty to sixty cents a bushel, and their potatoes at from
twenty to twenty-five cents in the Western States, they thought
the prices demanded by the Doctor amounted to something like
extortion; not reflecting that he had to pay at least twice as
much for his own supplies of merchandise, and could not af
ford to sell his produce as low as they did theirs at home." r
Yet, as Dr. Whitman's mill had been burned by the Indians
during his absence, it was necessary to transport the flour for
them from the station of Rev. H. H. Spalding, a hundred miles
distant. He also, it is said, furnished them a guide to The
Dalles free of cost, and they went on their way rejoicing.
While a few of the emigrants felt as Governor Burnett
states, the larger share felt very grateful to him. Extravagant
statements have been made of the confidence which they learned
to have in him. It is reported that one man said that they
were so ready to trust him that, if he had told them to drive
up a fir tree, he believed they would have made the attempt.
Mr. Jesse Applegate presented him with a cow in appreciation
of his services.
The following testimonials have been received by the writer
from a few of the emigrants of that year. Says Mr. Wm.
Waldo :
"I was then about ten years of age, but remember him
very distinctly for the reason that he was a remarkable man
in many respects. If there was a river to cross, he was always
1 "Recollections of an Old Pioneer," p. 126.

The Immigration of 1843 225
the first to pass over and report whether it was fordable or
not; always full of life and energy, and never shrinking from
any danger or responsibility."
Says Mr. S. M. Gilmore: "The Doctor gave us a great
deal of valuable information concerning our outfit and the
manner we should travel, and told us many things about the
country, and was the means of greatly encouraging the emi
gration. He impressed on us the necessity of taking with us
nothing but what we really needed for our journey. I will
say that every time I talked with him he gave me valuable in
formation, and I found him always as ready to give as I was
to receive information. He was certainly one of the most in
dustrious and energetic men I ever knew. He was of ines
timable value to our emigration."
Hon. J. Hobson says : "At the Indian mission, a few miles
from Westport, he (Dr. Whitman) assisted us in getting more
teams and horses. He did everything it was possible for a
man to do to encourage with his presence and assist with labor
to relieve the trip of its weariness, for he always was on hand
when there was anything to do. After arriving at his station,
he did all that he could to assist us with provisions, such as
were to be had. Our part of the emigration being late, we
were compelled to leave our teams and wagons until the fol
lowing spring. We also left two of my sisters with the Doc
tor. In the spring of 1844, I with some of our neighbors, went
up after our teams and brought them down. I brought one of
my sisters down and left one with the Doctor. She remained
until 1846. He did not charge us anything for keeping the
girls, neither did he charge us, or anybody that I ever heard
of at the time, for his time or trouble ; but seemed to be satis
fied that he had accomplished his object in safely bringing the
emigration through." Says Hon. J. W. Nesmith : "Dr. Whit
man was an honest, self-sacrificing, good man. I was a young
man of twenty-three years, and, unincumbered with family or
teams, spent much of my time in company with the Doctor,
riding in advance to hunt the best wagon route. His courage
and energy and devotion won my youthful admiration."
In an address before the Pioneer Society of Oregon, in
1880, Mr. Nesmith also adds:

226 Marcus Whitman
"I regard him as a quiet, unassuming man, and of great
purity of character. He was of a powerful physical organiza
tion, and possessed a great and a good heart, full of charity and
courage, and utterly destitute of cant, hypocrisy, shams and
effeminacy, and always terribly in earnest. While with us, he
was clad entirely in buckskin, and rode upon one of those pa
tient, long-eared animals without pride of ancestry or hope of
posterity. The Doctor spent much time in hunting out the best
route for the wagons, and would plunge into streams in search
of practicable fords, regardless of the depth or temperature of
water ; and sometimes, after the fatigue of a hard day's march,
would spend much of the night in going from one party to
another to minister to the sick. While his moral example
was of the highest character, he said more to us about the
practical matters connected with our march than he did about
theology or religious creeds, and I believe that his conduct
among the Indians was of the same practical and useful char
acter." 1
Mr. W. C. Hembree adds : "Dr. Whitman was a noble man
in deeds of kindness to the emigrants of 1843. He was all that
could be wished, always ready to assist the emigrants in any
way he could."
Says Captain H. D. O'Bryant: "Now, as regards the
services the Doctor rendered to the government as regarded
the then situation of Oregon, they were invaluable. The ser
vices the Doctor rendered the emigrants before reaching Fort
Hall were of immense value.
"From the Fort the journey commenced in earnest. This
was the most difficult part of the way, and the portion of
country that Captain Grant said the wagons could never pass,
and it was useless to undertake it ; but in the face of all this
the Doctor brought the emigration, wagons and all, through
safely. And I say without fear of contradiction that the ser
vices the Doctor rendered the emigration from Fort Hall to
The Dalles were invaluable, and to prove it I will just refer
you to the emigrants of 1845, who were in the Meek's cut-off,
1 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1880, p. 22.

The Immigration of 1843 227
and the emigration of 1846, who were in Applegate's (of Ump-
qua) cut-off."1
Says P. G. Stewart: "The Doctor was of more service to
us to that point (Fort Hall) than was our pilot. I do not
know what we would have done, had not Dr. Whitman told us
how and where to cross and recross Snake River and he saved
us much time in getting through the Burnt River country, be
sides he sent an Indian to pilot us through the Blue Mountains.
Finally I would say that if Dr. Whitman did not get up the
emigration of 1843, he fetched us safely through."2
Dr. Whitman's co-laborer, Rev. H. H. Spalding, sums up his
work of that season as follows, in his flowery style: "And
through that great emigration, during the whole summer, the
Doctor was their eA'erywhere present angel of mercy minister
ing to the sick, helping the weary, encouraging the wavering,
cheering the mothers, mending wagons, setting broken bones,
hunting stray oxen, climbing precipices, now in the rear, now
in the center, now at the front ; in the rivers looking out fords ;
through the quicksands; in the deserts looking out water; in
the dark mountains looking out passes, at noontide or mid
night, as though these thousands were his own children and
those flocks were his own property. Although he asked not
and expected not a dollar's reward from any source, yet he
felt himself abundantly rewarded when he saw the desire of
his heart accomplished, the great wagon route over the moun
tains established, and Oregon in a fair way to be occupied
with American settlements and American commerce. And
especially he felt himself doubly paid when, at the end of his
sucessful expedition, and standing alive at his home again, on
the banks of the Walla Walla, these thousands (hundreds) of
bis fellow summer pilgrims, way-worn and sunbrowned, took
him by the hand and thanked him with tears for what he had
done." 3
The President sent out General J. C. Fremont that year, it
is said, to make the road for this emigration, and protect them
1 Letter to H. H. Spalding, March 15, 1868, now in possession of
the author.
2 Letter to the author, August 4, 1887.
8 Spalding's "Congressional Pamphlet," p. 22.

228 Marcus Whitman
from the Indians ; but while he left the frontier about the same
time as the emigrants, he took a different route, and did not
arrive at Walla Walla until the 23rd of October, nearly a
month after Dr. Whitman's arrival, and two weeks after
Governor Burnett's section of the emigration had reached that
place. The great Pathfinder found that the path had been
opened and protected by the vigilance of our humble mission
ary. As far as it is known, the emigrants of that year did
not lose a man from hostile Indians.
This emigration outnumbered all of the Hudson's Bay Com
pany employes and Red River emigrants, and showed our
Government that an emigration could reach the Columbia
River, so that after that the Americans had no idea of allow
ing any of the country south of the present line which divides
Washington from British Columbia to fall into the hands of
Great Britain. It actually saved the country to the United
States. Judge William Strong, in an address before the Oregon
Pioneer Society, in 1878, said: "The arrival of the emigra
tion of 1843 may be considered the turning point in the history
of Oregon. It gave the American population in the Territory
control of its civil affairs, attracted the attention and excited
the interest of the citizens and public authorities of the United
States in this then almost unknown land, and thus contributed
materially to the determination of the boundary question. It
made Oregon of too great importance to permit diplomacy to
trifle it away. It brought the valley a large band of improved
horses and cattle. It afforded the settlers the means of mak
ing themselves at home in the country, and filled their hearts
with hopes of being again surrounded by American citizens." *
And Hon. Elwood Evans, in a letter to the writer, says:
"We zealously unite in ascribing to that visit the greatest re
sults in the future of Oregon ; the grandest services to that
large train; the importance that flowed from his successful
leading of that train through the Columbia with their wagons.
Those results, those conclusions, are glorious to Dr. Whitman's
memory." 1 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1878, p. 15.

The Immigration of 1843 229
This emigration determined which of the two countries
should hold the country by right of settlement. Nor did Dr.
Whitman's influence cease with the year's emigration. The
success of this company in reaching Oregon induced another
company to start the next year. Says Mrs. C. S. Pringle, who
came in 1844, after speaking of Dr. Whitman's making the
route and guiding the emigrants of 1843: "So well known
was this fact in the Western States that Whitman and Oregon
were the watch-words of the emigration of 1844." So his in
fluence goes on down from year to year and from generation
to generation, and will be felt on this Northwest Coast as long
as time shall last.
There at Fort Hall the final victory was won, which re
sulted in the United States obtaining possession of a good share,
at least, of this Northwest Coast. Previous to 1836, when Dr.
Whitman came to the coast, in nearly every contest which the
Americans had had with the British subjects, they had been
defeated. Several fur companies, among which were the Pa
cific Fur Company, with John Jacob Astor at its head; the
Missouri Fur Company, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company,
Wyeth's Salmon Cannery and Trading Company, Captain Bon
neville, and others, had fought the battle with the Hudson's
Bay Company and retired in defeat. The v American Society
for Encouraging Settlers in the Oregon Territory, with Hall J.
Kelly at its head, had lost |30,000 and retired from the field.
Astoria, built in 1811, before the Hudson's Bay Company were
here, and Fort Hall, built in 1834, by N. J. Wyeth, had fallen
into the hands of the enemy. Thus, previous to 1834, every
American effort was defeated. In that year Rev. Jason Lee
and others crossed the Continent, and though it was not in
their first plan, actually began a settlement in the Willamette,
which greatly assisted in the final victory. The same year
Rev. Samuel Parker began to arouse the Congregational and
Presbyterian Churches and the American Board of Commis
sioners for Foreign Missions in regard to missions on this
Coast, and the next winter found Dr. Whitman and interested
him in the work. Then it was that the tide began to turn in
favor of the United States. In 1836 when Mrs. Spalding and
Mrs. Whitman crossed the Rocky Mountains, the first white

230 Marcus Whitman
women who ever did so, it was a victory. When, during the
same journey, Dr. Whitman brought the first wagon that ever
broke the sage brush from Fort Laramie to Fort Boise, it was
another victory. When, four years later, Dr. Robert Newell
and company took three wagons to Walla Walla, the enemy
was again overcome. When, again, Dr. Whitman made his
journey East in 1843, through terrible suffering, and gave such
information at Washington that the opinions of the rulers as
to the value of the country and the possibility of reaching it
with wagons were changed, still another victory was won. But
the results of all these would have been well nigh or com
pletely lost had Captain Grant at Fort Hall induced the emi
gration of 1843 to do as he wished. There was no flourish of
trumpets or sound of drums, no rattle of musketry or roar of
cannon at that battle. The contest was simply between two
men, and was a battle of brains and diplomacy, but the results
of it were greater than oftentimes when many thousands have
been slain. Each of the parties felt in a measure the responsi
bility, and Whitman won.
Fort Hall had been built nine years previously by an Ameri
can but in the contest between the trading companies it quickly
fell into the hands of the British. Now it was the scene of
another contest when settlements, not furs, were at stake, and
the Americans gained the victory. All that was done after
this was simply to gather up the spoils and make the treaty
of peace. And when, in 1846, the treaty was signed between
Great Britain and the United States, it was simply writing in
an official way what had been written "de facto" three years
previous at Fort Hall.
Says Dr. William Barrows, in his Oregon address: "In
later days, when the spirit of war was aroused for the whole
of Oregon or war, the question was raised whether it was to
be taken under the walls of Quebec or on the Columbia.
Neither was the place. Oregon was taken at Fort Hall; for
it will be seen that from this time the grand result in the Ore
gon case was no longer an open and doubtful issue; only de
tails and minor adjustments required attention."
Dr. Whitman took the same view of affairs, for he wrote
to his wife's father and mother, May 16, 1844: "I did not

The Immigration of 1843 231
misjudge as to my duty to return home. The importance of
my accompanying the immigration on one hand and the conse
quent scarcity of provisions on the other, strongly called for
my return, and forbade my bringing another party that year.
As I hold the settlement of this country by Americans rather
than by an English colony most important, I am happy to
have been the means of landing so large an immigration on to
the shores of the Columbia, with their wagons, families and
stock, in safety." 1
Again, October 18, 1847, about six weeks before his death,
he wrote to his Home Board : "Two things, and it is true those
which were the most important, were accomplished by my re
turn to the States. By means of the establishment of the
wagon road, which is due to that effort alone, the emigration
was secured and saved from disaster in the fall of 1843. Upon
that event the present acquired rights of the United States
by her citizens hung. And not less certain is it that upon the
results of emigration to this country the present existence of
this mission and of Protestantism hung also."
And in England the same view has been taken. A writer
in the British Colonial Magazine said : "By a strange and un
pardonable oversight of the local officers missionaries from
the United States were allowed to take religious charge of
the population, and these artful men lost no time in introduc
ing such a number of their countrymen as reduced the influence
of the British settlers to complete insignificance."
Says Senator Benton: "So far as the action of the Gov
ernment was concerned, it operated to endanger our title to
the Columbia, to prevent emigration, and to incur loss of the
country." His first reason given was because the question
was not settled in 1818; second, because it was not settled in
1828; third, nor in 1842; and fourth, because of the recom
mendation of President Tyler, discountenancing emigration to
Oregon by withholding the land from emigrants until the two
governments should settle the title to the country. This title
being thus endangered, "the saving of the country devolved
1 "Oregon Pioneer Transaction," 1893, p. 64. For another letter
of similar import see chapter 7, obj. 2, g. dated April 1, 1847.

232 Marcus Whitman
upon the people, and they saved it. In 1842 (1843) upwards
of a thousand went to the country, and in 1843 (1844) some
two thousand more." Hence, Rev. H. H. Spalding was not
far from the truth when he wrote that, when the rear of Dr.
Whitman's caravan emerged "From the western shades of the
Blue Mountains upon the plains of the Columbia, the greatest
work was finished ever accomplished by one man for Oregon."
Hon. S. A. Clarke adds: "While he was on terms of in
timacy and the kindest feeling with Dr. McLoughlin and many
others of the British party, it is nevertheless true that he did
more to break their prestige than all others combined. They
knew and understood his sentiments, and respected him for
holding them and living up to them. He was a remarkable
man, and only such a man could have sustained such personal
relations, and have pursued such an effective policy to over
throw British rule. His presence in Oregon at that time was
a providence that we may well appreciate who reside in
the land that he did so much for ; a land that possesses every
gift nature can bestow, and whose people should remember
suitably to honor the memory of Marcus Whitman. When the
hour came that Oregon needed a champion, he was raised up
to enact the part, 'the hour and the man.'"
"It is forty years, to this very year,
Since the first bold wagon train,
With man's deep vow and women's tear,
Struggled across the plain.
Brave Whitman piloted the way,
As on four months they pressed,
They pass the plains with summer day,
With Autumn gain the West." 1
Soon after reaching his station, he notified the Secretary
of War of the safe arrival of the immigration, giving a descrip
tion of it, in the letter which accompanied his proposed bill for
the action of Congress.'
*S. AT Clarke, in "Willamette Farmer," 1883. Benton's "Thirty
Years," vol. 2, p. 469.

CHAPTER IX.

THE WHITMAN CONTROVERSY.

The story of Dr. Whitman going East to do what he' could
lo save Oregon to the United States, and of what he accom
plished while there, both at Washington and with the emigra
tion of 1843, was first published in 1864 by Mr. Spalding and
.Hon. S. A. Clarke, as already stated, but it was put into more
jpermanent form by Dr. C. Eells in the Missionary Herald for
December, 1866, by W. H. Gray in his History of Oregon in
.1870, and by Rev. H. H. Spalding in 1871, in Executive Docu
ment No. 37, 41st Congress, third session.
As first published, there were, however, several mistakes,
most of which were made by Mr. Spalding, though other writers
made one or two or else copied those made by Mr. Spalding.
In Executive Document, No. 37, 41st Congress, 3rd Session,
.Senate, 1871, pp. 20-22, Mr. Spalding said: "The peculiar
«event that aroused Dr. Whitman and sent him through the
mountains of New Mexico during that terrible winter of 1843
to Washington, just in time to save this now so valuable
-country from being traded off by Webster to the shrewd Eng
lishman for a 'cod fishery' down East, was as follows: In
'October, 1842, our mission was called together on business at
Waiilatpu, Dr. Whitman's station, and while in session Dr. W.
was called to Fort Walla Walla to visit a sick man. While
there the brigade for New Caledonia, fifteen bateaux, arrived
-at that point on their way up the Columbia, with Indian goods
for the New Caledonia or Frazer River country. They were
•accompanied by some twenty chief factors, traders and clerks
-of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Bishop Demois [Demers],
who had crossed the mountains from Canada in 1839 [1838],
the first Catholic priest on this coast. Bishop Blanchet came
.-at the same time.

234 Marcus Whitman
"While this great company were at dinner, an express ar
rived from Fort Colville announcing the (to them) glad news
that the colony from Red Eiver had passed the Eocky Moun
tains, and were near Fort Colville. An exclamation of joy
burst from the whole table, at first unaccountable to Dr. Whit
man, till a young priest, perhaps not so discreet as the older,
and not thinking there was an American at the table, sprang
to his feet, and swinging his hand, exclaimed, 'Hurrah for
Columbia (Oregon) ! America is too late; we have got the
country.' In an instant, as if by instinct, Dr. Whitman saw
through the whole plan, clear to Washington, Fort Hall and
all (i. e., the stopping of all immigrant and American wagons
at Fort Hall by the Hudson's Bay Company every year to that
time). He immediately rose from the table, and asked to be
excused, sprang upon his horse, and in a very short time stood
with his noble 'cayuse' white with foam before his door, and
without stopping to dismount, he replied to our anxious in
quiries with great decision and earnestness, 'I am going to
cross the Eocky Mountains and reach Washington this winter,
God carrying me through, and bring out an immigration over
the mountains, or the country is lost.' The events soon de
veloped that if that whole-souled American missionary was
not the 'son of a prophet,' he guessed right when he said 'a
deep-laid scheme was about culminating, which would deprive
the United States of this Oregon, and it must be broken at once
or this country is lost.' On reaching the settlements, Dr.
Whitman found that many of the now old Oregonians, Waldo,
Applegate, Hamtree, Keyser and others, who had once made
calculations to come to Oregon, had abandoned the idea, be
cause of the representations from Washington that every at
tempt to take wagons and ox teams through the Eocky and
Blue Mountains to the Columbia had failed. Dr. Whitman
saw at once what the stopping of wagons at Fort Hall every
year meant. The representations purported to come from Sec
retary Webster, but really from Governor Simpson, who, mag
nifying the statements of his chief trader, Grant, at Fort Hall,
declared the Americans must be going mad from their repeated
fruitless attempts to take wagons and teams through the im
passable regions of the Columbia, and that the women and

The Whitman Controversy 235
children of those wild fanatic's had been saved from a terrible
death only by the repeated and philanthropic labors of Mr.
Grant at Fort Hall, in furnishing them with horses. The
Doctor told these men as he met them that his only object in
crossing the mountains in the dead of winter, at the risk of
his life, through untold sufferings, was to take back an Ameri
can immigration that summer through the mountains to the
Columbia with their wagons and teams. The route was prac
ticable. We had taken our cattle and our families through
seven years before. They had nothing to fear but to be ready
on his return. The stopping of wagons at Fort Hall was a
Hudson's Bay Company scheme to prevent the settling of the
country by Americans till they could settle it with their own
subjects from the Selkirk settlement. This news spread like
wildfire through Missouri, as will be seen from Zachary's state
ment. The Doctor pushed on to Washington, and immediate
ly sought an interview with Secretary Webster — both being
from the same state — and stated to him the object of his cross
ing the mountains, and laid before him the great importance
of Oregon to the United States. But Mr. Webster lay too near
Cape Cod to see things in the same light with his fellow states
man, who had transferred his worldly interests to the Pacific
Coast. He awarded sincerity to the missionary, but could not
admit for a moment that the short residence of six years could
give the Doctor the knowledge of the country possessed by Gov
ernor Simpson, who had almost grown up in the country, and
had traveled every part of it, and represents it as one unbroken
waste of sand deserts and impassable mountains, fit only for
the beaver, the gray bear and the savage. Besides, he had
about traded it off with Governor Simpson to go into the Ash
burton treaty ( !) for a cod fishery in Newfoundland."
Mr. Gray states that this visit was in September, 1842;
that the express came from Canada, and adds: "Two hours
after this conversation at the Fort, he dismounted from his
horse at his door, at Wai-i-lat-pu. I saw in a moment that
he was fixed on some important object or errand. He soon
explained that a special effort must be made to save the coun
try from becoming British territory. ... In twenty-four

236 Marcus Whitman
hours time, they (Dr. Whitman and A. L. Lovejoy) were well
mounted and on their way to the States." 1
There are plainly six mistakes in these statements. (1)
That the taunts and boasts at Fort Walla Walla were the
prime cause of the Doctor's going East. This could not have
been true, because, as already stated in chapter seven, his going
had been approved by vote at the meeting of the mission,
September 28.
Mistake (2). That these boasts were made because it
was there announced that the Red River immigration had just
crossed the mountains. This could not have been true, because
that immigration- came in 1841 not in 1842. There never was
but one such immigration. Among the immigrants were John
Flett, Charles McKay, and Henry Buxton, all of whom wrote
to the author in 1881, stating that they came in 1841.2 Mr.
Spalding's journal of September 10, 1841, in giving an ac
count of a journey of himself and family to Fort Colville, says :
"Arrived at Colville. Mr. McDonald's brother is here from
a party of twenty-three families from the Red River, crossing
the mountains to settle on the Cowlitz, as half servants of the
company. They started with oxen and carts. The carts are
left and they are packing their oxen. There are in all eighty
persons [probably counting children]. The man returns to
morrow with provisions." 3
In a letter of Dr. Whitman's, also, to the American Board,
dated November 18, 1841, he speaks of the same persons being
at Fort Walla Walla near that time.4
Mistake (3). The express did not then come from Canada,
as the Canadian express came later. Mrs. Whitman remained
at their station a few days after the Doctor left, then went to
Fort Walla Walla, and then to Vancouver, October 22nd, with
the express which had just then come from Canada. Hon.
Archibald McKinley, then in charge of Fort Walla Walla, and
Dr. Whitman's friend, though English at heart, denies any
truth in the whole story, and his statements are entitled to con-
1 Gray's "History of Oregon," p. 288.
2 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," pp. 17, 18.
8 Eells" "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 18.
'"Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1891, p. 158.

The Whitman Controversy 237
si deration. He says: "No taunt, no toast, no York Factory
Express, no New Caledonia boats, no factors, no traders, no
clerks, no bishops, no priests, no political discussion, no fishery
negotiation, ever heard of at Walla Walla October 2, 1842."
While the writer does not intend to question Mr. McKinley's
truthfulness, yet, as he says that he did not hear of that story
until some time after it was published, more than twenty or
perhaps thirty years later, it is possible that he may have for
gotten some incident which was the foundation of the story.
Something did, probably, occur at the Fort as the foundation
for such a story.
Dr. C. Eells refers to it in his evidence in chapter seven,
saying "it is possible that transpirings at old Fort Walla
Walla hastened his departure two days," because Dr. Whit
man had left on the third of October and not on the fifth, as
had been the plan when Messrs. Walker and Eells left the
Doctor's station for their home.
P. B. Whitman says: "Mr. McKinley told me that Dr.
Whitman made the great ride to rob his people of a vast ter
ritory, and that -the Doctor openly declared his purpose before
he made the journey, and also that his exceeding zeal caused
Ms untimely end."1
In order to settle this point as far as possible, the author
Avrote Dr. Geiger, and received the following reply, under date
of October 17, 1881: "Your letter just received asking about
the taunt to Dr. Whitman. I think there is a misconception
in the matter. Dr. Whitman had got information of Mr.
Lovejoy and others of the immigration of 1842, that the United
States was about to exchange this country for the Newfound
land banks fisheries, or a share in them, through the represen
tations of the Hudson's Bay Company, that the whole country
was a barren waste. But the Doctor, knowing the value of this
country (Pacific Coast), went to Fort Walla Walla to find out
about it (the proposed trade), and -was informed that that
Avas the expectation. (As witness the Red River emigration).
He, Dr. Whitman, determined to check the transaction, if pos
sible. ... I think the special year of this emigration had
nothing more to do with the matter than here represented. I
1 "Oregonian," December 4, 1895.

238 Marcus Whitman
can not call to mind any other features of the transaction from
any or all of my conversations or writings with Dr. Whitman.
But this condition I had so burned into my memory that I
cannot forget it." 1
P. B. Whitman gives another explanation — that another
immigration was to come the next year and settle in the Yak
ima Valley.2
Dr. William Barrows states that Sir George Simpson, Gov
ernor-General of the Hudson's Bay Company, had planned
for one in 1842, larger than the one of 1841."
Mistake (4). That Mr. Webster stated to Dr. Whitman
that he had about traded off Oregon for the Newfoundland cod
fisheries to go into the Ashburton treaty. This could not have
been, as that treaty had been signed in August, 1842.
Mistake (5). That Messrs. Applegate, and others who had
once intended to come to Oregon, had given up the idea be
cause of the representations made in the East by the agents
of the Hudson's Bay Company, but that through Dr. Whit
man's statements they were induced to come. Mr. Applegate
denies this, and says he never saw Dr. Whitman till he over
took the immigrants on the Platte.
Mistake (6). That the Doctor originated the immigration
of 1843. From statements made in the last chapter it is plain
that he did not originate, although he did much to promote,
increase, and help it to reach Oregon safely.4
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 18.
2 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 18.
2 Barrows' "Oregon," p. 155.
* Some allowance ought to be made for Mr. Spalding, although
he made these statements. At the time of the Whitman massacre he
was on his way from the Umatilla to Dr. Whitman's station. On the
road he met a Catholic priest who told him of Dr. Whitman's death,
and that the intention of the Indians was to kill him and his family.
He turned and fled, and by a round-about way reached his home,
after a week's travel, most of the way on foot, and barefoot, followed
a part of the way by an Indian who tried to find him and kill him,
traveling by night, with almost no food except roots and berries that
he obtained on the way, haunted with the fear of the death of his
family, knowing that his oldest daughter was at Dr. Whitman's, a
captive, or murdered. During this time his sufferings were such that
they would have killed many men, and it is not strange that his mind
was somewhat unbalanced afterwards on some subjects.

The Whitman Controversy 239
It was but natural, when such mistakes as these were made,
that Dr. Whitman's enemies should challenge such writers as
Governor E. Evans and Mrs. F. F. Victor, who had advocated
the story, to produce proofs of their statements. When they
found that they could not prove all of their statements, they
then went completely to the other extreme, and asserted that
Dr. Whitman had no intention of saving Oregon when he
started, but went on missionary business; that there was no
proof that he went to Washington; that if he went there, he
accomplished nothing, and that he did nothing to promote the
immigration of 1843.
These objections have all been thoroughly discussed in
chapter seven. They have constituted what has been called
the "Whitman Controversy." 1 Owing to special causes this
controversy has had its periods of activity and rest.
(a) It was not until about 1880 that these writers began
to make their changed views public, although it was known
that they had changed their views previous to this time. Mrs.
Victor did so in the Californian in 1880, in reply to an article
published a short time previous in the same magazine and writ
ten by Hon. S. A. Clarke. Mr. Gray answered her in the As
torian, and there was considerable correspondence between
them. Mr. Gray afterwards gathered his articles into a
pamphlet of nineteen pages.
Gov. Evans made his change of views public in Seattle, in
an address in 1878. This was, however, not published until
1880, when it came out in the North Pacific Coast. In 1881 he
wrote a long article for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in
1 It has been stated that because these mistakes were made the
whole case was destroyed; but the writer has never been able to
accept this. If some statements are mistaken, it does not prove that
all are mistaken. For instance, several years ago a murder was com
mitted at Port Townsend, in the State of Washington, amidst a crowd
of people. When the case was tried in court, some of the witnesses
testified that the murder occurred before a certain event took place
which all saw, and some testified that it was after that event. There
was a mistake by some of the witnesses, but that did not prove that
there was no murder. So now the fact that some of the witnesses
have made mistakes does not prove this story to be a myth.
2 Published April 30, 1881.

240 Marcus Whitman
which he took a more extreme position than he had previously
done. The author, in collecting materials for a work on In
dian Missions, had gathered some information on this subject,
and by the advice of friends replied to Gov. Evans.1 As he
continually gained more evidence on the subject from his per
sonal acquaintance with some of those old pioneers who had
known Dr. Whitman, he embodied it in 1883 in a pamphlet of
thirty-four pages, entitled "Marcus Whitman, M. D. Proofs
of His Work in Saving Oregon to the United States, and in
Promoting the Immigration of 1843." In this was embodied
testimony, most of which has been quoted in the three previous
chapters. (b) In 1884 Dr. William Barrows published his work on
"Oregon, the Struggle for Possession." Following Messrs.
Spalding and Gray, he incorporated in it their story of what
occurred at Fort Walla Walla. This opened the way for again
beginning the controversy, and it was carried on, mainly in the
Oregonian of Portland, Oregon, in nine long articles, Mrs. Vic
tor writing one, and Governor Evans, two, denying the claims
made for Dr. Whitman; while in reply Hon. E. C. Ross wrote
two, Hon. W. H. Gray one, and Rev. M. Eells three.2 Dr.
Thomas Laurie, of Providence, Rhode Island, also wrote two
articles in Dr. Whitman's defense, which were published in the
Missionary Herald of Boston.3 The article by Mr. Gray, the
two by Mr. Ross, and the first two by Mr. Eells, were after
wards published in a pamphlet of sixty-eight pages, and those
of Dr. Laurie in another pamphlet.
(c) In 1895 Dr. O. W. Nixon's book, How Marcus Whit
man Saved Oregon, was published, and another period of con
troversy followed. Hon. H. W. Scott, editor of the Oregonian,
Mrs. F. F. Victor, and Rev. H. H. Hines, D. D., denying the
claims made by Dr. Nixon, and Dr. Nixon, Hon. S. A. Clarke,
1 Published in the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer," May 28, 1881.
'"Oregonian" of Nov. 7, Dec. 9, Dec. 26, 1884; Jan. 11, Jan. 20,
Feb. 8, Feb. 15, March 12, 20, May 21, 1885.
" Feb. and Sept., 1895.

The Whitman Controversy 241
G. H. Hines, Rev. M. Eells, and P. B. Whitman replying to
these attacks.1
•(d) On November 29th and 30th, 1897, the fiftieth anni
versary of the Whitman massacre was celebrated at Walla
Walla by the dedication of the Whitman monument. Rev. Dr.
L. H. Hallock and Rev. Dr. J. R. Wilson delivered the principal
addresses.' Professor E. S. Meany and G. H. Hines had pre
viously written articles for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and
the Portland Oregonian, preparatory to the dedication. All of
these claimed great national benefits to have resulted from
Dr. Whitman's work. The addresses were widely published in
the Walla Walla Union, Oregonian, Post-Intelligencer, of ap
proximate dates, and the Whitman College Quarterly. Rev.
M. Flohr denied these claims, and again Rev. M. Eells came to
the defense.8
(e) In December, 1900, the controversy was again opened
by -Professor E. G. Bourne, who read a paper before the Ameri
can Historical Society at its annual meeting at Ann Arbor,
Michigan, in which he called the whole story of Dr. Whitman
either doing anything or attempting to do anything to save
Oregon to the United States a legend; also denying that he
had been of any great benefit to the immigration of 1843.4
This called forth a very large number of replies, both East and
West. Among these writers were Dr. O. W. Nixon, Dr. W. A.
Mowry, President S. B. L. Penrose, Professor W. D. Lyman,
Hon. J. W. Fairbanks, and Rev. M. Eells.6
1 "Oregonian" of May 24, June 1, Nov. 21, Nov. 25, 26, and Dec. 4,
1895; "San Francisco Call" Sept. 5 and 8, 1895; "Pacific Christian
Advocate," of Portland, Oregon, Oct. 23; "Walla Walla Gazette,"
Wash., June 1, 1895; "Post-Intelligencer," Seattle, Wash., July 7,
1895, and "Pacific Advance," Seattle, of December.
2 See chapter 14.
'"Seattle Post-Intelligencer," Nov. 21, Dec. 7, 1897; Feb. 6, 1898;
"Oregonian," Nov. 26, 1897; "Whitman College Quarterly," Dec,
1897, and March, 1898.
4 "American Historical Review," Jan., 1901.
'"Chicago Inter-Ocean," Dec. 30, 1900; Jan. 9, 11, 15, 21, 26; Feb.
9, 1901; "Boston Journal of Education," Jan. 24, 1901; "Walla Walla
Union," Jan. 20, 1901; "Walla Walla Statesman," Jan. 28, 1901;
"Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel," Feb. 12, 1901.

242 Marcus Whitman
Very many other articles have appeared in various papers
east and west at various times, especially in the Boston Con-
gregationalist, Chicago Advance, and Chicago Inter-Ocean, in
the latter of which Dr. Nixon for very many years annually
published an editorial highly commendatory of Dr. Whitman
on the anniversary of his death, November 29. Dr. Nixon
had come to the Pacific Coast in 1850, was the hero of H. But-
terworth's book, the Log Schoolhouse on the Columbia, and
from what he heard at that early day was always an ardent
admirer of Dr. Whitman's work.
To the author it has seemed very singular that those who
opposed the claims made for Dr. Whitman have made exceed
ingly many mistakes, far more than Mr. Spalding did, and with
apparently less excuse; some of them to all appearances
knowingly. The following are some of these mistakes :
Mrs. Victor says,1 "He (Dr. Whitman) had been six years
in the Cayuse country without having benefited or conciliated
the Indians." The immigration of 1843 spoke very highly of
Istikus, a Christian Cayuse chief, who piloted them through
the Blue Mountains, who in the war of 1855-6 furnished our
troops with scouts and provisions when most needed, and who
rang his bell and called his band together for church as long
as he lived. The result of the seed sown by the Doctor is now
seen in the Presbyterian Church on the Umatilla Reservation.2
L. W. Hastings, in 1842, said: "He appears to be rendering
great service in christianizing and civilizing the natives."*
Again Mrs. Victor says: "Admitting that he (Dr. Whitman)
feared the treaty of boundary would draw the line in British
territory, could he hope to reach Washington before it was
concluded?"4 Every good scholar knows that if the Colum
bia River had been the line, it would not have left Dr. Whit
man's station in British territory, but in the United States;
and Mrs. Victor had visited his station previous to the time
^'Oregonian," Nov. 7, 1884.
'Eells' "History of Indian Missions," 64, 237. "Report of Con
gregational Association of Oregon and Washington," 1882, p. 18, and
"Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," p. 48.
' Hastings' "Oregon and California," p. 21.
4 "Oregonian," Nov. 7, 1884.

The Whitman Controversy 243
she wrote the above. Again she says that in going East the
Doctor had a "secret motive" known to Mr. Eells, but not.
mentioned at the meeting of September, 1842. Dr. Eells had
said that Dr. Whitman had a "cherished object," not a "secret
motive." She also charged Dr. Whitman with being "either ignorant
and conceited or a falsifier," that he deceived his fellow mis
sionaries and Hon. A. McKinley as to reasons for going East,
and went in order to obtain an office and enrich himself at the
expense of his missionary character; and that because Gov
ernor George Simpson was at Vancouver, November 30, 1841
[reaching London, Oct. 29, 1842], he could not have been in
Washington by February or March, 1843 ! 1
Gov. Evans said that from 1831 to October 18, 1842, there
were no negotiations between Great Britain and the United
States,2 while Webster says that Lord Ashburton, with whom
he made the treaty of August, 1842, had power to settle all
questions between the two countries, and that they considered
the Oregon question, but could not come to an agreement, and
so omitted it."
The Governor added that Webster never at any time partici
pated in negotiations on any branch of the Oregon question,
and that Lord Ashburton had neither official power nor per
sonal discretion on the Oregon question, while Webster said
that both had power in regard to this question, and did consult
about it.
Governor Evans said that no one of the immigration of
1842 had heard of Lord Ashburton's appointment or arrival
in the United States before leaving for Oregon, and so could
not have given Dr. Whitman any information about him.4 As
Edward Everett, our minister at London, had notified our gov
ernment, September, 1841, that Lord Ashburton would be sent,
and he had arrived at Washington April 4, 1842, forty-two
days before the emigration of 1842 left Independence, Mis-
1 "Oregonian," Nov. 7, 1884.
"'Oregonian/' March 20, 1885.
* "Webster's Works," vol. 6, p. 351.
4 "Oregonian," March 20, 1885.

244 Marcus Whitman
souri, on May 16, 1842,1 there was time enough for them to
have learned of his arrival.
Again Gov. Evans quoted the author as indicating in regard
to Dr. Whitman's work for the country that it "was not known
or realized till 1866," 2 while the author had only said, "The
A. B. C. F. M. did not fully realize or perhaps fully know of
this great effort until 1866."
Gov. Evans, too, tried hard to prove that no meeting of
the Oregon mission was held in the fall of 1842 to approve of
Dr. Whitman's going East, while the Missionary Herald, as he
admitted, says there was such a meeting; he said that Mr.
Gray was not present, but was in the Willamette Valley, while
Messrs. Eells and Gray both said that he was present, and Mrs.
Whitman's letters proved that he did not move away until
October, 1842, though he had himself been to the Willamette
during the previous summer to make preparations for moving.'
Because Governor A. Ramsey said that he saw Dr. Whitman
in Washington in 1843, both Mrs. Victor and Gov. Evans tried
to disprove it, the former by saying it must have been Dr.
White, the names being similar and the difference in dates but
one year;4 while Gov. Evans thought he saw Rev. Jason Lee,
as contemporary evidence establishes the fact that he was there
during the winter of 1843-4. Contemporary evidence estab
lished the fact that Mr. Lee was not in Washington at that
date, but was in Oregon and on the Pacific Ocean. He left
the Sandwich Islands for the East the 28th of February, 1844,
to go by schooner across the Pacific, and then through Mexico,
and was in Washington in June, 1844.
Gov. Evans also said that according to Dr. Cushing Eells
the records of the mission meeting of September, 1842, were de
stroyed in the fire which consumed his house in 1872, and he
blamed him for not consulting these records before that time.8
Dr. Eells had not said this, but had published that those rec-
1 Hastings' "Oregon and California," p. 6, and "Journal of Medorem
Crawford," p. 7.
2 "Oregonian," March 20, 1885.
8 "Oregonian," Dec. 26, 1884.
4 "Oregonian," Nov. 7, 1884.
1 Hines' "History of Oregon," chapter 10.

The Whitman Controversy 245
ords were in Dr. Whitman's keeping and disappeared when
he was killed in 1847.1
Another class of the Governor's arguments, gleaned from
his article, are the following, "false claim," "falsehood," "peti-
fogging," "unmitigated falsehood," "glaringly false statement,"
"venerable gentlemen . . . who have for the once doffed
their saintly calling," "so-called reverends," "doughty cham
pions," "melange of absurdity, nonsense, fiction, and false
hood," "reverend champions of fable," "baseless fabrications,"
"extravaganza," "wriggling policy of the Eells," "slanders of
the dead," "Gulliver, Munchausen and Quixote." 2
Dr. H. H. Hines, too, in order to depreciate Dr. Whitman's
influence, especially in bringing his wagon to Fort Boise in
1836, stated that the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in 1829
was the first to bring a wagon across the Eocky Mountains,
and also that Captain Bonneville had brought twenty loaded
wagons a hundred miles west of the summit in 1832. In order
to prove the first statement, he quoted from President Jack
son's message of 1831, which said that they brought ten wagons
to the head of Wind River where it issues from the Rocky
Mountains." As the waters of Wind River flow into the Mis
souri, this "proof" has no foundation. Still the friends of Dr.
Whitman have steadily acknowledged that wagons had been
brought into the Rocky Mountains.
Captain Bonneville did so, taking them fifty-five miles west
of the summit to Green River, a branch of the Colorado, not
of the Columbia. There they stopped. Why? Because of
jaded teams? — for their teams, he says, were jaded. This was
not the reason, says Bonneville, but because the nature of the
country through which he was about to travel rendered it im
possible to proceed with wagons. His trouble was to take
them farther. Bonneville did not, but Dr. Whitman did take
his in 1836 to Fort Boise.
Dr. Hines seems to have swung almost around the circle.
In The Ladies' Repository for September, 1868, he published an
article, in which he claimed that Dr. Whitman accomplished
1 Eells' "Whitman Pamphlet," p. 10.
2 "Oregonian," March 20, 1885.
"'Pacific Christian Advocate," October 23, 1895.

246 Marcus Whitman
all that his most ardent admirer ever claimed, even to the
boasts and taunts at Fort Walla Walla and his influence over
Webster and the statement about the Ashburton treaty. By
1895 and 1897 he was disposed to deny that the Doctor went
East with any political intent, or accomplished anything
while there, or appreciably influenced any emigrants to come
that year, or even did much to help the immigration across
the plains. In 1899 he praised Dr. Whitman very highly,
both as a missionary and patriot, and as a patriotic worker
for Oregon in Washington and after he had returned to his
station ; only he praised Rev. Jason Lee as having done more
in this line, and as having in quite a measure inspired Dr.
Whitman to do what he did;1 while in 1901 he spoke of him
as "a man of singular intensity of purpose, determination in
action, and with the most patriotic devotion to the interests of
his country."2
Father Flohr went so far as to say that the government at
Washington was better posted on the value of Oregon than
Whitman himself, and that the advocates of the myth "have
the gall to tell us that the government at Washington was wait
ing for Whitman to come to Washington to enlighten them on
the Oregon question" (although they had never said it). He
called a pamphlet, entitled "A New Chapter From the Acts of
the Apostles," by President S. B. L. Penrose of Whitman Col
lege, thus entitled "by way of blasphemy." 3
Prof. Bourne, too, in support of his statement that Dr.
Whitman's visit neither dispelled ignorance nor inspired en
thusiasm about Oregon, brought as proof the statement that
"Greenhow's exhaustive history was being distributed as a
public document" (in March, 1843), when he himself had said
three pages previous that "its preface was written in Feb
ruary, 1844," and the book was not published until 1845. He
gave as another reason that at the same time "Fremont was
under commission to explore the Rockies," when Fremont did
not start with his expedition until May 29th of that year,
1 "Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest," chapter 17.
2 "Oregonian," April 7, 1901.
'"Post-Intelligencer," Dec. 8, 1897.

The Whitman Controversy 247
and did not make his report until 1845. He also said that
Dr. E. White was then writing frequent reports to his su
periors at Washington as Sub-Indian Agent in Oregon, when
not one such report had even left Oregon by April 1, 1843.1
It is very noticeable how much evidence has come to light,
since the controversy first began, in favor of the claims made
for Dr. Whitman. In May, 1881, the author published his
first article on the subject in reply to Gov. Evans. In June,
1881, he learned of Dr. Geiger's knowledge on the subject; in
June, 1882, he found new statements made by Hon. A. Hin
man and Mrs. M. R. Walker. The next year he obtained Dr.
Parker's and Governor Ramsey's statements. Late in 1885,
after the first period of controversy had passed, as published
in the Oregonian, the letters of Dr. Whitman to the American
Board appeared, stating why he went to Washington and what
in his opinion he had accomplished; also the statement of
Judge Otis and his interview with Dr. Whitman at Buffalo.
In 1891 the letter of Dr. Whitman to the Secretary of War was
found at Washington, stating that he had been to Washington,
together with his proposed bill. In 1898 the statements of Dr.
Silas Reed and John Tyler, Jr., appeared.
Since the author made his first full statement in his pamph
let about Dr. Whitman, and drew his conclusions from the
evidence there printed, he has seen no reason to make any es
sential change in his position from the evidence furnished,
namely, that on account of Dr. Whitman's visit to Washington
a part or the whole of Oregon was saved to the United States,
and that he did much to promote the immigration of 1843,
and led it through with the wagons, to the Columbia River.
Still, the author has never claimed that Dr. Whitman alone
saved thus much of the country, for he has time and again
given the Methodist mission full credit for sending the first
missionaries to the Pacific Coast in 1834, for sending earnest
petitions to Washington in the thirties and forties, for doing
very much to organize the Provisional Government of Oregon
1 "American Historical Review," January, 1901, p. 289. "Fremont's
Exploring Expedition," pp. 123, 125, and White's "Thrilling Adven
tures," pp. 171, 172.

248 Marcus Whitman
(claiming that without the help of the Methodist mission it
would not have been organized), for furnishing the flrst United
States officer for Oregon, Dr. E. White, and for furnishing the
first Governor of Oregon, George Abernethy.

CHAPTER X.
niFFICDLTIES WITH THE INHIANS.
Much has been said about the troubles which existed at
different times between Dr. Whitman and the Indians. It has
been thought best to speak of these difficulties in a separate
chapter, so that it can easily be seen what they were.
(a) The first trouble on record was in 1837, and was about
the Doctor administering medicine to the sick. It has always
been a custom with the Indians when severely sick to call on
their medicine men for help. The help thus given is not, how
ever, medicine, but incantations and jugglery. The Indians
believe that sickness is caused by an evil spirit, which enters
the individual. This is sent or shot into him by a bad medi
cine man in an invisible manner. Sometimes they believe he
can thus shoot a bullet, stone, or poison into the heart of a
person and sometimes to send a woodpecker, squirrel, bear, or
any treacherous animal to his heart, to eat it, plague him, and
make him sick. Then the patient or his friends employ a good
medicine man to draw this out, and it is done by incantations,
such as pounding on sticks, beating an Indian drum, helloing,
singing, and the like. If after the use of all his means the
patient dies, the relatives have the right to kill the medicine
man, unless he shall give these relatives property enough to
satisfy them for the death of their friend. Dr. Whitman en
countered this trouble during his first year among the Cayuses,
as related in the chapter on Mission Work.1
It does not seem, however, as a general thing, that the In
dians considered the Doctor in the light of one of their medi
cine men. He afterwards said so to Rev. C. Eells, and added
that if they did, it would not be safe for him to remain among
them, but he did not believe that they did so consider him.
1 Chapter 4, p. 98.

250 Marcus Whitman
(b) Several years previously, probably about 1834, Rev.
Jason Lee, while on his way to the Willamette, had received
a present of some horses from the Indians. Not knowing the
Indian custom, that when such a present is made another of
about equal value is expected in return, he had taken the horses
but had not given them much, if anything, in return, as he
evidently supposed that they were a free gift to help him in his
Christian work. But the Indians did not forget it. It is said
that they were told by Mr. J. Toupin, interpreter for the Hud
son's Bay Company, that Mr. Lee had as good as stolen their
horses. After Doctor Whitman's arrival — as he was a white
man and a missionary, the same as Mr. Lee — some of the In
dians made considerable trouble with him on this subject.1
(c) Another trouble was that at times the Indians de
manded pay for the wood, water and land which the Doctor
used. In Father Brouillet's pamphlet in regard to the causes
of the massacre is a statement by John Toupin, interpreter at
Fort Walla Walla, who says that he interpreted for Rev. Sam
uel Parker in 1835, and that Mr. Parker promised to send them
a missionary who would not take their lands for nothing, but
would give them ploughs and hoes, and that a big ship would
come every year with goods to be distributed among the In
dians. How much of this is true is uncertain. There is no
other proof of it, and if anything was said on this subject Mr.
Parker probably had reference to treaties by government and
annuity goods. Mr. Toupin's statements as given in that
pamphlet have not all been found to be reliable.
When Dr. Whitman established his station the Indian
chiefs promised him the free use of the land, but because of
the statements made to the Indians by malicious persons, after
a time the Indians did demand pay for their use. The most
serious time which the Doctor had because of this was in
November, 1841. In a letter to the American Board the Doctor
gives the following account of it: "I-a-tin, an Indian, who
had been to the Willamette settlement, undertook to embarass
Mr. Gray in his building operations, forbidding him to cut
timber without pay and others joined him in talking of charg-
1 Hines' "Oregon," p. 183.

Difficulties With the Indians 251
ing us for firewood. There has often been talk of causing us
to pay for the land we occupy. I-a-tin said he was told while
at the Willamette that if any one came on the white man's land,
and he refused to go off, he was kicked off.1
"The plantation of this station has been in common with
the Indians upon a point of land between two streams ; as soon
as our wheat was off the Indians put their horses in, to the
great injury of our garden, corn and potatoes. We have been
hitherto unable to make fences for the want of timber and
strength and time to do it ; now we expect we will be able to
do it in the spring, as Mr. Gray is associated with us at this
station, by digging a ditch around our fields, which answers
the purpose of irrigation also (none of our fields have any
fences), as well as that of some of the Indians.
"While Mr. Hale, of Boston, who belongs to the U. S. Ex
ploring squadron, was here, Til-ka-na-ik, another Indian, was
most insolent because, when his horses were eating up our
corn, I sent some Indians to catch them. He said I was likely
to get the Indians whipped, for if I sent them to catch his
horses he should beat them, and added that he put his horses
there lest they should stray, for he had no servant, and that
was a shut-up place, and that if I had them put out, he would
take one of our horses and ride him to hunt for his until he
tired him out and then leave him. I then told him that I
thought our field was a plantation and not for a horse pen;
but if he thought it good to eat up our crops, I had no more
to say about it. He then said that this was his land and that
he grew up here and that the horses were only eating the
growth of the soil, and demanded of me what I had ever given
him for his land. I answered 'nothing' and that he might de
pend upon it I never would pay him anything.
"He then made use of the word 'shame' which is used in
Chinook the same as in English and its parallel in Nez Perces.
I requested him to wait while I spoke, and then told him of
the original arrangement for us to locate here, and that we did
not come of ourselves, but by invitation from the Indians, and
that the land was fully granted us. Here I left him; but in
'"Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1891, pp. 155, 162.

252 Marcus Whitman
a short time I was met by one of the chiefs, who said it was
troublesome to see those horses eating up the corn.
"I then related to him what had just passed with Til-ka-
na-ik, and told him I had no intention to remove them. While
we were talking Til-ka-na-ik came along, having overheard us,
and came up to me and asked me how many times I was going
to talk, and struck me twice severely on my breast, and com
manded me to stop talking. I told him I had been in the habit
of talking from my childhood, and intended to keep on talk
ing. This Indian, Til-ka-na-ik, has for the year past been
practicing the ceremonies of the Papists.
"Following this in order of time was another trial with
I-a-tin, the first named Indian. His son had been employed to
take care of our horses and cattle, but had been very unfaith
ful, having left them for four weeks, causing us to pay him off
before his engagement had expired. I asked him how much
I was to pay his son; he said just what I pleased. I then
gave him the full value of what was agreed upon within five
balls and powder, but it did not please him, and only caused
him to raise a bitter complaint that he could not obtain justice.
I then told him I would exchange some of the articles and give
the full value of our first bargain in the things originally prom
ised, and that then he would be in debt to me for the four weeks
which his son neglected to take care of the cattle, and for the
unexpired time yet to be fulfilled in his bargain. I told him,
also, that when, on the morning of the same day, I was grind
ing his wheat for him, I little thought he would treat me
thus. At this he was much displeased and said to one of
my family, and also in camp, that he would burn our mill.
Mr. Gray is living in our old house, one part of which was in
use as a workshop and kitchen. It was much used also as a
place to store many small articles and tools, so that no Indians
was allowed to go in there. One morning an Indian named
Pit-am-an-in-muks-muks went in and seated himself by the fire
along with a hired man, the Hawaiian, and an Indian who was
there by order to cook for Indians who were laboring.
"The woman made complaint to Mr. Gray, and he desired
him to go out, but he at once asked if he thought he would
steal. Mr. Gray told him many things had been stolen, and if

Difficulties With the Indians 253
he allowed one, he must another, and that even if some would
not steal, yet if they were admitted, others would follow them,
and on that account he wanted no one to come in there. Upon
this, he became insolent, and Mr. Gray put him out of the
room. He then went at once to the horse pen, and threw his
rope upon one of Mr. Gray's horses. Mr. Gray followed him
and cut his rope off and put him out of the pen. In the after
noon of the same day he came when I was at work and took
the same horse in my presence. He was on a horse with an
other Indian and others had gathered around. I simply asked
him if he made himself a thief how he could cleanse himself.
His brother, Sa-ki-aph, said it would be good to kill our cat
tle. I told him he had now shown his heart, and if he thought
so he could kill them. I then sent to apprise Mr. Gray, who was
at work upon his house. We soon saw Til-an-ka-ik, a relative
of Pitamaninmukmuk's, with his young men coming toward the
house. I requested Mr. Gray not to answer him, but to allow
me to do it. He came up to us in the building and began to
address Mr. Gray, who took no notice of what he said, and he
failed to create any excitement, but ordered Mr. Gray to stop
building and remove the next day. I told him it was the Sab
bath and he could not go. It seemed strange to him to speak
of reverence for the Sabbath at such a time. I then went down
from the building and he soon followed me and began to com
plain of my taking the part of Mr. Gray, and said if he were
to go to our country he should be very careful how he con
ducted himself lest he should be sent off. He said again that
Mr. Gray was laboring in vain, for he must leave. I told him
it was natural for us to labor, and we would not desist although
we might labor in vain. I told him, also, that if Indians came
into Mr. Gray's or my house and refused to do as we desired, it
was right for us to put them out. He then took hold of my ear
and pulled it and struck me on the breast, ordering me to hear,
as much as to say, we must let them do as they pleased about
our houses. When he let go I turned the other to him and he
pulled that, and in this way I let him pull first one and then
the other until he gave over and took my hat and threw it into
the mud. I then called on the Indians who were at work for
Mr. Gray to give it to me and I put it on my head, when he

254 Marcus Whitman
took it off again and threw it in the same place. Again the
Indians gave it to me and I put it on. With more violence
he took it off and threw it in the mud and water, of which it
dipped plentifully. Once more the Indians gave it back to
me and I put it on, all mud as it was, and said to him, 'Per
haps you are playing.' At this he left us. A day or two
after this McKay, another Indian, made a violent speech and
forbade all the Indians to labor for us.
"We intended to take no notice of these things, not even
to mention them, but the superintendent of Fort Walla Walla,
Mr. McKinley, sent up his interpreter to inquire about it as
he had heard exciting stories from the Indians. I wrote him
all was quiet and we had no concern, but at the same time I
gave him the last mentioned case and also told him I feared
Joe Gray, a half-breed Iroquois, for a long time a servant of
the company, but who was in the camp of the Waiilatpu and
Walla Walla Indians from April to September, contributed to
cause this excitement, for I was told by an Indian after the
affair that Joe Gray had told Til-an-ka-ik while at his camp
and fishery that we were rendering the Indians miserable and
that we ought to pay for the lands. This Gray is a Romanist
and held worship in the forms of that church among the In
dians. Mr. McKinley espoused our cause warmly and sent
word to the Indians that he felt the insult offered to us as of
fered to himself, and that those who conducted themselves so
much like dogs would not be permitted to see him with com
placency. The interpreter added much to this, according to
the Indian's stories. He told them that when Governor Simp
son, of the Hudson's Bay Company, heard of the death of Chief
Factor Block, who was killed at Thompson's River Fort last
winter in his own house by an Indian, he felt that it was not
to have his people killed that he sent and had forts built and
brought the Indians goods. He at once resolved to come him
self and that he had gone past and was now in the lower
country. "He pointed to the fact of the company bringing a large
number of men into the country, for a large party of settlers,
as half servants to the company, were at that time at the fort
on their way from the Red River, to settle on the Cowlitz, and

Difficulties With the Indians 255
that the company had during the last summer removed a large
part of the cattle from the upper country as evidence of a state
of readiness to avenge Chief Factor Block's death, and that
company were prepared and determined to avenge any other
like outrage of the Indians, whether it occurred in one or two
or three years, whether it might be here or among any other
Indians. This excited them very much, for they did not know
how to take it; they felt that they had committed themselves
and been compared to dogs. After a meeting among them
selves, they came to have a talk with us. Mrs. Whitman came
and called me, as I was not in the house at the time, and Mr.
Gray and myself came in. They persisted in entering through
the kitchen into the dining room, and let in all who presented
themselves at their accustomed door. While we were talking,
Pa-la-is-ti-wat, an old Indian, commenced threatening Mrs.
Whitman at the window with a hammer, in order to force open
the door and at the same time Sa-ki-aph, who was in the house,
was trying to unlock another door in order to throw open the
house. I called on him to stop and also asked the Chief to
stop him, but called in vain. I then went and took the key
from the door. He went directly into the kitchen removed
the fastening and opened the door, but I followed him, and as
he opened the door to let others in I put him out, and fastened
the door, returned and sat down. Having got the hammer
from Pa-la-is-ti-wat, he beat the door, and the others took a
large American ax, by which means they broke the kitchen
door and a horde of lawless savages took possession of the
house. At the same time Sa-ki-aph came in with the hammer
and Pa-la-is-ti-wat with the ax to attack us. Mr. Gray met
the former and myself the latter and disarmed them. After I
got hold of the ax I did not excite myself to take it away until
I had waited to see if the chief would speak to restore order,
but waited in vain. After I took the ax away he held to my
collar and struck me with his fist and tore my clothes. Mrs.
Whitman took the ax from me while I was being held by the
Indian, and Mr. Gray put both ax and hammer upstairs. Sa-
ki-aph soon returned with a club and advanced upon me. As
I arose to take the club I dodged the blow he was leveling at
me, for which I was greatly ridiculed by them as fearing death.

256 Marcus Whitman
While I was telling them I did not fear to die, if I did not
partake of the sin of causing my death, Sa-ki-aph came in
again with a gun and presented it to me and asked me if I
did not fear to die. Our hired men were in the house by this
time and one went and stood so as to command the gun. They
persisted in saying that because I said I was not afraid to die
that it was as though I had challenged them to kill me ; but I
told them 'no' I did not challenge them nor did I want to suffer
pain ; but still I did not fear to die, as I had just said. At
the same time I showed them the consequences of killing us
and sending us in advance of themselves into the presence of
God. They wanted me to say that we would not shut any of
our doors against them, and said if we would do so we would
live in peace. We told them that so long as we were allowed
to live and occupy our houses we should order our doors, and
if they wished to live in peace they must not oppose such regu
lations. Til-an-ka-ik now exclaimed that it was impossible to
bully us into a fight. Wap-tash-tak-mahl next said that there
was property in the house and that they were accustomed to
have it given them when they had a difficulty. I told them
they would not get the value of a single awl or pin for their
bad conduct, and if they wanted property in that way they
must steal it. He thought it very hard language. I told them
that I felt that this was not an excitement of the moment, but
that it was the result of what Joe Gray had told them while
on the Grande Ronde River. At first they were disposed to
call me to account for my authority, but Wap-tash-tak-mahl
arose and said it was true ; he had told them so but had forbid
them to tell of it lest he should be blamed. He then related
what he had told them. That formerly the whites came on
to the Iroquois land, they killed two and drove them off ; after
that they killed two more, and then when the whites wanted to
buy their land they loved them and said they wanted them for
their children, but at last they bought them and gave a great
sum of money and after that all lived as brothers. They now
broke up and went away, saying they would go and see if Mr.
McKinley would call them dogs. We thought but to apprise
him of their intention and sent accordingly to the Fort in the
night.

Difficulties With the Indians 257
"The next day was the Sabbath and it was a sad day to
us. Many stayed away from worship and some went to the
Fort carrying their arms. Others were insolent and reckless
of evil. They did many violent acts such as breaking our
windows and troubling our animals. We now felt that we
had showed the example of non-resistance as long as it was
called for, and as we went to bed we put ourselves in a state
of defense, should anything occur at the Fort and the Indians
return upon us. We also resolved to go to the Fort and take
our families and stay for a time, until we could either arrange
to go away or return, as might seem best.
"On Monday I received a letter from Mr. McKinley, giving
an account of their conduct there, a copy of which I will give
you, dated Walla Walla, Oct. 4, 1841 :
" 'My Dear Sir :
'I have the pleasure to inform you that there is every
prospect of your being allowed to keep peaceful possession of
your place and that you will not be further molested by the
Indians. (It was rumored that they intended to break into
the Fort Sabbath night, which caused them to keep watch
and mount all their guns and cannons, and load them with
nails, old pieces of iron, etc., to be ready in case they should
need them). Rogers would have told you how matters stood
when he left. All, however, was quiet during the night. Af
ter breakfast, this morning, I sent for the Indians, and when
they came into the hall, I told them I wished to know their
hearts, and at the same time, tell the state of my own, for, al
though I sent for horses the other day, I would not trade one
till such times as I knew whether we were to have war or not.
That for my own part I did not care which; I dared them
to take my fort from me, for that I had a sufficient number of
men to protect myself, but that I could not protect you, but
if they persisted in doing you harm that I would instantly
send to Chief Factor McLoughlin, who would send up a suffi
cient number to avenge the whole, and that the plunder of
their horses would be sufficient payment for the trouble. That
I knew they might kill you before assistance came, but that it
afforded me great satisfaction they could not send you to
hell. That it is the first time I had heard of Indians in my

258 Marcus Whitman
part of the country treating missionaries being obliged to pay
for the lands they occupied. I concluded by saying that if
they were willing to acknowledge their faults and promise
better conduct in future, I was sure you would forgive the
past, and that if you did I would do so, also. That spilling
of blood was far from my wish, but that it was time we un
derstood each other's hearts. Wap-tash-tak-mahl, McKay and
Til-an-ka-ik all spoke one after the other. It is unnecessary
for me to tell you all that they said at present. Let it suffice,
therefore, till we meet that what one and all of them said, ex
pressed deep contrition for what had passed, and many prom
ises that they conduct themselves well in future. In fact, they
spoke most reasonably and acknowledged that they were al
together in the wrong. I then told them that I was very
willing to blot from my memory their dogly conduct, and that
I was sure you would do so likewise. So I think you will find
it to the advantage of all concerned to forget and forgive the
past. But pray put your face against paying them for their
bad conduct. In hopes that you will agree with my plans, I
remain your sincere well wisher, ARCHIBALD McKINLEY.'
"On Tuesday, the 5th, we called the Indians to hold a talk
with them; the result of which was to gain a full acknowl
edgment of the first understanding we had with them before
the establishment of the mission. This talk was fully inter
preted to them by the interpreter at Walla Walla, and I do
not know that it could have been more complete in all the re
lations required for the station. We told them plainly that
unless they were ready to protect us and enforce good order,
we would leave them ; that we did not come to fight them, but
to teach them. The first agitators were very full in their
expressions of sorrow for their conduct, but Wap-tash-tak-
mahl, who asked to be paid for their bad conduct and had
pretended to be friendly, in the case showed duplicity and
how loth he was to relinquish the hope of getting property, as
he has also at other times since. A brother of Iich-ish-kais-
kais, not at the time at the station, but who soon after ar
rived, made a feast at which, as usual on such occasions, sub-

Difficulties With the Indians 259
jects of interest were discussed. He then proposed to require
of us that we must distribute our cattle among them, or else
they would require us to leave. Wap-tash-tak-mahl consented
to the same, but Tak-an-ka-ik, who had been the principal agi
tator before, entreated them not to do it, assuring them that
they should not extort cattle by fear, and desired them not
to follow in his bad track, for which he was justly censured
by the superintendent at Walla Walla, and incurred the name
of a dog. It is said this brought tears into the eyes of Iich-
ish-kais-kais, and a promise that he would not mention it
again. Ka-mash-pa-hi, another who had arrived since the dis
turbance, said he advised all to be still and say no more about
causing themselves to be paid for the land, wood, water, etc.
He did not think we expected such things when we located on
the vacant lands." 1
(d) In 1842, a Nez Perces Indian, who had been at school
at Red Eiver, died, and his relatives managed to frighten
some Columbia Eiver Indians as being the cause of his
death. In order to satisfy them the Eiver Indians gave many
horses and much property to some prominent relatives of the
deceased. As these relatives passed the Doctor's station on
their way home, he tried to show them the wickedness of
their conduct, and to induce them to return it. Twelve or
fourteen of them gathered at the Doctor's, quite angry, be
cause of his plain talk, with a rope, bow and arrows with iron
points, and a war club. Mrs. Whitman was present, and
after considerable talk and some suspicious actions, which she
saw, with the rope and war club, she went out slyly and called
in some friends. When they came in the Indians saw that
they were foiled, and at last promised to restore all the prop
erty they had received.2
It has already been briefly stated that soon after Dr. Whit
man left for the East, in October, 1842, one night an Indian
entered Mrs. Whitman's house with wicked intentions. Her
own account of this in a letter dated October 7th, 1842, to her
husband, is as follows: "I got dreadfully frightened last
1 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1891, pp. 154, 162.
2 Letter of Mrs. Whitman in "Oregon Pioneer Transactions," 1891,
pp. 141, 143.

260 Marcus Whitman
night. About midnight I was awakened by some one trying
to open my bedroom door. At first I did not know what to
understand by it. I raised my head and listened a while, and
then lay doAvn again. Soon the latch was raised and the door
opened a little. I sprang from the bed in a moment and closed
the door again, but the ruffian pushed and I pushed and tried
to latch it again, but could not succeed. Finally he gained
upon me until he opened the door again, and as I supposed,
disengaged his blanket (at the same time I calling John), and
ran as if for his life. The east dining room was open. I
thought it was locked, but it appeared that it was not. I
fastened the door, lit a candle and went to bed, trembling and
cold, but could not rest till I had called John [a Hawaiian]
to bring his bed and sleep in the kitchen. It was in such a
time that I found that he was too far off. Had he persisted
I do not know what I should have done. I did not think of
the war-club, but I did think of the poker. Thanks be to our
Heavenly Father, He mercifully delivered me from the hands
of a savage man. Mungo [a Hawaiian] arrived in the night
some time, and came in to see me this morning. I told him
about the Indian's coming into my room; the first time I
spoke of it to any one. Soon after he went to Walla Walla,
and left his wife with me. I did not think to write by him.
He returned this eve, bringing letters from Mr. McKinley and
Brother Gray, who, it seems, is not off yet, urging me to re
move immediately to Walla Walla. Mungo told them of my
fright last night. It alarmed them very much. Mr. Mc
Kinley and wife were coming here tomorrow, and she was
going to stay some time with me, but he says he will not do it
now, but insists on my removing there immediately. He has
told Mungo to stay until he comes on Monday, and tomorrow
he sends back the wagon for me to be ready to go on Tuesday.
I shall go if I am able. They appear to be so anxious about
me. Doubtless it is not safe for me to remain alone any
longer. In talking to McKay and Fea'ther Cap today about
it, I told them I should leave and go below; I could not stay
and be treated so. I told them I came near beating him.
"They said it would have been good if I had done so, and
laid him flat so that they might have all seen who he was.

Difficulties With the Indians 261
Some think there will be no further danger. I think it safe
for me to go now, as our friends are so anxious about me, and
Mr. McKinley so kindly offers to prepare a room to make me
comfortable." '
Dr. E. White says it was an Indian chief who was the mis
creant. Accordingly, Mrs. Whitman left her station as here
tofore stated. Of it she says : "The Indians did not like my
leaving very well — seem to regret the cause. I felt strongly
to prefer to stay, if it could be considered prudent, but the
care and anxiety were wearing on me too much." She was
so unwell as to be obliged to lie down in the wagon most of
the way to Walla Walla — twenty-five miles.
(f) Soon after she left the grist mill near their house
Avas burned. This was a damage to the mission of twelve or
fifteen hundred dollars. Mr. McKinley says it was supposed
to have been set on fire by the Indians. Of this Mrs. Whit
man wrote in a letter to her parents: "This was very af
flicting news to me, for all our living came out of the mill,
principally, and not only ours at the station, but multitudes
in the country in different ways were benefited by it. Prob
ably there were more than two hundred bushels of wheat and
corn and some flour burned — the mill bolt, threshing mill, even
to a part of the waterwheel, were burnt. My poor husband
will feel this sadly; so much of his labor lost and so much,
too, that saves labor. I think sometimes that if I had not
left, perhaps it would not have been burnt; but it will all
work for the best for us and for the poor Indians, too. I left
a good man there (William Geiger), but he could do nothing
alone, as it was set on Are in the night and not discovered
until it had made considerable progress. It is pretty difficult
to ascertain whether it was the result of design or careless
ness. It is said that two boys (and we know them to be of
malicious habits) were fishing and threw fire down on the
bank of the river, that communicated with the straw. The
sensible part of the Cayuses feel the loss deeply, and they will
feel it still more when they want their wheat ground. We
hope it will be a good lesson to them, and be one means of
1 "Oregon Pioneer Transactions," 1891, p. 163, etc.

262 Marcus Whitman
making them a better people. Husband had prepared adobes
to surround the mill before he left, but being called away so
suddenly, Mr. Spalding engaged to see them put up. He had
arriA-ed at Waiilatpu when I left Walla Walla, and com
menced work, but was sent for in great haste, as Mrs. Spald
ing was taken very sick, and was unable to take care of her
self or children. This left the mill unfinished and unpro
tected." a
In December, 1842, Dr. E. White, U. S. Sub-Indian Agent,
met some of the Cayuses, when Feather Cap acknowledged
that in his opinion the mill was purposely burnt by some per
sons who were disaffected to Dr. Whitman. At that time it
Avas expected to hold a council with the Cayuses, but they were
scattered and so disaffected that it was not possible. It was,
hoAvever, arranged to hold one the next May. This was held
ai the appointed time.2 In the meantime there arose a great
excitement, which at first began with the Indians of the inter
ior of Oregon, as the Walla Walla, Cayuses, Nez Perces and
others, but which spread to those in the Willamette Valley.
The cause of this was that the Indians feared that the whites
were coming to take possession of their lands, of which more
will be said hereafter. The excitement was so great that Mrs.
Whitman, April 11, 1843 wrote Mrs. Walker :
"All the talk is war, war, among the Indians ; that some of
the whites in the Willamette wished Dr. White to build a
strong fortification in the center of the settlement; and that
others wished him to take an armed force to the interior, and
if words would not answer, make powder and balls do it."
The Doctor, however, preferred more peaceable means, and
taking only Eev. G. Hines and one more attendant, with an in
terpreter, went first to Mr. Spalding's. Mrs. Whitman and
Rev. H. K. W. Perkins joined them at The Dalles. After a
pleasant interview with the Nez Perces they returned with Mr.
Spalding to Dr. Whitman's station. Chief Ellis and five or
six hundred Nez Perces also came. At the first meeting of
these, with about three hundred Walla Wallas and Cayuses,
"'Oregon Pioneer Transactions," 1891, p. 172.
2 White's "Thrilling Adventures," p. 191.

Difficulties With the Indians 263
all mounted in the plain in front of Dr. Whitman's, there was
great excitement; so that Chief Ellis said he thought the
Cayuses really meant to fight them, and there had been rumors
that war was expected between the two tribes ; but Mr. Spald
ing's tact as this time in calling them off for worship, calmed
them down. Four days were occupied with the council, at
which the various matters were discussed and settled. A
cow was given them for each horse which had been presented
to Rev. J. Lee. Laws similar to those adopted by the Nez
Perces the previous winter were adopted by them. Five
Crows was elected head chief, and the whole affair was fin
ished with a feast, for which Dr. White gave them an ox, he
having given them another during the council, while Mrs.
Whitman gaAre them a hog. Thus the whole affair ended
peaceably, although Dr. McLoughlin strongly advised Dr.
White against this course as being dangerous; and the In
dians were ready to fight, as they supposed that Dr. White
Avas coming with an armed force.1
(g) The land question still, however, continued to trouble
the Indians; not that they still demanded pay from the Doctor
for the amount that he used, so much as they feared that the
Americans were about to take away all that they had. When
Dr. Whitman departed in October, 1842, says Rev. G. Hines,
with the avowed intention of bringing back with him as many
as he could enlist for Oregon, they saw a deep laid scheme of
the whites to destroy them, and take possession of their lands.
Accordingly, the Nez Perces dispatched one of their chiefs on
snowshoes during that winter to visit the Indians in the buf
falo country east of Fort Hall for the purpose of exciting them
to cut off the immigrants of 1843, but this was happily pre
vented. The Cayuses talked freely with Mr. William Geiger, who
had charge of Dr. Whitman's station during his absence in
the East, and whom they considered their friend, of their fears
on the subject. During that winter there was a rumor that
the whites in the Willamette intended to march on them with
1 White's "Thrilling Adventures," chapters 9, 20, and Hines' "Ore
gon," chapter 9.

264 Marcus Whitman
an army, kill them all, and take their land. When they first
heard of it, the young men were in favor of immediately march
ing to the Willamette and cutting off the whites ; but the older
chiefs were in favor of more caution. They thought it best
to wait for more information. They often told Mr. Geiger
that they did not wish to go to war, but if the Americans
should come to conquer them, they would fight so long as they
had a drop of blood left. They said that they had obtained
their information about the intentions of the Americans from
Baptiste Dorio, who was a half-breed, son of Madame Dorio,
a heroine of Irving's Astoria, and who understood the Nez
Perces well.
Mr. Geiger tried to induce them to cultivate the ground,
as they had done the year before, but they refused, saying
that Baptiste Dorio had told them that it would be of no use,
as the Americans would come in the summer, kill them all, and
destroy their plantations. Accordingly, they sent Yellow Ser
pent, a Walla Walla chief, to Vancouver to consult with Dr.
McLoughlin about it. When he returned he said the Doctor
had told him that he had nothing to do in a war with the In
dians; that he did not believe that the Americans had de
signed to attack them and that if they did, the Hudson's Bay
Company would not assist them. On learning this from the
great Doctor, they became more calm, and many of them began
cultivating their patches of ground.1
After Dr. Whitman's return from the East there is no evi
dence that any personal violence was used against him until
the time of his death. Two or three causes, however, conspired
to trouble the Indians, and to make the Doctor feel uneasy at
times about his personal safety, and to cause his friends like-
Avise to feel uneasy about him.
(h) In the fall of 1844 another circumstance occurred
which greatly excited the Indians. It was the killing in Cali
fornia of Elijah Hedding, a young chief, the son of a promi
nent chief of the Walla Walla tribe. A number of the Walla
Wallas, Cayuses and Spokanes combined to go to Californa to
get more cattle. They obtained them. All went well until in
1 Hines' "History of Oregon," pp. 164, 165.

Difficulties With the Indians 265
an excursion for elk and deer skins they met a marauding party
of mountain freebooters, fought and conquered them, and took
twenty-two horses from them, all of which had previously been
stolen from the whites. According to the narrative' of the In
dians the Spaniards claimed the horses, and even offered fifteen
cows for them, but the chief would not consent to deliver them
up, and the negotiations, unhappily, broke off. A day or iavo
afterwards, an American saw his mule among the captured
animals, and said he would have it. "Will you?" said Elijah
Hedding, and stepping into his lodge he immediately loaded
his rifle, and coming out, said, "Now go and take your mule."
The American, much alarmed, said, "I hope you are not going
to kill me." "No," said the young chief; "I am going to kill
yonder eagle," which was perched on a neighboring oak. Not
liking the appearance, the man left without attempting to take
his mule. A day or two afterwards, the Indians walked down
to Fort Sutter to church. After service, according to the In
dians, Elijah was invited into another apartment, where he
Avent, taking with him his uncle, a brave and sensible chief of
about forty-five years. While there, unarmed and defenseless,
the whites commenced threatening them about things alleged
against the Indians of their region, in which none of them had
participated, calling them thieves, dogs, and the like. The
American then said: "Yesterday you were going to kill me;
now you must die," at the same time drawing a pistol. Eli
jah, who had been five or six years at the Methodist mission
near Salem, and had learned to read, write and speak English,
rsaid, "Let me pray a little first," and, kneeling down, began
-to do so. While thus engaged, he was shot dead on the spot.
Every measure, the Indians said, was taken to cut them all off
l>y the Spaniards, who brought out cannon and other firearms
and hotly pursued them, but after much suffering all the rest
arrived safely at home, leaving the herds they had paid for
in California. When they arrived at home all the Indians were much ex-
<cited. A part were for immediately raising two thousand war-
Tiors, going to California, and avenging the death of the young
chief. Others wished first to learn how it would be regarded
an the Willamette, and whether the Americans there would re-

266 Marcus Whitman
main neutral, and others were for holding the Americans in
Oregon responsible, as Elijah was killed by an American. El
lis, head chief of the Nez Perces, was immediately sent to the
Willamette to see Dr. White about it. On his way he called
on Dr. McLoughlin and Mr. Douglas, who were in charge of
Fort Vancouver, who sympathized with the sufferers, and at
the same time attempted to calm the chief. Dr. Whitman
was very uneasy over this affair, and wrote of his fears to
Dr. White by Ellis. Dr. White promised to write to the Gov
ernor of California, Captain Sutter, and other influential men
about the matter; he wrote a sympathizing letter to the In
dians, and invited the chiefs, with Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spald
ing, to meet and confer Avith him on the subject in the fall. He
also made some other conditional promises to them about a
school which they much desired.1
Mr. Spalding, according to Father Brouillet, says that sev
eral meetings were held by the Indians to consider whether Dr.
Whitman, himself, or some other American teacher, should be
killed as a set-off for Elijah.2 Dr. Whitman, too, felt that the
matter was not settled, but only slumbered. While on a visit
to the Willamette in the spring of 1845, he expressed his appre
hensions to Dr. McLoughlin, and the latter agreed with him
on the danger of the situation, and advised him to go to the
Willamette. It is not probable, however, that this affair had
anything to do with the murder of Dr. Whitman, although the
Cayuses referred to it at that time, as Elijah was a Walla
Walla Indian, but the Walla Wallas remained peaceful during
that trouble.
(i) Another cause of trouble was the influence which the
Catholics had upon the Indians. Whether or not any of them
worked directly to induce the Indians to murder the Doctor is
a question which has been widely discussed, and about which
different opinions are held. There is, however, little, if any,
doubt but that their indirect influence — the natural result of
their teaching — aroused hostile feelings in the minds of the In
dians. Istikus, a Cayuse chief, said after the death of Dr.
1 White's "Thrilling Adventures," pp. 243, 250.
2Brouillet's "Protestantism in Oregon," p. 7.

Difficulties With the Indians 267
Whitman: "The Catholic priests told them that what the
Doctor taught them would take them to the devil, and the
Doctor told them that what the priests told them would take
them to the devil. After the priests told them that, the In
dians said they believed it, for the Doctor did not cure them."
Father Brouillet says that Tilaukait, the Cayuse chief, at one
time offered them a certain piece of land for a Catholic mis
sion, but afterwards changed his mind, saying it was too small,
and the chief then said that he had no other place to give but
that of Dr. Whitman's, whom he intended to send away. All
that here need be stated is the fact that some of the Indians
became angry at the Doctor through the presence and teach
ings of the Catholics.1
1 No history covering the period of Whitman's activity as a pioneer
of the West and the tragedy by which it was terminated can be com
plete and true if it ignores the Catholic missionaries and their work
among the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains, nor can the facts be
told, however dispassionately, without . provoking controversy, while
there yet remains among the living those on the one side who will
not assent to an acquittal of the priests of responsibility for engen
dering among the Indians who participated in the massacre feelings
of animosity towards Whitman and all Americans; and those on the
other side who resent any and every suggestion of bad faith on the
part of the priests, and will not be satisfied with any statement which
does not give them credit for being true emissaries of peace and. good
will to all men and for active benevolence and neighborly kindness
towards Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, and repudiate the idea that their
influence was more favorable to continuation of the domination of the
Hudson's Bay Company and British interests in Oregon, than to
American supremacy. A true history should not suppress facts and
it should silence controversy, hence the necessity for time to accom
plish its task of eliminating entirely the prejudices of the actors and
their friends before the impartial historian can hope to do his work
as it should be done.
Theological differences between Christians of different sects are
extremely difficult for the untutored minds of savages to comprehend.
The Cayuses and Walla Wallas were doubtless unable to reconcile
Catholic doctrine with the teachings of the Protestant missionaries.
If their own crude ideas concerning heretics were used as a pretext
for fomenting among themselves ill-will towards Whitman, as seems
probable, nevertheless, De Smet, Brouillet, the Blanchets and Demers,
lived too long in the country and their virtues were known and appre
ciated by too many people to leave any ground for supposing that

268 Marcus Whitman
In the winter of 1846-7 there was so much dissatisfaction
that Dr. Whitman felt quite uneasy about affairs, and a coun
cil of the Cayuses was called to discuss the question of Dr.
Whitman's remaining. Mr. McBean, then in charge of Fort
Walla Walla, kept the Indians somewhat excited by telling
them of the Mexican War. Dr. Whitman then proposed to the
Indians that the majority of the tribe should let him know
Avhat they wanted, but when the vote was taken, only two or
three were found to be in favor of his leaving. The Doctor,
however, thought seriously about going, but Mr. Geiger says:
"I told him I thought it their duty to remain. I thought the
Indians as quiet as communities in general; in old places
there were more or less difficulties and excitements." Mr.
Geiger was clearly of the opinion that the influence of the
Roman Catholic priests through Lehai, a French half-breed,
Tom Hill, a Delaware Indian, and others, was the cause of
the discouragement of Dr. Whitman at this time. This Tom
Hill had told the Indians that a few Americans had come at
flrst to settle on the lands of the Shawnees, but when they
were strong enough they had driven the Shawnees away, so
that the Shawnees had no land left. He also told them that
the Americans would treat them in the same way. Dr. Whit
man knew these things and was determined that no whites
should settle on the lands of the Cayuses until the govern
ment should pay them for their lands, if he could prevent it.
In the spring of 1847 Dr. Whitman was again in the Will
amette, and while there called upon Judge J. Q. Thornton, at
Oregon City, £i\d talked freely of the perils to which he feared
all connected with his station were exposed. He said that he
believed nothing short of the speedy establishment of a terri-
unprejudiced students of history will believe them to have been
guilty of malevolently endeavoring to instigate the Indians to com
mit deeds of violence.
That the priests faithfully preached to the Indians the doctrines
cf their church antagonistic to Protestantism, cannot be doubted, but
the time has not come yet when the facts in detail concerning their
doctrinal teachings and the effect can be boldly set forth and be ac
cepted as truth.
C. H. HANFORD.

MOST REV. F. N. BJLANCHET, Archbishop of Oregon
VERT REV. J. B. BROUILtET, Vicar General Diocese of NisquaUy
RIGHT REV. MODESTE DEMERS, Bishop of Vancouver Island, B. C.
RIGHT REV. A. M. A. IJLANCHET, Bishop of NisquaUy

Difficulties With the Indians 269
torial government would save him and his mission from fall
ing under the hands of the murderous savage. He urged Judge
Thornton to go at once to Washington City, on behalf of the
people and the provisional government and for other purposes.
Judge Thornton had sought to induce P. H. Burnett after
wards Governor of California, to go, himself being adverse to
doing so, but this interview decided him to go, if Governor
Abernethy would furnish him with the necessary letter to the
President of the United States. Governor Abernethy did so,
and Judge Thornton resigned his position as Judge of the Su
preme Court, and went to Washington. It proved, however,
to be too late to save Dr. Whitman.1
Hon. Jesse Applegate, Mr. F. Pettygrove, and perhaps oth
ers, advised the Doctor to leave when dangers began to thicken
and threaten, and he repeatedly said that he would if the
Indians so wished, but a large majority said he must not; and
he thought the times would soon change, as he believed that
the United States would soon extend a territorial government
over the country.2
The matter was also discussed in the mission bands, says
Rev. C. Eells, D. D. The Doctor determined to remain during
the next winter, 1847-48, but said to the other missionaries,
"If I stay and lose my life, you are exonerated." Previous to
the time when the measles were introduced, he consulted with
Istikus, his special Indian friend, who thought it safe for the
Doctor to remain.
In order to render his situation more safe, however, he
asked Mr. Thomas McKay, then at Walla Walla, to spend the
winter with him, but Mr. McKay could not on account of his
own business.8 As already stated, he determined to remove
from his own station to The Dalles in the spring. According
to his nephew, P. B. Whitman, he was afraid for his own life
from the Cayuses, but thought no one else would be harmed.4
1 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1874, p. 83.
2 Gray's "History of Oregon," p. 484.
* Brouillet's "Protestantism in Oregon," p. 8.
* Gilbert's "Historic Sketches," p. 114.

CHAPTER XL

THE CATHOLICS.

Dr. Whitman came to the country in 1836. The flrst Cath
olic priests came two years later, Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Rev.
M. Demers. They reached Fort Walla Walla November 18,
1838, where they remained twenty-four hours, and baptized
three persons, celebrated one mass, and were visited by some
of the Cayuse and Walla Walla Indians. Mr. Pambrun, who
was then in charge, gave them a cordial welcome. His wife,
an Indian woman, and his children were then at Fort Van
couver, and on December 18th of the same year his three girls
and their mother were baptized and his marriage was blessed.
On a subsequent visit to Walla Walla by Rev. M. Demers, says
the History of the Catholic Church in Oregon, "the young
chief brought his child to be baptized by the priest, Mr. Pam
brun having consented to be its godfather, which gained for
him great displeasure from the Doctor."
Mr. T. F. Farnham gives quite a lengthy description of
this latter baptism and the interview of the priests with the
Indians, as given by one of their number, as it occurred while
he was at Dr. Whitman's. He says : "On the morning of the
twenty-fifth [of September, 1839] an old chief of the second
rank entered Dr. Whitman's sitting room, and seated himself
on the floor in the corner of the apartment, with a countenance
that showed nothing in particular, except that he was an In
dian that had worn out some fifty years of his pilgrimage,
without bowing either his spine or his pride. After sitting
half an hour ... he addressed Dr. Whitman in such words
as induced him to seat himself. A conversation then com
menced on some topic of apparent interest to both parties, and
continued for two hours. Mrs. Whitman, who understood
the language, appeared to listen, and to be greatly interested.
. . . After the colloquy ended I ... asked a transla-

The Catholics 2.7 \
tion of the old Indian's communication. Its substance was
. . . that one of the priests in the fullness of his love for
the well being of the Nez Perces, and by some agreeable cas
ualty in the events of his spiritual life, met that tribe, chief
and people at Fort Walla Walla, and going to them in the full
ness of his holy calling, spake on this wise: 'There is in a
very distant part of the earth a man of God, who is over good
people, and holds, as the vice-regent of Jesus Christ, the keys
of heaven and hell. Next to him in rank, goodness and power
are twelve others, who represent the twelve apostles, and live
near his person. Next to these twelve, in the exericise of God's
authority, are many thousands of priests, spread abroad over
the whole earth, who are commissioned to hear confession of
sins, and by the right of absolution to bind those on earth
who would eventually be bound in the enjoyments of heaven.
But he averred that he had reasons to believe that the Indians
lent wicked ears to the Americans who were ignorant unbe
lievers and heretics, and held doctrines abominable to God and
the holy Church. The Americans knew nothing about relig
ion, except what they had learned from the holy Church, and
of that little had such blind notions that they could never en
lighten a darkened Indian mind.'
"Here a Skyuse (Cayuse) said, with much heretical imper
tinence, 'Yes, they do. The Americans give us many new ideas
about God, and teach us to sing and worship.' After this
very irreverent interruption, the priest continued: 'I tell
you, Nez Perces and Skyuses, that you must leave the Ameri
cans if you would have your souls saved. What do these
Americans for you? What presents have they ever made
you? Nothing! If you only obey me and leave the Ameri
cans, and come down here and encamp around this Fort, and
hear to them no more, the Great Father, representative of the
Maker of all the world and its people, will in the spring send
you a teacher to save you from the dreadful fires which con
sume heretics in the world of souls, and will send you many
presents, for he is vastly rich. Look at these Americans;
how poor they are! They dress meanly and are obliged to
work.' "Here the high chief of the Nez Perces, in the most wicked

272 Marcus Whitman
and heretical manner, asked his reverence, 'Was Jesus Christ
rich?' The priest not condescending to reply to his ungodly
impudence, the wicked chief continued, 'Did Jesus Christ wear
long, black, shining robes as you do? Had he any tent to
cover his head? Are you Jesus Christ's man? One of your
chiefs came among us many moons ago, and set up a great
pole, raised on it a King George flag, and told us to dance
around it on the Sabbath days. We did as he bade us. But
we learned no new ideas. Our hearts were still for war. We
had no upward thoughts. He told us the next year he would
send us a teacher, but none came. We do not know when
your Jesus Christ's men talk the truth. The Americans live
among us, teach us to read and sing and worship. We know
what they do. We hear their words, and see no evil in them.
This is my heart and the heart of my people.' The priest was
much pained at the stubbornness and heresy of the Nez Perces
and Skyuse, and in the exercise of his high functions consigned
them to purgatory. He, however, baptized the children of
the high chief of the Skyuse, and obliged him to put away his
favorite wife, the mother of all his children.
"To these reports Dr. Whitman gave but little credence, so
at variance were some of the facts related with what he pre
sumed the Hudson's Bay Company would permit to be done
by anyone in their employment or under their patronage — the
abuse of American citizens, and an ungentlemanly interfer
ence with their characters and calling.
"On the morning of the 27th, the high chief returned to the
mission, full of grief at the loss of the mother of his children.
He said that the priest urged him to avoid the Americans, and
stay at the Fort, and that he had replied to him that his farm
and cattle and provisions and people Avere with the Americans,
and that he should stay with them." 1
The above is the story as it came through the Indians and
Mr. Farnham, whose style is somewhat peculiar.
That Dr. Whitman was, however, uneasy about these events
is certain. In a letter written to Mr. Spalding about this
time he spoke of some difficulty from the Catholic priest. He
1 "Farnham's Travels," chap. 7.

The Catholics 273
said that the priest was then at Walla Walla calling the In
dians, and telling them that we are false teachers, because
we do not feed and clothe the people; that we have wives as
other men, and wear pantaloons as common men, and not frocks
as he does. The people are told not to come near the Doctor,
as he is a bad man, and has made no Christians as yet, but
he will fit them all for heaven soon.
To the Board at Boston Rev. A. B. Smith wrote somewhat
similarly from Dr. Whitman's station. He said: "The time
has now come when we are convinced that what we do must
be done quickly. Papacy is now making its appearance, and
the errors of that church are beginning to be diffused among
this people. At this time [September 13, 1839] the Catholic
priest is at Walla Walla instructing the people, and the In
dians are gathering together there to listen to the false doc
trines which he inculcates. Already has the priest denounced
us because we have wives, and the people are told that they
are going to hell because they are unbaptized. How much in
fluence this may have on them we know not. One thing is cer
tain — the natural heart loves such instruction as the Catholics
usually give, and we have reason to fear that our work will
soon be done among this people." s
To his brother in May, 1841, Dr. Whitman also wrote:
"There is likely to be a strong Catholic division here for one
thing. It has been fostered more or less by our late neighbor,
Mr. Pambrun, who died on the 15th inst. from an injury re
ceived by a fall from a horse." To Mrs. Whitman's parents he
Avrote, October 6, 1841, of a "picture of a tree hanging in Chief
Factor McLoughlin's room at Vancouver, which represents all
Protestants at the withered ends of the several branches of
Papacy, falling off down into infernal society and flames, as
represented at the bottom. This gives a good idea of their
manner of instruction to the Indians as drawn out in manu
script, and given to them, accompanied with oral instructions
of a similar character. The possession of one of these manu
scripts by an Indian binds him not to hear any more the in
structions of Protestants, so far as my observation can prove."2
^'Missionary Herald," 1840, p. 329.
2 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1891, p. 150.

274 Marcus Whitman
The use of the printing press, which had arrived in 1839,
about the time of the visit of the priest, aided the mission.
Small books and pamphlets were printed and freely distributed
among both the Cayuse and Nez Perces Indians, and this so
pleased and interested them that in a measure it counteracted
the influence of the priest. Mr. and Mrs. Spalding were con
siderably successful in their efforts in the same direction.
While the priest introduced the Catholic tree and ladder, the
picture above referred to, Mrs. Spalding painted a picture,
which both imparted a large amount of Bible information and
gave the Protestant Indians a considerable advantage.1
Still Dr. Whitman did not feel easy. He was fully alive
to the efforts which the Roman Catholics were making to gain
the mastery on the Pacific Coast, and he was firmly persuaded
that they were working in the interests of the Hudson's Bay
Company, with a view to this very end. The danger from this
quarter had made a profound impression on his mind. Under
date of April 1, 1847, he said: "In the autumn of 1842 I
pointed out to our mission the arrangements of the papists to
settle in our vicinity, and that it only required that those ar
rangements should be completed to close our operations." 2
The difficulty in 1841, spoken of in the previous chapter,
when the Doctor nearly lost his life, was originated by a Cath
olic Indian, Joe Gray, and carried on by another, Til-an-ka-ik,
according to the letter of Dr. Whitman there given.
In the fall of 1842, Rev. E. Walker, in writing to the Board
in order to induce it to rescind its order to discontinue the sta
tions of Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding, said while speaking
of Catholic influence, "the people have been told that our teach
ing is erroneous, and we should even be compelled to leave the
field." In the spring of 1843, while Dr. Whitman was in Missouri,
waiting for the emigration to start, he wrote letters to his
relations, in which he speaks of General J. C. Fremont and his
company going along to explore, most of whom, he says, were
Catholics. He also added: "Two papal priests and their
1 Gray's "History of Oregon," p. 184, and his "Indian Question,"
p. 33. 2 "Missionary Herald," 1866, p. 374.

The Catholics 275
lay helpers are along; and Father De Smet has gone back in
order to go to Europe to bring others by ship. I want you
to get De Smet's Indian Sketches. It can be found at the
Catholic book stores. You will see in what way the Society
of Jesus do their missionary work, and what we have to con
tend with in Oregon."
From time to time a few other Catholic missionaries ar
rived in Oregon, but no mission was begun near Walla Walla
until 1847. Some of the priests visited that place about every
year, and intercourse was kept up between them and the In
dians who inclined toward them. In the main, however, they
confined themselves to the Willamette Valley, Vancouver, the
Cowlitz, Puget Sound, and among the Flatheads. In the Will
amette and on Puget Sound, according to their own statements,
they had made every possible effort to draw the Indians away
from the Methodist missionaries, and in the main they had
been successful.
About the 8th of April, 1839, Rev. D. Leslie of the Metho
dist mission reached the Cowlitz on his way to Nisqually,
where he intended to establish a mission. This information
at once prompted Rev. Mr. Blanchet to send Father Demers
to Nisqually, in order to forestall and counteract him. The
priest immediately went. He was well received by Mr. Kitson,
the commander of the post, and by the Indians; he remained
there ten days and baptized Mrs. Kitson and fourteen others,
married two couples, and left with the conviction that there
was a very feeble chance for a Methodist mission, and that Mr.
Wilson, whom Mr. Leslie had left there, must have felt very
despondent. This visit at this time, says the Catholic histor
ian, "was forced upon him by the establishment of a Methodist
mission there for the Indians." *
In 1841 the priests went among the Indians that had been
under the Methodists at Wapato Lake, held meetings there and
baptized some, which was "the beginning of their abandonment
of Methodism." They also went to Oregon City, and "nine
families out of ten were rescued from Brother Waller."
In fact, this was their acknowledged policy. Says the same
1 "History of the Catholic Church in Oregon," pp. 87-89-96-119-121.

276 Marcus Whitman
historian : "In a word, they were to run after the sheep when
they were in danger. Thence their passing so oft from one
post to another, for neither the white people nor the Indians
claimed their assistance in vain. And it was enough for them
to hear that some false prophet had penetrated into a place or
intended visiting some locality, to induce the missionaries to
go there immediately to defend the faith and prevent error
from propagating itself."1
Dr. Whitman realized these facts and plans, hence it was
not strange that he feared their influence. Many have noted
the fact that the Catholics seem to be far more successful with
the Indians, and perhaps with other heathen, than the Protes
tants. It is a fact that often at first they are, but whether
they are so in the long run, in reality, is another question, not
so readily answered in the affirmative. Many Indians on the
Pacific Coast have asked and begged for missionaries, not be
cause they wished to change their religion, but because they
saw the power of the whites, wished for that power, and felt
that in some way or other the white man's religion was con
nected with his power ; also, having heard of heaven and hell,
they wish to gain the one and escape the other. Not being
sufficiently educated to distinguish the principles which sep
arate Catholicism from Protestantism, they have been willing
to accept either, both being white men's religions. The Cath
olic religion is the easiest to them, consisting more of forms
and ceremonies and show, which is attractive to the eye, or, as
Rev. A. B. Smith says, more in accordance with the desires of
the natural heart. The Protestant religion tells them that
the heart must be changed, as it naturally is in enmity against
God, and hence when the Indians are told that they may be
on the road to heaven by being baptized and going through a
few ceremonies, and at the same time feel that they are on the
road to a little of the white man's power and happiness in this
world, they very naturally at first often accept the Catholic
teaching. Dr. Whitman realized these facts, and hence feared
the interference of the Catholics.
By the close of 1844, the Catholics claimed to have brought
six thousand pagans in Oregon and British Columbia to the
1 "History of the Catholic Church in Oregon," p. 64.

The Catholics 277
faith. Most Rev. Francis Norbert Blanchet had been ap
pointed Archbishop of Oregon City, the country had been di
vided into three sees— Oregon City, Vancouver and Walla
Walla. Right Rev. A. M. A. Blanchet was Bishop of Walla
Walla. Many of the Cayuses had been drawn to the Catholic faith.
Mr. Hines says : "One half, including some prominent chiefs."
Mr. A. McKinley, the friend of Dr. Whitman and a Protestant,
had been removed from having charge of Fort Walla Walla,
and Mr. William McBean, a Catholic, had been put in his place.
It is plain that while most of the leaders of the Hudson's Bay
Company were Protestants, yet they were quite willing, for at
least two reasons, that the Catholics should have their pro
tection and favors. One was that a large number of the em
ployes were French Catholics, and they were willing that such
should have their own priests. The other was a question of
policy. The Protestant missionaries were Americans, and
next to their love of God loved their country; many of them
were working that Oregon should become a part of the United
States. The Hudson's Bay Company did not wish this. They
foresaw, what has since occurred, that such action would de
stroy their business. No Protestant English missionaries
came, and so the only missionaries who might favor the efforts
of the company to secure the country for England, in order that
it might be made over to them for a hunting and trapping re
gion, were the Catholics ; and these were thought to be willing
to help the company in this respect, in return for their protec
tion. "The arrival of the Bishop of Walla Walla with his clergy
at the Fort," says the Catholic historian, "was a thunderbolt
to the Presbyterian ministers, specially to Dr. Whitman. He
was wounded to the heart by it. He could not refrain from
expressing his great dissatisfaction, saying he would do all in
his power to thwart the Bishop." *
The Bishop remained at Fort Walla Walla until the 27th
of October, when he went to the camp of the Cayuses on the
Umatilla River.
1 "History of the Catholic Missions in Oregon," p. 165.

278 Marcus Whitman
All that transpired between the priests, Mr. McBean and
the Indians while the Bishop remained at the Fort will never
be fully known. Father Brouillet says that the young chief,
Taw-a-towe, when asked if he wished for a priest, replied that he
did ; he was then told that he could have one, but only one for
the whole nation. The question of location was then discussed.
The young chief was willing to give him a house and land at
his place on the Umatilla, but thought it would be better to
have the Catholic mission near Dr. Whitman's. Ti-lau-kait,
the chief at Dr. Whitman's station, was then sent for, and he
offered to give the Father Dr. Whitman's station, but Father
Brouillet replied that he would not have that, and so other
land near by was promised. When the Father went to look at
the land, Tilaukait said that he had changed his mind and
would give him no place but Dr. Whitman's. This Brouillet
declined, left the place, and prepared to settle on the Umatilla
about forty miles distant.1
Dr. Whitman knew considerable of what was going on.
Under the date of October 18, 1847, he wrote to the Board:
"I will not repeat what Mr. Rodgers has written about the
Papists farther than that all are Jesuits who are to labor
among the Indians. ... It will be well for you to know
that from what we can learn their object will be to colonize
around them. I cannot blame myself that the plan I laid
down when I was in Boston [in 1843] was not carried out.
If we could have had good families, say two or three together,
to have placed in select spots among the Indians, the present
crisis which I feared would not have come." Perhaps the
reader will remember the earnest appeal which he made to the
Board, in a letter on Page 136. Only two days before his
death, while he and Mr. Spalding were riding to the Umatilla,
they conversed on the danger which threatened them from the
Catholic influence.
1 "Brouillet's Protestantism in Oregon," pp. 17, 34.

CHAPTER XII.

THE MASSACRE.

On the 29th of November, 1847, one of the saddest events
occurred which has been known in the history of the North
west Coast — the Whitman massacre, by which the Doctor and
thirteen others were killed, his family blotted out of existence,
and the Oregon Mission destroyed.1
Mr. Spalding arrived at Dr. Whitman's station November
22nd, having come from Lapwai, with his daughter Eliza, then
ten years old, and with several horse loads of grain, which
were to help feed the immigrants who were wintering there.
He found the Indians dying rapidly from measles and dysen
tery, and the whites sick with the same diseases, one of their
children dying on the 23rd. At this time Dr. Whitman's fam
ily consisted of himself and wife; Mr. Andrew Rodgers, who
had come to the country in 1845, but who had been employed
by the Doctor on his arrival as a teacher and had become an
assistant missionary studying for the ministry ; a brother and
sister named Bewley; seven Sager children, already referred
to as having been adopted by the Doctor ; Helen Mar, a half-
breed daughter of Joseph Meek; Mary A., another half-breed,
1 Full accounts of this event have been given by Mr. Gray in his
"History of Oregon," Mrs. Victor in her "River of the West," Mr.
Spalding in various lectures and newspaper articles (he having spent
many years in collecting from various parties the details of the mas
sacre), and Mr. G. H. Gilbert in his "Historic Sketches of Walla Walla
and Other Countries of the Interior of Washington and Oregon"
(who, however, follows Mr. Spalding very closely). In the main
these accounts agree, but in many of the details they differ, and where
they differ it is somewhat difficult to learn the exact facts. The author
has, however, not thought it best to go into as full details as some
of them have done, as such full records are preserved.

280 Marcus Whitman
the daughter of Captain Bridger; a half-breed Spanish boy,
whom the Doctor had brought up from infancy; and two sons
of Mr. Manson of the Hudson's Bay Company, fifteen in all.
There were also at his station, and at his saw-mill in the Blue
Mountains, fifteen or twenty miles distant, eight other famil
ies, who, with a few single persons, numbered fifty-two per
sons. Most of these were poor immigrants of that year, who
felt that they could go no farther until the next spring, and
whom the Doctor was aiding and employing in various ways.
There were also about the station three other persons, Joe
Lewis, Nicholas Finley, and Joseph Stanfield, who did not be
long to the Cayuse tribe, and were more or less employed by the
Doctor, and who yet evidently knew what was about to occur,
and hence may be reckoned among the conspirators.
Joe Lewis, as far as can be learned, was a Canadian In
dian, said to have come from Canada in 1847 with a party of
priests and French, by whom, it was said, the measles were
brought into the immigrant train of that year. He accom
panied the party as far as Fort Boise, where they left him,
and from thence he found his way to Dr. Whitman's, appar
ently destitute of clothes or shoes. He immediately made him
self at home at the Doctor's, but the Doctor soon found that
he was making trouble among the Indians, and finding an im
migrant who was going on and in want of a teamster, he fur
nished Joe Lewis with a shirt and shoes, and induced him to
go on with the immigrant. But on the second day he ran
away, and on the third day was back again at Dr. Whitman's,
where he took a leading part in the massacre. As soon as that
was over, he selected the Manson boys and the Spanish half-
breed, and arranged to send them to Fort Walla Walla. Mr.
McBean says that he afterwards returned to Forts Boise and
Hall, and Mr. McDonald, of Fort Colville, says that some years
afterwards he killed the guide of a company of United States
soldiers and was shot. There have also been other rumors as
to his subsequent career and death, and it is somewhat diffi
cult to learn much about him.
Joseph Stanfield was a Canadian Frenchman.
Nicholas Finley was a French half-breed, who had formerly

The Massacre 281
kept the horses of the Hudson's Bay Company, and was at
this time stopping among the Indians near the mission.1
While Mr. Spalding was at the Doctor's, a message came
from two Walla Walla chiefs on the Umatilla River, asking
the Doctor to visit their sick villages, about twenty-five miles
distant. Together the two missionaries set out for the place,
on Saturday eve, November 27th. Says Mr. Spalding : "The
night was dark and the rain beat furiously upon us, but our in
terview was sweet. We little thought it was to be our last.
With feelings of the deepest emotion we called to mind the fact
that eleven years before, we crossed this trail before arriving
at Walla Walla, the end of our seven months' journey from
New York. We called to mind the high hopes and thrilling
interests which had been awakened during the year that fol
lowed — of our successful labor, and the constant devotedness
of the Indians to improvement. True, we remembered the
months of deep solicitude we had, occasioned by the increasing
menacing demands of the Indians for pay for their wood, their
water, their air, their lands. But much of this had passed
away, and the Cayuses were in a far more encouraging con
dition than ever before."
That night they reached the lodge of Istikus, ever a firm
friend of the Doctor's and the whites, and the Sabbath was
observed with due decorum. After breakfast the Doctor
crossed the river to visit the chiefs who had sent for him, and
returned about four o'clock in the afternoon, saying that he
had taken tea with the Catholic Bishop and two priests, at
their house, and they had promised to visit him in a short
time. Feeling uneasy about the sick ones at home, the Doctor
*At his lodge, it is said, the plans were arranged for the massacre.
After it took place, and while the women and children were held as
captives, he claimed Mrs. Hays as his wife. The next year, at the
battle between the Oregon volunteers and the Indians near the Uma
tilla, he was among the Indians and gave the signal when the battle
was to begin.

282 Marcus Whitman
felt it to be his duty to return that evening, while Mr. Spald
ing remained.1
Just as Dr. Whitman left Istikus' lodge and was mounting
his horse, Istikus2 came to him and told him that "Joe Lewis
was making trouble; that he was telling his (Istikus') people
that the Doctor and Mr. Spalding were poisoning the Indians,
so as to give their country to his own people." He added : "I
do not believe him, but some do, and I fear they Avill do you
harm ; you had better go away for awhile until my people have
better hearts."
Dr. Whitman reached home late in the night, visited some
sick ones before retiring, and told his wife what Istikus had
told him. The next morning, as he thought of this and other
threats and stories which he had heard, he appeared more
serious than usual, and said that if he could he would move
his family below, but that he did not see how he could. Mrs.
Whitman did not come to breakfast, but one of the children
took some to her. She was sitting, with her face buried in her
handkerchief, weeping. She took the food, motioned for the
child to go away, but did not eat it.
An Indian died that morning, and the Doctor attended the
funeral. He noticed that only two or three Indians were
present, although a multitude were around. It caused some
fear, and he said to his wife, "What does this mean?" But a
beef had been brought in, and was being killed, and this, with
the supposition that they were afraid of taking the disease,
was supposed to account for their absence.
Just after dinner Francis Sager shot the ox which was to
be beefed. Messrs. Kimball, Canfield and Hoffman were dress
ing it; Mr. Sanders was in the school, having just called it in
for the afternoon ; Mr. Marsh was grinding at the mill ; Mr.
Gillan was at his tailor's bench in a large adobe building near
1 He started to return on the following Wednesday, but when not
a great way from Dr. Whitman's he met Father Brouillet and his
half-breed interpreter, from whom he learned about the massacre,
which had occurred two days previous, whereupon he turned and
fled, and after great suffering reached his home at Lapwai.
2 According to Mrs. S. C. Pringle, one of the Doctor's adopted
children.

The Massacre 283
the Doctor's ; Mr. Hall was laying a floor in a room adjoining
the Doctor's sitting room; Mr. Sales was lying sick in the
family of Mr. Canfield, who were living in the blacksmith shop ;
Mr. Bewley was lying sick in the Doctor's house ; John Sager
was in the kitchen, partly recovered from the measles; Mr.
Osborn and family were in the Indian room next the Doctor's
sitting room; Mr. Rodgers was in the garden; and Dr. Whit
man and wife were in the dining room with their three sick
children. About two o'clock an Indian came to the side door and
asked for the Doctor. He arose and went out of the room, but
soon returned and sat down on the settee. Then, taking his
medicine chest, he went into the kitchen, where two Indians
Avere waiting to see him.
Ti-lau-kait, the war chief, began to talk with the Doctor to
keep his attention, while Tam-a-has, the murderer, came behind
him, and drawing a pipe tomahawk from under his blanket
struck the Doctor on the back of his head. The first blow
stunned him and his head fell on his breast; the second blow
following instantly on the top of his head, brought him to the
floor senseless, but not lifeless. Tam-a-has then said: "I
have killed my father."
The signal being now given, probably by Joe Lewis, the ter
rible work began at all points. John Sager immediately drew
a pistol and was about to shoot, when he was caught by the
Indians, thrown to the floor, shot, and hacked with knives in
a terrible manner. In this struggle two Indians were wounded
by. each other, one in the hand, the other in the foot — the only
Indian blood shed during the massacre.1
As soon as the tumult began, Mrs. Whitman began in agony
to cry out, "Oh, the Indians ! The Indians ! That Joe Lewis
has done it all !" Other women came running in, for, the mas
sacre was going on without as well as within. Outside the
shrieks of the women, the yells of the Indians, the noise of
furious riding, of war clubs, groans, and every frightful com
bination, such as only can be at such a carnival of blood, were
heard. 1 Mrs. Pringle says that Mr. Hoffman split the foot of one Indian.

284 Marcus Whitman
With some help Mrs. Whitman drew her husband to the
sofa and laid him on it, doing all that could be done to revive
him, but to no purpose, for to every question he only answered
a whispered "no," probably not conscious of what he said.
The struggle came nearer and nearer. Two men were killed
beneath the window. Starting up to see this, Mrs. Whitman
saw Joe Lewis, and said: "Is it you, Joe, who are doing
this?" This gave a good opportunity, and a young Indian,
who had received many acts of kindness from her, shot her in
the breast. She immediately fell without a groan, but soon
recovered enough to stagger towards the sofa where the Doctor
lay, and here she knelt in prayer, praying for her adopted ones
(the Sager children), now a second time to be left orphans,
saying, "Lord, save these little ones," and for her father and
mother in the States, that they might be sustained in the ter
rible shock. She cried: "This will kill my poor mother."
The only expression of personal regret which she was heard
to utter was sorrow that her father and mother should live to
know that she had died in such a way. She had previously
ordered the doors fastened and the sick children removed up
stairs. Others had already gone up, and she was now assisted
to the same place, where were Mr. Kimball, Mr. Rodgers, Mrs.
Hays, two girls, and three sick children. She had scarcely
reached the place when the windows and doors were broken in
below, and with whoops and yells the savages rushed into the
room. Among them was Tilaukait, a favorite with the mis
sion, and then on probation to be received into the church.
He deliberately chopped to pieces the face of the Doctor, who
was still breathing.
The school children were now brought into the house by
the Indians, and Joe Lewis talked of shooting them. Guns
were pointed at them, but after being tormented in this manner
for a time they were taken out. Some Indians attempted to
go upstairs, but seeing the end of an old gun, they stopped.
There was a long talk between Tam-suk-y, Mr. Rodgers and
Mrs. Whitman. He tried to induce them to come down, while
they tried to get him to come up. He said he was afraid there
were Americans there concealed who might kill him, but he
said that if Mrs. Whitman and all the others would come down

The Massacre 285
they would not be harmed, but that they would be taken over
to the other house where the other families were collected in
safety, and that it would be better for them to do so, as the
young men would burn the house at night. As other Indians
began to talk loudly of burning the house, there seemed to be
no other way to do but to go down and trust to the promises
of the Indians. When the Indians first came to the stairs, the
women collected around Mrs. Whitman, who lay bleeding, say
ing, "The Indians are coming; we are to die, but we are not
prepared; what shall we do?" She, dying, replied, "Go to
Jesus and ask Him, and He will save you."
As Mrs. Whitman came down stairs, leaning on the arm of
Mr. Rodgers (his other arm having been shot and broken at
the first attack before he entered the house), she saw the face
of her husband so shockingly mutilated that she fell fainting
on the sofa, just as the Doctor gave his dying gasp. The sofa
on which she lay was lifted and was being taken out of the
kitchen door by Mrs. Hays and Mr. Rodgers, when the latter
saw the treachery which they had feared, and which had made
them so unwilling to come down stairs. A half-circle of In
dians were standing outside, and as the guns were raised, he
had only time to drop the sofa and cry, "Oh, my God, have
mercy," when a shower of balls came, and he fell, wounded,
though not lifeless. Some of the balls also pierced Mrs. Whit
man. Mr. Rodgers lingered some time, the last words he was
heard to say, being, "Lord Jesus, come quickly!" and these he
frequently repeated, till his voice failed. The body of Mrs.
Whitman was thrown from the sofa into the mud, where she
breathed her last, a little while before Mr. Rodgers died.
It was now growing dark, and those who were still dying
were treated with great indignity, after which the Indians
retired to their lodges. The others who were killed on this
day were Messrs. Hoffman, Sanders, Gillan, Marsh, John Sa
ger and Francis Sager, Helen M. Meek died a few days after
wards from neglect. Mr. Canfield, though wounded, escaped
to the brush, and hid himself till night, when he fled to Lapwai,
where he arrived the next Saturday afternoon, carrying the
first news of the massacre to Mrs. Spalding. Mr. Hall, though
wounded, ran to the bushes, carrying with him a gun which

286 Marcus Whitman
he had wrenched from an Indian. He escaped and went to
Fort Walla Walla, where he arrived the next morning.1
Mr. Osborne, as soon as the murders began, raised a board
in the floor, put his family beneath, went under himself, and
lay crouching there till late at night, hearing much that oc
curred. When the Indians retired, he took his family and
started for Fort Walla Walla. Mrs. Osborne, having been
recently confined, was able to go only two miles, when they
hid themselves in the brush. The next night they went three
miles, when her strength gave way. Knowing that at this
rate they must perish with hunger and exposure before they
could reach the fort, Mr. Osborne took one child and went to
the fort, hiding the rest of the family in the bushes. He
reached the fort on Thursday, where he was received very
coldly by Mr. McBean, but at last obtained an Indian guide
and returned. After great difficulty he found his family, and
they were saved.
Mr. Kimball, who, wounded, had remained hid in the house
until he could endure his sufferings no longer, went the next
day for water and was immediately shot and killed. Mr.
James Young, who was coming from the saw mill with a team,
was met by the Indians on Tuesday a short distance from the
mission and killed. Messrs. Sales and Bewley, who were sick,
were not immediately killed, but Indians were sent to Uma
tilla, and when they came back, these men were killed, thus
making fourteen victims in all. The names of those killed are
as follows: Dr. Whitman, Mrs. Whitman, Andrew Rodgers,
William Sanders, Isaac Gillan, James Young, Crockett Bew
ley, Amos Sales, John Sager, Francis Sager, Jacob Hoffman,
Mr. Marsh, Nathan S. Kimball, and Peter D. Hall. The rest,
with the exception of the few who escaped, were held as cap
tives, forty-six in number.
A day or two after the massacre, the bodies of those who
1 He was, it is said, refused admission to the fort and put across
the river by McBean, then in charge. He was never heard of after
wards, perishing either from hunger or the Indians, no one knows,
though, from the little that has been learned, probably he was killed.
Some have surmised that he was killed at the fort, as Mrs. S. C.
Pringle says that his trousers were found in a back alley of the fort.

DR. JOHN McLOTJGHLIN

PETER SKEEN OGDEN

The Massacre 287
had been killed at the mission were sewed up in sheets by the
surviving women, and buried in a common grave in the mis
sion burying ground, a few hundred yards in front of the
houses, at the foot of the hill. The grave, however, was very
shallow, and the coyotes dug the bodies up. When the volun
teers reached the place the next year, they found parts of the
bodies still scattered around. They then dug one large grave,
placed all the remains in it that could be found, placed wagon
beds over them, and gave them a good burial. They lay near
est to the grave where Doctor and Mrs. Whitman's only child,
Alice C, had been buried.
On Saturday a new horror was added to the scene. Three
of the young women were dragged away by the Indians as
their wives; one of them, Miss Bewley, being taken to the
Umatillas to the lodge of Five Crows, where Father Brouillet
and Bishop Blanchet were then living. Her entreaties to
them at that time to save her from outrage were very affecting.
News of the massacre was immediately sent by Mr. McBean
to Governors F. Douglas and P. S. Ogden, of the Hudson's
Bay Company, at Vancouver. Governor Ogden proceeded at
once to Fort Walla Walla, held a council with the Indians, and
by the payment of fifty blankets, fifty shirts, ten guns, ten
fathoms of tobacco, ten handkerchiefs, one hundred balls and
powder to the Cayuses secured the ransom of the captives.
He also gave twelve blankets, twelve shirts, twelve handker
chiefs, two guns, two hundred balls and powder, five fathoms
cf tobacco, and some knives as payment to the Nez Perces for
the delivery of Mr. Spalding and his party, who were held in
their power. It has often been said, and undoubtedly it is
true, that no other person besides Governor Ogden could have
secured the release of all these persons.
The following is a list of those who were at Dr. Whitman's
at the time of the massacre, and were ransomed through the
efforts of Governor Ogden, with the exception of the Osborne
family, who escaped:
Mission children, Miss Mary A. Bridger; Catherine Sager,
thirteen years; Elizabeth M. Sager, ten years; Matilda J.
Sager, eight years ; Henrietta N. Sager, four years ; Hannah

288 Marcus Whitman
S. Sager, who died five days after the massacre; and Helen
Mar Meek, who died two days later.
Mr. Joseph Smith; Mrs. Joseph Smith; Mary Smith, fif
teen years; Edwin Smith, thirteen years; Charles Smith,
eleven years ; Nelson Smith, six years ; Mortimer Smith, four
j ears, from Du Page County, Illinois.
Eliza Spalding, born November 15, 1837, the second Ameri
can white child born west of the Rocky Mountains.
Mrs. Rebecca Hays ; H. Clay Hays, four years, from Platte
County, Missouri.
Mrs. Eliza Hall; G. Jane Hall, ten years; Mary C. Hall,
eight years; Ann E. Hall, six years; Rebecca Hall, three
years ; Rachel M. Hall, one year ; Mrs. Mary Saunders ; Helen
M. Saunders, fourteen years; Phebe Saunders, ten years; Al
fred W. Saunders, six years; Nancy J. Saunders, four years;
Mary A. Saunders, two years, from Mahaska County, Iowa.
Mrs. Harriet Kimball; Susan M. Kimball, twelve years;
Byron E. Kimball, eight years; Sarah S. Kimball, six years;
Aimee A. Kimball, one year, from La Porte, Indiana.
Mr. Elam Young ; Mrs. Irene Young ; Daniel Young, twen
ty-one years; John Q. A. Young, nineteen years, from Osage
County, Missouri.
Mr. Josiah Osborne; Mrs. Marguerite Osborne; Nancy
A. Osborne, nine years; John L. Osborne, nine years; Alex
ander A. Osborne, two years, from Henderson County, Illinois.
Mrs. Sally A. Canfield; Ellen Canfield, sixteen years; Os
car Canfield, nine years; Clarissa Canfield, seven years; Syl
via A. Canfield, five years ; Albert Canfield, three years, from
Mahaska County, Iowa.
Miss Mary E. Marsh ; Miss Lorinda Bewley.
Soon after receiving the news of the massacre Governor
Douglas sent word to Governor Abernethy of Oregon, at Ore
gon City, who immediately transmitted the same in a special
message to the Legislature, which was then in session at that
place. They quickly took measures to raise volunteers. About
four hundred men were enlisted under Colonel C. Gilliam, who
proceeded to the scene of war. A battle was fought near the
Umatilla, in which the Indians were routed, and the volun
teers marched to the Walla Walla Valley, and built Fort

The Massacre 289
Waters, where Dr. Whitman's mission had been. They pur
sued the Indians north of Snake River, but failed to secure
the murderers. As the details of the war belong more prop
erly to the history of Oregon than to the life of Dr. Whitman,
and have been given in Mrs. Victor's River of the West, Gray's
History of Oregon, and Gilbert's Historic Sketches, they need
not be repeated here.
On account of the massacre Colonel Joseph Meek was sent
to Washington overland to urge strenuously, and to secure, if
possible, a territorial form of government and United States
protection for Oregon. Judge Thornton had, a short time
previous, gone for the same purpose by water, at Dr. Whit
man's earnest request. The two men worked together, though
in different ways. Congressional action for Oregon, which
previous to this had slowly dragged along on account of the
slavery question, was hastened, a territorial government was
organized, and General Joseph Lane appointed governor. He
arrived in Oregon in 1849, and immediately proceeded to se
cure the murderers of Dr. Whitman and the others. With the
help of a United States regiment and the Hudson's Bay Com
pany, and especially of Dr. John McLoughlin, he succeeded,
without a war, in having five of the guilty ones brought in —
Tilaukait, Tamahas, Quiahmarsum, Kloakamus and Siahsalu-
cus. These were tried in May, 1850, and hung at Oregon City.
"Tell my sisters that I died at my post," are reported to
have been the last words of Mrs. Whitman, though Mrs. C. S.
Pringle is certain that she did not say them, and she is un
doubtedly correct. The following lines, founded on these
words, have been found among Mr. Spalding's papers :
"Away from her home and the friends of her youth
She hastened, the herald of mercy and truth,
For the love of the Lord, and to seek for the lost ;
Soon, alas ! was her fall, but she died at her post.
She wept not for self, that her warfare was done ;
The battle was fought and the victory won ;
But she whispered to those that her heart clung to most,
'Tell my sisters for me that I died at my post.' "

CHAPTER XIII.

MONUMENTS.

Some time after the massacre the mission buildings were
burned and the orchard destroyed. Indian wars broke out,
and for years the land lay desolate, only the great grave mark
ing the site of the mission.
The first plan to erect a monument in commemoration of
the life and death of Dr. Whitman was made by his fellow
laborer in the mission work, Rev. Cushing Eells. After the
Whitman massacre and Cayuse war in 1848, that part of Ore
gon east of the Cascade mountains had been closed to white
settlers, by military proclamation, for the infant government
of Oregon realized that it was not able to protect them, if
they should go there. Not until after the Yakima war of
1855-6, and Colonel Wright's campaign in 1858, was this em
bargo removed. Then in 1859, by military proclamation, that
region of the country was opened again to the whites. After
the breaking up of the missions, Messrs. Eells and Walker
were given a power of attorney by the American Board to at
tend to all of its business in Oregon, there being considerable
of it in connection with closing its mission.1 Mr. Eells never
felt that his home was to be permanently in the Willamette
Valley, although he was compelled to stay there for several
years, but all of the time he turned his eyes longingly to the
country east of the Cascades, as the region to which his life
was consecrated. In 1859, when that country was thrown
open again to settlement, he was Principal of Tualatin Acad
emy at Forest Grove, Oregon. Knowing that a few white set
tlers had already gone into the Walla Walla Valley, and be
lieving that it would be quickly settled, he felt it to be his duty
to go there and mark off with stakes the mission claim of six
hundred and forty acres, so that others would not trespass
1 By a mistake in the power of attorney, Mr. Walker's name was
writen William, instead of Elkanah, Rev. William Walker having
been the name of another missionary of the Board. As the power of
attorney gave authority to either or both of the gentlemen to transact
its business, Mr. Eells always did it, in legal form, although he con
sulted with Mr. Walker in regard to it when it was possible.

REV. CUSHING EELLS

REV. ELKANAH WALKER

Monuments 29 1
on it. He spent his summer vacation of 1859 on this busi
ness. While there he stood by the great Whitman grave, which
contained the remains of eleven persons, the others massacred
having been buried elsewhere. He thought of what Dr. Whit
man had done for the Indians and to save the country, and of
his death. The past, present and future came to his mind.
He afterwards said that he believed that the power of the High
est then came upon him. He felt that something ought to be
done in honor of the martyrs, and that much as a monument of
stone would be desirable, yet that, if Dr. Whitman could be
consulted, he would prefer that it be a high school for the
benefit of both sexes. He had thought of it before, but then
and there he determined to do what he could for this object.
After he had returned home, he consulted with his friends, and
especially with the Congregational Association of Oregon. His
purpose was approved. That winter a charter was obtained
from the Legislature of Washington Territory for Whitman
Seminary. Mr. Eells also gave the needful three months' no
tice to the Trustees of Tualatin Academy of his desire to resign,
to take effect about the first of March, 1860. Then, having
agreed to buy the mission claim of the Board, he went to Walla
Walla with his oldest son, and spent the season of 1860 on
the claim, farming and preaching in order to obtain money
enough to pay for the place, — a thousand dollars.
Late in the fall they returned to Forest Grove, but spent the
next summer in much the same way. In 1862 he moved the
rest of his family to the claim. He promised to give one-half
of the place to the Seminary, but the way did not at first open
to proceed with the work of establishing the school. Dr. Eells'
first plan was to have the Seminary located on the old mission
ground, where it would overlook the grave and scenes of the
Doctor's labors, and he could not easily give up this plan ; but
the city of Walla Walla had sprung up six miles distant, and it
seemed best to the Trustees that the school be located there.
Dr. D. S. Baker gave four acres for a site, at first on certain
conditions, but afterwards he made it six and a half acres,
Avithout conditions. In 1866 the first building was erected ; it
was dedicated October 13th, and on October 15th the school
was opened, with Rev. P. B. Chamberlain as principal and

292 Marcus Whitman
Miss M. A. Hodgdon and Miss E. W. Sylvester as assistants.
In his dedicatory address Mr. Chamberlain spoke of monu
ments in general, and of the life and labors of Dr. Whitman
and of his trip East in 1842-3.
He said: "It is not necessary for me on this occasion to
speak at length of the character and life of Dr. Whitman, to
Avhose memory this seminary is more especially consecrated,
since two of his co-laborers have so recently and so ably by
their addresses and their writings presented the subject to
large numbers of this people, and have shown most fully what
it would be easy for me to show from their data, that he was a
man of such marked character and so eminent in all relations
of life which he occupied as to render his memory worthy of
being cherished and commemorated by all true and noble men.
That as a Christian, and especially as the pioneer missionary
to this then wild and heathen land who nobly did his work
and at last 'died as a. hero — fell at his post,' he has claims
upon the heart and the memories of all Christians which no
other man can ever supersede. While his eminent and unpar-
allelled services for the country, in the performance of which
he endured hardship indescribable and periled his life repeat
edly in a journey across the Rocky Mountains in mid-winter,
practically alone, reaching Washington City barely in time to
prevent, by earnest and determined personal effort with Presi
dent Tyler, the trading away of this whole Northwest country,
with all its untold treasure of silver and gold, to Great Britain
for some comparatively valueless interests about the cod fish
eries of Newfoundland, must forever give him the first claim
to the gratitude and the honor of every American who may
ever settle in this region.
"Other men may arise who will render great services to this
part of our country, but no other man can hardly expect an
other opportunity of actually saving this whole region to the
American people as Dr. Whitman so clearly did."1
'The reader will notice that this address, delivered on Octo
ber 13th, 1866 (shortly after the time when Prof. Bourne says that
"the Whitman legend" was invented by Mr. SpaMing), assumes that
its hearers are familiar with the story, and does not recognize the
existence of any doubt concerning it.

Monuments 293
The school met a local need and was well attended, many
of its students becoming in later life distinguished citizens of
the Northwest. Various principals took charge of it, and it
struggled along without endowment or financial aid for sixteen
years. In 1882, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. George H.
Atkinson, the trustees ventured to enlarge its scope and elected
to its presidency Alexander Jay Anderson, Ph. D., at that .time
president of the Territorial University at Seattle. The courses
of study were immediately broadened and the standard of
scholarship raised. In 1883 the Legislature granted the insti
tution a new charter, under the name of "Whitman College."
In order to secure financial aid, Mr. Eells visited New Eng
land at his own expense, and secured gifts for the College
amounting to more than tAvelve thousand dollars. The Amer
ican College and Educational Society of Boston placed it upon
the list of its beneficiaries, and gave it yearly aid until 1896,
when an endowment of $200,000 was secured, one-quarter of
which was given by Dr. D. K. Pearsons of Chicago and the
balance mainly by the people of Walla Walla and New Eng
land. At the present time the College owns a beautiful campus
of twenty-seven acres, four substantial buildings of brick and
stone, and has a library of nearly fifteen thousand volumes.
Its faculty numbers thirty, and its student-body about four
hundred. Its total property is valued at $700,000. Its admin
istration building, costing $53,000, was given by Dr. Pearsons
in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman.1
(2) Whitman County. October 16, 1871, W. P. Winans, a
member of the Legislature of Washington from Stevens County,
presented a petition to the House, signed by H. S. Burlinghame
and ninety-six others, praying for a division of the county, and

1 Since the death of the writer, who succeeded his father as a Trus
tee of Whitman College in 1893, the plans for the development of the
institution have been greatly broadened. Sixty of the most influen
tial and representative men of Oregon, Washington and Idaho have
associated themselves together as its Board of Overseers, and have
assumed the responsibility for its educational and financial policy.
Their intention is that it shall be made a great central interdenomina
tional college for the entire Pacific Northwest, standing for the high
est ideals of character and scholarship.

294 Marcus Whitman
for the organization of another. This was referred to the
Committee on Counties. On November 16th this committee,
having considered it, returned it with a bill, and recommended
its passage, with the name of Whitman County. The bill was
known as House Bill Number 97. It passed the House Novem
ber 23, the Council November 24, and on the 29th, which was
the anniversary of the Whitman massacre, was approved by
the Governor, E. S. Salomon, and the new county was organ
ized. Mr. Winans is inclined to divide the credit of the name
with Rev. Cushing Eells. In regard to this, under date of June
27th, 1901, he wrote: "I think your father is entitled to the
credit. I do not recollect that he requested me at the organ
ization to call it Whitman; but as I had had frequent talks
with him about the early missionary work, and his life here, I
was impressed that the proper thing to do to keep his name in
remembrance was to call the county Whitman."
(3) Monument of Stone. While all this had been done,
yet there were many who felt that a monument of stone ought
to be erected in commemoration of the martyrs.
In 1869-70, through the efforts of Edwin Eells, then enroll
ing clerk of the Legislature of Washington, a bill was intro
duced by Hon. J. H. Lasater of Walla Walla, memorializing
Congress to erect a monument in honor of Dr. Whitman, but
this failed to pass.
Another effort was made by the Oregon Pioneer and His
torical Society, whose headquarters were at Astoria, February
21, 1874. It was begun at the suggestion of Hon. W. H. Gray,
another of Dr. Whitman's co-laborers. A committee was ap
pointed to prepare an address to the people on the subject, and
to solicit subscriptions. The Committee met in 1876 and 1877.
A little money was secured, nearly forty dollars, but not much
was really accomplished. In 1880 the Society renewed its ef
forts, Mr. Gray doing all that he could for it in securing sub
scriptions. Mrs. Gray, at her death in 1881, left a hundred
dollars for it. Other subscriptions to the amount of about
two thousand dollars were obtained, but much of this was not
to be paid until the full amount necessary should be secured.
The owners of the land at that time were willing to donate for
the purpose only two acres of ground, where the remains rested,

Monuments 295
and that on condition that a sixteen thousand dollar monument
be erected within five years from 1881. As this could not be
done, the money collected, three hundred and fifty dollars, was
placed at interest in Ladd and Tilton's bank in Portland.
Efforts were made to induce the people of Walla Walla to
take up the matter, and in April, 1882, Mr. Gray visited the
place for the object. A meeting was held to consider the sub
ject, but at that meeting the majority were in favor of moving
the remains to the Whitman Seminary grounds, where they
wished the monument to be. To this Mr. Gray objected. Reso
lutions were passed and a committee was appointed to secure
the money, but nothing further seems to have been accom
plished. The matter then slumbered, and Mr. Gray died with
out accomplishing what he so much desired.
In 1889 the Whitman Historical Society, whose headquar
ters were at Walla Walla, took up the matter, and the general
desire was to remove the remains to the Whitman College
grounds. It was felt, however, that in order to do this, accord
ing to law, the consent of all the heirs of those buried there
must be obtained. Rev. M. Eells was appointed a committee to
see if this could be done, and he wrote to all whose residence he
could learn. All agreed willingly, except Mrs. M. J. Delaney,
one of Dr. Whitman's adopted children, who said she never
would give her consent ; so the matter rested.
During all this time the grave was cared for more or less
properly. In 1859, when Rev. C. Eells first visited it on his
return to Eastern Washington, he could barely distinguish it,
from his memory of it eleven years previous, because the ground
was sunken a little lower than that around it. In 1860 he set
a few posts around it, and fastened a few rails on them. In
1863 Myron Eells dug a trench around it, throwing the dirt
on to it, thus forming a mound. In doing so, he struck the
wagon beds which the Oregon Volunteers had placed over the
remains. He also built a board fence around it. In the course
of years this fell down, and for a time the grave looked very
neglected. In 1885, under the direction of President A. J.
Anderson of Whitman College, a picket fence was built around
it, which, with a little repair, lasted until 1897. The students

296 Marcus Whitman
of the College gave some of the money, collected more, thirty
or forty dollars in all, did most of the work, and were enthus
iastic in regard to it.
In March, 1897, the Whitman Monument Association was
formed, mainly through the efforts of G. H. Himes and Dr. C.
C. Strong, of Portland. Hon. H. W. Corbett, of Portland, was
President of this; Hon. L. A. Hinman, of Forest Grove, Ore
gon ; Hon. Levi Ankeny, of Walla Walla, Washington ; and C.
Monteith, of Lewiston, Idaho, Vice-Presidents; G. H. Himes,
of Portland, Secretary; and W. M. Ladd, of Portland, Trea
surer. The managing committee was Dr. C. C. Strong, G. H.
Dimes, and Dr. W. S. Holt, of Portland. The Executive Com
mittee was composed of five members from Oregon, five from
Washington, and one from Idaho. The aim of this Association
was simply to carry out the plans of Mr. Grav, and to him
they give all the credit. This Association obtained the money
before secured through the efforts of Mr. Gray, and some more.
It then built a mausoleum, encased in Vermont marble,
over the remains, where they had been for fifty years. Sur
mounting this is a slab of polished marble, eleven by five and
a half feet, and four inches thick. On it are carved the names
of all the slain, and the time of their death. An iron fence
encloses this grave.
Back of the grave is a hill about a hundred and twenty-
five feet high. On a point on this knoll, overlooking the sur
rounding country, was placed a monument shaft of Vermont
marble. This is eighteen feet high, two feet square at the base,
and slightly tapering to the top. Including the whole founda
tion, it is twenty-six feet and eleven inches high. The Associ
ation bought seven acres of land at thirty dollars an acre.
The cost of the stone work, mausoleum and monument was
twenty-two hundred and fifty dollars; of seven acres of land
at thirty dollars an acre, two hundred and ten; and about
forty dollars were used in other ways, making a total of about
twenty-five hundred dollars.
The following invitations were sent out, one by Whitman
College, and the other by the Whitman Monument Association :

THE WHITMAN GRAVE IN 1858

THE GRAVE TO-DAY

Monuments 297
"1847-1897.
The Board of Trustees
of
Whitman College
Request the honor of your presence at public exer
cises in commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary
of the Whitman Massacre, to be held at the Opera
House, Monday evening, November twenty-ninth, at
eight o'clock, Walla Walla, Washington."
"1847-1897.
You are cordially invited to be present at the ded
ication of the monument erected to the memory of
Dr. Marcus Whitman, Mrs. Narcissa Prentiss Whit
man, his wife, missionaries of the American Board,
and twelve other persons who were massacred by the
Cayuse Indians on Monday and Tuesday, November
29-30, 1847, at the Wai-i-lat-pu mission, about six
miles west of the present city of Walla Walla. The
monument will be placed near the site of the massa
cre, and will be unveiled on Tuesday, November thir
tieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, at 11 A. M.
On behalf of the Whitman Monument Association,
Incorporated, Curtis C. Strong, Stephen B. L. Pen
rose, George H. Himes, Levi Ankeny, W. S. Holt,
J. H. D. Gray, Committee on Invitations. Address
all replies to George H. Himes, Secretary Managing
Committee, Portland, Oregon."
The dedicatory ceremonies were in the main carried out
as planned, but unfortunately the monument was sidetracked
on the way and did not reach the place until several weeks
after the ceremonies. On the evening of November 29, the
opera house in Walla Walla was packed with the greatest
crowd ever gathered under one roof in that city. Indian war
veterans and members of the Grand Army were present in a
body ; the President, Professors and students of Whitman Col
lege were also accorded prominent places, and eight survivors
of the massacre were there. These were Mrs. Catherine (Sa
ger) Pringle, Mrs. Matilda (Sager) Delaney, Mrs. E. M. (Sa
ger) Helm, Mrs. N. A. (Osborne) Jacobs, Mrs. Susan (Kim
ball) Wirt, Mrs. Sophia (Kimball) Munson, Mrs. Nina A.
(Kimball) Megler, and Byron S. Kimball.

298 Marcus Whitman
The Whitman memorial chorus of sixty voices sang Gou
nod's "Send Out Thy Light;" the Scripture was read by Rev.
Samuel Greene, whose father, Rev. David Greene, as Secretary
of the American Board, had signed the commissions of Marcus
Whitman and his associate missionaries in 1836 and 1838.
Prayer was offered by Rev. H. P. James, representing the Col
lege Trustees. A poem, written by a distinguished editor, who
wished his name withheld, was read by Prof. O. A. Hauerbach,
and an address was delivered by Rev. L. H. Hallock, D. D., of
California.1 After this Mrs. Hallock sang "My Redeemer
Liveth," by Dudley Buck. A letter from Hon. P. B. Whit
man, an invalid, was read by his grandson, Marcus Whitman
Barnett, who also made a short address, and gave to President
Penrose, for Whitman College, a lock of Mrs. Whitman's hair,
a present from his grandmother, Mrs. P. B. Whitman. The
congregation joined in singing, "O God, beneath whose guid
ing hand our exiled fathers crossed the sea," and the exer
cises closed with the benediction by President Penrose.
The next morning fully two thousand people repaired to
the grave, where Dr. N. G. Blalock, President of the Trustees
of Whitman College, pointed out the various places of inter
est, Rev. S. Greene offered the dedicatory prayer, choice flowers
were laid on the grave, and Mrs. C. S. Pringle, the oldest of
Dr. Whitman's adopted children, spoke as follows, moving
many to tears:
"Ladies and gentlemen of Walla Walla : I cannot express
to you the feelings of my sisters, myself, and these survivors
as we view this scene. Fifty years ago yesterday morning the
sun rose yonder on a happy home and all the busy bustle of
life. The sun went down on a scene of death and desolation —
of weeping and wailing. Fifty years ago today we went as
prisoners of a savage band of Indians — no hope of escape — all
dark and despair. But Providence made a way of escape, and
we stand here today. We desire to thank the people of Walla
Walla and the Northwest for their presence here, for their
kindness in burying our dead, and for their royal entertain-
1 For this see "Whitman College Quarterly," December, 1897.

Monuments 299
ment. We desire also to thank the Oregon Railway and Navi
gation Company for the generosity that enables us to be here,
and to see the dream of many years consummated. These acts
of kindness will be told to our children's children, and be car
ried down to the future generations in grateful remembrance,
as each recurring anniversary passes."
On account of the weather it was not thought best to hold
further exercises at the grave, consequently the people returned
to the opera house, where Rev. J. R. Wilson, D. D., of Port
land, representing the Whitman Monument Association, de
livered an oration.1 The Fourth Cavalry Band furnished the
music, and Rev. W. H. Schudder, of Tacoma, a representative
of the American Board, also made an address. Letters were
read from prominent persons of the United States expressing
their regrets at not being able to be present, and one from
James Hayes, a Nez Perces Indian, enclosing $25.50 from the
Nez Perces Indians of the church at Kamiah for the monument.
The congregation sang "America," and the exercises closed
with the benediction.
The monument was afterwards received and put in place,
the final ceremonies being held at the grave.
The fiftieth anniversary of the Whitman massacre was also
commemorated at the First Congregational Church in the City
of Washington on the evening of December 5, 1897, the Sab
bath following the anniversary. Justice David B. Brewer of
the United States Supreme Court presided, and the speakers
were Judge Brewer, Senator John L. Wilson, of the State of
Washington ; Gen. O. O. Howard, long a resident of the Pacific
Coast ; and Dr. S. M. Newman, pastor of the church. It was a
devotional recognition of the Providence of God in using Dr.
Whitman for certain great ends.
(4) Statue at Philadelphia. When the Presbyterian
Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work erected the
Witherspoon building, which is their home, 1319 Walnut Street,
Philadelphia, statues of three different persons were placed
1 For this see "Whitman College Quarterly," December, 1897.

300 Marcus Whitman
over the entrances to the building, and Dr. Whitman's was
one of them. This building was dedicated October 24, 1896.1
"But there was one who came in peace and zeal,
To lift the cross and guide the conquering wheel,
His sword the flaming truth, his sign the cross,
He counted all but faith as empty dross;
Fair was that noble form, and fairer e'en his bride,
Whitman, who dared for Oregon to ride,
Who saved an empire, and a martyr died."2
1 See Frontispiece.
2 From an anonymous poem read at the dedication of the Whitman
monument, "Whitman College Quarterly," December, 1897, page 52.

THE WHITMAN MONUMENT AT AVAIILATPTJ

CHAPTER XIV.

RESULTS  CONCLUSION.

Besides the missionary work which Dr. Whitman and his
wife accomplished, which in the light of eternity was by no
means a failure, three events stand out very prominently in
this history: The bringing of the wagon to Fort Boise in
1836 ; the crossing of the Continent by Mrs. Whitman and Mrs.
Spalding in the same year; and Dr. Whitman's journey East
in 1842-3 and his bringing back of the emigration of 1843.
(1) To Dr. Whitman must be given the credit of opening
the wagon road into Oregon. William Sublette, of the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company, had brought wagons to the Rocky
Mountains in 1829, "to the head of Wind River, where it issues
from the Rocky Mountains," that being a part of the head
Avaters of the Missouri. Bonneville in 3832 had brought his
wagons to Green River, the place of rendezvous, but no further,
because "the nature of the country through which he was about
to travel rendered it impossible to proceed with wagons."1
Dr. Whitman's perseverance proved the practicability of the
wagon road to Fort Boise, about five hundred and seventy-five
miles farther. This was the first wagon ever brought to the
waters that flow into the Columbia or west of the present
eastern boundary of Idaho.
Says Professor Thomas Condon: "It was the track of
Dr. Whitman's cart that grew into the track of the great wagon
train of 1843 and the still greater one of 1847. It was this
great one of 1847 that grew into the track of the pony of later
years; and it was the varyings of the pony express that de
veloped into the four great trunk railroads of today. That is,
to state the proposition in its extreme terms, it is the broken
1 Bonneville's "Adventures," G. P. Putnam's edition of 1878, pp.
70, 109.

302 Marcus Whitman
cart track over which these two women toiled in 1836 that has
grown into the cosmic system of railroads. Surely here is
growth worthy of the nineteenth century." 1
Mention ought, however, to be made that Dr. Robert New
ell, F. Ermatinger, and J. L. Meek in 1840 brought from Fort
Hall the running gear of three wagons brought by Rev. Harvey
Clarke and party to that fort. When they arrived at Dr.
Whitman's, Dr. Newell expressed his regret that he had ever
undertaken the job, but Dr. Whitman replied, "Oh, you will
never regret it; you have broken the ice, and when others see
that wagons have passed, they, too, will pass, and in a few
years the valley will be full of our people." 3 While the immi
grants in 1841 and 1842 did not follow Dr. Newell's track,
yet the fact that Dr. Whitman knew that these wagons had
been brought to his station undoubtedly was of great use to
him three years later.
Dr. William Barrows, in his Oregon, has honored Whit
man's old wagon with a separate chapter, as one great means
of carrying civilization to the Pacific Coast, beginning it with
the words, "The Oregon question finally turned on wheels."
(2) The crossing of the continent by Mrs. Spalding and
Mrs. Whitman, the first white women to do so, was also an
event fraught with great results. The story of the difficulties
connected with their journey has been given in Chapter Two.
It was an epoch in the history of Oregon — a little thing in it
self, but like Dr. Whitman's wagon, a seed sown which became
a great tree that covered the Northwestern Coast. It meant
American civilization, and Christian homes and families. Pre
vious to this time the Hudson's Bay Company had been mon-
archs of all they surveyed. Eleven American fur companies
had tried to obtain a foothold in the country, but had been
driven out by the monopoly; but when a mountain man saw
those women, he said, "There is something the Honorable Hud
son's Bay Company cannot drive out of this country," and his
prophecy was true. Hence, it was not strange that Hon. El-
wood Evans wrote to Rev. H. H. Spalding: "The American
1 Address before the Oregon Pioneer Association in their "Trans
actions for 1888," p. 28.
2 "History of Pacific Northwest," vol. 1, p. 220.

Results 303
missionaries were the apostles paving the way for American
occupancy; nor need you fear that the missionary heroines
who proved that women could go to Oregon, and live and die
there, will ever be forgotten."
But earlier than any of these are the words of one who
signs his name "An Oregonian," and who published an article
in the Oregon Spectator, May 14, 1846. After giving an ac
count of the cause of the early Indian missions, which he at
tributes to the visit of the two Indians to St. Louis, and the
coming to Oregon of the flrst missionaries both of the Metho
dist Episcopal Church and the American Board, he says : "It
is due to Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman to state that they
were the first white females that ventured to try the perils of
a journey across the mountains which at that time was con
sidered presumptuous in the extreme, and doubtless had con
tributed to expel the fears and remove the dread of a passage
from the Mississippi to the Columbia more than all other ad
ventures. Having traveled somewhat extensively in the United
States before this experiment was made, and after it was ac
complished, and having been an eye witness, I have no fears
in venturing the assertion that the simple act of those two fe
males, sustained by others who have followed them on a simi
lar enterprise, has contributed more to the present occupancy
of Oregon, than all the fine-spun speeches and high-sounding
words that have yet issued from the executive branch at Wash
ington." Mr. Spalding well says, "Too much praise cannot be award
ed to that great and good pioneer missionary, Lee, and the self-
denying lady missionaries, who by a sea voyage around Cape
Horn, came early to his assistance in establishing his mission
to the Indian tribes on this coast. This mission of the Metho
dist Board, while it brought to the Indian tribes the Sun of
Righteousness, became the nucleus of the first American colony
on the Pacific, and gave a hearty Christian character to the
provisional government of Oregon, which was organized nine
years after the first missionaries arrived in the Willamette.
"But while this is admitted with satisfaction, it must be
granted by all that the overland emigrant route was the es
sential element, the promoting cause of the settlement of the

304 Marcus Whitman
Coast by American settlers. But this route owes its existence
in the first place to Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman, and in
the second place to the personal sufferings and hazards of the
Doctor in the mountains in the winter of 1842-3." He also
adds: "This passage of the Rocky Mountains by these two
women, is on many accounts without a parallel in the annals
of our American women. Too much praise, as I have before
said, cannot be awarded to those self-denying mothers of the
Methodist mission, who at the call of their devoted leader, the
pioneer, Lee, also bade farewell to friends and sweet home,
and by a sea voyage around Cape Horn of twenty-one thousand
miles, came to assist him in preaching Christ to the natives,
and in kindling the torch of civilization in this Willamette Val
ley. But they had a friend at the end of that journey, who
had told them before they started, by bis report, that they were
coming to grain and bread in abundance at Vancouver, and
merchandise, and a soil and climate favorable to civilization.
None of these important facts were known to our women, when
they made up their minds to undertake the journey. The
mothers and wives on board the Mayflower, when they stopped
on the bleak shores of New England, in the storms of mid-
Avinter, had nothing but doubt and darkness before them ; but
they had been driven from sweet home by the hand of persecu
tion, while our ladies had cheerfully sacrificed home, even
against the remonstrances of friends and mountain men. The
seven missionary ladies who cheerfully bade farewell to home
and friends, in 1820, to seek by a sea voyage, of eighteen thou
sand miles around Cape Horn, a home on the Sandwich Islands,
to erect there the standard of the cross, had darkness and
doubt before them, and the perils of the sea around them, but
they had their daily food on board, and they were excused
from the wear and tear of toiling up mountains, through burn
ing sands, sick or well. The perils from the savages and the
hardships and losses and starvations, attendant upon the over
land route, have often been expressed by some of the mothers
who have followed them over this same route from year to year,
I have no doubt to an extent equal to the sufferings of our
wives ; but there were certain features attached to their jour
ney that never have and never could harass and eat into the

Results 305
very soul of any mother who has followed them; that in the
constant suspense, the burning and ever increasing uncertainty
of everything before them, the thick darkness, and the vast un
known into which they were plunging deeper and deeper every
day ; when and where their journey would end, whether among
friends or foes; when, if ever they would eat bread again;
where would be the next yard of cloth or clothing; or would
we have to depend on the skins of beasts? And so when our
ladies alighted from their worn-out horses at the end of their
journey and stepped upon the banks of the long-sought Colum
bia, and found bread and fields of wheat, and merchandise, and
Christian hearts, and civilization begun, the thick darkness
and the weight of uncertainty came to an end also, never to be
felt by those who might follow."1
(3) The work of Dr. Whitman in 1842-3 was another event
so far-reaching that no one can tell where the results will end.
Says Rev. Dr. Atkinson: "Having then become involved in
the Mexican War, General Fremont was sent in 1847 to co
operate with our Commodore, and seize California, which was
done. In the settlement with Mexico our government pur
chased the conquered province of California. The connection
of events is such as to show that our securing the actual pos
session of Oregon by emigrants and a provisional government
led to the general survey and the final conquest and purchase
of California, though sectional and sporadic efforts had pre
viously been made to secure this province. The securing of
Oregon preceded that of California somewhat as a cause pre
cedes an effect; the one hinges on the other; after which the
golden grains there concealed were uncoverd, so that fifty mill
ions year after year were added to the world's currency, and
means provided to carry on the national contest from 1861
to 1865." 2
Again, Rev. J. W. Bashford, Ph. D., of Buffalo, N. Y., says :
"It took three years after the Americans began pouring into
Oregon by the thousand and were outnumbering the British
five to one, to induce Great Britain to sign the treaty. No
^'Oregon States Rights Democrat," 1867.
'"Missionary Herald," March, 1867.

306 Marcus Whitman
one dreams that the boundaries would have been settled in
1846, had not a thousand Americans through missionary effort
reached Oregon in 1843. But in less than three years after
the papers were signed by Great Britain, gold was discovered
in California. When the negotiations for our western boun
daries had dragged along since 1783, and Great Britain was
so loth to give up her claims to that territory, do you suppose
that had she waited until gold had been discovered, and re
ports of untold wealth had spread like wild-fire — do you sup
pose that then she would have signed away her claims? But
there is another important fact which made it necessary that
the Oregon question should be settled, not only before gold
was discovered in 1848, but before 1847. The southwestern
part of the United States, embracing part of Texas, and all of
New Mexico and of California, was owned by Mexico in 1846.
A few days before Great Britain signed the final settlement,
war had broken out between Mexico and the United States.
Had this information reached Great Britain in time, she would
at least have delayed to sign the settlement of 1846. Then in
our war with Mexico, Mexico would have been backed by Great
Britain. With intentional alliance the war would have been
prolonged until the discovery of gold in California. This dis
covery would have led Mexico and Great Britain to redouble
their energies for a share in this western continent. How rap
idly these events press upon each other! How certainly it
seems that only the missionary settlement of Oregon, which
resulted in the yielding of all the claims by Great Britain
before she learned of the Mexican War, alone saved us from
a great international contest, with two powers, one of them
the greatest upon the earth! You say we could have waged
the war and won against both foreign powers? Possibly, but
the United States could far better afford to give the Methodist
Missionary Society and the American Board each a million
dollars a year in perpetuity than to have incurred the cost of
this gigantic war, to say nothing of its bloodshed and desola
tion. . . .
"But the acquisition by the United States of territory of
vast extent and boundless wealth in the West was not the end
of this missionary enterprise. We sent our brothers out from

Results 307
our homes to bless others. They indirectly helped us to win
the greatest blessing for ourselves. The Oregon and California
questions were settled in our favor in 1848, only thirteen years
before the rebellion. We were then called upon to fight the
great battle between freedom and slavery. You remember that
east of the Ijdississippi River the free territory of the United
States embraced a little over four hundred thousand square
miles, and the slave territory nearly five hundred thousand
square miles.
"After crossing the Mississippi River and running through
Missouri the line embracing the slave population fell rapidly
south. It was the western territory into which slaves had not
yet been brought that restored the balance in area to the side
of freedom in this contest; and California, which had been
acquired for the extension of slavery, was providentially set
tled by Northern enterprise, and poured her money and men
into the Union side in that gigantic struggle. Suppose that
this territory had still been held by foreign powers, or that
we had been still battling for this rich gold field against Great
Britain and Mexico, and suppose that Mexico had been backed
by France in the interest of absolution and the Roman Catholic
faith, as was the case during the rebellion, do you not see that
it would have been, humanly speaking, impossible to free the
slaves and preserve the Union?
"The Divine Providence is the key to our national history.
The British lion chained at the forty-ninth parallel of North
latitude ; Mexico, backed by France, rendered powerless by the
previous conquest of her Western territory; and California
pouring her gold and men into the Union side during the strug
gle for Freedom, are God's providential way of saying to a
missionary age, 'One hundred fold in this world, and in the
world to come, eternal life.'
"Once more, while we sometimes entertain an undue preju
dice against the Roman Catholic Church, yet no candid man
can doubt that the Protestant faith is far more helpful to free
institutions, and to modern civilization than is the faith of
Rome. But the contest in Oregon was a struggle between the
Jesuit and the Protestant. Had not Jason Lee gone to Ore
gon in 1834, and led out American missionaries and settlers;

308 Marcus Whitman
had not Marcus Whitman followed his missionary call in 1835,
and led out over nine hundred more American settlers in 1843 ;
had not the four or five thousand American settlers organized
a provisional government in 1843, and elected a Methodist
miasionary governor, the Jesuits, backed by Great Britain on
the north, and by Mexico and France on the south, would to
day hold our western coast, and shape its civilization for the
twentieth century. A territory larger and richer than the
Atlantic seaboard, saved to our government, the whole Pacific
slope thrown into the balance of freedom in the greatest con
test of the nineteenth century, and the civilization of the
richest part of the globe started under Protestant auspices for
the twentieth century, is God's providential answer to the
faith of Jason and Daniel Lee, and Marcus Whitman and H.
H. Spalding, and the unnamed heroes and heroines who died
for the Oregon mission, and whose bones rest in unknown
graves in the Valley of the Willamette. When the population
of that golden coast rises to thirty millions, will not the land
ing place of the ship that sailed from Boston with Methodist
missionaries in 1836 be the Plymouth Rock of the Pacific, and
Whitman Institute and Willamette University be their Har
vard and Yale? Will there not arise a Longfellow or a Bu
chanan Read to sing of a ride more heroic than Sheridan's,
and of far greater importance than that of Paul Revere ? Will
not a spiritual descendant of Mrs. Hemans arise to sing of a
second pilgrim band, who left home and native land not for
freedom to worship God themselves, but to carry light to those
who sat in darkness ?" 1
In conclusion, the following testimonials will show an es
timate of Dr. Whitman by those who were acquainted with
him and by those who have studied him. Says Hon. Archi
bald McKinley, of the Hudson's Bay Company: "He was a
very superior man. His whole soul was devoted to civilizing
and Christianizing the Indians. A true patriot withal, but
not the sort that make fools of themselves."
Says Hon. W. F. Tolmie, who, like Mr. McKinley, belonged
1 "Missionary Review of the World," August, 1888, pp. 569, 571.

Results 309
to the Hudson's Bay Company: "With Mr. McKinley, I re
tain my high opinion of the noble, true-hearted Whitman."
Says the Hon. O. C. Pratt: "Dr. Whitman was a grand
character, a leading man, and one of great power wherever the
lines of his life fell; and he impressed himself on his con
temporaries in Oregon in a way never to be forgotten as long
as any of them may live."
Says United States Senator James K. Kelly: "While he
was sincere and zealous in the discharge of his duties as a mis
sionary among the Indians, yet he was all alive to the im
portance of securing Oregon as an American possession against
the claims of Great Britain. He was intensely American in
all his feelings; a man of indomitable will and preseverance
in whatever he undertook to accomplish; whom no danger
could daunt and no hardship could deter from the performance
of any act which he deemed it a duty to discharge. And per
haps to Dr. Whitman, more than any other man, are the people
of Oregon indebted that we are living under the stars and
stripes, instead of the banner of St. George." 1
Says John Arthur of the immigration of 1843 : "Too much
cannot be said of Dr. Whitman's persistent activity, urging
the immigrants to travel, travel, travel, as he said nothing else
would carry us through."
Says B. F. Nichols, who wintered at the Doctor's station
1844-5: "He was one of the most unassuming men I ever
met. You never heard him going about and telling anything
that he had ever done or said or anything of that, kind; he
was not that kind of a man. He was a man that lived in an
atmosphere above ordinary nonsense. Though he was always
genial and pleasant, he never indulged in raillery or anything
of that kind. He never seemed put out, and was most even-
tempered under trying circumstances."
And of Mrs. Whitman he adds: "She seemed endowed
with a peculiar magnetism when you were in her presence so
that you could not help thinking yourself in the presence of a
being much higher than the ordinary run of humanity. I
have heard her pray, and she could offer up the finest petition
""Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1882, p. 10.

310 Marcus Whitman
to the Throne of Grace of any person I ever heard in my life.
She was always gentle and kind to the Indians, as she was to
every one else. She took an interest in every one at the mis
sion, especially the children. Every one loved her, because
to see her was to love her." *
Says Hon. Jesse Applegate, captain of the wagon train of
1843, in a letter to a friend, dated May 29th, 1876 :
"Dr. Marcus Whitman. Oregon owes him much. He con
tributed more than any to the success of its first great immi
gration, which, had it ended in disaster, might not have been
again attempted for many years.
"But that is not all. God sends upon the earth not ten
such men as Dr. Whitman in a century — heroes to lead in some
greatly needed reform, or martyrs to suffer in a righteous
cause. "Circumstances brought us but a short time together, but
in that time I learned to love him with a love that passes the
limits of the grave.
"This corrupt age will, in God's good time, pass away, and
men guided by right and devoted to principle and duty, whether
they lead to honor or censure, to wealth or poverty, will again
take the high places in the esteem of men as an example for
them to follow. Let us send down to them the name of Marcus
Whitman, who placed duty before not only all the pleasures
and honors of earth, but life itself, which he laid down at the
post where duty placed him." '
Says Hon. W. Lair Hill: "But only the pioneer mission
ary, Dr. Whitman, appears to have had clear views from the
first of the possibilities of the Northwest Coast, and its im
portance as a part of the United States. He and Thomas H.
Benton were the prophets of Oregon." *
Says the Oregonian: "He was an energetic, heroic, far-see
ing, self-sacrificing and thoroughly patriotic American citizen,
and his name is embalmed forever in the history of the North-
1 "Whitman College Quarterly," October, 1897, pp. 19. 20.
2 From an unpublished letter in the possession of the Oregon His
torical Society.
'"Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1883, p. 18.

Results 311
west. It falls to the lot of but few to win such fame, and
few there are who so well deserve it."
Says Governor Elwood Evans : "Pages could be devoted to
the praises of their many good works. They were philanthro
pists, practical, devoted Christians, who literally obeyed the
injunction, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature !' All wearing the image of their Maker shared
their sympathies. They labored with a devotion unceasing, and
a zeal most disinterested to Christianize the Indians, to confer
upon him the habits of civilization. He [Dr. Whitman] was
equally the dispenser of charity and benefits to his own race.
The Indian never had a more sincere friend since William
Penn founded my native city, and gave the world that glor
ious illustration of unbroken faith by deeds of peace." *
Says Bancroft, in his Oregon: "The missionary, Dr. Whit
man, was no ordinary man. I do not know which to admire
most in him, his coolness or his courage. His nerves were of
steel, his patience was excelled only by his fearlessness; in
the mighty calm of his nature he was a Caesar for Christ."
Says Rev. Dr. Atkinson : "When the future historian shall
write up the records of this State for the hundreds of thousands
Avho dwell where we now do, it will be his pleasant duty to
inscribe the highest honors to the pioneer American Colonists
of Oregon, and place the name of the martyr, Whitman, above
them all." *
But God was back of it all, so that it is very appropriate
to close this volume with the words of the editor of the Mis
sionary Herald. After speaking of Dr. Whitman's offer of
himself to the American Board as a missionary, and giving
some extracts from his letters, he adds: "The papers on
which the Prudential Committee on that day appointed Dr.
Whitman could by no means have led them to regard the ap
plicant as a man of unusual abilities and devotion, or to war
rant any expectation that he was to accomplish a work of
immense and far-reaching importance. God chooses His own
instruments to carry out his plans. He who chose David and
took him from the sheep fold to lead his people, chose also
1 "Transactions Oregon Pioneer Association," 1877, p. 35.
• "Biography of Rev. G. W. Atkinson, D.D.," p. 872.

312 Marcus Whitman
Marcus Whitman to do a noble work for our nation and for
the kingdom of Christ in the vast regions of the Northwest." *
MARCUS WHITMAN

«

Apostle, Patriot and Pioneer,
Too long unhonored — yea, but unforgot;
His grateful country long has held him dear,
And fondly vows his fame shall perish not.
The love of Christ within his soul was strong;
To serve the cause of Christ he westward pressed.
Yet with him took his country's flag along,
To plant it in the distant unkonwn West.
Prophetic-visioned, on the western side
Of yon stem range, upreared the clouds to meet,
He saw an Empire, throned in strength and pride,
With all the vast Pacific at its feet.
And he, strong hero, when in thoughtlessness
Our nation would have thrown that realm away,
Came like a prophet from the wilderness
The spendthrift's rash, uplifted hand to stay.
The mountain snows were heaped upon his path,
Close pressed the beasts in hunger on his trail,
The storms of winter beat on Mm in wrath,
Yet Whitman's lofty courage did not fail.
He plead for country's welfare, not in vain,
He told the beauties of the Sunset Slope;
Then through the mountains led a daring train,
To occupy the fair domains of hope.
Build high the granite, lasting as his fame,
Build wide fair Learning's halls and ample gates,
That years to come may know and bless the name
Of him who saved the Union three great States."'
1 "Missionary Herald," January, 1898, p. 9.
' "Whitman Quarterly," October, 1899, p. 30.

,w«l

<v /rj*

GREATER WHITMAN AS IT WILL APPEAR WHEN COMPLETED
APPENDIX

APPENDIX A.
Rev. Samuel Parker.
He was born at Ashfield, Mass., April 23rd, 1779, and was the son
of Elisha and Thankful (Marchant) Parker. His great grandfather
was of Puritan ancestry, having been a freeman of Barnstable, Mass.,
in 1634-5. Samuel graduated at Williams College in 1806; taught
school for a year at Brattleboro, Vt.; studied theology under Rev.
Theophilus Packard at Shelburne, Mass., and at the end of a year,
was licensed to preach. After preaching as a home missionary in
New York State, he went to Andover Theological Seminary, where
he graduated in the first class that left that institution. In 1812 he
was ordained and installed over the Congregational Church at Danby,
N. Y. Soon after he was married to Miss H. Sears, who died of con
sumption a short time later. In 1815 he was again married to Miss
Jerusha Lord, of Danby, who was the mother of his three children,
Mrs. Jerusha Van Kirk and Dr. S. J. Parker, of Ithaca, N. Y., and
Rev. H. W. Parker, D.D., at one time Professor in the Massachusetts
Agricultural College, and afterwards at Iowa College at Grinnell.
Mr. Parker remained at Danby fifteen years, then was financial
agent of Auburn Theological Seminary, N. Y. Next went as pastor
to Apulia, N. Y., and then to Middlefield, Mass. While here the call
from the Nez Perces was made public, and in 1835 he went to Oregon,
as related in the first chapter of this work, Dr. Whitman accompany
ing him to the Rocky Mountains. Then Dr. Whitman returned and
he pressed on to Oregon, most of the way having only Nez Perces
Indians for company. Having left the American Rendezvous, August
21, he arrived at Fort Walla Walla (now Wallula) October 6th, and
Vancouver on the 16th, having been seven months and two days on
the way; and the last fifty-six with Indians only. He spent the rest
of that month and all of November exploring the country west of the
Cascade Mountains, and learning about the Indians; then wintered
at Vancouver, staying there until April, when he went up the Colum
bia to the country of the Walla Walla, Cayuse, Nez Perces, Spokane,
Colville and Okanogan Indians, and then back to Vancouver. After
this he returned East by water, by way of the Sandwich Islands and
Cape Horn, reaching home May 18, 1837, having been absent from it
two years and two months, and having traveled about twenty-eight
thousand miles.
He did not return to Oregon, though he never lost his interest in

316 Appendix A
the country, often lecturing about it and doing what he could at Wash
ington for the same object. He also wrote a book entitled Parker's
Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains, which gave an ac
count of the journey and a description of the country, the Indians,
and fur companies, the vegetable and animal products, the soil and
geological formation. Sixteen thousand copies of the work were
published in this country, and it was republished in England.
In this work, and in supplying various pulpits, he continued until
1849, when he was struck with paralysis, from which he partially re
covered. He died March 21, 1855, aged nearly eighty-seven years.
A sketch of his life by his son, H. W. Parker, D.D., was pub
lished in the Church at home and Abroad in March, 1895, and another
by the author in the Whitman College Quarterly, October, 1898.

APPENDIX B.
Rev. Henry Harmon Spalding.
Mr. Spalding was born at Prattsburg, N. Y., November 26, 1803.
In early life he was left an orphan and was brought up by strangers.
During his minority he received very little schooling, as at the age of
twenty-one, he began English grammar and arithmetic, being able
to read so as to be understood, and write after a copy. After this,
for three years, he spent most of his time attending Franklin Acad
emy, working for his board and teaching school. When he was about
twenty-two he became a Christian, uniting with the Presbyterian
Church, and two years later gave himself to the,, cause of missions.
Then he studied at Prattsburg Academy, and three years afterwards,
in 1831, entered the Junior Class in Hamilton College, but a little
later went to the Western Reserve College in Ohio, where he grad
uated in 1833. October 12, 1833, he was married to Miss Eliza Hart,
of Trenton, N. Y., who ever proved a most worthy and beloved wife.
She was born at Berlin, Conn., July 11, 1807, was the daughter of
Captain Levi and Martha Hart, and was brought up and educated in
Ontario County, N. Y. At the age of eighteen she united with the
Presbyterian Church at Holland Patent, N. Y., and became a tract
distributer. They moved to Cincinnati in the fall of 1833, where Mr. Spalding
entered Lane Theological Seminary, and in August, 1835, he was or
dained by the Bath Presbytery, N. Y. Soon afterwards they were
appointed by the American Board as missionaries to the Osage In
dians. When the necessity of an ordained minister to accompany Dr.
Whitman to Oregon was made known to them by the Doctor, after
they had started for the Osages, early in 1836, with the recommenda
tion of the Board, they changed their destination, and made the
journey in company with Dr. Whitman and wife, as narrated in
chapter second. Mrs. Spalding's health was not good, and once or
twice she expected to die on the way, but she rallied, and lived to do
good work. After consultation, it was decided that their place of
labor should be among the Nez Perces. They settled at Lapwai,
reaching that place November 29, 1836, and it was their home until
December, 1847.
Their work was often more encouraging than at any other station
of the Board in Oregon, and sometimes just as discouraging. On the
whole, however, they left a great and lasting influence for good with
that powerful and influential tribe. During that time Mr. and Mrs.

318 Appendix B
Gray and Mr. C. Rogers were associated with them some of the
time. Rev. A. B. Smith and wife labored among the same tribe,
though sixty miles distant, at Kamiah, and Rev. J. S. Griffin, Alvan
T. Smith and their wives, independent missionaries to Oregon, as
sisted them a short time. In May, 1839, the first printing done on
the Pacific Coast was done at his station on a press donated by the
mission of the American Board at the Sandwich Islands, and brought
to this station by E. O. Hall, a practical printer, who made the jour
ney from the Islands to teach others the art, and for the benefit of
his wife's health. It remained there for several years, and a number
of pamphlets and booklets in the Nez Perces and Spokane languages
were printed on it.
Among those who visited his mission were Lieut. R. E. Johnson
and Mr. Stearns, of Commodore Wilkes' Exploring Expedition, in
1841; Archibald McKinley, of the Hudson Bay Company; and Rev. E.
Walker, in 1842; Dr. W. White, sub-Indian agent, in 1842 and 1843,
and others, all of whom bore their testimony in regard to the excel
lence of the work done there, and its results.
After the massacre of Dr. Whitman and others in November,
1847, it was necessary to abandon the mission, not because the Nez
Perces Indians at the station were unfriendly, but because fhe mis
sion workers could not be protected from the hostile Cayuses. Mr.
Spalding was absent from home at the time of the massacre, on the
way from Umatilla to Dr. Whitman's station, but he managed, after
great suffering, to reach home, traveling chiefly by night for a week
on foot. He found Mrs. Spalding and children safe, under the pro
tection of friendly Nez Perces. When the opportunity was offered
of a safe journey to the Willamette, under the protection of Chief
Factor Ogden, from Fort Walla Walla, friendly Nez Perces guarded
him, his family, except his daughter Eliza, who was among the cap
tives, and six other men, and conducted them to that fort.
For nearly fifteen years Mr. Spalding waited to return to his be
loved work, in the meantime doing what other work he could. He
was pastor of a small church at Calapooya, where his home was, when
in the Willamette, Indian agent and postmaster. He also preached
at several places. In 1859 he returned East of the mountains, after
the treaty with the Nez Perces had been made, the Yakima War, and
Col. Wright's campaign finished and peace restored. It was not till
1862, however, that he was allowed to resume work on the reserva
tion. For a short time he was successful, being received by the In
dians gladly, but some government employes were unwilling that he
should remain, so that for nine years he was there only a small part
of the time. In 1871 President Grant adopted what was called the
Peace Policy among the Indians. After going East in 1870, Mr.
Spalding returned with authority from the government to resume his
missionary work on the reservation. From 1871 to 1874 he spent in

Appendix B 319
this work, the joy of his life, for during that time he baptized 694
Nez Perces and 253 Spokanes.
Mrs. Spalding died at Calapooya, January 7, 1851. In May, 1853,
he was again married to Miss Rachel I. Smith, a sister of Mrs. J. S.
Griffin, who was born in Boston, Mass., January 31, 1808, and came
to Oregon in 1852. Mr. Spalding died at Lapwai, Idaho, August 3,
1874, aged nearly 71. His second wife died at Hillsboro, Oregon,
April 28, 1880, aged seventy-two.
Mr. Spalding was quite a writer, more so than any other member
of the Oregon Mission. Hk publications in the main were articles
in the Missionary Herald about the missionary work, 1836 to 1848;
articles in the Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist, about the
Whitman massacre, 1848; series of articles about the missionary work
and its results, in the San Francisco Pacific, in 1864; the Walla Walla
Statesman, 1866-7, and the Albany States Rights Democrat, 1866-7;
and a pamphlet of 82 pages on the same subject, published by author
ity of Congress in 1871, as Executive Document No. 37, 41st Congress,
in reply to an attack made on the missionaries in a pamphlet written
by Bishop Brouillet, which had been published by authority of Con
gress in J. Ross Browne's report on Indian affairs. He also pub
lished between 1839 and 1845 three small booklets in the Nez; Perces
language, of 8, 20 and 52 pages, a hymn book of 32 pages, and a trans
lation of Matthew of 81 pages. The latter was revised and published
by the American Bible Society as a 12-mo. volume of 130 pages.
Fuller sketches of the life of Mr. Spalding by the author have
been published, one of sixteen octavo pages, in the Transactions of the
Oregon Pioneer Association for 1897, and the other of fifty-seven
pages in the Whitman College Quarterly for December, 1898, and
March, June and October, 1900.

APPENDIX C.
William H. Gray.
He was born in Fairfield, N. Y., September 8, 1810. His father
died when he was quite young, and he was brought up by his eldest
brother, a Presbyterian clergyman. He first learned the cabinet
maker's trade and became foreman of it; next studied medicine, and
was then converted. Soon after his attention was turned to mis
sions. What induced him to go to Oregon is not absolutely known,
but it is believed that it was through the addresses on the subject by
Rev. S. Parker in 1834-5. At any rate he was asked by the American
Board to go to Oregon as a mechanic during the winter of 1835-6,
and assented, joining Dr. Whitman at Liberty, having preceded the
mission party to that place. After their arrival in Oregon, and the
stations had been selected, Mr. Gray spent some time at both the
stations of Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding, assisting in building their
houses. Then he went to Vancouver to procure supplies, so that he
could return East for more laborers. He went back by a northern
route, by the Coeur d'Alene Lake, Clark's Fork of the Columbia, to
near where Helena now stands, and then to Fort Laramie. At Ash
Hollow, near the latter place, he and his party were attacked by 300
Sioux. His five Indian companions were killed, two horses were
killed under him, and two bullets passed through his hat, cutting off
some of his hair. Peace was, however, made by the help of a French
man, and he was allowed to pass on. During his tour to Oregon
and return by different routes, he visited many tribes, and so pressed
upon the Board the sending out of several more missionaries.
Accordingly, Reverends A. B. Smith, E. Walker, and C. Eells,
with their wives, also Mr. Cornelius Rogers, were sent to Oregon in
1838. Mr. Gray was married to Miss Mary A. Dix, at Ithaca, N. Y.,
February 27, 1838, and conducted the party across under the pro
tection of Fur Companies. They reached Dr. Whitman's station dur
ing the latter part of August. Mr. and Mrs. Gray spent the first
winter at Mr. Spalding's and the rest of the time until July, 1842, at
that place, Dr. Whitman's, and in exploring the country. Then he
resigned his connection with the mission and moved to the Willamette,
where he became General Superintendent and Secular Agent of the
Oregon Institute, which has since grown into the Willamette Univer
sity, under the Methodist Episcopal Church. About this time he
was very influential in having the Provisional Government of Ore-

Appendix C 321
gon formed. He was also a member of the first Legislature of Ore
gon, and in 1845 he was elected to the same position from Clackamas
County. In those first sessions he was an earnest worker. From
3 842 to 1844, he lived at Salem; in 1844 he moved to Oregon City;
in 1846 to a farm on the Clatsop plains, where he remained until 1855
when he moved to Astoria. Soon after he went to Fort Hope in
British Columbia, where he engaged in steamboating. In 1860-1 he
moved to Okanogan, where he continued freighting, but in 1874 he
returned to Astoria, between which place and his Clatsop farm he
spent the rest of his life.
In 1864 he began writing his History of Oregon, which was pub
lished in 1870, an octavo volume of 684 pages. He also published an
annual address before the Pioneer and Historical Society of Oregon,
8 octavo pages, two pamphlets of 32 and 35 pages on the Moral and
Religious Aspects of the Indian Question, and in connection with Hon.
E. C. Ross and Rev. M. Eells, a pamphlet on the Whitman Contro
versy, Mr. Gray's part being twenty-one pages. He also worked
earnestly to secure means to erect a monument to Dr. Whitman, be
ginning with 1874, and although he did not live to see it erected, yet
he secured considerable money for the purpose.
In 1870 Mr. and Mrs. Gray made a trip East, after an absence of
thirty-two years, going by steamer to San Francisco and then by
railroad. In 1883 he made his third trip East with an excursion of
Oregon Pioneers on the completion of the North Pacific Railroad.
In 1888 he was present at Walla Walla, at the celebration of the
fiftieth anniversary of the First Presbyterian Church on the Pacific
Coast, the only one present of the fifteen who united with it in 1838.
Mrs. Gray died at her home at Clatsop, December 8, 1881, aged
nearly seventy-two years. She was a lovely woman. Mr. Gray died
at the home of his son-in-law, Jacob Kamm, at Portland, Oregon,
November 4, 1889, aged seventy-nine years. They left seven children:
Captain J. H. D. Gray, of Astoria; Mrs. Caroline Kamm, of Port
land; Mrs. Mary S. Tarbell, Mrs. Sarah F. Abernethy, of Palatine
Hill, Portland; Captain William P. Gray, of Pasco; Captain Albert
W. Gray, of Ellensburg; and Captain James T. Gray, of Vancouver;
also thirty-two grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Quite an
extended account of the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Gray, by the author,
was published in the Walla Walla Union for May 10 and 17, 1890.

APPENDIX D.
Rev. Asa Bowen Smith.1
Mr. Smith was born in Williamstown, Mass., July 16th, 1809, and
was the son of Asa Smith, one of the first settlers of that town. He
entered the Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1831, and during this
first year in college was converted and became a member of the Con
gregational Church. His inquiry then was : "Lord, what wilt thou
have me to do?" This naturally led him into the ministry, and to
offer himself as a missionary to the American Board of Commission
ers for Foreign Missions.
Having graduated in 1834, he spent two years at the Theological
Seminary at Andover, Mass., and one at New Haven, Conn., where
he finished his course in 1837, after which he was ordained at his
home Nov. 1st of the same year.
Mrs. Smith (Sarah Gilbert White) was born at West Brookfield,
Mass., Sept. 14, 1813, and was the daughter of Deacon Alfred White,
a descendant of Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower
after its arrival on the New England Coast.
They were married March 15th, 1838, soon after which they started
overland for Oregon. After his arrival, as stated in the body of this
work, he was stationed at Kamiah. Mr. Rogers was with him part
of the time, but generally he and Mrs. Smith were alone with the
Indians. In a letter dated Aug. 27, 1839, in the Missionary Herald, Mr.
Smith wrote:
"On arriving here I built a house of cedar to answer our purpose
for the summer, and without a chair or a table, commenced my
studies. Our house was made by grooving posts and setting them
in the ground, and filling the sides with split cedar. The roof was
made of dirt. Our floor is the ground; our windows are cracks be
tween the timbers; our door is made of cedar split with an ax. At
my leisure I have made some stools to sit on and a table by splitting
a log and putting legs into it. Such is the table on which I am now
writing; and I assure you, notwithstanding all these inconveniences,
I enjoy myself as well in studying here as I did in the nicely fur
nished rooms at Andover."
Mr. Smith was a good student, and he set himself earnestly to
1 Condensed and revised from an article by the author in the Seattle Poat-
Intelligencer for March 25, 1888.

Appendix D 323
the study of the language, and he was so successful that during the
winter of 1839-40 Dr. Whitman employed Smith and Rogers to write
a book in the Nez Perces language for printing, which the mission
had assigned to him as being better qualified for the task, although
Dr. Whitman had then been in the country more than twice as long
as Mr. Smith.
After the arrival of the printing press in 1839 from the Sandwich
Islands, he was appointed by the mission to prepare a small book
from the New Testament, and to assist in the preparation of a hymn
book. Before he left the country, in, 1841, he and Mr. Rogers had,
with the aid of their teacher, Lawyer, completed a vocabulary and a
grammar of the language.
In the spring of 1841 Mr. Smith, however, found that his own
health was considerably impaired, while that of his wife was alarm
ingly so, and hence they felt that it was best for them to leave the
place. She was so unwell that the only way he could move her was
in a canoe down the river.
They left Kamiah April 19, 1841, and went to Fort Walla Walla,
where they remained two weeks, when they proceeded to Vancouver,
and at that place Mrs. Smith was under the care of the company's
physician for several months; but the climate did not agree with her,
and it was believed that she could not regain her health in Oregon.
Consequently they embarked for the Sandwich Islands, where they
arrived January 25, 1842. Under that mild and genial climate the health
of both so far recovered in two months that they requested the Ameri
can Board to allow them to stay there and enter on missionary work
in connection with their mission at those islands. This they were
authorized to do. They went to the station of Waialua, on the island
of Oahu, where they remained until 1845, when Mr. Smith's health
failed, and they returned to the United States by way of China.
During 1847 Mr. Smith supplied the church at South Amherst,
Mass. In March, 1848, he was installed pastor of the church at
Buckland, where he remained until August, 1859. While here his
wife died of consumption, in May, 1855, at the age of 41. Her life
was one of usefulness, and it may be said of her, "She hath done
what she could." In June, 1856, Mr. Smith was again married to
Miss Harriet E. Nutting, of Amherst, Mass. From January, 1860,
until May, 1871, he supplied the church at Southbury, Conn.
Although unable to live in foreign countries with his missionary
spirit, he at one time offered himself to the American Home Mis
sionary Society, and was appointed to work in Minnesota, but his
wife's health would not even permit this.
After his resignation at Southbury, feeling that he was too old
to take a settled pastorate, he moved to Rocky Bar, Conn., where
he made his home until 1883, when he went on a visit to some rela
tives at Sherwood, Tennessee. Here was a colony of Yankees, who

324 Appendix D
had come by way of Minnesota, Lieutenant-Governor Sherwood, of
Minnesota, having here purchased some 13,000 acres for a land com
pany. Mr. Smith labored acceptably among this people, when he
returned to Connecticut. In the fall, however, the people of that
place invited him to return, preach to them and organize a Congre
gational Church. He did so, the church having been organized in
January, 1884, which numbered 23 members before his death. Here
he found a genial, sunny home until his death, February 10, 1886.
Thus during a long life he labored in the East, West, North and
South, in the United States, and out of it, among Indians, Sandwich
Islanders, and whites, and still brought forth fruit in old age.
A sketch of his life and of those of his two wives was published
by Rev. A. C. Hodges in 1889 in a pamphlet of twenty-seven pages.

APPENDIX E.
Rev. E. Walker.1
Rev. Elkanah Walker was born at North Yarmouth, Maine, Aug.
7, 1805. He was the son of a farmer and was brought up at his native
place. He was not converted until about twenty-six years of age,
soon after which he began to study for the ministry. He took an
academic course, but did not go to college, a fact which he afterwards
regretted. He entered Bangor Theological Seminary (Maine) in
1834, and graduated in 1837. Having given himself to the work of
foreign missions, he was appointed by the American Board with Rev.
C. Eells, to South Africa; but a fierce war betwen the African chiefs
there detained them. In the meantime, the call from Oregon be
came so urgent that with their consent, their destination was changed
to the Pacific Coast. He was ordained as a Congregational minister
at Brewer, Maine, in February, 1838, and was married March 5, 1838,
to Miss Mary Richardson. She was born at Baldwin, Maine, April
1, 1811, and before her engagement to Mr. Walker was appointed as
a missionary by the Board to Siam; but after that event, her destina
tion was changed first to Africa and then to Oregon.
The next day after their marriage they started across the conti
nent on their bridal tour, in company with the others of the missionary
party of 1838, making the journey horseback from Missouri to Dr.
Whitman's. During the ten years he spent in the Indian work, he studied the
Spokane language quite thoroughly, learning its scientific, grammati
cal construction, more thoroughly than Mr. Eells. He prepared a
small booklet in that language, which was printed on the mission
press at Lapwai in 1841, and may properly be called the pioneer book
writer of the State of Washington.
After the Whitman massacre in November, 1847, they remained
at their station until the following March, when they went to Fort
Colville for safety, where they enjoyed the protection of Chief Factor
Lewis, until June, when they were escorted to the Willamette by the
Oregon Volunteers.
Mr. Walker lived at Oregon City from June, 1848, until 1850, when
he moved to Forest Grove, Oregon, which was his home ever after
ward. While at Oregon City he made a tour with Dr. A. G. Dart,
•Revised from a sketch by the author in the History of the Pacific North
west, vol. 2, p. 619.

326 Appendix E
Indian Agent, through some of the country east of the Cascade Moun
tains, but decided that it was not his duty to return there to live,
largely on account of his children, although the Spokane Indians had
remained friendly, and earnestly wished him to return. He also in
July, 1848, with four other brethren, organized the Congregational
Association of Oregon.
From 1852 to 1856 he was pastor of a Presbyterian Church at For
est Grove, and from 1856 to 1875, with the exception of about three
and a half years, was pastor or joint-pastor of the Congregational
Church at that place, being assisted at times by S. H. Marsh, D.D.,
T. Condon, H. Lyman and C. Eells. During this time the church
building was erected with great effort at a cost of over seven thousand
dollars, of which he gave one thousand, and eighty-two were added to
the church, fifty of them on profession of faith.
In 1848 he aided in establishing Tualatin Academy, which in 1854
grew into Pacific University, of which he was a trustee from 1866
until his death, and to which he gave a thousand dollars. In 1870,
with his wife, he returned to Maine on a visit, a trip which they
greatly enjoyed.
He died at his home November 21, 1877, and his wife died at the
same place, December 4, 1897. They had eight children, Cyrus H.,
Abigail B. (Karr), Marcus W., J. Elkanah, Jeremiah, John R., Levi
C, and Samuel T. Of these, Cyrus H., is the oldest American white
boy born in the then Oregon; Rev. J. Elkanah has been a missionary
in China since 1872; Cyrus H., Marcus W., John R., Levi C, and
Samuel T. have been more or less engaged as their parents were in
Christian work among the Indians.

APPENDIX F.
Rev. Cushing Eells, D. D.1
Mr. Eells was born at Blandford, Massachusetts, February 16, 1810,
and was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Warner) Eells. He was
descended from Samuel Eells, a major in Cromwell's army, who came
to Massachusetts in 1661. He was brought up at Blandford, became a
Christian when fifteen years old, was educated at Monson Academy
and Williams College in his native state, graduating from college in
1834, and three years later he graduated from East Windsor (now
Hartford) Theological Seminary, Connecticut. He was ordained at
Blandford, October 25, 1837, as a Congregational minister.
He was married March 5, 1838, to Miss Myra Fairbanks, who was
born at Holden, Mass., May 26, 1805. She was the daughter of
Deacon Joshua and Mrs. Sally Fairbanks, their first ancestor in
America, Jonathan Fairbanks, arriving in Massachusetts in 1633. She
made a profession of religion when thirteen years old. Like Mr. and
Mrs. Walker, they were first appointed missionaries to South Africa,
but their field was afterwards changed to Oregon, where they arrived
in August, 1838. With Mr. Walker's family, as stated in the sketch
of his life, after the Whitman massacre, they moved to the Will
amette Valley in 1848. Both Mr. and Mrs. Eells taught school in
the Oregon Institute (now Willamette University) during the winter
of 1848-9, when they moved to Forest Grove, where they taught in
Tualatin Academy. In 1851 they moved to Hillsboro, where Mr. Eells
taught and preached until 1857, when he returned to Forest Grove
as Principal of the Academy. In 1860 he went to Walla Walla,
moving his family there two years later, and settled on the Whitman
mission claim. He then established Whitman Seminary (now Whit
man College), whose first sessions began in 1866. In it he taught
about two years and a half, was President of its Board of Trustees
from the granting of its charter in 1859 until his death, spent about a
year in the East in its behalf, as financial agent, in 1883-4, securing
for it about twelve thousand dollars — his only trip East — and gave
to it nearly ten thousand dollars.
In 1872, his house having been burned, he moved to Skokomish,
Washington, on Puget Sound, but after 1874, spent most of his time
1 Condensed from a sketch by the author in the History of the Pacific North
west, vol. 2, p. 315.

328 Appendix F
until 1888 in Eastern Washington in ministerial work, except when he
was in the Eastern States. During these years he was the means
of organizing the Congregational Church at Skokomish in 1874, of
which he was pastor for nearly two years; at Colfax, in 1877, of
which he was pastor four years; at Chewelah, in 1879, where he was
pastor nine years; at Cheney, in 1881, pastor three years; at Sprague,
in 1882, pastor two years; and at Medical Lake, in 1883, being its
pastor five years. Besides what he gave to Whitman College, he
and his wife gave to sixteen Congregational Churches of Oregon and
Washington, over nine thousand dollars, and to various other benevo
lent objects, fifty-five hundred.
He received the degree of D. D. from Pacific University in 1883,
and was elected Assistant Moderator of. the National Congregational
Council at Concord, New Hampshire, the same year.
Mrs. Eells died at Skokomish, August 9, 1878. Dr. Eells moved
from Medical Lake to Tacoma in 1888, where he died on his eighty-
third birthday, February 16, 1893. They left two sons, Hon. Edwin
Eells, United States Indian Agent on Puget Sound from 1871 to 1895,
and Rev. M. Eells, missionary among the Indians of the Sound since
1874. Their biography by the author was published in 1894, a 12-mo.
volume of 342 pages.

APPENDIX G.
Cornelius Rogers.
Very little is known of Mr. Rogers' early life. In fact, after his
death it was with some difficulty that the executors of his estate found
that he came from Utica, New York, where his heirs were living.
He was born September 24, 1815, was educated at Oswego, N. Y.,
and when he joined the mission church did so by a letter from a
Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He joined the missionary
party of 1838 at Cincinnati, though not under appointment as mis
sionary by the Board, and was with them until they arrived at Walla
Walla. At first he was hired by the missionaries, but in 1840 re
ceived an appointment by the Board as an assistant missionary.
During the winter of 1838-9 he taught school at Lapwai, and a part
of 1839 he spent with the Nez Perces Indians on their summer tour,
so that he might learn the language, more perfectly and teach them
when they were absent from the missionary station. In March, 1840,
he made a trip to the Willamette, returning in July. In August he
went to Vancouver and Nisqually, returning in November. The next
winter he spent at Lapwai and Kamiah, and then went to Dr. Whit
man's as teacher and printer. He was an apt scholar, and learned
the Nez Perces language well. When the printing press arrived in
1839, Dr. Whitman was appointed to write a book, but being very
busy, he employed Messrs. Roger sand Smith to do it, as they were
better qualified for the work than himself, although he had then been
in the country more than three years, two years longer than they had
been. When printed in 1840 it made a fine addition to their means of
instructing the Indians. It contained fifty-two pages and eight hun
dred copies of it were printed.
In 1841 he resigned his connection with the mission and went to
the Willamette, where he was employed for a time by Commodore
Wilkes as interpreter, because of his knowledge of the Indian lan
guages. About the first of September he was married to Miss Satira
Leslie, eldest daughter of Rev. D. Leslie, of the Methodist Mission.
Dr. Whitman wished him to return and take charge of his station
during the winter of 1842-3 when he went East, but Mr. Rogers had
other engagements which prevented it. He, however, accompanied
Dr. White as agent on his trip among the Indians east of the Cascade
Mountains late in 1842.
February 1, 1843, he with his wife, her sister, N. Crocker, and two

330 Appendix G
Indians were accidentally carried over the Willamette Falls at Oregon
City, thirty-eight feet, in a canoe, and drowned.
Rev. G. Hines says of him in his History of Oregon: "He was
justly regarded as one of the most useful men in the country. . .
If by some awful convulsion of nature the whole city of New York
were to be submerged beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, the
shock to the state could not be greater than was felt in the colony of
Oregon when the mission canoe, with its precious cargo, went over
the Falls. This awful dispensation wrapped the whole country in
gloom." Says Dr. White: "The shock was dreadful to the infant
community, Mr. Rogers being more important to me than anyone in
the country; nor was there a more respectable or useful man west of
the Rocky Mountains." Mrs. Whitman wrote: "This is a very af
flictive providence to all in the country, especially to all who knew his
worth as a teacher among the Indians and as a linguist; but the Lord
has done it and we would acquiesce. As an individual, I feel as if I
had lost a friend — a brother."

APPENDIX H.
Edwin Oscar Hall.1
Though Hr. Hall was not connected with the Oregon Mission, yet
he enjoys the distinction of being the first printer on the Pacific Coast.
He was born in Walpole, New Hampshire, October 21, 1810, made a
public profession of his faith as a Christian in January, 1834, soon
after offered himself to the American Board, and 'was sent to the
Sandwich Islands with his wife, Sarah Lynn Williams, who was born
at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, October 27, 1812. Having been a
practical printer of New York City, he was commissioned as secular
agent and printer. For fifteen years he had charge of the mission
press there, translating and printing bibles, hymn books, school, col
lege, and theological books into the Hawaiian language. On account
of the poor health of Mrs. Hall, it was thought best that he and
his wife should accompany the printing press to Oregon, so that he
might teach the art of printing, while at the same time it was hoped
that the change in the climate would benefit her. Hence, in 1839
they came to Oregon and returned the next year.
In 1850 the work at the Sandwich Islands had advanced so far
that the Missionary Board thought it best to transfer its responsi
bility to the native churches. Many of the missionaries were then
released, Mr. Hall among the rest. He then entered the mercantile
business in Honolulu, and for thirty years was a successful merchant
there. His business was conducted on Christian principles, and from
first to last the house of E. O. Hall and Son was never smirched with
a stain of dishonor. He was one whom the people ever respected as
a Christian business man. He was a charter member of the Fort
Street Church, Honolulu, was a deacon and trustee, after 1862, was
always at prayer meeting, church, and with his Sabbath School class
when at home; was a leading member of the Hawaiian Board of
Missions, financial agent and treasurer of the American Board at the
Islands, a faithful trustee of Oahu College, after 1862, was an active
member of the Government Board of Education, was Counsellor and
Minister of the Interior under King Lunalilo, continuing as a mem
ber of the Privy Council under King Kalakana, and one of the first
three trustees of the Lunalilo Home, to which the king, by will, left
large gifts.
1 Revised from an article by the author in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov.
8, 1883.

332 Appendix H
Firm principles, sound judgment, affable manners, pure in motive,
he made a valuable citizen, a true friend, a noble helper, and was a
noble example to the brotherhood of printers on the Pacific Coast,
to whom they can point with pardonable pride as their first prede
cessor. His wife, who was benefitted by her trip to the Pacific Coast,
died in 1866. His second wife, a daughter of Rev. C. Dame, of Fal
mouth, Maine, survived him. He died at Falmouth, Maine, September
19, 1883. His remains were embalmed and taken to Honolulu for
burial. His last intelligible word was "Jesus."

APPENDIX I.
Mr. Andrew Rodgers.
He was born in Rockbridge County, Va., in 1818 or 1819. When
four or five years old his parents moved to Monroe County, Mo.,
where he lived until 1836. Then being about eighteen years old, he
went to a farm about six miles from Monmouth, in Warren County,
111., where he remained, when not in school, until he started for Ore
gon, in 1845.
A cousin of his was Governor of Virginia during the war, and an
uncle, a man of considerable natural ability, was a member of the
Legislature when only 24 years old.
When Andrew was 18 years old he united with the Associate
Presbyterian Church, and he remained in the communion of that
church about seven years. His views about singing hymns and
communing with other Christians having changed, after consultation,
it was decided that he could not remain a worthy member of that
church. He was also led to believe that the Congregational form of
church government was more Scriptural than any other; so that,
when he arrived in Oregon, he was glad to meet with the New School
Presbyterians and Congregationalists, who were connected with the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He had
made attempts to study before he came to Oregon, though it is not
certain whether or not he intended to enter the ministry. First he
studied with his pastor, then with a Presbyterian minister at Macomb,
111., and then at Illinois College, when Dr. Edward Beecher was its
president, and afterward at home. But his means were limited, and
his health was not good. He hoped that by coming to this coast his
health would be improved; so in 1845, with a brother, he started for
Oregon, in the hope of returning home in a year or two with re
gained health.
When he reached The Dalles he met Dr. Whitman, who was there
looking among the immigrants for a teacher for his station. Mr.
Rodgers engaged to go, and hence returned as far as the Doctor's
station on the Walla Walla River, where he spent the winter teach
ing school.
In a letter, dated Oct. 25, 1845, he described the whole country from
Missouri to Walla Walla, and especially the Walla Walla Valley. He
spoke of its climate, products, capabilities, adaptation to sheep rais
ing, the best route across the plains, and the outfit needed. In general
his opinion was very correct, as seen in the light of later days.
After having wintered at the station, he describes Doctor and
Mrs. Whitman as follows:

334 Appendix I
"I think Mrs. Whitman is one of the best women in the world.
She has a family of eleven children (and also one of Mr. Walker's
during the winter), and, strange to say, not one of them is her own.
(In a later letter he calls her 'my mother'). I can hardly tell you
what kind of a man the Doctor is, for he is so much of an all-sorts-
of-a-man, yet a very kind, generous, persevering man. I suppose,
as to taking the lead in missionary affairs, he takes the lead. Of the
difficulties and trials of a missionary life, few of us in the States have
any definite idea. Indeed, no one can well do so until he has been
among them for some time. Those things that are regarded as
trials at home (leaving home and friends) are not considered such at
all when they get here. They have doubtless done much good here,
but it respects temporal affairs more than spiritual. Not that they
have not labored as much for the later as the former — much more.
But the natural heart is always and in every place averse to religion,
both in savage and civilized countries — Indians or white men."
Evidently Mr. Rodgers before this had thoughts of entering the
ministry, but his want of good health and opportunity had been such
that his plans had not taken definite shape. After spending the
winter of 1845-6 at Dr. Whitman's, these plans became settled, and
he determined to pursue his studies with this end in view, and also
do what he could for the Indians. Acordingly, in the spring he vis
ited Tshimakain, near the Spokane River, 150 miles north, to arrange
for a course of study under Rev. E. Walker. In a letter dated at
this place, April 22, 1846, he says: "I am so far from where anybody
lives that it is almost impossible to tell you where I am. When I left
home I had no thought of being where I am now, and thought less
of being here for the purpose for which I am come to pursue my
studies." During the next summer he made a journey to the Willamette
Valley with Mr. Spalding with a pack train. In a letter written
about this time, he says:
"I can assure you I do not expect to take another trip to the
Willamette, with thirty or forty horses and a good many packs, for
the pleasure of it. It was such a task as I do not wish to undertake
again very soon, on pretty good pay. However, it is all over, and I
will not feel any worse for it perhaps a hundred years hence."
He visited Oregon City, went down the river to Vancouver, out to
the Tualatin Plains with his brother, and then up the Willamette Val
ley to Salem. After his return he began the study of his new He
brew grammar, and devoted two pages of letter paper, finely written,
to Mr. Walker about the Hebrew vowels, which showed that he was
a close student.
Under date of Dec. 4, 1846, he wrote that he had just heard defi
nitely about the treaty between England and the United States which
settled the Oregon boundary, and he did not like it, as he thought the
49th parallel ought to have been continued through Vancouver Island

Appendix I 335
to the Pacific as the boundary line. Again, March 19, 1847, in a letter
to Mrs. Walker, he spoke of the severe winter through which they
had just passed. They had no flour or meal for six weeks, because
the mill had broken down, but had boiled wheat, corn, potatoes, beef
and onions. A score or more of people had thus lived. He adds:
"But are there not encouragements? What bright crowns yours
will be if you are faithful! Five or six or ten stars in your eternal
crown is no small reward. I am not one of those who feel that it is
not proper to hold out such things as a reward of fidelity. The Scrip
tures hold forth such inducements in abundance."
To his brother Samuel 13 years old, he wrote from Dr. Whitman's
station, May 9, 1847 :
"Tomorrow I may start over to the Umatilla, where I intend to
spend some time in learning the language of these people, among
whom I have made up my mind to stay, perhaps for a lifetime. It
is not at all improbable that I may go this summer along with the
Indians after buffalo, some seven or eight hundred miles. It is thought
this will be the best method of acquiring the language, which is the
first object to be attained. I suppose that it appears very strange to
you to think that I should think of living here all my life among a
wild and uncivilized people. But they do not appear to me half so
strange and uncouth as I once thought. Nor do I find it so unpleas
ant and lonesome as you would suppose. When I meet them they
appear to be almost like brothers, so heartily do they welcome me.
. . . If, by denying myself the enjoyments of this world, I may be
the means of instructing any of these benighted heathen in the knowl
edge of the way of salvation, I hope I may be satisfied."
After this there follows good Christian advice to his brother about
true happiness, both in this world and the next; and another letter,
written the next day to his brother Calvin, 11 years of age, speaks
largely of the same subject. Thus he labored on until the fall, when
he was at Dr. Whitman's at the time of the massacre. The account
of his death has been given in the chapter on the massacre.
His brother, A. T. Rodgers, then in the Willamette, joined the
volunteers who went to punish the murderers, and was a. lieutenant
during this war. He afterward died in Idaho.1
1 Revised from an article by the author in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
Aug. 4, 1886.

APPENDIX J.
Letter and Synopsis of Bill by Marcus Whitman.
In 1891, through the efforts of Dr. S. J. Parker, of Ithica, N. Y.,
the following letter and bill were found at Washington:
"To the Hon. James M. Porter, "Secretary of War. . Sir: —
"In compliance with the request you did me the honor to make
last winter while at Washington, I herewith transmit to you the syn
opsis of a bill which, if it could be adopted, would, according to my
experience and observation, prove highly conducive to the best inter
ests of the United States generally; to Oregon, where I have resided
more than seven years as a missionary; and to the Indian tribes that
inhabit the intermediate country.
"The government will now, doubtless, for the first time, be ap
prised, through you, and by means of this communication, of the im
mense migration of families to Oregon, which has taken place this
year. I have, since our interview, been instrumental in piloting across
the route described in the accompanying bill, and which is the only
eligible wagon road, no less than (200) families, consisting of one
thousand persons of both sexes, with their wagons, amounting in all
to more than one hundred and twenty, six hundred and ninety-four
oxen, and seven hundred and seventy-three loose cattle.
"The emigrants are from different states, but principally from
Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and New York. The majority of them
are farmers, lured by the prospect of bounty in lands, by the reported
fertility of the soil, and by the desire to be first among those who
are planting our institutions on the Pacific Coast. Among them are
artisans of every trade, comprising with farmers, the very best mate
rial for a new colony. As pioneers these people have undergone in
credible hardships, and having now safely passed the Blue Mountain
range, with their wagons and effects, have established a durable road
from Missouri to Oregon, which will serve to mark permanently the
route for larger numbers each succeeding year, while they have prac
tically demonstrated that wagons, drawn by horses or oxen, can cross
the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia river, contrary to all the sin
ister assertions of all those iwho pretend it to be impossible.
"In their slow progress these persons have encountered, as in all
former instances and as all succeeding emigrants must, if this or

Appendix J 337
some similar bill be not passed by Congress, the continual fear of
Indian aggression, the actual loss, through them, of horses, cattle,
and other property, and the great labor of transporting an adequate
amount of provisions for so long a journey. The bill herewith pro
posed would, in a great measure, lessen these inconveniences by the
establishment of posts, which, while (having) the possesed power to
keep the Indians in check, thus doing away with the necessity of mil
itary vigilance on the part of the traveller by day and by night, would
be able to furnish them in transit with fresh supplies of provisions,
diminishing the original burdens of the emigrants, and finding them
a ready and profitable market that would, in my opinion, more than
suffice to defray all the current expenses of such posts. The present
party is supposed to have expended no less than $2,000.00 at Lara
mie's and Bridger's forts, and as much more at Fort Hall and Fort
Boise, two of the Hudson Bay Company's stations. These are at
present the only stopping places in a journey of 2,200 miles, and the
only places where additional supplies can be obtained, even at the
enormous rate of charge, called mountain prices: i. e., $50 the hun
dred for flour, and $50 the hundred for coffee, the same for sugar,
powder, etc.
"Many cases of sickness and some deaths took place among those
who accomplished the journey this season, owing in a great measure
to the uninterrupted use of meat, salt and fresh, with flour, which
constitutes the chief articles of food they are able to convey on their
wagons, and this could be obviated by the vegetable productions
which the posts in contemplation could very profitably afford them.
Those who rely on hunting as an auxiliary support are at present
unable to have their arms repaired when out of order; horses and
oxen become tender footed and require to be shod on this long jour
ney, sometimes repeatedly, and the wagons repaired in a variety of
ways. I mention these as valuable incidents to the proposed measure,
as it will also be found to tend in many other incidental ways to ben
efit the migratory population of the United States, choosing to take
this direction, and on these accounts, as well as for the immediate
use of the posts themselves, they ought to be provided with the nec
essary shops and mechanics, which would, at the same time, exhibit
the several branches of civilized art to the Indians.
"The outlay in the first instance would be but trifling. Forts like
those of the Hudson Bay Company, surrounded by walls enclosing
all the buildings, and constructed almost entirely of adobe, or sun-
dried bricks, with stone foundations only, can be easily and cheaply
erected. "There are very eligible places for as many of these, as (the) gov
ernment will find necessary, at suitable distances, not further than
one or two hundred miles apart, at the main crossing of the principal
streams that now form impediments to the journey, and consequently
well supplied with water, having alluvial bottoms of a rich quality,

338 Appendix J
and generally well wooded. If I might be allowed to suggest the best
sites for such posts, my personal knowledge and observation enable
me to recommend, first, the main crossing of the Kansas river, where
a ferry would be very convenient to the traveller, and profitable to
the station having it in charge; next, and about eight miles distant,
the crossing of the Blue river, where, in times of unusual freshet, a
ferry would be in like manner useful; next, and distant from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty miles from the last mentioned, the
Little Blue, or Republican Fork, of the Kansas; next, and from sixty
to one hundred miles from the last mentioned, the point of intersec
tion of the Platte river; next, and from one hundred to one hundred
and fifty miles distant from the last mentioned crossing of the South
Fork of the Platte river; next, and about one hundred and eighty or
two hundred miles distant from the last mentioned, Horseshoe creek,
which is about forty miles west of Laramie's Fork in the Black Hills.
Here is a fine creek for mills and irrigation, good land for cultivation,
fine pasturage, timber and stone for building. Other locations may
be had along the Platte and Sweetwater, on the Green river, or
Black's Fork of the Bear river, near the Great Soda Springs, near
P'ort Hall, and at suitable places down to the Columbia. These local
ities are all of the best description, so situated as to hold a ready in
tercourse with the Indians in their passage to and from the ordinary
buffalo hunting grounds, and in themselves so well situated in all
other respects as to be desirable to private enterprise if the usual
advantage of trade existed. Any of the farms above indicated would
be deemed extremely valuable in the states.
"The government cannot long overlook the importance of super
intending the savages that endanger this line of travel, and that are
not yet in treaty with it. Some of these are already known to be
led by desperate white men and mongrels, who form bandits in the
most difficult passes, and are at all times ready to cut off some lagging
emigrant in the rear of the party, or some adventurous one, who may
proceed a few miles in advance, or at night to make a descent upon
the sleeping camp, and carry away or kill horses and cattle. This is
the case even now, in the commencement of our western immigra
tion, and when it comes to be more generally known that large quan
tities of valuable property, and considerable sums of money, are
yearly carried over this desolate region, it is to be feared an organ
ized banditti will be instituted. The posts in contemplation would
effectually counteract this. For that purpose they need not, nor
ought not to be military establishments. The trading posts in this
country have never been of such a character, and yet, with very few
men in them, have for years kept the surrounding Indians in the mpst
pacific disposition, so that the traveler feels secure from molestation
upon approaching Fort Laramie, Bridger's Fort, Fort Hall, etc. The
same can be obtained without any considerable expenditure by the
government, while, by investing officers in charge with competent

Appendix J 339
authority, all evil disposed white men, refugees from justice, or dis
charged vagabonds from the trading posts, might be easily removed
from among the Indians and sent to the appropriate states for trial.
The Hudson Bay Company's system of rewards among the savages
would soon enable posts to root out these desperadoes. A direct and
friendly intercourse with all the tribes, even to the Pacific, might be
thus maintained. The government would become more intimately
acquainted with them and they with the government, and instead of
sending to the state courts a manifesly guilty Indian to be arraigned
before a distant tribunal, acquitted for the want of testimony by the
technicalities of lawyers and of laws unknown to them, and sent back
into this wilderness loaded with presents as an inducement to further
crimes, the posts should be enabled to execute summary justice as
li the criminal had already been condemned by his tribe, because
they will be sure to deliver up none but the party whom they know
to be guilty. They will in that way receive the trial of their peers,
and secure within themselves, to all intents and purposes, if not tech
nically, the trial by jury, yet the spirit of that trial. There are many
powers which ought to reside in some person on this extended route
for the convenience and even necessity of the public. In this the
emigrants and the people of Oregon are no more interested than the
resident inhabitants of the states. At present, no person is author
ized to administer an oath or legally attest a fact from the western
line of Missouri to the Pacific. The emigrant cannot dispose of his
property at home, although an opportunity ever so advantageous to
him should occur after he passes the western border of Missouri, and
no one can here make legal demand and protest of a promissory note
or bill of exchange. No one can secure the valuable testimony of a
mountaineer or of an emigrating witness after he has entered this, at
present, lawless country. Causes do exist, and will continually arise,
in which the private rights of citizens are, and will be, seriously
prejudiced by such an utter absence of legal authority. A contraband
trade from Mexico, the introduction from that country of liquors to
be sold among the Indians west of the Kansas river, is already car
ried on with the mountain trappers, and very soon the teas, silks,
nankins, spices, camphor and opium of the East Indies will find their
way, duty free, through Oregon, across the mountains and into the
states, unless custom house officers along this line find an interest in
intercepting them.
"Your familiarity with the government policy, duties and interest,
.•ender it unnecessary for me to more than hint at the several objects
intended by the enclosed bill, and any enlargement upon the topics
here suggested, as inducements to its adoption, would be quite super
fluous, if not impertinent. The very existence of such a system as
the one above recommended suggest the utility of postoffice and
mail arrangements, which it is the wish of all who now live in Oregon
to have granted to them, and I need only add that the contracts for

340 Appendix J
this purpose will be readily taken at reasonable rates for transporting
the mail across from Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia in forty
days, with fresh horses at each of the contemplated posts. The ruling
policy proposed regards the Indians as the police of the country who
are to be relied upon to keep the peace, not only for themselves, but
to expel lawless white men and prevent banditti, under the salutary
guidance of the superintendents of the several posts, aided by a well-
directed system of bounty to induce the punishment of crime. It will
be only after a failure by these means to procure the delivery or pun
ishment of violent, lawless and savage acts of aggression, that a band
or tribe should be regarded as conspirators against the peace, and
punished accordingly by force of arms.
"Hoping that these suggestions may meet your approbation and
conduce to the future interest of our growing colony, I have the
honor to be, "Your obedient servant,
(Signed) "MARCUS WHITMAN."
TITLE OF THE PROPOSED ACT.
A bill to promote safe intercourse with the Territory of Oregon,
to suppress violent acts of aggression on the part of certain Indian
tribes west of the Indian Territory, Neosha, better to protect the
revenue, for the transportation of the mail, and for other purposes.
Synopsis of the Act.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa
tives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled. — That
from and after the passage of this act, there shall be established at
suitable distances and in convenient and proper places, to be selected
by the President, a chain of agricultural posts, or farming stations,
extending at intervals from the present most usual crossing of the
Kansas river west of the western boundary of the State of Missouri,
thence ascending the Platte river on its southern border, thence
through the valley of the Sweetwater to Fort Hall, and thence to the
settlements of the Willamette in the Territory of Oregon, which said
posts shall have for their object, to set examples of civilized industry
to the several Indian tribes, to keep them in proper subjection to the
laws of the United States, to suppress violent and lawless acts along
the said line of frontier, to facilitate the passage of troops and muni
tions of war into and out of the said Territory of Oregon, and the
transportation of the mail as hereinafter provided.
Section 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall reside at
each of the said posts one superintendent, having charge thereof,
with full power to carry into effect the provisions of this act, subject
always to such instruction as the President may impose, one deputy
superintendent to act in like manner in case of the death, removal or
absence of the superintendent, and such other artificiers and laborers,
not exceeding twenty in number, as the said superintendent may deem

Appendix J 341
necessary for the conduct and safety of the said posts, all of whom
shall be subject to his appointment and liable to his removal.
Section 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of
the President to cause to be erected at each of the said posts suitable
buildings for the purposes herein contemplated, to-wit: One main
dwelling house, one store house, one blacksmith and gunsmith shop,
and one carpenter shop, with such and so many other buildings for
storing the products and supplies of the said posts as he may from
time to time deem expedient. To supply the same with all necessary
implements of mechanical art and agricultural labor incident thereto,
and with all such other articles as he may judge requisite and proper
for the safety, defense and comfort thereof. To cause said posts, in
his discretion, to be visited by detachments of troops stationed on
the Western frontiers, to suppress, through the said posts, the sale
of munitions of war to the Indian tribes in case of hostilities, and
annually to lay before Congress at its general session full returns,
verified by the oaths of the said several superintendents, of the several
acts by them performed, and of the conditions of the said posts, with
the income and expenditures growing out of the same respectively.
Section 4. And be it further enacted, That the said superintendents
shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and con
sent of the Senate, for the term of four years, with a salary of $2,000,
payable out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropri
ated. That they shall respectively take an oath before the district
judge of the United States for the Western District of Missouri,
faithfully to discharge the duties imposed on them in and by the pro
visions of this act, and give a bond to the President of the United
States, and to his successor in office and assigns, with sufficient secur
ity, to be approved by the said judge, in at least the penalty of $25,000,
conditioned to indemnify the President, his successors or assigns, for
any unlawful acts by them performed, or injuries committed by virtue
of their office, which said bonds may be at any time assigned for
prosecution against the said respective superintendents and their
sureties, upon application to the said judge at the instance of the
United States district attorney, or of any private party aggrieved.
Section 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of
said superintendents to cause the soil adjacent to the said posts in
extent not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, to be cultivated in
a farmer-like manner, and to produce thereon such articles of culture
as in their judgment shall be deemed the most profitable and available
for the maintenance of the said posts, for the supply of the troops
and other government agents which may from time to time resort
thereto, and to render the products aforesaid adequate to defraying
all expenses of labor in and about the said posts, and the salary of
the said deputy superintendent, without resort to the treasury of the
United States, remitting to the Secretary of the Treasury yearly a

342 Appendix J
sworn statement of the same, with the surplus moneys, if any there be.
Section 6. And be it further enacted, That the said several super
intendents of the posts shall ex-officio be superintendents of Indian
affairs, west of the Indian Territory, Neosha, subordinate to and un
der the full control and supervision of the Commissioner General of
Indian Affairs at Washington. That they shall, by virtue of their
offices, be conservators of the peace, with full powers to the extent
hereinafter prescribed, in all cases of crimes and misdemeanors,
whether committed by citizens of the United States or by Indians
within the frontier line aforesaid. That they shall have power to
administer oath, to be valid in the several courts; to take acknowl
edgment of deeds and other specialties in writing, to take the probate
of wills and testaments executed upon the said frontier, and of which
the testators shall have died in transit between the State of Missouri
and the Territory of Oregon, to do and certify all notarial acts, and
to perform the ceremony of marriage with as legal effect as if the
several acts above enumerated had been performed by the magis
trates of any of the states having power to perform the same. That
they shall have the power to arrest and remove from the line afore
said all disorderly white persons and all persons, inciting the Indians
to hostilities, and to surrender up all fugitives from justice, upon the
requisition of the Governor of any of the states; that they shall have
power to demand of any of the several tribes within the said frontier
line the surrender of any Indian or Indians committing acts in con
travention of the laws of the United States, and in case of such sur
render to inflict punishment thereon, according to the tenor and
effect of the said laws without further trial, presuming such offending
Indian or Indians to have received the trial and condemnation of the
tribe to which he or they belong; to intercept and seize all arti
cles of contraband trade, whether introduced into their jurisdiction in
violation of the acts, imposing duties on imports or of the acts to
regulate trade and intercourse with the several Indian tribes, to trans
mit the same to the marshal of the Western District of Missouri, to
gether with the proofs necessary for the confiscation thereof, and in
every such case the superintendents shall be entitled to and receive
one-half of the sale value of the said confiscated articles, and the
other half be disposed of as in like cases arising under the existing
revenue laws.
Section 7. And be it further enacted, That the several superin
tendents shall be entitled, in addition to the salary hereinbefore grant
ed, to the following prequisites and fees of office, to-wit: For the
acknowledgement of all deeds and other written specialties, the sum
of one dollar; for the administration of all oaths, twenty-five cents;
for the authentication of all written instruments, one dollar; for the
perpetuation of all testimony to be used in the United States courts,
by the folio, fifty cents; for the probate of all wills and testaments,
by the folio, fifty cents; for all other writing done by the folio, fifty

Appendix J 343
cents; for solemnizing marriage, ten dollars, including the certificate
to be given to the parties; for the surrender of fugitives from justice,
in addition to the necessary costs and expenses of arrest and deten
tion, which shall be verified to the demanding governor, by the affi
davit of the superintendent, ten dollars.
Section 9. And be it further enacted, That the said superintend
ents shall, by virtue of their offices, be postmasters at the several sta
tions for which they are appointed, and as such shall be required to
facilitate the transportation of the mail in its transit to and from the
Territory of Oregon and the nearest postoffice within the State of
Missouri, subject to all the regulations of the Postoffice Department,
and with all the immunities and privileges of the postmasters in the
several states, except that no additional compensation shall be allowed
them for such services, and it is hereby made the duty of the Post
master General to cause proposals to be issued for the transportation
of the mail along the line of said posts to and from the said territory,
within six months after the passage of this act.
Section 10. And be it further enacted, That the sum of 
thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated out of any
moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purposes
of carrying into effect the several provisions of this act.
(Endorsement.)
Marcus Whitman, enc. synopsis of a bill, with his views in refer
ence to import, of the Oregon Terry. War 382. Rec. June 22-44. S.
While this bill did not pass, yet the ideas here presented were con
stantly in his mind. October 16, 1847, a short time before his death,
he had his friend, Andrew Rodgers, write a similar bill but shorter,
which was sent to his uncle. It was directed to "The Honorable the
Secretary of War, to the Committee on Indian Affairs and Oregcs,
in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States."
Mr. Rodgers wrote: "It is Dr. Whitman's wish that you should use
this document in any way which you may think useful. If you could
copy it and send it to some of the members of Congress, or other in
fluential men, it will be well, and afterward, if not noticed publicly,
send it to some newspaper for publication." In connection with it he
presented fifteen reasons in favor of it.1
1 Letter of Miss I. I. Rodgers of Monmouth, 111., a sister of Andrew Rodgers,
to the author, dated Jan. 18, 1892.

THE EDUCATIONAL (Circles

F WHITMAN COLLEGE
es apart)

INDEX

Abernethy, Gov. George, arri
val of, 125
Adams, John Q., adverse report
of. 192
American Companies, defeats
Of, 227
Company, end of, 147
joined by Whitman and Par
ker, 28
pledge of protection from, 32
Anderson, Alex. J., President of
Whitman Seminary, 293
Applegate, Jesse, tribute to
Whitman, 216-7
work of, 208
Archer, Mr., difficulties in reach
ing Willamette, 190
Ashburton Treaty, . references
to, 154, 185, 235
Atkinson. Senator D. R., speech
of, 196
Rev. G. H., leadership of, 293
letter of, 202 B
Baker, J., letter relating to im
migration 1843, 221
Baptism, missionaries' children,
103
Barrows, Rev. William, evi
dence of, 157, 169
regarding Whitman's wagon,
302
Benton, Senator, in re Oregon
question, 191, 192, 207, 231.
232
Berryman, Rev.- superintendent
Methodist mission, 181
Bewley, Miss, taken to Indian
lodge, 287

Blanchet, Rev. A. M. A., ap
pointed Bishop at Walla
Walla, 277
Rev. F. N., appointed Arch
bishop, 277
arrival of, 109
Boise, Fort, wagon left, 44
R. P., in favor of Whitman,
203
Bourne, Edward G., denies
Whitman's influence, 198
mistakes of, 241-247
Brouillet, Very Rev. J. B.. state
ments regarding, 138, 250,
266,' 278, 287
Burnett, H. P., work of, 208

Catlin, George, opinion of, 46
Cayuse, estimated number of,
96
Whitman's account of, 97-9
Cholera, breaks out, 28
Chamberlain, Rev. P. B., ad
dress of, 292
Clark. Rev. Harvey, arrival of,
120
Hon. A. S., regarding Whit
man's policy, 232
Clatsop, mission begun, 123
Colbert, G. F., in favor of Whit
man, 203
Condon, Prof. Thomas, in favor
of Whitman, 203
Crawford, Captain Medorem,
describes Whitman, 127
D
Dalles, The, mission transferred
to the American Board, 142

346

Index

Demers, Bishop Modeste, arri
val of, 109
Sent to Nisqually, 275
De Smet, Father, sketches of,
275
Drayton, Joseph, description of
Waiilatpu, 122
Dye. Mrs. E. E., poem by, 162

Edwards, P. L., Lee's associate,
27
Eells, Rev. Cushing, arrival of,
105
obtains charter, 291
plans monument, 290
testimony of, 165. 184
Hon. Edwin, bill for monu
ment, 294
Rev. Myron, favors claims,
247
Emigrations, 128, 228-9
Emigrants, letters from, 211
Evans, Gov. Elwood, objections
of, 198, 228, 229, 243-5

Farnham, T. F., account Catho
lic baptism, 270
description of Waiilatpu, 111
Field, Rev. H. M., testimony of,
171
Findley, Joseph S., death of, 141
Flohr, Father, opposition of, 246

Gallatin, Albert, praises emi
grants, 192
Gary, Rev. George, succeeds
Jason Lee, 142
Geiger, William, arrival of, 111
explains conditions, 237
Indians talk with, 264
testimony of, 264
Gray. William H., describes
Whitman, 48
joins Oregon mission, 30
left in charge, 51
resigns, 124
sent east, 105
testimony, 167, 179, 235
Green River, rendezvous, 35
Griffin, Rev. J. S.. arrival of, 110
settles at Whitman's, 111

H
Hale, Rev. Edward, entertains
Whitman, 159
testimony of, 172
Hall, E. O., arrival of, 106
Fort, victory won, 229
Hanford, Hon. C. H., footnote
by, regarding Catholics, 268
Hart, Horace, testifies, 205
Hedding, Elijah, death of, 264
Hines, G., arrival of. 125
Dr. H. H., mistakes of, 245
Hinman, Alanson, teacher, 135
testimony, 168
Hudson's Bay Company, begins
work on Coast, 25
efforts of to expel American
traffic, 185
efforts to retain country, 50
knowledge of country's value,
misrepresentation of, 218-9,
220
opposes mission at The
Dalles, 30
policy of, 277 I
Independence Rock. Fourth of
July at, 34
Indians, converts at Lapwai,
124
disquiet among, 134
mortality, 138
sickness among, 279
Istikus, friend of Whitman, 242
gossip of, 267
warns Whitman. 282

Juliopolis, Bishop of, priests
sent by, 149 K
Kelley, Hall J., arrival of, 147
Kamiah, land troubles at, 123
mission established, 105

Lane. Gen. Joseph, appointed
governor, 289
Lapwai, mission started, 32
work at, 289
LeBreton, G. W., death of, 134

Index

347

Lee, Rev. Daniel, crosses conti
nent, 27
Rev. Jason, crosses continent,
27
marriage, 124
prepares memorial, 151
tribute paid to, 303
visits Waiilatpu, 104
Leslie, Rev. D., presents memo
rial, 152
Lewis. Joe, conspirator, 280
Lincoln, Abraham, related to
Whitman family, 21
Linn, Senator, bill introduced
by, 151
Littlejohn. P. B., arrival of, 120
Lovejoy, A. L., arrival of, 127
describes winter trip, 156
testimony, 168-182
Lyman, Rev. H., arrival of, 203
M
Massacre, fiftieth anniversary
of 299
list of killed. 287
McBean, Indians excited by, 268
McKay, Thomas, assists Whit
man, 43
statement by, 138
McKinley, Archibald, letter
from, 258
succeeds Pambrun, 110
McLeod, John, assists Whit
man, 43
McLoughlin, Dr. John, assists
missionaries, 51, 148, 289
Meek, Joseph, sent east, 289
Methodists, mission discontin
ued, 142
reinforced, 125
workers, 52
Munger, A., arrival of, 110
N
Nez Perces, first book in, 106
go east, 25
Nisqually, mission begun, 125
O
Ogden. Gov. P. S., secures ran
som of survivors, 287
Oregon, boundary settled, 142
contest between Protestant
and Catholic, 308
effect on, of massacre, 290
parties in controversy, 240
population, 125-206

Otis, Judge James, evidence of,
172

Pambrun, P. C, death of, 110
description of, 49
Parker, Rev. Samuel, letter
from, 35
lectures on Oregon, 27
mission to northwest, 29
starts for Oregon, 28
Dr. S. J., testimony of, 171-
209
Pearsons, Dr. D. K., gives finan
cial aid, 293
Prentice, George A., opinion of,
190
Prentiss. Mr., letter of, 210
Pringle. Mrs. C. S., speech, 298
statement of, 139
Printing Press, arrival of, 106
R
Ramsey, Gov. Alexander, testi
mony of, 172
Reed. Dr. Silas, saw Whitman
in Washington, 173
Rendezvous, scenes at, 35-41
Rodgers, Andrew, describes Dr.
and Mrs. Whitman, 135
Rogers, Cornelius, arrival of, 105
resigns, 124

Sager, children, 139
Shepherd, arrival of, 27
marriage, 124
Shinley, Hon. J. M., work of, 208
Shortess, arrival of, 117
work of, 208
Simpson, Gov. Sir George,
might have been in Wash
ington, 184
recommends Catholic mis
sions, 149
Smith, Rev. A. B., arrival of,
105
letter. 273
Alvin T., arrival of, 120
resigns, 124
Joseph, narrative of. 141
Spalding, Rev. H. H., arrival at
Waiilatpu, 279
birth of daughter Eliza, 103
describes Indian customs, 37
joins church, 24
joins Oregon mission, 30

348

Index

Spalding, Rev. H. H. — Continued
pastor of first Presbyterian
church in Oregon, 104
receives Indians in church, 142
selects mission location, 52
testimony of, 178
work of, 124
Stanfield, Joseph, conspirator,
280
Sumner, Hon. Charles, opinion
of controversy, 190

Thornton, Judge, sent to Wash
ington, 289
Tolmin, Dr. W. F., statement
of, 184
Tshimakain, mission, 123
Tualatin, academy founded, 120
Tyler, evidence of, 73
president, recommendation of,
152

Vancouver, Fort, arrival of mis-
mionaries, 49
facilities at, 42
Victor, Mrs. F. F., asserts
Whitman mercenary, 139
denies that Whitman saved
Oregon, 198
mistakes of, 242 W
Waiilatpu, selection of, 51
Walker, Cyrus H., birth of, 105
Elkanah, arrival of, 105
Mary R., testimony of, 166
Walla Walla, ' Fort, arrival of
missionaries, 40
Webster, Daniel, position of,
177, 235
White, Dr. E., appointed Indian
agent, 124
council with Cayuses, 129
diary of, 135
Whitman, Alice, baptism, 103
birth of, 100
death of, 107
college, building and opening,
291
charter for seminary, 291
endowment secured, 293
county, formed, 294
Marcus, accepted by the
Board, 28
ancestry, 21

Whitman, Marcus — Continued
appeals to the Board, 126
Boston, in, 161
birth of, 21
brother, letter to, 118
Catholic, invasion, 277
Catholicism, relating to, let
ter, 273, 278
censure by board, 174
church affiliations, 22
church, organization of, 104
college, first suggests, 137
controversy, 240
conversion. 22
death of, 283
declares for mission work, 23
describes Cayuses, 97
description of, 48-9
east, in the, 127
east, proposes to go, 155
fears losing region, 207
flour mill, burned, 129
flour mill, rebuilt, 135
friends, surprises. 30
fur company, overtakes, 32
H. B. C, monopoly, learns of,
50
house, new, 121
immigration, urges. 136
Indians, annoyances, 121
Indians, encounters trouble
with, 50
Indians, returns with, 29
Ithaca, at, 160
leaves home, 32
letters, first from home, 103
letter, home board, 183
letter to Rev. Judson, 182
letter to Secretary of War, 175
letter of victory, 231
married, 30
massacre, 283
mausoleum, built, 296
missionary neighbors, 52
mission, returns to, 133
mission, selected, 51
monument, association form
ed, 296
national work, denial of, 164,
214
New York, in, 161
Oregon, exercised over pos
session of, 153
president, interview with,
177-9
recapitulation, 303

Inde

349

Whitman, Marcus — Continued
saw mill, first, 135
school, first, 100, 144
statement, makes, 128
statements, mistaken, relating
to, 233
story, first related, 198
story, reasons not before re
lated, 199-201
testimonials, for, 308-312
Washington, in, 160
Webster, interview with, 177
winter trip, 156-9
Narcissa, Prentiss, ancestry,
24
arrives Waiilatpu, 52

Whitman, Narcissa — Continued
birth of 23
copies manuscript book, 101
death of, 285
diary of, 54-95
farewell hymn, 31
letter to husband, 130
visits The Dalles, 124
Perrin, B., starts west, 128
testimony of, 169, 180
Wilkes, Commodore, squadron,
122
Wyeth, Captain Nathaniel, meets
Whitman, 42
enterprises of, 147

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