Marcus Whitman
Encyclopedia
Marcus Whitman was an American
physician and Oregon missionary
in the Oregon Country
. Along with his wife Narcissa Whitman
he started a mission in what is now southeastern Washington state in 1836, which would later become a stop along the Oregon Trail
. Whitman would later lead the first large party of wagon train
s along the Oregon Trail, establishing it as a viable route for the thousands of emigrants who used the trail in the following decade.
to Beza Whitman and Alice Whitman. The family's heritage dates to John Whitman who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony
before 1639 from England. After his father's death, when Whitman was seven years old, he moved to Massachusetts
to live with his uncle. He dreamed of becoming a minister but did not have the money for such a time-consuming curriculum. Instead, apprenticing himself, he studied medicine for two years with an experienced physician and received his degree from Fairfield Medical College
.
. They initially denied him for health reasons, but he was later accepted as a missionary doctor. In 1835, he traveled with missionary Samuel Parker
to present-day northwestern Montana
and northern Idaho
, to minister to the Native American
bands of the Flathead
and Nez Percé Nations. During this journey, Whitman treated several fur trappers during an outbreak of cholera
. At the end of their stay, he promised the Nez Percé that he would return with other missionaries and teachers to live with them.
After his return Whitman attended a speech by Samuel Parker, now representing the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, which called for missionaries. In 1836, Whitman married Narcissa Prentiss
, a teacher of physics
and chemistry
. Narcissa had also been eager to travel west as a missionary, but she had been unable to do so as a single woman.
On May 25, 1836, the couple, and a group of other missionaries including Henry and Eliza Spalding
, joined a caravan of fur traders and traveled west. The Fur Company caravan was led by mountain men
Milton Sublette
and Thomas Fitzpatrick
. The fur traders had seven covered wagon
s, each pulled by six mule
s. An additional cart drawn by two mules carried Milton Sublette, who had lost a leg a year earlier and walked on a "cork" leg made by a friend. The combined group arrived at the fur-trader's rendezvous on July 6.
The group established several missions as well as Whitman's own mission settlement, Waiilatpu (Why-ee-lat-poo, the 't' is half silent), which means "place of the rye grass" in the Cayuse language
. It was located just west of the northern end of the Blue Mountains
, and 6 miles from the present day city of Walla Walla, Washington
. The settlement was in the territory of both the Cayuse
and the Nez Percé tribes of Native Americans. Marcus farmed and provided medical care, while Narcissa set up a school for the Native American children. In 1843, Whitman travelled east, and on his return he helped lead the first large group of wagon trains west from Fort Hall
, in eastern Idaho. Known as the "Great Emigration", it established the viability of the Oregon Trail for later the homesteaders.
On March 14, 1837, on her twenty-ninth birthday, Narcissa gave birth to the first white American born in Oregon Country. Marcus and Narcissa named their daughter Alice Clarissa after her two grandmothers, and she would be their only natural child. Alice drowned in the Walla Walla River
on June 23, 1839. Unattended for only a few moments, she had gone down to the river bank to fill her cup with water and fell in. Though her body was found shortly after she had fallen in, all attempts to revive her failed.
in 1847. The Native American's lack of immunity to new diseases and limited health practices led to a high mortality rate
or massacre, with children dying in striking numbers. The zealous conversion attempts by the Whitmans, as well as the recovery of many white patients, fostered the belief among the Native Americans that Whitman was causing the death of his Indian patients.
The Indian tradition of holding medicine men personally responsible for the patient's recovery eventually resulted in violence and another massacre. In what became known as the Whitman Massacre
, Cayuse tribal members kill
ed the Whitmans in their home on November 29, 1847. Most of the buildings at Waiilatpu were destroyed. Twelve other white settlers in the community were also killed. For one month 53 women and children were held captive before negotiations led to them being released. This event triggered an ongoing conflict between the occupying white settlers and indigenous local people known as the Cayuse War
.
According to some contemporaries, the situation was aggravated by ongoing animosity between the Protestant missionaries and local Catholic
priest
s. Roman Catholic priest John Baptist Brouillet aided the survivors and helped bury the victims. However, the Rev. Henry H. Spalding later wrote a pamphlet stating forcefully that the Catholic priests, including Father Brouillet, had incited the massacre. "Spalding's version of the disaster was printed and reprinted, sometimes at taxpayer expense, for the next half-century. It was finally discredited in 1901 by Yale University historian Edward Gaylord Brown.
Whitman is commemorated by Marcus Whitman Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Washington
, Marcus Whitman Junior High in Port Orchard, Washington
, Marcus Whitman Middle School in Seattle, in Marcus Whitman Elementary in Richland, Washington
and Portland, Oregon
, Marcus Whitman Central School in Rushville, New York, Whitman College
, Whitman County, Washington
, the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest, Mount Rainier
's Whitman Glacier
, and the Marcus Whitman hotel in Walla Walla. In 1953, the state of Washington donated a statue of Whitman by Avard Fairbanks
to the National Statuary Hall Collection
. The Washington State Legislature
has declared the fourth day of September as Marcus Whitman Day
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physician and Oregon missionary
Oregon missionaries
The Oregon missionaries were collectively the religious-minded pioneers who settled in the Oregon Country of North America starting in the 1830s with the intent of converting local Native Americans to Christianity...
in the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
. Along with his wife Narcissa Whitman
Narcissa Whitman
Narcissa Prentiss Whitman was an American missionary in the Oregon Country of what would become the state of Washington. Along with Eliza Hart Spalding , she was the first European-American woman to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1836 on her way to found the Protestant Whitman Mission with husband Dr...
he started a mission in what is now southeastern Washington state in 1836, which would later become a stop along the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
. Whitman would later lead the first large party of wagon train
Wagon train
A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance, as is reflected in numerous films and television programs about the region, such as Audie Murphy's Tumbleweed and Ward Bond...
s along the Oregon Trail, establishing it as a viable route for the thousands of emigrants who used the trail in the following decade.
Early life
On September 4, 1802 Marcus Whitman was born in Federal Hollow, New YorkRushville, New York
Rushville is a village in Ontario and Yates Counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 621 at the 2000 census.Most of the Village of Rushville is within the Town of Potter in Yates County and a small part is in the Town of Gorham in Ontario County.- History :Elisha Gilbert was the...
to Beza Whitman and Alice Whitman. The family's heritage dates to John Whitman who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
before 1639 from England. After his father's death, when Whitman was seven years old, he moved to Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
to live with his uncle. He dreamed of becoming a minister but did not have the money for such a time-consuming curriculum. Instead, apprenticing himself, he studied medicine for two years with an experienced physician and received his degree from Fairfield Medical College
Fairfield Academy
Fairfield Academy was an academy that existed for nearly one hundred years in the Town of Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York.-Founding:It was organized as an academy for men in 1802, when the community was an active local manufacturing center...
.
Missionary
In 1834 Whitman applied to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign MissionsAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
. They initially denied him for health reasons, but he was later accepted as a missionary doctor. In 1835, he traveled with missionary Samuel Parker
Samuel Parker (missionary)
Samuel Parker was an American missionary in Oregon Country. He scouted locations for missions, including a location for the Whitman Mission in present Washington state and traveled with Marcus Whitman...
to present-day northwestern Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and northern Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, to minister to the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
bands of the Flathead
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation are the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles Tribes. The Flatheads lived between the Cascade Mountains and Rocky Mountains. The Salish initially lived entirely east of the Continental Divide but established their...
and Nez Percé Nations. During this journey, Whitman treated several fur trappers during an outbreak of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
. At the end of their stay, he promised the Nez Percé that he would return with other missionaries and teachers to live with them.
Narcissa Whitman
Narcissa Prentiss Whitman was an American missionary in the Oregon Country of what would become the state of Washington. Along with Eliza Hart Spalding , she was the first European-American woman to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1836 on her way to found the Protestant Whitman Mission with husband Dr...
, a teacher of physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. Narcissa had also been eager to travel west as a missionary, but she had been unable to do so as a single woman.
On May 25, 1836, the couple, and a group of other missionaries including Henry and Eliza Spalding
Henry H. Spalding
Henry Harmon Spalding , and his wife Eliza Hart Spalding were prominent Presbyterian missionaries and educators working primarily with the Nez Perce in the U.S. Pacific Northwest...
, joined a caravan of fur traders and traveled west. The Fur Company caravan was led by mountain men
Mountain man
Mountain men were trappers and explorers who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through the 1880s where they were instrumental in opening up the various Emigrant Trails allowing Americans in the east to settle the new territories of the far west by organized wagon trains...
Milton Sublette
Milton Sublette
Milton Green Sublette was an American fur trader, explorer and mountain man. He was the second of four Sublette brothers prominent in the western fur trade; William, Andrew, and Solomon...
and Thomas Fitzpatrick
Thomas Fitzpatrick (trapper)
Thomas Fitzpatrick, known as "Broken Hand", was a trapper and a trailblazer who became the head of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. With Jedediah Smith, he led a trapper band that discovered South Pass, Wyoming....
. The fur traders had seven covered wagon
Covered wagon
The covered wagon, also known as a Prairie schooner, is an icon of the American Old West.Although covered wagons were commonly used for shorter moves within the United States, in the mid-nineteenth century thousands of Americans took them across the Great Plains to Oregon and California...
s, each pulled by six mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
s. An additional cart drawn by two mules carried Milton Sublette, who had lost a leg a year earlier and walked on a "cork" leg made by a friend. The combined group arrived at the fur-trader's rendezvous on July 6.
The group established several missions as well as Whitman's own mission settlement, Waiilatpu (Why-ee-lat-poo, the 't' is half silent), which means "place of the rye grass" in the Cayuse language
Cayuse language
The Cayuse language is an extinct language formerly spoken by the Cayuse Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Oregon. The Cayuse name for themselves was Liksiyu .The Cayuse language is unclassified...
. It was located just west of the northern end of the Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains (Oregon)
The Blue Mountains are a mountain range in the western United States, located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into southeastern Washington...
, and 6 miles from the present day city of Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
. The settlement was in the territory of both the Cayuse
Cayuse
The Cayuse are a Native American tribe in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation...
and the Nez Percé tribes of Native Americans. Marcus farmed and provided medical care, while Narcissa set up a school for the Native American children. In 1843, Whitman travelled east, and on his return he helped lead the first large group of wagon trains west from Fort Hall
Fort Hall
Fort Hall, sitting athwart the end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States, and is located in southeastern Idaho near Fort Hall, Idaho...
, in eastern Idaho. Known as the "Great Emigration", it established the viability of the Oregon Trail for later the homesteaders.
On March 14, 1837, on her twenty-ninth birthday, Narcissa gave birth to the first white American born in Oregon Country. Marcus and Narcissa named their daughter Alice Clarissa after her two grandmothers, and she would be their only natural child. Alice drowned in the Walla Walla River
Walla Walla River
The Walla Walla River is a tributary of the Columbia River, joining the Columbia just above Wallula Gap in southeastern Washington in the United States. The river flows through Umatilla County, Oregon and Walla Walla County, Washington. Its drainage basin is in area.-Course:The headwaters of the...
on June 23, 1839. Unattended for only a few moments, she had gone down to the river bank to fill her cup with water and fell in. Though her body was found shortly after she had fallen in, all attempts to revive her failed.
Massacres
The influx of white settlers in the territory brought new diseases to the Indian tribes, including a severe epidemic of measlesMeasles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
in 1847. The Native American's lack of immunity to new diseases and limited health practices led to a high mortality rate
Mortality rate
Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...
or massacre, with children dying in striking numbers. The zealous conversion attempts by the Whitmans, as well as the recovery of many white patients, fostered the belief among the Native Americans that Whitman was causing the death of his Indian patients.
The Indian tradition of holding medicine men personally responsible for the patient's recovery eventually resulted in violence and another massacre. In what became known as the Whitman Massacre
Whitman massacre
The Whitman massacre was the murder in the Oregon Country on November 29, 1847 of U.S. missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others. They were killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians. The incident began the Cayuse War...
, Cayuse tribal members kill
KILL
KILL is the sixth album by Detroit rock band Electric Six.In initial press releases, the band described the album as being a return to a sound more akin to their debut album, but this was later revealed by front-man Dick Valentine to be more gimmick than truth.An explicit video was released for...
ed the Whitmans in their home on November 29, 1847. Most of the buildings at Waiilatpu were destroyed. Twelve other white settlers in the community were also killed. For one month 53 women and children were held captive before negotiations led to them being released. This event triggered an ongoing conflict between the occupying white settlers and indigenous local people known as the Cayuse War
Cayuse War
The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local Euro-American settlers...
.
According to some contemporaries, the situation was aggravated by ongoing animosity between the Protestant missionaries and local Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s. Roman Catholic priest John Baptist Brouillet aided the survivors and helped bury the victims. However, the Rev. Henry H. Spalding later wrote a pamphlet stating forcefully that the Catholic priests, including Father Brouillet, had incited the massacre. "Spalding's version of the disaster was printed and reprinted, sometimes at taxpayer expense, for the next half-century. It was finally discredited in 1901 by Yale University historian Edward Gaylord Brown.
Legacy
Des Moines, Washington
Des Moines is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 29,673 at the 2010 census. Property within the city has been the subject of land buyouts because of noise from aircraft landing or taking off from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport two miles to the north of...
, Marcus Whitman Junior High in Port Orchard, Washington
Port Orchard, Washington
Port Orchard is a city in and the county seat of Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is located 13 miles due west of West Seattle and connected to Seattle and Vashon Island via the Washington State Ferries run to Southworth...
, Marcus Whitman Middle School in Seattle, in Marcus Whitman Elementary in Richland, Washington
Richland, Washington
Richland is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 48,058. April 1, 2011 estimates from the Washington State Office of Financial Management put the...
and Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Marcus Whitman Central School in Rushville, New York, Whitman College
Whitman College
Whitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...
, Whitman County, Washington
Whitman County, Washington
Whitman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, the population was 44,776, with the majority living in its largest city, Pullman, home to Washington State University, the state's land-grant university. The county seat is at Colfax.Whitman County was...
, the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest, Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of . Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most...
's Whitman Glacier
Whitman Glacier
The Whitman Glacier is a medium-sized glacier on the eastern flank of Little Tahoma Peak, a sub-peak of Mount Rainier in Washington. Named for the missionary Marcus Whitman, it covers and contains 4.4 billion ft3 of ice. Starting from near the rocky spire of Little Tahoma at , the glacier flows...
, and the Marcus Whitman hotel in Walla Walla. In 1953, the state of Washington donated a statue of Whitman by Avard Fairbanks
Avard Fairbanks
Avard Tennyson Fairbanks was a prolific 20th century American sculptor. Three of his sculptures are in the United States Capitol, and the state capitols in both Utah and Wyoming, as well as numerous other locations, also have his works...
to the National Statuary Hall Collection
National Statuary Hall Collection
The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol comprises statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history...
. The Washington State Legislature
Washington State Legislature
The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bipartisan, bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators.The State Legislature...
has declared the fourth day of September as Marcus Whitman Day
See also
- Whitman Mission National Historic SiteWhitman Mission National Historic SiteWhitman Mission National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located just west of Walla Walla, Washington, at the site of the former Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu. On November 29, 1847, the family of Dr. Marcus Whitman and others were massacred by Native Americans of the Cayuse...
- Whitman CollegeWhitman CollegeWhitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...
- Jason Lee (missionary)Jason Lee (missionary)Jason Lee , an American missionary and pioneer, was born on a farm near Stanstead, Quebec. He was the first of the Oregon missionaries and helped establish the early foundation of a provisional government in the Oregon Country....
- Indian massacre