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WHITMAN MISSION NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
WHITMAN MISSION NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
By Erwin N. Thompson National Park Service Historical Handbook Series No. 37 Washington, D.C.: 1964 here they labored among the Cayuse Indians It is a distinct pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to Jack Farr, formerly with the National Park Service, and Robert L. Whitner, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash., who prepared the material on which most of this manuscript was based. E. N. T. Waiilatpu is the site of the mission founded among the Cayuse Indians in 1836 by Marcus and Narcissa Whitm
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Call From the West
Call From the West
In 1831 two neighboring tribes west of the Rocky Mountains, the Nez Percé and the Flathead, sent a delegation of their tribesmen to St. Louis, Mo., to seek the white man’s religion. Although their understanding of Christianity was slight and confused, they were interested in learning about it. Their own religion was associated with nature, and they assigned power to natural objects. Their spiritual goal was to attune themselves with nature so that they might acquire power that would make them su
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Samuel Parker and the American Board
Samuel Parker and the American Board
Another man influenced by the Indians’ call was the Reverend Samuel Parker, pastor of the Congregational Church in Middlefield, Mass. Though 54 years of age, married, and the father of three children, Parker volunteered to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to go to the Flathead country. Turned down by the Board, Parker moved to Ithaca, N.Y. Early in 1834, he spoke at a special meeting in the Ithaca Presbyterian Church and aroused the congregation to such a high pitch that
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“We Want You for Oregon”
“We Want You for Oregon”
On his return trip from the rendezvous in 1835, Whitman wrote to Rev. David Greene, one of the secretaries of the American Board, about the need for recruits for Oregon. Greene in his reply told Whitman about two missionaries who had volunteered for the West; he also cautioned Whitman against taking a bride into the wilderness. As it turned out, neither of the two ministers was able to go to Oregon. But when he arrived home, Whitman learned of a third minister, Henry Spalding, who had just been
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Those Who Answered the Call
Those Who Answered the Call
Henry Harmon Spalding, from a photograph taken several years after the massacre. WHITMAN COLLEGE William Henry Gray. WHITMAN COLLEGE On March 31, 1836, the Whitmans and Spaldings left St. Louis aboard the Chariton for Liberty, Mo., the jumping-off place for the West. In Liberty they were joined by the fifth member of the party, William H. Gray. Marcus Whitman’s experience, gained in the preceding year on his trip to the Rockies, together with his dedication to the purpose of the trip, made him t
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Narcissa Whitman’s Letters
Narcissa Whitman’s Letters
Mary Walker, who was a prolific writer herself, once recorded in her diary a cutting remark about Narcissa Whitman spending too much time writing letters home. But it is from Mrs. Whitman’s detailed and fascinating letters that we get a close view of the lives of the missionaries in Oregon. Highly intelligent and a keen observer, Narcissa Whitman was able to capture the color and drama of her trip west and life among the Indians. Although her letters increasingly recounted moments of melancholy
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The Trip West
The Trip West
Spalding and Gray, driving the livestock overland, set out from Liberty on April 28, 1836. Whitman and the two wives waited for a steamer to take them to the assembly point of the American Fur Company caravan farther upriver. But the steamboat failed to stop, and Whitman had to hire a wagon and make a hurried pursuit of Spalding. Reunited, the missionaries caught up with the caravan near the junction of the Platte River and the Loup Fork in Nebraska on May 26. Traveling 15 to 20 miles a day, the
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A Welcome At Fort Vancouver
A Welcome At Fort Vancouver
The stern but kindly Dr. McLoughlin gave the missionaries a warm welcome. He appreciated the significance of the ladies’ successful journey across the continent. While complimenting them on this, he must have thought to himself that they were but the vanguard of many American families to follow. Dr. John McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Oregon, exercised vast sway over an area extending from British Columbia to western Montana. Physically a giant and of an imperious nature
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Starting a New Life
Starting a New Life
On the north bank of the Walla Walla River, 22 miles upstream from its junction with the Columbia, Marcus Whitman selected the site of his mission on the lands of the Cayuse Indians. Henry Spalding picked a site 110 miles to the east on Lapwai Creek, 2 miles from its confluence with the Clearwater; the Nez Percé tribe at last had a missionary. Whitman selected Wai-i-lat-pu , “the place of the rye grass,” for several reasons. Close to Fort Walla Walla at the mouth of the river, Waiilatpu was near
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The Cayuse Indians
The Cayuse Indians
The Cayuse tribe numbered little more than 400 when the Whitmans settled among them. Located principally on the upper Walla Walla and Umatilla Rivers, they had many contacts with their neighbors, the Nez Percé, Walla Walla, and Umatilla Indians. They were related to these tribes through marriage and through a common culture. Originally of a different language family than the surrounding tribes, the Cayuse were by 1836 an integrated part of the Columbia plateau culture. The social organization of
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Reinforcements for Oregon
Reinforcements for Oregon
Their first, short winter at Waiilatpu passed swiftly for the missionaries. But by summer a dissatisfied and restless William Gray left Oregon, without Whitman’s knowledge but with Spalding’s approval, to visit the East. Gray was unhappy with his position of mechanic and helper to the mission. He was ambitious to become a missionary in his own right, but neither Whitman nor Spalding felt he was qualified for such work. In Boston, Gray was coolly received by the American Board, but the trip gaine
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A Community Rises at Waiilatpu
A Community Rises at Waiilatpu
The number of people at Waiilatpu in the winter of 1838-39 convinced Whitman that work on the new mission house had to be speeded up. Fortunately, he was able to hire Asahel Munger, who was a skilled carpenter. Munger had come out to Oregon as an independent missionary only to find that a person could not be independent in that vast, unsettled country. He eagerly accepted Whitman’s offer. The attractive, substantial mission house was built of the same materials as the first house. The new, T-sha
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The Mission Children
The Mission Children
On her 29th birthday, March 14, 1837, Narcissa Whitman gave birth to her only child, a baby girl who was named Alice Clarissa after her two grandmothers. Alice was the first child born of United States citizens in the Pacific Northwest. Her arrival was a great joy not only to her parents but to the Cayuse as well. The Indians had been aware of the baby’s coming, and after her birth all the chiefs and elders of the tribe visited the house to see the temi or “Cayuse girl,” as they promptly named h
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Missions in Oregon
Missions in Oregon
During the 11 years they operated in Oregon, the American Board stations continually sent home requests for lay assistants to help convert the Indian tribes. Despite these pleas, no additional reinforcements were sent to Oregon after 1838. On the contrary, the mission stations were reduced from four to three. Discouraged, lonely, and increasingly concerned over his wife’s health, Asa Smith left Kamiah in 1841 and sailed for the Hawaiian Islands. From then until 1847 only Waiilatpu, Lapwai, and T
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The Ride East
The Ride East
In September 1842 an alarming letter from the American Board arrived at Waiilatpu. It ordered the closing of Waiilatpu and Lapwai and directed Whitman to move to Tshimakain. Spalding, Gray, and Smith were told to return home. These drastic orders were the result of letters written by Smith, Gray, Rogers, and others, telling the Board of the many dissensions among the missionaries. Reports were sent to Boston about Spalding’s bitterness toward the Whitmans, about the feud between Spalding and Gra
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A Caravan on the Oregon Trail
A Caravan on the Oregon Trail
The wagon train of 1843 was the largest yet to assemble for the trip to Oregon. Its way had been paved by the triumphs and failures of the fur traders, adventurers, missionaries, and settlers who had gone before. Back in 1832, Capt. Benjamin Bonneville had taken 20 wagons beyond the Continental Divide. However, he did not attempt to take them to the Columbia River, which he visited in 1834 and again in 1835. In 1836 Whitman and Spalding set a new milestone by taking a light wagon, by then conver
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The Gathering Storm
The Gathering Storm
One of the results of the increasing number of emigrants on the Oregon Trail was the Cayuse’s conviction that their way of life was in danger. Although the emigrants, up to now, had continued on to the rich Willamette Valley, the Indians feared the day when the settlers would stop on Cayuse land. The Cayuse were quick to identify the Whitmans with the tide of settlers. Tom Hill, a Delaware Indian living among the nearby Nez Percé, contributed to this conviction. He told the Cayuse that before lo
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The Massacre
The Massacre
When Monday, November 29, 1847, dawned cold and foggy in the Walla Walla Valley, there were 74 people staying at the Waiilatpu mission. Most of them were emigrants, stopping over on the way to the Willamette Valley. The mission buildings were crowded almost beyond capacity: 23 people were living in the mission house; 8 in the blacksmith shop; 29 in the emigrant house; 12 in the cabin at the sawmill, 20 miles up Mill Creek; and the 2 half-breeds, Lewis and Finley, were living in lodges on the mis
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The Harvest of Violence
The Harvest of Violence
Peter Skene Ogden. With the exception of David Malin and the two Manson boys, whom the Indians allowed to go to Fort Walla Walla, they held all 49 survivors captive at Waiilatpu. Although most of them suffered greatly from shock and were fearful of the future, most of the captives were not treated severely. Three of the older girls were singled out by Indians who desired them for wives. Especially maltreated was Lorinda Bewley who was subjected to the unwanted attentions of Five Crows, a chief w
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Preservation of the Past
Preservation of the Past
For a brief time in 1848, the Oregon Volunteers occupied the mission in their unsuccessful campaign to punish the Cayuse. Building an adobe wall around the mission house, they named it Fort Waters. In 1859 the Reverend Cushing Eells, the former associate of Dr. Whitman, established a claim on the former mission site and lived there until 1872, when his house burned down. His great achievement during these years was the founding of Whitman Seminary (now Whitman College) in the new community of Wa
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About Your Visit
About Your Visit
Whitman Mission National Historic Site is 6 miles west of Walla Walla, Wash., just off U.S. 410. Walla Walla is served by an airline, two railroads, and bus-lines. Since there is no public transportation between the town and the monument, you must arrange your own transportation between these two points. The grounds of the historic site are open from 8 a.m. until dark. A self-guiding system of trails enables you to tour the mission grounds and see the great grave and the memorial shaft. Markers,
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Administration
Administration
Whitman Mission National Historic Site is administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. The National Park System, of which this Site is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration of the people. Development of the site is part of MISSION 66 , a dynamic conservation program to unfold the full potential of the National Park System for the use and enjoyment of present and future g
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America’s Natural Resources
America’s Natural Resources
Created in 1849, the Department of the Interior—America’s Department of Natural Resources—is concerned with the management, conservation, and development of the Nation’s water, wildlife, mineral, forest, and park and recreational resources. It also has major responsibilities for Indian and territorial affairs. As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department works to assure that nonrenewable resources are developed and used wisely, that park and recreational resources are conserved,
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Related Areas
Related Areas
Included in the National Park System are these other areas commemorating phases of early western history: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site, Mo.; Homestead National Monument of America, Nebr.; Chimney Rock National Historic Site, Nebr.; Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebr.; Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyo.; Grand Teton National Park, Wyo.; Custer Battlefield National Monument, Mont.; Big Hole National Battlefield, Mont.; Fort Vancouver National Historic Site,
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