Page
Call from the West 10
Samuel Parker and the American Board 13
“We Want You for Oregon” 15
Those Who Answered the Call 18
The Oregon Country 19
The Trip West 25
A Welcome at Fort Vancouver 27
Starting a New Life 29
The Cayuse Indians 34
Reinforcements for Oregon 39
A Community Rises at Waiilatpu 41
The Mission Children 50
Missions in Oregon 53
The Ride East 57
A Caravan on the Oregon Trail 61
The Gathering Storm 64
The Massacre 66
The Harvest of Violence 71
Preservation of the Past 74
Testimony from the Earth: A Folio 76
Suggested Readings 92
_Waiilatpu is the site of the mission founded among the Cayuse Indians
in 1836 by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. After 11 years of ministering to
the Indians and assisting emigrants on the Oregon Trail, these
missionaries were killed and their mission destroyed by the Indians whom
they sought to help. The Whitmans’ story of devotion, nobility, and
courage places them high among the pioneers who settled the Far West._
In 1836 five people—Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, the Reverend Henry
and Eliza Spalding, and William H. Gray—successfully crossed the North
American continent from New York State to the largely unknown land
called Oregon. At Waiilatpu and Lapwai, among the Cayuse and Nez Percé
Indians, they founded the first two missions on the Columbia Plateau.
The trail they followed, established by Indians and fur traders, was
later to be called the Oregon Trail.
Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding were the first white women to cross
the continent; the Whitmans’ baby, Alice Clarissa, was the first child
born of United States citizens in the Pacific Northwest. These two
events inspired many families to follow, for they proved that homes
could be successfully established in Oregon, a land not yet belonging to
the United States.
In the winter of 1842-43, Dr. Whitman rode across the Rocky Mountains in
a desperate journey to the East to save the missions from closure. On
his return to Oregon, another chapter in the western expansion of this
Nation was added when he successfully encouraged and helped to guide the
first great wagon train of emigrants to the Columbia River. The
Whitmans’ mission throughout its existence was a haven for the overland
traveler. Medical care, rest, and supplies were available to all who
came that way.
For 11 years, the Whitmans worked among the Cayuse Indians, bringing
them the principles of Christianity, teaching them the rudiments of
agriculture and letters, and treating their diseases. Then, in a time of
troubles when two opposing forces failed to understand each other, the
mission effort ended in violence. In the tragic conclusion, the lives of
the Whitmans were an example of selflessness, perseverance, and
dedication to a cause. Their story is symbolic of the great effort made
by Protestant and Catholic missionaries to Christianize and civilize the
Indians in the first half of the 19th century. The missions represented
one aspect of American expansion into the vast, unknown lands of the
Pacific Northwest.
[Illustration: No-horns-on-his-head and Rabbit-skin-leggings, both
Nez Percé Indians, were members of the 1831 delegation to St. Louis.
Paintings by George Catlin. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION]
[Illustration: (Rabbit-skin-leggings)]
_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 successful in war or hunting.
They sought this white man’s religion because, to their minds, it
explained the great power possessed by the whites; if they could acquire
Christianity, it would increase the power they already had.
In St. Louis the 4-man delegation visited William Clark, superintendent
of Indian Affairs, who had passed through their country more than 25
years earlier as one of the co-leaders of the memorable Lewis and Clark
Expedition. Myths and legends surround this visit to St. Louis, and the
complete story will probably never be known. Yet, it seems probable that
they sought the white man’s “Book of Heaven” and teachers to show them
how to read and write.
Their visit probably would have passed unnoticed had not a man named
William Walker become aware of it. While visiting St. Louis in November
1832, he heard from William Clark the story of the Indian visitors.
Becoming enthusiastic about helping the Indians of the far Northwest to
become Christians, Walker wrote to a New York friend, G. P. Disoway,
giving him a rather unusual version of the facts.
He told how Clark had held a weighty theological discussion with the
Indians, despite the fact that they could not speak English and no
interpreter could be found at the time. He claimed also to have seen the
Indians in the city, though two of the delegation had died and the
remaining pair had apparently departed 8 months before Walker’s arrival.
He described them as “small in size, delicately formed, small limbed,”
and having flat heads. This description hardly fits the stocky,
well-built Flathead and Nez Percé, who did not flatten their heads. The
famous painter of the West, George Catlin, claimed to have painted
portraits of the two survivors of the delegation, and these likenesses
indicate the Indians were normally developed. Disoway further flavored
the story, and it was printed in New York in the _Christian Advocate and
Journal_, a publication of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
[Illustration: Jason Lee. ANGELUS COLLECTION. UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
LIBRARY]
This call from the West was immediately heard by various churches in the
United States. Several missionary organizations became active in finding
men and women to send to the Pacific Northwest as missionaries. Among
them were the Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church; the
Roman Catholic Order of the Society of Jesus; and the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, then supported by the Presbyterian,
Congregational, and Dutch Reformed Churches.
The first to respond was the Methodists’ Mission Society. In 1834 Jason
Lee and four associates joined the Wyeth Expedition and headed for the
Northwest. Lee did not stop in Flathead or Nez Percé country but went on
to the lower Columbia and selected a site in the beautiful Willamette
Valley. The Methodists established their mission near a small French
Canadian farming settlement close to present-day Salem, Oreg. These
settlers, who originally were trappers for the Hudson’s Bay Company, had
turned to farming when the fur trade declined.
Reinforced with 13 new workers in 1836 and 50 additional persons in
1838, the Methodists began missions at The Dalles, the Clatsop Plains,
Fort Nisqually, the Falls of the Willamette, and Chemeketa—now Salem.
[Illustration: Samuel Parker. WHITMAN COLLEGE]
Their work among the coastal Indians was not very successful. New
diseases brought by the whites were fatal to these tribes, and the
number of Indians along the Willamette and lower valleys was rapidly
declining. Also, they simply were not interested in the “Book of
Heaven.” Those who attended services wanted to be paid for coming, for
it was not these people who had asked for missionaries. Although Jason
Lee was the first missionary, the Nez Percé and the Flatheads were still
awaiting a response to their call. The answer was soon to be supplied by
another group of missionaries.
[Illustration: (uncaptioned)]
“I have had an interview with the Rev. Samuel Parker upon the subject of
Missions and have determined to offer myself to the A. M. Board to
accompany him on his mission or beyond the Rocky Mountains.”
Marcus Whitman,
Dec. 2, 1834.
_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 it was proposed that Parker go to Oregon to select mission sites.
This time Parker was able to get the support of the American Board for
the undertaking.
Knowing little more about the Pacific Northwest than its general
direction, Parker set out in the spring of 1834; but he and two
companions arrived at St. Louis too late to accompany the fur-traders’
annual caravan to the Rockies. It was risky to undertake the trip alone,
so Parker returned to New York to raise money and recruits for the next
year. In December 1834 he reported to the American Board that a Dr.
Marcus Whitman had volunteered to serve as a medical missionary.
In 1835 Parker and his new recruit, Marcus Whitman, joined the
fur-traders’ caravan and headed westward. Not until cholera had broken
out and Dr. Whitman’s medical skill had prevented disaster in the
caravan did the unholy traders appreciate having the missionaries in
their group. On August 12 the party reached the fur-trading rendezvous,
which was held that year near the junction of Horse Creek and the Green
River in Wyoming. There, once again Whitman was able to display his
medical skill. He successfully removed a 3-inch iron arrowhead from the
back of the famous mountain man, Jim Bridger, under the watchful eyes of
traders, mountain men, and Indians. This exhibition of competence was
not lost on the Nez Percé and Flathead. Parker and Whitman talked to
them and found that they were indeed anxious to have missions.
To get the missions established by the next year, Whitman decided to
return East and organize volunteers for the new field. Parker was to
continue on to Oregon, explore for mission locations, and meet Whitman’s
party when it reached the rendezvous the next summer.
Parker, traveling with the Nez Percé, reached their homeland on the
Clearwater River in present Idaho late in September. Thence he went down
the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver, where he spent most of the winter
with the Hudson’s Bay Company traders. During the winter and the next
spring, he made several trips of exploration in the country between the
Clearwater and the Willamette. In the spring of 1836, he learned that
the Nez Percé were returning to the rendezvous by a northerly, rugged
route. Parker, feeling his years at last, decided to return to the
United States by sea. Before the Indians’ departure, he wrote letters
for them to carry to the rendezvous. Although Whitman received these
letters, it is doubtful if they contained any information of value to
the 1836 American Board party. While Parker was at Fort Vancouver,
Marcus Whitman, back in New York, had been busy gathering men and money
in order to establish the missions in the Oregon country.
[Illustration: Marcus Whitman’s certificate appointed him “an
assistant missionary to Indian tribes West of the State of
Missouri.” It was also necessary for the missionaries to get
permission from the Secretary of War to visit the Indian lands of
western United States.]
_“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 appointed to a mission in western Missouri.
In answer to Whitman’s query, Spalding was willing to change his
destination to Oregon, provided that the Board approved.
The year 1835 came to an end without any definite word from the American
Board concerning the Spaldings or anyone else. Greene forwarded some
good news, however, when he wrote that the Board now approved of women
going to Oregon. Since Whitman had become engaged to a Miss Narcissa
Prentiss prior to going west with Parker, this word was indeed welcomed.
A few days later the Board decided that there should be a total of five
in the party for Oregon: Dr. Whitman, an ordained minister, their wives,
and a layman to serve as farmer and mechanic. The one limitation was
that no children could be taken.
In writing Greene of his lack of success in getting recruits, Whitman
again mentioned the Spaldings as a possibility. Greene replied that the
Spaldings were ineligible because they had a child. Whitman hastened to
write that the Spaldings had lost their only baby. Greene’s reply to
this was vague. Although he did not directly state that the Spaldings
could go, he noted that he did not know who else would be available.
[Illustration: THE WHITMAN-SPALDING ROUTE
from St. Louis to Fort Vancouver
1836]
St. Louis
Fort Leavenworth
Liberty
Otoe Agency
Fort Laramie
Rendezvous
Soda Springs
Fort Hall
Three Island Ford
Fort Boise
This was enough for Whitman to act upon. He immediately went to
Prattsburg, N. Y., to tell Henry Spalding the news. But he was too late.
Spalding had just departed for his post in Missouri. Undismayed, Whitman
gave chase and overtook the Spaldings on the road, reportedly
exclaiming, “We want you for Oregon.” Henry and Eliza accepted the call
and continued on to wait for Whitman in Cincinnati. Whitman returned
home for his wedding.
On February 18, 1836, Marcus Whitman married Narcissa Prentiss. The
ceremony closed with the hymn, “Yes, My Native Land! I Love Thee.” This
proved to be too emotional for the congregation. Knowing that the couple
was leaving in the morning for distant Oregon, those present, one by
one, faltered in the singing. By the time the last stanza was reached,
sobs could be heard throughout the church. Only Narcissa’s voice was
heard as she finished the last lines:
Let me hasten
Far in heathen lands to dwell.
The call had finally been heard. The Whitmans began the long trip to the
land beyond the Rockies.
_Those Who Answered the Call_
[Illustration: Henry Harmon Spalding, from a photograph taken
several years after the massacre. WHITMAN COLLEGE]
[Illustration: 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 the natural leader of the little group. Born in 1802 in
Rushville, N.Y., Marcus was 8 when his father died, and the boy then
went to live with an uncle. Following classical school, he had hoped to
prepare for the ministry. But a lack of money and his family’s
disinterest in this career caused him to turn to medicine.
Whitman began riding with the local doctor, and in 1825 he entered a
medical school in Fairfield, N.Y. Following practice in New York and
Canada, Whitman settled in the town of Wheeler, N.Y. Before long, he
became interested in medical missionary work. He concluded that his
medical training and religious interests could be well combined in this
field. His first application to the American Board for a mission
assignment was turned down because of poor health. But after Dr. Samuel
Parker interviewed him in 1835, the Board reconsidered and selected
Marcus as a medical missionary.
Narcissa Whitman was in many ways a contrast to her husband. Though he
was sober and serious, Narcissa was animated and vivacious. Attractive
in face and figure, endowed with a fine voice, she was a person of
confidence and poise. Born in Prattsburg, N.Y., in 1808, Narcissa
Prentiss attended Emma Willard’s “Female Seminary” in Troy and
afterwards Franklin Academy in Prattsburg. She taught school for several
years and then applied for the mission field. In her first attempt she
too was turned down by the Board. It did not want single women for
missionary work. But after her engagement to Marcus, the Board approved
her application. The trip to Oregon was her honeymoon.
Riding with Marcus and Narcissa was a man whose marriage proposal Mrs.
Whitman is said to have once turned down, the Reverend Henry Harmon
Spalding. Spalding was born at Bath, N.Y., in 1803, the child of an
unwed mother. Bound out to foster parents at 14 months, he endured an
unhappy childhood. The jeers and name-calling to which he was subjected
by his stepfather and others left a bitter memory. By nature he was shy,
quick tempered, and impatient with those who disagreed with him.
Spalding attended Franklin Academy, where he first met Narcissa
Prentiss. After Franklin, he attended Western Reserve College in Hudson,
Ohio and Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati. Upon completion of his
studies, he was ordained in the Presbyterian Church. In 1831 he met
Eliza Hart of Holland Patent, N.Y., and they were soon married.
Born in 1807 in Kensington, Conn., Eliza Hart grew into a studious and
deeply religious person. In appearance she was tall, dark, and coarse of
feature and voice; but she had a quiet charm that endeared her to those
who knew her. Of them all, Eliza was best fitted by temperament to work
among the Indians, but even she did not realize that the Indians’ first
loyalty was to themselves and not to the whites and their ways.
William H. Gray, appointed to the Oregon mission as mechanic and
carpenter, was born in Fairfield, N.Y., in 1810. His father died when
William was 16, and he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker. His best
talents were in the use of his hands, but his ambitions always exceeded
ordinary callings. His manual skills were to be of value to the
missionaries, but his undependable temper and habit of complaining were
to lead to serious complications for the missions of Oregon.
At Liberty, Mo., these five now made their final preparations for the
trip across the Great Plains and over the Rockies to the still-strange
land called Oregon in order to bring their faith to the Indians.
The camera had not made its appearance in the Pacific Northwest before
the deaths of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. Though artists visited the
mission before the massacre, no known likenesses of the Whitmans have
ever been found. Thus the few sketches that have been made of Marcus and
his wife are conjectural drawings, the better ones based on descriptions
written by those who knew them.
_The Oregon Country_
The tide of European adventurers and explorers had long pressed upon the
Pacific Northwest coast. Britain, France, Russia, Spain, and that
fledgling nation, the United States, made claims along the rock-strewn
shores as they searched for the elusive Northwest Passage between the
two oceans and grasped for the wealth offered by the pelts of the sea
otter.
Early in the 19th century overland explorers from Britain and the United
States began mapping the vast area that stretched from the Rocky
Mountains to the Pacific and from the Russian settlements in the north
to Spanish California. This was the Oregon Country. Alexander Mackenzie,
Simon Fraser, and David Thompson made their way overland for the British
crown. In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson sent an expedition led by
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find a route to the Pacific.
[Illustration: Narcissa Whitman’s portable writing desk and quill
pen. OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY]
Soon came the fur-trading companies, competing furiously for beaver
pelts and thereby exploring much of the Northwest and strengthening
national claims. Working its way down the Columbia River, the
Canadian-based North West Company dominated the area between 1807 and
1821. John Jacob Astor challenged it briefly when his Pacific Fur
Company established Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia. In the
American Rockies another company organized by Astor, the American Fur
Company, obtained a virtual monopoly in that region by 1835.
_text continued on page 24_
_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 and loneliness, they also disclosed a lively,
vivacious woman who was blessed with a fine sense of humor._
_Her diary—really a series of letters written while crossing the
continent—reveals clearly a lady of charm who was interested in all
things and people who came her way. Later, in the Pacific Northwest,
when death had taken her only child and it became clear the Cayuse were
not interested in Christianity, Mrs. Whitman’s letters show her deep
worry over her role in the mission field. At times she despaired of her
own worth and wished she could give her place to others. It is likely,
however, that she did not realize her own intelligence and relatively
sophisticated personality were a barrier between her and the Indians. A
friend wrote after her death that the Indians considered Mrs. Whitman to
be remote and haughty. He added that this was not her fault; it was her
misfortune._
[Illustration: A page from one of Narcissa Whitman’s letters written
to her family while crossing the continent. It was this series of
long, detailed letters that became famous as her diary.
747-534 O-64-2 WHITMAN COLLEGE]
_West of the Rocky Mountains.
Dearest Mother. We commenced our journey to Walla Walla July 18th 1825.
Under the protection of Mr. McLeod, & his company. Came ten miles, in a
southwestern direction. The Flat Head or Nez Perce Indians & some lodges
of the Snake tribe, accompanying us to Port Half White—they are with us,
we shall make but one camp in a day. On the 19^th we did not move at
all. 20^th Came twelve miles in the same direction, as on the 18^th over
many steep & high mountains. On the 21^st our course was southeast in
the morning. Traveled fifteen miles. Yesterday the 22^d was a tedious
day to us, we started about nine o’clock And rode untill half past four,
PM. Came twenty one miles. Had two short showers in the afternoon which
cooled the air considerably, before this, the heat was oppressive. I
thought of Mother’s bread & butter many times are as any hungry child
would, but did not find it on the way. I fancy pork & potatoes would
relish extremely well. Have been living on fresh meat for two months
exclusively. Am cloyed with it. I do not know how I shall endure this
part of the journey. Find it much harder to make one camp in the day,
than we did to make two, while with Fish for our dinner and two hours
rest in the heat of the day, prepared us for a lengthy ride in the
afternoon. Our ride to day has not been so fatiguing or lengthy as
yesterday. Rode from nine o’clock AM. until one o’clock PM in the same
direction, south west as yesterday. Felt a calm and peaceful state of
mind all day. How sweet communion with him who delights to dwell with
the humble & contrite heart, in heart. Especial in the morning I had a
freedom in prayer for my beloved parents. Earnestly desired that God
would bless them_
_continued from page 20_
But the giant of all the trading firms was the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Growing steadily larger, it merged with the North West Company in 1821
and thereby inherited the fur wealth of the Oregon Country.
In the early 19th century, many Americans believed that the western
boundary of the United States should be the Pacific. They also believed
that the northern boundary west of the Rockies should be set at least as
far north as the 49th parallel. But Britain was not willing to give up
its interests on the lower Columbia. In 1818 the two countries agreed to
a temporary arrangement for joint occupation of the whole area. Citizens
and subjects of the two nations could enter the Oregon Country without
affecting either nation’s claims. The United States also reached
agreements with Spain and Russia that resulted in these two countries
surrendering all claims to the land between California and Alaska.
[Illustration: Alfred Jacob Miller’s painting of the first Fort
Laramie. In 1836 it was still called Fort William.]
Despite the joint-occupation agreement, the Hudson’s Bay Company was in
almost complete control of Oregon after 1821. The United States,
however, was able to keep alive its claims through the activities of
some of its more colorful citizens. In 1828 the magnificent trailblazer
Jedediah Smith visited Fort Vancouver, the Columbia headquarters of the
Hudson’s Bay Company. A few years later Capt. Benjamin Bonneville
explored and trapped the western slopes of the Rockies. In 1832 and 1834
Nathaniel Wyeth attempted unsuccessfully to establish a permanent
foothold on the Columbia River.
This was the Oregon Country to which the missionaries came. Other than
the scattered Hudson’s Bay forts and a handful of settlers near Fort
Vancouver, the vast land was empty except for the transient trappers
and, of course, the Indians.
_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 caravan crossed the dusty plains
toward Fort Laramie. There the missionaries left the heavy wagon and,
discarding excess baggage, repacked their goods on animals. They decided
to take Spalding’s light wagon as far as they possibly could.
On July 4 the caravan crossed the Continental Divide at South Pass and,
2 days later, reached that year’s fur-trapper rendezvous on the Green
River, near Daniel, Wyo. While Narcissa enjoyed the excitement and
tumult of the colorful affair, the quieter Eliza concentrated on
learning the Indians’ languages.
Dismayed by Parker’s failure to return to the rendezvous, the
missionaries were relieved by the unexpected arrival of two Hudson’s Bay
Company traders, John McLeod and Thomas McKay. Guided by these two
experienced men, the missionaries set out on the 700-mile journey
through sagebrush, desert, canyons, and mountains to the Columbia.
Stopping at Nathaniel Wyeth’s Fort Hall only overnight, the party moved
westward along the south bank of the Snake River. The wagon finally
broke down, and the men had to convert it into a two-wheeled cart. Two
weeks later on August 19, they reached Fort Boise, a Hudson’s Bay
Company post on the Snake River.
No wagon or cart had ever come this far west before, but here Whitman
and Spalding were finally forced to abandon their cart. After a few
days’ rest, the party moved on. Following the Powder River and crossing
the beautiful Grande Ronde Valley, the missionaries reached the rugged,
twisted Blue Mountains. Riding ahead to the crest, the Whitmans had
their first view of the Columbia valley with majestic Mount Hood on the
far horizon.
On the morning of September 1, the Whitmans excitedly galloped up to the
gate of Fort Walla Walla, the Hudson’s Bay Company post on the Columbia.
They were met by Pierre Pambrun, the chief trader, who was to be their
near and good neighbor for the next few years. Two days later the
Spaldings arrived with the livestock.
Needing household goods and wanting to meet the Chief Factor, Dr. John
McLoughlin, the party decided to go to the Hudson’s Bay Company western
headquarters at Fort Vancouver, more than 200 miles down the Columbia.
Reaching the fort by boat on September 12, the missionaries completed
their long journey 207 days after their departure from Angelica, N. Y.
On the move for more than 6 months, and traveling more than 3,000 miles,
Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding had crossed the North American
Continent—the first white women to do so.
_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.
[Illustration: 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, he was to the Indians “The White Eagle.” On their
arrival at Fort Vancouver Narcissa wrote: “I feel I have come to a
father’s house indeed, even in a strange land has the Lord raised up
friends.” OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY]
[Illustration: Fort Vancouver, sketched by Henry J. Warre in 1845.
WASHINGTON STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY]
To the surprise of the party, McLoughlin’s stores contained most of the
articles needed to establish the missions: household furniture,
clothing, building supplies, books and provisions; all were for sale.
Narcissa wrote home that it was not necessary to bring anything from the
East, for everything could be found at Fort Vancouver, “the New York of
the Pacific Ocean.”
While the ladies enjoyed the hospitality of the fort, Whitman, Gray, and
Spalding went back up the Columbia to select their mission sites. With
their husbands away, the two women caught up on their correspondence,
sewed clothing, and picked out the household utensils they would need.
Narcissa spent her evenings singing to the children at the fort school.
On November 3 Spalding returned to escort Narcissa and Eliza to their
new homes in the interior.
If McLoughlin had been cool toward the missionaries, such behavior could
have been justified. The influx of Americans that was bound to follow
would inevitably change Oregon. British control would then be threatened
and fur trade profits reduced. Nevertheless, McLoughlin, Pambrun, and
other Hudson’s Bay Company people extended a helping hand to the
missionaries. Such success as the missions had in the Pacific Northwest
was due, in good part, to the assistance they received from the company.
_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 both a source of supply and the main travel route
between Canada and Fort Vancouver. Whitman must have realized, too, that
its location was on the line of march between South Pass in the Rockies
and the Columbia, the trail that Americans would surely follow. In
addition, it was the home of the Cayuse Indians, a “heathen” tribe that
in the minds of the missionaries needed to be saved as much as any.
For his wife’s arrival from Fort Vancouver, Whitman built a crude log
lean-to as a shelter against the oncoming winter. When Narcissa arrived
at Waiilatpu on December 10, she found that the little structure had two
bedrooms, a kitchen, a pantry, and a fireplace, but was still without
windows and doors. Narcissa, though expecting her first child, accepted
her lot in good humor and set out to make a home. Meanwhile, Whitman,
Gray, and their helpers worked steadily on the main part of this first
house.
[Illustration: This photograph of the Spalding mission cabin at
Lapwai—now called Spalding—was taken in 1900.]
Because of the scarcity of suitable timber, the main part of the
one-and-a-half story house was made of sun-dried adobe bricks. With
great difficulty, enough pine boards were whipsawed in the Blue
Mountains 20 miles away to make the floor. The roof was made of poles
covered with earth and rye grass. From the cottonwoods that grew along
the river, some furniture was made. Pierre Pambrun contributed by
sending a small heating stove and a rocking chair from Fort Walla Walla.
Bedsteads were boards nailed to walls, and, except for a feather tick
Narcissa had acquired at Fort Vancouver, corn husks and blankets served
as mattresses.
But even before it was finished, the first house was flooded by the
Walla Walla River, just a few feet away. After a second flood, Whitman
reluctantly decided that it would be necessary to build again on higher
ground. Work was begun on the new T-shaped mission house in 1838. A few
years later, the abandoned first house was torn down, and its adobe
bricks were used to build a blacksmith shop.
During the first year, the missionaries depended on the Hudson’s Bay
Company for provisions to tide them over to their first harvest. From
Fort Vancouver, Fort Walla Walla, and Fort Colville (in northeastern
Washington), they bought pork, flour, butter, corn, and potatoes.
Occasionally the Indians sold them fish and venison.
Horses purchased from the Cayuse provided steaks and stews. As Dr.
Whitman put it:
we have killed and eaten twenty-three or four horses since we have
been here, not that we suffered which causes us to eat them, but if we
had not eaten them, we would have suffered....
In the spring of 1837 the first plantings of vegetables and grains were
made. Also in that first year, both Spalding and Whitman planted apple
orchards.
At the same time, the missionaries began their efforts among the
Indians. Both men encouraged the Cayuse and Nez Percé to start
cultivation of the soil. Although the Cayuse had an epidemic of sickness
at this time, some of the families did plant crops before departing for
the hill valleys to dig camas bulbs in the early summer of 1837. Whitman
was greatly encouraged by this hesitant start. He wrote: “When they have
plenty of food they will be little disposed to wander.” He greatly
desired to lead them from their nomadic ways and to have them establish
settled communities. But the Indians lacked skills and tools, and the
results of their farming were far less than either their enthusiasm or
the missionaries’ expectations.
Both stations also began educational, spiritual, and medical work.
Spalding and Whitman were preachers, teachers, doctors, and farmers; and
Narcissa and Eliza assisted them in all these phases of their work.
Since the Nez Percé tongue was understood by both tribes, it was used as
the language of instruction at both stations. This meant that only one
alphabet had to be devised and that the same written material could be
used at both missions. Henry and Eliza Spalding made the most progress
in mastering the difficult Indian tongue, and they took the lead in
forming the alphabet and translating material. However, by the autumn of
1837 Marcus and Narcissa had learned enough Nez Percé to begin their
school.
_text continued on page 34_
_Nez Percé_
_The Nez Percé Indians called themselves the Nimipu, “The People.” Lewis
and Clark, the first whites to travel through the Nez Percé country,
called them by two names, the Chopunnish and the Pierced Nose Indians.
But available records indicate that very few, if any, of these Indians
pierced their noses. Such a custom was common with the Pacific Coast
tribes who decorated their noses with sea shells._
_Within a few years after Lewis and Clark traveled through present-day
Idaho, some unknown person, probably a French-Canadian trapper, changed
Pierced Nose to Nez Percé and so the name has come down to us today. The
accent over the final “e” is no longer pronounced; Nez is pronounced as
it looks, Percé is pronounced “purse.” Though some writers no longer use
the accent, its usage is considered to be correct by most._
[Illustration: Narcissa sent this floor plan of the mission house to
her mother while the house was still being built. Room _A_, which
was to be her bedroom, was not constructed. Instead, room _B_ was
used for that purpose.]
_continued from page 32_
Religious instruction was commenced promptly at both Waiilatpu and
Lapwai. The Spaldings held daily prayers and conducted worship on
Sundays. Handicapped by their slowness at learning the language, the
Whitmans resorted mainly to encouraging the Indians to continue their
daily prayer meetings, which some of them, inspired by fur traders, had
been attending before the missionaries arrived.
Although Whitman was the trained doctor, Spalding also administered to
the sick. At first, the Indians were receptive to white medicine; but it
was medicine that was later to become a major issue of contention
between the Indians and the missionaries. For the time being, however,
an encouraging start had been made. The Nez Percé seemed truly happy to
have the Spaldings in their midst, while the Cayuse, though less
enthusiastic, accepted the Whitmans at Waiilatpu. What were these people
like, whom man and wife had come 3,000 miles to convert and civilize?
_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 the tribe was a loose one. The basic unit was
the family, which was headed by an autocratic father whose decisions
were final and whose authority was independent of the chiefs or elders.
Several families formed a band, and several of these bands made the
tribe. There was no head chief for the whole tribe; rather, each band
had its own chief who held his position by inheritance, merit, or
wealth, or by a combination of these. A chief was an influential person,
but he was not a dictator over the actions of his band. For hunts or
warfare, a chief would often turn over his leadership to the most
experienced hunters or warriors. In addition, each band had a group of
elders who offered advice and, to some extent, managed the common
affairs of the band under the direction of the chief.
Like the Nez Percé, the Cayuse were adept at selective horse breeding.
Large horse herds enriched the tribe and gave it power that far exceeded
its small size. The horses also gave these Indians great mobility. In
the appropriate seasons, they crossed the mountains to the east to hunt
and rode down the Columbia to fish at Celilo Falls.
Hunts were composed of organized parties which pursued deer, American
elk, pronghorn, bison, and smaller animals. Meat that was not eaten
fresh was made into a highly concentrated, nutritious pemmican. During
the salmon runs, nets, weirs, spears, hooks, and baskets were all used
to catch the big fish. The Cayuse women roasted the fresh salmon on
sticks or sun-dried, pulverized, and packed the fish in baskets for
winter use. In addition, the Cayuse collected berries and roots in the
mountains. Berries were preserved by being pressed into dry cakes or by
being mixed with pemmican. Camas bulbs were dug in large quantities,
steamed in pits, and formed into cakes that were dried in the sun. These
cakes were eaten as bread, boiled into mush, or cooked with meat.
The Plateau Indians, though excellent hunters, were not as warlike as
those on the Great Plains. Nonetheless, they fought with skill and
bravery when forced to do so. The one traditional enemy of the Cayuse
was the Snake tribe, which lived to the southeast. According to the
Cayuse, the Snake people had forbidden them to hunt in the Blue
Mountains. In retaliation, the Cayuse attempted to keep the Snakes from
the fisheries and trading places along the Columbia.
For generations the Northwest Indians had traded among themselves. The
Cayuse, with their wealth of horses, played an active role in this
trade. They exchanged horses, robes, and reed mats for the shells,
trinkets, and root foods of the coastal Indians. After the fur trade
started, the Cayuse bartered their goods for blankets, guns, and
ammunition.
Early observers saw the Cayuse from different points of view. Some
considered them to be haughty, restless, and perhaps undependable.
Others were favorably impressed by them. One such was Joel Palmer who
wrote in his journal in 1845:
These Indians have decidedly a better appearance than any I have met;
tall and athletic in form, and of great symmetry of person; they are
generally well clad, and observe pride in personal cleanliness....
In dress, the Cayuse were similar to all the Columbia Indians. Lightly
clad during the hot summer, they dressed in the skins of deer, elk, and
bighorn in the winter. They protected their feet with moccasins, and
Cayuse men wore leather leggings. Clothing was commonly decorated with
fringes, feathers, quills, beads, shells, and colored cloth. Some of
these garments were elaborate and extremely colorful. Following contacts
with the white traders, the Indians often supplemented their costumes
with articles of European manufacture.
Their homes were usually oblong lodges, from 15 to 60 feet in length.
The larger lodges were multi-family dwellings. Within the lodge, each
family had its own fire and a modicum of privacy. They also lived in
tepees of a style borrowed from the Plains Indians. The frames of both
lodge and tepee were covered with well-woven reed mats or buffalo hides.
Since it was their wives who put up and took down the lodges and tepees,
and who did most of the work in the village, the men were interested in
finding a healthy, strong wife. A man bought his wife, or wives, the
price often depending on her capacity for work. Should a marriage not
work out, it was a simple matter for either the husband or wife to
dissolve the marriage and go separate ways. Prostitution was rare, and
wives were generally more faithful than those of the coast Indians.
[Illustration: Mary Walker.]
[Illustration: Elkanah Walker.]
[Illustration: Cushing Eells.]
[Illustration: Myra Eells.]