Contact and Disruption: The Whitman Incident
Did Not your missionaries teach us that Christ died to save his people? So die we to save our people.Tiloukaikt, one of five men surrendered for the Whitman killings
Main Street mural
in Umatilla, 1999, reflects Oregon Trail community heritage.
Photo by Donna Sinclair
Disruption of native lifeways came to the plateau as traders of the Hudson's Bay Company, settlers of the Willamette Valley, and missionaries brought cultural change. In 1836, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman came to the Cayuse of eastern Washington. The Protestant missionaries expected the Cayuse to "take up the plow," live in monogamous households, and adhere to American concepts of private property. The Cayuse, like the Umatilla, relied for subsistence on the natural abundance of the mountains and rivers, and the demands of the missionaries led to misunderstanding and frustration.
In 1843, Marcus Whitman traveled east, returning with nearly 900 immigrants who went on to the Willamette Valley. As the number of white settlers increased annually following Whitman's return, tensions increased at Wailatpu. Although the mission was not directly on the Oregon Trail, it became a way station for weary travelers needing assistance, and with the Americans came disease. In 1847, a measles epidemic struck the Whitman Mission, killing an estimated 50% of the Cayuse within two months. Indian children, lacking antibodies against diseases harmless to Anglos, died quickly. The American children treated by Dr. Whitman recovered. The Cayuse requested the Whitmans to leave.
On November 29, 1847, the situation exploded when a small band of Cayuse attacked the Mission, killing the Whitmans and eleven others. Burning the mission buildings and taking mission personnel captive, the band retreated to an encampment near Mission, Oregon (Nicht-Yow-Way), now located on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. All out war was declared against the Cayuse, and 500 volunteer soldiers joined to capture the offenders. After two years of evading the soldiers, five Cayuse men were surrendered and hanged for the Whitman killings.
Excerpts from Narcissa Whitman's Journal
Trial documents for the five convicted men
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