Whitman massacre
The
Whitman massacre (also known as the
Walla Walla massacre and the
Whitman Incident) was the murder in the
Oregon Country on
November 29,
1847 of
U.S. missionaries Dr.
Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa, along with twelve others, by
Cayuse and
Umatilla Indians. The incident began the
Cayuse War. It took place in present-day southeastern
Washington, near the town of Walla Walla, and was one of the most notorious episodes in the U.S. settlement of the
Pacific Northwest. The event was the climax of a several years of complex interaction between the Whitmans, who had led the first
wagon train along the
Oregon Trail, and the local
Native Americans.
The killings are usually ascribed in part to a clash of cultures and in part to the inability of Dr. Whitman, a
physician, to halt the spread of
measles among the Native Americans, who held Whitman responsible for subsequent deaths. The incident remains controversial to this day: the Whitmans are regarded by some as pioneer heroes; others see them as white settlers who attempted to impose their religion on the Native Americans and otherwise unjustly intrude. See
Cayuse War Causes for more on the culture clash theory.
In
1836, Marcus Whitman,
Rev. Henry Spalding, and their wives crossed the
Rockies, Eliza Hart Spalding and Narcissa Whitman being the first white American women in
Oregon Country. With the help of Dr.
John McLoughlin — but against his advice — they settled at
Waiilatpu, near
Fort Walla Walla, only six miles from the site of the present day city of
Walla Walla, Washington.
The Cayuse and Umatilla involved in the incident had previously lived at
Waiilatpu, the mission founded by the Whitmans. Among the many new white arrivals at Waiilatpu in
1847 was Joe Lewis. Bitter from what he perceived to be maltreatment received in the East, Lewis attempted to spread discontent among the local
Cayuse, hoping to create a situation in which he could ransack the Whitman Mission. He told the Cayuse that Dr. Whitman, who was attempting to treat them during a measles epidemic for which they lacked immunity, was, in fact,
not trying to save them but instead was deliberately poisoning them. Indians often killed their medicine man, or
shaman, if patients died. It is probable that the Cayuse and Umatilla held Dr. Whitman responsible for the numerous deaths.
Other factors that may have contributed to the massacre were outbreaks of
cholera, conflict between the Protestant missionaries and local Catholic priests, the contempt shown by Narcissa Whitman toward the Indians and their way of life, resentment over missionaries' attempts to transform the Indians' lifestyle and the killing of a
Walla Walla chief's son. It was also claimed by
anti-catholic ministers, including Henry Spalding, that
Roman Catholic priests may have told the Cayuse that Whitman was the cause of the disease and incited the Cayuse to attack. Their motivation was portrayed as a desire to take over his
Protestant station, which he had refused to sell to them. Priests named in various versions of this theory include
Pierre Jean de Smet,
John Baptist Brouillet and
Joseph Cataldo.
One complaint given by the Cayuse as a factor was a previous bad experience with whites in California.
John Sutter had recruited a group of them to come to
Sacramento for military service fighting the Mexicans, with the promise of regular army payment afterwards. When receipts were given instead, intended to be paid off after federally sanctioned (which did happen 12 years after the fact), the Cayuse were enraged at Sutter and resorted to raiding livestock on their way back to Oregon
[Hurtado 1988].
On
November 29,
Tiloukaikt, Tomahas, Kiamsumpkin, Iaiachalakis, and Klokomas, enraged by the talk of Joe Lewis, attacked Waiilatpu. Henry and Eliza Spalding's daughter was staying at Waiilatpu when the massacre occurred. Luckily, Eliza was returned to her parents by
Peter Skein Ogden, an official of
Hudson's Bay Company. Dr. Whitman was dismembered and mangled beyond recognition. Although fatally wounded, he lived for several hours after the attack, mostly unconscious. Besides Whitman and his wife, those killed included Andrew Rogers, Jacob Hoffman, L. W. Sanders, Mr. Marsh, John Sager, Nathan Kimball, Isaac Gilliland, James Young, Frank Sager, Crockett Bewley and Amos Sales.
Another 54 women and children were captured and held for ransom, including the daughter of
Jim Bridger and the
Sager orphans. Peter Ogden arranged for an exchange of sixty-two blankets, sixty-three cotton shirts, twelve Hudson Bay rifles, six hundred loads of ammunition, seven pounds of tobacco and twelve flints for the return of the prisoners. The Hudson's Bay Company never billed the American settlers for the ransom, nor was payment ever offered. Chief "Beardy" tried in vain to stop the massacre, but did not succeed. He was found crying while riding towards the
Waiilatpu Mission.
 |
Tiloukaikt and Tomahas, Cayuse chiefs |
A few years later, after further violence in what would become known as the
Cayuse War, some the settlers insisted that the matter was still unresolved. The new governor, General
Joseph Lane, took a group to go back to the Cayuse and demanded the surrender of those who carried out the Whitman mission killings. The head chief attempted to explain why they had killed the whites, and that the war that followed (the
Cayuse War) had resulted in a greater loss of his own people than the number killed at the mission.
The explanation was not accepted. Eventually, tribal leaders
Tiloukaikt and Tomahas, who had been present at the original incident, and three additional Cayuse men consented to go to
Oregon City (then capital of Oregon), to be tried for murder. In the lengthy trial by newly appointed Territorial Marshall
Joseph Meek, the Native Americans were found guilty. The decision was controversial because it was suspected that the witnesses in the trial had not actually been present at the Whitman massacre. On
June 3,
1850, Tiloukaikt, Tomahas, Kiamasumpkin, Iaiachalakis, and Klokomas were publicly hanged for their involvement in the massacre.
The story of the massacre shocked the
U.S. Congress into action concerning the future territorial status of the Oregon Country. The
Oregon Territory was finally established on
August 14,
1848.
* "Sequel to the Walla Walla Massacre",
Army and Navy Journal 1 Nov 1879, cited on p.407 of
Helen Hunt Jackson,
A Century of Dishonor, 1887, LCCN 02-15270.
* William Henry Gray,
A History of Oregon, 1792-1849, drawn from personal observation and authentic information..., Harris and Holman: 1870, pp.464 [
1]
* Albert Hurtado,
Indian Survival on the California Frontier (Yale Western Americana Series), Vail-Ballou Press: 1988, p.71 (ISBN 0-300-04798-3).
*
National Parks Service, Whitman Massacre*
The Whitman Massacre*
The Whitman Massacre Trial: A Clash of Cultures Oregon State Archives
*
Mary Marsh Cason's - survivor account*
Elam Young's account
