Early missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) on the continent were to the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians of the southeast.
“Other Indian missions were begun shortly after this; in fact the next two decades saw the most widespread efforts of the Board upon the American continent. Many of these missions to Indian tribes were short lived and not very productive but there are three which stand out as of special interest: the mission to the Cherokees, the Oregon mission and the mission to the Dakotas.”
“The Oregon mission is famous for the part in it of Dr. Marcus Whitman and for its connection with the settlement of the northwest and the final inclusion of what are now the states of Washington and Oregon within the Union.”
“There are two controversies connected with this enterprise which have enhanced the interest it would have on other grounds.”
“One has to do with a very human feud between two families growing out of the fact that a certain young lady. Narcissa Prentiss, turned down one suitor and accepted another.”
“The rejected suitor was Rev. H. H. Spaulding who carried on a very successful work among the Nez Perce Indians in Idaho and the successful one was Dr. Marcus Whitman.”
“After Dr. Whitman had been commissioned by the Board to go on an exploratory expedition among the western Indians he was strongly advised to find him a wife to take with him. That didn’t seem hard to do for. in fact, he had already met Miss Prentiss and things were ripe for a proposal.”
“But he found it very difficult to find another couple who had the proper qualifications and who were willing and able to undertake the long and dangerous journey over the Oregon trail. It finally became apparent that the only such couple were Spaulding and his bride.”
“Now quite understandably Mr. Spaulding never liked Narcissa Whitman and eventually bad feeling developed between him and the doctor although there never seemed to be any between Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spaulding.”
“It is greatly to the credit of all concerned that the quarrel was finally settled and settled for good by frank and prayerful conferences and the help of other members of the mission.”
“Both the Spauldings and the Whitmans were completely devoted Christian missionaries; had they not been it is not likely that they could have worked together so long and finally disposed of their quarrel.”
“The other controversy has to do with the historic ride of Dr. Whitman back to the east in the winter of 1842-43. The question in dispute is whether he went east primarily to counsel with the Prudential Committee of the Board about the continuance of the mission …”
“… or to intercede at Washington in the interest of emigration into Oregon and the claiming of the northwest as United States territory. Did he ride as a patriot or as a missionary?”
“As a matter of fact it seems that Marcus Whitman went east with both objectives in mind. The Mission Station at Waiilatpu which was the Whitman’s place of work, a few miles from the present city of Walla Walla, was on the main trail then travelled to the Willamette Valley.”
“Every year larger and larger parties of immigrants passed the station. They started from Missouri in the spring and arrived at Waiilatpu late in the autumn sadly in need of supplies and human help generally. Dr. Whitman had become increasingly interested in this flow of immigration.”
“He was forever pleading with Secretary Greene of the Board to send out pious and industrious families to settle in that part of the territory.”
“While the Board didn’t do anything to help him hundreds and finally thousands came, some pious hut more who were not of any particular help to the cause of the Indian mission.”
“That part of the mission about Waiilatpu was never so prosperous as the one among the Nez Perces. The Indians were the Cayuses, a small and restless tribe number numbering not more than three hundred. “
“There were some among them who were faithful Christians and who worked at the farms which they cultivated under the instruction of Dr. Whitman and his helpers.”
“They had learned something of the Christian gospel before the Whitman party arrived and were accustomed to having daily devotions. Some children came to the school which was conducted when conditions permitted.”
“But the Indians finally came to feel, probably with some justification, that Dr. Whitman’s main interest was in the white settlement of the country. It seemed to them that he was a friend of the whites and they looked upon the white immigrants as threatening their own possession of rights to the land. They certainly had sufficient grounds for that fear.”
“Another and rather curious cause for antagonism toward Dr. Whitman contributed to the eventual tragedy. It was quite customary among the Indians to kill the ‘te wat’ or medicine man if the patient that he treated died.”
“Inevitably some of those whom Dr. Whitman treated died and he was held to blame for it. When there was an epidemic of measles the Indians suffered more than the whites …”
“… and many died as they had developed no immunity to the white man’s disease and also because they treated it by first sweating the patient and then having him plunge into cold water. So the sickness and deaths were blamed on the white men.”
“After a period of increasing tension and irritation, one day a general massacre was carried out and both Dr. and Mrs. Whitman along with a dozen others were killed.”
“The inevitable result was the pursuit and punishment of the Indians and this part of the mission was ended. The Cayuse tribe eventually lost its identity.”
“But the Nez Perces continued to make progress as a Christian community. The beginnings of the Church for the white population had been made in Oregon and Washington. Whitman College also constitutes a permanent memorial and fruit of the short and troubled career of Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman.” (All from Hugh Vernon White, Secretary, The Congregational Church)
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