Whitman Mission National Historic Site
Washington

Beginning in 1845, most wagon trains took a shortcut that bypassed the Whitman Mission. Emigrants came here only if they were sick, or low on supplies.

In 1847, one of those emigrant wagon trains brought measles to the mission. The white children recovered, but the local Cayuse tribe had no resistance. Half the tribe died.   Many of the ignorant Cayuse Indians believed that the Whitman's group had cursed the tribe.  In a fit of rage, two Cayuse killed Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and a dozen others in cold blood. The massacre brought and end to the Whitman mission.  The act horrified Americans and impacted the lives of the peoples of the Columbia Plateau for decades afterwards.

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Revised: January 02, 2009.
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