". . . While it is apparent from the letters of Dr. Whitman that he had certain missionary objects in view, it is no less clear that he would not have come at that time, and probably would not have come at all, had it not been his desire to save the disputed territory to the United States. . . ."
The incentive to this volume was the wish to vindicate the characters and the work of the early Protestant missionaries in Oregon from aspersions which have been cast upon them; to show the importance of their labors in the development and settlement of the country; and to prove that it was through their public-spirited and patriotic services that a large part of the Northwest territory was secured to the United States.
Marcus Whitman (1802 – 1847) was an American physician and missionary in the Oregon Country. Along with his wife, Narcissa, he started a mission to the Cayuse in what is now southeastern Washington state in 1836. The area later developed as a trading post and stop along the Oregon Trail, and the city of Walla Walla, Washington developed near there.
In 1843 Whitman led the first large party of wagon trains along the Oregon Trail to the West, establishing it as a viable route for the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who used the trail in the following decade. Settlers encroached on the Cayuse near the Whitman mission. Following the deaths of all the Cayuse children and half their adults from a measles epidemic in 1847, in which the Cayuse suspected the Whitmans' responsibility.
Whitman is commemorated by Whitman College in Walla Walla, Whitman County, Washington, the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest, Mount Rainier's Whitman Glacier, and numerous schools, including Marcus Whitman Central School in Rushville, New York, his hometown. In 1953, the state of Washington donated a statue of him by the sculptor Avard Fairbanks to the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol. An identical one stands at the edge of the campus of Whitman College. The Washington State Legislature has declared the fourth day of September as Marcus Whitman Day. A bronze tablet in Wheeler, New York commemorates his 1828-1835 practice as a medical doctor in that town. In 1977, he was inducted into the Steuben County (NY) Hall of Fame.
Interestingly, Marcus Whitman and his wife adopted Catherine Sager, whose parents died on the way to Oregon. It was Catherine Sager who was later to write the best-selling book: "Across the Plains: A first hand account of pioneer life in the American West."
About the author:
Rev. J. G. Craighead, D.D., became Dean in 1879 of Howard University, Washington, and head of the Theological Department until 1890-91, a period of twelve years. In 1895 he published "The Story of Marcus Whitman: Early Protestant Missions in the Northwest."
Contents
I. OREGON.—THE CONTEST FOR POSSESSION.
II. EXPLORATION BY ORDER OF CONGRESS.
III. AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS.
IV. FOREIGN TRADING COMPANIES.
V. PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN OREGON.
VI. PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN OREGON, CONTINUED.
VII. THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
VIII. A LONG AND BITTER CONTROVERSY.
IX. MISSIONS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD.
X. ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.
XI. PROLONGED CONTROVERSY OVER THE MASSACRE.
XII. THE AGENTS AND CAUSES OF THE MASSACRE.
XIII. SURVIVORS OF THE MASSACRE.
XIV. OREGON SAVED TO THE UNITED STATES.
The incentive to this volume was the wish to vindicate the characters and the work of the early Protestant missionaries in Oregon from aspersions which have been cast upon them; to show the importance of their labors in the development and settlement of the country; and to prove that it was through their public-spirited and patriotic services that a large part of the Northwest territory was secured to the United States.
Marcus Whitman (1802 – 1847) was an American physician and missionary in the Oregon Country. Along with his wife, Narcissa, he started a mission to the Cayuse in what is now southeastern Washington state in 1836. The area later developed as a trading post and stop along the Oregon Trail, and the city of Walla Walla, Washington developed near there.
In 1843 Whitman led the first large party of wagon trains along the Oregon Trail to the West, establishing it as a viable route for the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who used the trail in the following decade. Settlers encroached on the Cayuse near the Whitman mission. Following the deaths of all the Cayuse children and half their adults from a measles epidemic in 1847, in which the Cayuse suspected the Whitmans' responsibility.
Whitman is commemorated by Whitman College in Walla Walla, Whitman County, Washington, the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest, Mount Rainier's Whitman Glacier, and numerous schools, including Marcus Whitman Central School in Rushville, New York, his hometown. In 1953, the state of Washington donated a statue of him by the sculptor Avard Fairbanks to the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol. An identical one stands at the edge of the campus of Whitman College. The Washington State Legislature has declared the fourth day of September as Marcus Whitman Day. A bronze tablet in Wheeler, New York commemorates his 1828-1835 practice as a medical doctor in that town. In 1977, he was inducted into the Steuben County (NY) Hall of Fame.
Interestingly, Marcus Whitman and his wife adopted Catherine Sager, whose parents died on the way to Oregon. It was Catherine Sager who was later to write the best-selling book: "Across the Plains: A first hand account of pioneer life in the American West."
About the author:
Rev. J. G. Craighead, D.D., became Dean in 1879 of Howard University, Washington, and head of the Theological Department until 1890-91, a period of twelve years. In 1895 he published "The Story of Marcus Whitman: Early Protestant Missions in the Northwest."
Contents
I. OREGON.—THE CONTEST FOR POSSESSION.
II. EXPLORATION BY ORDER OF CONGRESS.
III. AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS.
IV. FOREIGN TRADING COMPANIES.
V. PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN OREGON.
VI. PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN OREGON, CONTINUED.
VII. THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.
VIII. A LONG AND BITTER CONTROVERSY.
IX. MISSIONS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD.
X. ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.
XI. PROLONGED CONTROVERSY OVER THE MASSACRE.
XII. THE AGENTS AND CAUSES OF THE MASSACRE.
XIII. SURVIVORS OF THE MASSACRE.
XIV. OREGON SAVED TO THE UNITED STATES.
