Whitman Mission

After saying goodbye to Dan & Natalie, I pedaled into Walla Walla and found farmer's market in full swing.  After enjoying a fresh juice, I went to meet friends who drove over from Pasco to visit for the weekend.  We went to Whitman Mission together.  Marcus & Narcissa came to Wai i lat pu "the place of the people of the rye grass" in 1937.  They came after four tribal men had ridden all the way to St. Louis asking for the white man's book about heaven and if someone could come to teach them how to read it.  In addition to the goal of teaching the gospel of Jesus, the Whitman's also desired to teach "the arts of civilization, agriculture, and horticulture".  They also provided guidance and hospitality to travel weary Oregon trail folks as more and more settlers followed them westward.  The Cayuse peoples who were hunters and gatherers had no interest in changing their way of life.  So unfortunately, the Whitmans were frustrated with a lack of response to their mission efforts. 

It's a common mistake: thinking that church traditions and cultural lifestyles are part of the "Christian lifestyle".  It's also arrogant to think one way of life is superior to another, and try to control other people.  But following the Jesus way is about having a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe; people of every tribe and every nation are welcome to call on Jesus. It's not necessary to have a certain vocation or speak a certain language, wear particular clothes or have a particular hair style.  So the incredibly hard working Whitman's, whose two year old daughter was lost to drowning, were successful farmers but saw little fruit in their ministry work. 

Then in 1847, a measles epidemic arrived on a wagon train. Marcus Whitman was as well trained a physician as existed in that day, but his medicine could not save the tribal people.   About half of the Cayuse people died in just a couple of months.  Tragedy mounted upon tragedy when several Cayuse came and took the lives of the Whitmans and others with them, as was their cultural practice for medicine men who did not succeed in their work.  14 were killed, 8 women and 37 children taken captive until people from Hudson's bay company came to negotiate their release.  Protestant missions in the area shut down. 5 Cayuse men were hung for the killings in 1850.

This is the story as told at the museum. I wonder what other perspectives might have to say about this incident? If only we could know what really happened; our knowledge of history is limited to the viewpoint of the storyteller. It was said that having legal authority to prosecute for these murders was a local motivating force to become a US Territory.

Ruts of the Oregon trail at the mission area

with the Lovejoys for the weekend

A memorial was erected on the hill 50 years after the death of the Whitmans