Whitman Mission
Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were missionaries to the Indians.
They founded a mission in Walla Walla in 1836 to help the Cayuse Indians. The Whitmans were the first to do several things. Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding were the first white women to cross the continent overland. Most other people went by boat. The Whitman's wagon was the first vehicle to travel as far west as Fort Boise.
The Whitmans worked with the Indians for over a decade. Then a tragedy struck the Whitmans. Thirteen of them were killed by the Cayuse Indians because of cultural differences, increasing number of emigrants, white people taking Indian land and a measles epidemic. The measles epidemic killed one half of the Indian tribe.
