FOREWORD
With the current travel restrictions in place, due to the Covid 19 virus, I am once more having to break my own rules of visiting the places that I write about and taking my own pictures . As a result I will be making a post that I would not have been making in pre Covid times; I will therefore be using pictures that can be freely found available on line and apologise in advance for any failing to credit the photographer of pictures I use; but I will give credit when I possibly can. Again due to travel restrictions, I have chosen to indulge myself by covering another one of my interests –
The Old American ” Wild ” West – not like I was going to nip over there next week or anything . Mrs W has said to me (in better times) ” Wouldn’t you fancy going to New York ? ” to which I replied ” No – but we can go to The Little Bighorn if you like , ” I would also like to visit Tombstone ( Arizona ) , Matagorda Peninsula ( Texas ) – birthplace and early life of Charles Siringo, and also El Paso ( just for the ‘el of it ). Although I have enjoyed doing the research for this post, I have not enjoyed the fact of having no leg work to do, and using pictures that are not my own work. When we get freedom of movement back , this post may likely be one of the first that gets the delete button. We will see – hope you enjoy.
On to the Whitman Massacre now – there are plenty of versions of this event already available on line, and I have drawn on some of these for my information, as well as reading a contemporary account of someone who was present and survived the ” Massacre” – Catherine Sager. My account of the massacre will no doubt have errors , some will be by me using incorrect information that I have found, and some errors will be all my own work. Hold on tight – it could be a rocky ride. ( No pun intended ) – clicking on images will usually enlarge them if necessary.
The first question , of course, must be – Who, what or where was Whitman ? Marcus Whitman was born in New York in 1802 . After the death of his mother, when Marcus was seven years old. he went to live with his uncle in Massachusetts. Marcus attended school and was taught by a congregational pastor ( among others) The Reverend Moses Hallock . Marcus decided, in his teenage years, that he would like like to become a Minister, but his family did not approve as it would take seven years to qualify – four years in college and three years in a theological seminary . Marcus spent the next three years, back in New York, working for his stepfathers tannery and shoe business; at the age of 21 Marcus apprenticed himself to a local doctor for about two years, then enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons and after sixteen weeks he qualified for a license to practise medicine. How times have changed. Marcus then went to Canada to carry out his medical work, where he stayed for a couple of years, but he still had the yearning to be a preacher. Below is an image of Marcus Whitman taken from a painted portrait .
Marcus Whitman was not the only person in New York State to be caught up in ” The Second Great Awakening ” , which was the name given to the protestant religious revival that was gripping the United States at that time; there was a young woman called Narcissa Prentiss (born 1808) who had also heard the call . Narcissa had decided that she wished to become a missionary, to teach the pagan native Americans about God and his son Jesus Christ ( they had only been able to manage without christianity for about ? well forever really ! ) , so she was giving them something that they really wanted, and needed.( NOT)
Narcissa was a member of many church groups , and a trained teacher , so was ideal for the job, and applied to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ( ABCFM) . The downside was that the ABCFM did not want unmarried misionaries, they only wanted “steady ” married people to spread the christian word to the pagans. We are not certain how Marcus got to hear about Narcissa Prentiss , but he learnt of her wish to become a missionary, like himself, so travelled to her place to meet up with her. After a short meeting they both decided that being married would be beneficial to them both in their quest to spread the word. Marcus proposed marriage, and Narcissa accepted – talk about a marriage of convenience ! Marcus must have been in contact with the ABCFM, about becoming a mission doctor, before he visited Narcissa, because, after the acceptance of the marriage proposal, Marcus set off west, with Samuel Parker, as part of a caravan, heading to the yearly meeting of mountain men and trappers, near the Green River area, to find a good place to build a christian mission . It appears that Marcus Whitman and Samuel Parker did not really see eye to eye, so just tolerated each other on that very long journey on the trail that was soon to gain some notoriety, becoming known as The Oregan Trail.
Marcus found a place just west of where the city of Walla Walla now stands in Washington State. The land he chose was in the territory occupied by the Native American Cayuse tribe . With some language difficulty, an agreement was reached, with the Cayuse people that a mission may be built on their land. It has to be said at this point, that the Cayuse where not hostile to the few white explorers and traders that they had accounted, in fact their meetings where usually advantageous to the Cayuse, with trade, and technology ( and by technology I don’t mean the latest i phone, I mean tools, equipment and ideas etc ! ). The Hudson Bay Company being one of the big players to the Cayuse people.
Picture from Cayuse Native Americans and Their Horses.
Having got the nod from the Cayuse, Marcus hurried back ( as much as you could hurry on the Oregan Trail) to the ABCFM, to inform them of his success in securing a spot for a mission, and to advise them that the trail was suitable for women to use (?). Marcus married Narcissa in February 1836 , so with backing and funding by the ABCFM, they set out west, like a small expedition carrying the essentials that they needed, which included, tools, supplies, food, and of course a few men . The party also included another missionary couple, Henry and Eliza Spalding , and a few others – a guides, etc. Below is an illustration of the party crossing The Great Divide – Rocky Mountain area.
This was of course a very tough time for them as they were basically “city people ” so living out of a wagon on a long trail through the wilderness was really hard going; especially for Narcissa and Eliza as women were expected to be ” Genteel and somewhat fragile ” , though living on the trail they had to be as tough as old boots. It was often said later that Narcissa was the first white woman to cross the Rockies ( no mention of Eliza Spalding who was part of the party). On reaching the site that the Cayuse people had granted to Marcus, a building was quickly erected, this turned out to be a temporary building, as bigger and better one replaced it, later. It seems that although they had a marriage of convenience, Narcissa was expecting a child, and I doubt very much that anybody was claiming it would be a virgin birth. Narcissa was pleased when the Spaldings moved on to act as missionaries to a neighbouring Native American tribe – The Nez Perce, it would seem that Narcissa did not like the ” close living ” arrangements with the Spaldings; maybe because Henry Spalding , had some years previously , proposed marriage to Narcissa, but we won’t go into that now. For a few years , all seemed to be going pretty well, several buildings being added to the mission complex , but the Cayuse began to lose interest in the mission, with Marcus’s Hell and Damnation preaching, it got that only a handful of the Cayuse would attend the Sunday service, if they had nothing better to do . The Whitmans were trying to save the native’s souls but were losing their audience; it didn’t help when the Catholic missionaries appeared because they had decided that they wanted a piece of the action, so they could save some souls too . Narcissa , it seems had high standards too, and did not like the fact that the Cayuse would just walk into her kitchen , when they wanted , she said that they were dirty and she had to clean up after them, and they brought fleas in . Nothing Racist then. Marcus though, a little more tolerant of the Cayuse, realized that he was not having much success with christianizing them, though a few had accepted the faith, the majority were just happy to sit on the fence and watch . Because of the apparant failure of the mission, the American Missionary Board decided in 1852 that they were going to pull the plug on the mission, Marcus decided that he must hurry back East, despite the approaching winter, to meet with the Board, and persuaded them to reverse their decision . Marcus set off back to the Mission in 1843, joining a caravan of migrants , that was to become a small part of, the first of the “Great Migration ” Heading West.
This brings us to the Oregan Trail – Do not underestimate the hardship that using the trail caused the pioneers. Not only the length of more than 2000 miles, but mountains to cross and rivers to ford, and as more families started to head west on the trail, in rows and rows of wagons – disease was the greatest killer, with drowning coming second. Forget Hollywood now, it was nearly always oxen that pulled the wagons – the wagons more often being the smaller, nimbler Praire Schooner type
Although the families travelling the trail were very afraid of being attacked by the Native Americans, in reality, attacks were very few indeed. Disease was by far the biggest killer. The route west was an arduous plod , and if a wagon was doing 10 miles per day on the trail, they were absolutely nailing it. Below is a picture of a couple of wagons on the trail from about 1860
Below is a picture of tracks on part of the trail that still exists today – picture from Salacycle History Collection
Anyway – enough about the Oregan Trail – lets get back to the mission . The Whitmans, realizing that they were not fairing well with getting the Cayuse to follow the Methodist cause, and with Narcissa’s growing dislike and distrust of the natives; the Whitman mission began to also serve the ever increasing number of people heading west on the trail, as well as keeping in contact with the Cayuse. The Mission had , in effect become dual purpose, serving both the Cayuse, and increasingly the people heading west. The Mission became almost like a service station for the Oregan Trail, having a blacksmith’s shop, a grain mill , with store. Narcissa was also running a school there for the children, and Marcus, being a medical man, was never short of patients. Things seemed to be going swimmingly for a couple of years for the mission, with it being seen, by those on the Oregan Trail, as an oasis of civilisation, in a harsh wilderness of the American west, with the main focus being the emigrants using the trail, and the Cayuse becoming more of a bit player. Like a lot of the Native Americans, the Cayuse became more horrified as tens of thousands of white settlers began passing through , and settling around their territory. We are going to jump to the year 1844 now , because that is when my eye witness – Catherine Sager came to the Mission. She was present at the Massacre, as a child, and wrote about it some years later. It is chiefly her version, from the book ” ACROSS THE PLAINS IN 1844 ” that I get the majority of my information. We must remember that this is Catherine’s account of the massacre, and accounts do vary, from writer to writer
The book is written in a very ” matter of fact ” way , with very little, if any emotion displayed in the writing ; but I still read it from start to finsh.
Catherine arrived at the Whitman Mission in October 1844, at the age of 10, she and her six siblings, two older brothers aged 14 and 12, and four younger sisters , the youngest only 5 months old, brought a few days later, having been born on the journey west over the Oregan Trail. Both her parents had died on the journey, first her father from disease, then her mother a few weeks after giving birth, again from illness. (See the Oregan Trail really was a very arduous journey indeed). In one of her more lucid moments of her fever, Catherines mother , begged the doctor who had been caring for her ( Dr Dagon ), and the leader of their section of the wagon train – Captain William Shaw, to see her children safe to the Whitman Mission, where she had planned to over winter.Catherine’s mother died and was buried in the area where the city of Twin Falls now stands in Idaho. Catherine said that the whole company adopted the children, with one woman taking the baby, and she speaks very highly of Captain Shaw, and his wife who took them under his wing. The kindness shown to the orphaned children by the rest of the wagon train should not be overlooked – Humanity at its best.
I am going to use Catherines description of the Mission, and of Narcissa when the children first arrived there, I will copy from the book – ” We saw a large white house surrounded with palisades. A short distance from the doctor’s dwelling was another large adobe house built by Mr Gray (sic), but now used by immigrants in the winter, and for a granary in the summer. It was situated near the mill pond , and the grist (grain) mill was not far from it. Between the two houses were the blacksmith shop and the corral, enclosed with slabs set up endways . The garden lay between the mill and the house, and a large field was on the opposite side. A good sized ditch passed in front of the house, connecting with the mill pond, intersecting other ditches all around the farm for the purpose of irrigating the land ” Below is a plan – copyright 1936 G H Sauers. The Native American tribes shown were not camped in the spot shown, the camps were several miles away – it is just to show the general direction that the camps were in relation to the Mission.
We will now see what Catherine wrote about her first meeting with Narcissa. They were waiting outside, whilst Captain Shaw, was inside speaking to Narcissa; the Captain had previously rode ahead to the mission, to speak to the Whitmans about the children, before they arrived in the care of Dr Dagon on a small cart. This is what Catherine said about Narcissa on their first meeting. “ Thus Mrs Whitman found us. She was a large, well formed woman, fair complexioned, with beautiful auburn hair, nose rather large, and large gray (sic) eyes. She had a dark calico dress and gingham sun bonnet. We thought, as we shyly looked at her that she was the prettiest woman we had ever seen. She spoke kindly to us as she came up, but like frightened things we ran behind the cart, peeping shyly around at her. She then addressed the boys, asking why they wept, adding ” poor boys no wonder you weep ! ” She then began to arrange things as we threw them out at the same time conversing with an indian woman sitting on the ground nearby.” Catherine does refer to Native Americans as Indians in her book, so I copy word for word what she writes, when I am transcribing from her book . I find the description she gives, Makes Narcissa into a real life person, and a bit of a looker too – forget the first picture – here is another – also from a painting , as photography was very much in its infancy at this time.
Narcissa very much wanted to take the children, especially the baby girl, as her own daughter was buried nearby after drowning at the age of two in the Walla Walla river that runs close to the mission, and she had already taken other children (often mixed race) who had been left or abandoned by their( usually) native mothers. You see despite her faults, particularly her attitude to the Cayuse, she really wasn’t a bad old stick ( as the saying goes). The Whitmans ran a tight ship at the mission, and could be strict disciplinarians – well you would have to be with so many children about ; I can just see in my head the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music ! Marcus on a trip back east, legally adopted ( well as legal as he could in those days) the Sager children. Catherine became very fond of Narcissa and often refered to her as Mother, but usually called Marcus, Dr Whitman, or the Doctor, only on rare occasions Father. I did not care for Narcissa at first, but I now quite like the woman, I would like to write more about their life in the mission, but now we must move on.
Coming to 1847 now, the increasing flow of wagon trains heading west , brought the disease of measles with them ; although a small number of the immigrants where killed by the disease, many of them also survived the illness. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the Native Americans, and their forebears , had never been exposed to the illness before, the death rate, especially among the children was pretty close to 100%. Dr Whitman could do little to help them, though he did try , and appeared to have more success treating the immigrant children ( who were mainly white caucasian ), due to their ancestral ability to fight the disease. The Cayuse were not happy with this situation at all ( well would you be ?) – the Doctor curing the white children, but letting the Cayuse children die. Dr Whitman it seems was on hiding to nothing. treating the poor Cayuse children but they were still dropping like flies.
Let’s move on to the villain of the piece , in Catherine Sager’s eyes. Again I will transcribe from her book Across The Plains in 1844 , She does describes a person as a HALF BREED – which I have to say does not sit well with me, I personally find it a very demeaning term. .”The emigration had brought a Canadian half-breed named Jo (sic) Lewis, who was so disagreeable that they refused to let him travel farther (sic) in their company. Dr Whitman reluctantly gave him some work. He tried to send him below with a company, ( The emigrants usually travelled down to the Willamette valley after leaving the Mission) but in a few days he was back again, so the doctor reluctantly engaged him for the winter. He was destitute of clothes and was supplied . We disliked him, but he was well used and kindly treated. Yet this wretch laid the careful plans, and told terrible lies that led to the massacre and took an active part in murder and robbery”.
I did also come across another contemporary account of Joe Lewis that paints him in a quite different light, so we must remember that this version of events is mainly Catherine Sagers opinion, and account of the Massacre. ‘Tis my opinion that Mr Jo(e) Lewis was little more than one of the final nails in the coffin for the Whitman Mission, despite Catherine seeing him as the devil incarnate. To set the scene I will take a few more passages from Catherine’s book; like I have said previously she calls the Native Americans, indians, which though an inaccurate name, I do not find offensive, and apologise in advance if any reader does. We start a few days before the massacre.- ” It was now late in the season and the weather was very inclement. Whitman’s large family were all sick, and the disease was raging fearfully among the indians, who were rapidly dying. I saw from five to six buried daily. The field was open for creating mischief, , and the two Joes improved it. ” – The other Joe presumably was Joseph Stansfield who had previously worked at the Mission, but had left about a year before . ( Not certain on that one, but Catherine describes him as a Frenchman and Jo(e) Lewis was mixed French/Canadian and Native American ) Catherine continues about Jo(e) Lewis ” His cupidity ( Avarice/Greed) had been awakened, and he and his associate expected to reap a large spoil. “ So there you go – a real bad guy. Now remember Henry Spalding the other missionary, who went to the Nez Perce lands, well he and his daughter ( Eliza – named after her mother) arrived at the Whitman Mission . It seems the Spaldings had intergrated much better with the natives way of life, rather than the Whitmans who had tried to turn the natives into Euro Americans, and dismayed at, and sometimes despised those who would not readily accept their Christian teachings. The Spaldings learnt the Native language, where the Whitmans forbid the learning of the native tongue.
On the Saturday following his arrival at the Whitman Mission, Henry Spalding and Marcus Whitman set off to the Umatilla to visit the natives there, and to old a meeting of worship on the Sunday . Having travelled the 25 or so miles to the Umatilla, Marcus stepped into the doctor mode and started giving treatment to the sick people , Whilst Henry Spalding went about attending to his own business. They decided later that day ( Sunday?) that Henry Spalding should stay a few days to mingle amongst, and preach to the natives there. ( I bet the natives were really looking forward to that !) , whilst Marcus decided that he must return to the Mission, because of all the sickness that was there. – let’s go back to what Catherine wrote now
“ As Doctor Whitman was mounting his horse to leave, Stickas, a friendly Christian Indian, who was the owner of the lodge, came out and told him that ” Jo Lewis is making trouble: that he was telling his ( Stickas’s) people that the doctor, and Mr Spalding were poisoning the Indians so as to give their country to his own people ” He said ” I do not believe him, but some do, and I fear that they will do you harm. You had better go away for a while until my people have better hearts” There you go – that Joe Lewis again, stirring the pot (allegedly) . How do we know what was said to Doctor Whitman ? Well after riding home in the dark, he told Narcissa what had been said to him, and Catherine Sager was lying in the same room, not very well her self, and overheard what was said. Marcus realizing that Catherine had heard what he was saying then went and comforted Catherine to ease her worries. Catherine just happens to add at this point that – three of the children ( one of them Helen Mar Meek 9 years old – one of Narcissa’s adoptees) were dangerously ill, two of them later died.- Poor little Helen was one of the two. Helen was the daughter of mountain man Joseph Meek, and a Native American woman,
The other child who later died appears to be, one of Catherines younger sister, Hannah. The following day, Monday 29th November, was a very grey, miserable day; a native child had died and was brought to the Mission, for burial, in the graveyard that was there. After performing the service at the funeral, Marcus returned to the house, and told Narcissa that only a few relatives of the child had been present, but he had seen a sizeable group of the Cayuse waiting near the grain mill, where a ” beef ” was being butchered , for the Mission station; the Cayuse would often gather when an animal had been slaughtered for Mission, and the occupants, as there would nearly always be something in it for them. Marcus returned to the mission, where it seems Narcissa was bathing two of the girls – possibly Catherine and her sister, and what method of bathing was used I am not aware. Narcissa went to get one of the girls some milk and found a number of Cayuse men had entered the kitchen, in a quite agitated mood. It was not unknown, for the Cayuse to just walk into the Mission building unannounced, but their manner, on this occasion alarmed Narcissa. She hurried back into the living room, bolting the door behind her; she had no sooner bolted the door when one of the Cayuse men rapped on the door and said that they needed to speak to the doctor. We will now go back to Catherine’s version . “ Dr Whitman told his wife to bolt the door after him; she did so . Listening for a moment, she seemed to be reassured, crossed the room and took up the youngest child . (un-named) She sat down with this child in her arms . Just then Mrs Osborn came in from an adjoining roomand sat down . This was the first time this lady had been out of her room for weeks, having been very ill. The Osborn family were at the Mission because Marcus had engaged Mr Osborn to act as a manager of the everyday running of the mission, so he ( Marcus) could spend more time with nearby Natives. Mrs Osborne may it is believed, suffered a miscarriage.
Carrying on now with Catherine’s account. ” She had scarcely sat down, when we were all startledby an explosion that seemed to shake the house “ (The explosion was almost cerainly the simultaneous firing of two guns in the kitchen) ” The two women sprang to their feet and stood with white faces and distended eyes. The children rushed outdoors, some of them without clothes, as we were taking a bath. Placing the child on the bed Mrs Whitman called us back and started for the kitchen, but changing her mind, she fastened the door, and told Mrs Osborn to go to her room and lock the door,at the same time telling us to put on our clothes. Mrs Whitman then began to walk the floor, wringing her hands, saying ” Oh the Indians ! the Indians! they have killed my husband and I am a widow”. She repeated this many times. At this moment Mary Ann ( Mary Ann Bridger – another adoptee of Narcissa) who was in the kitchen rushed around the house and came in at a door that was not locked; her face was deathly white; we gathered around her and inquired if father was dead . She replied “Yes”
Marcus was not in fact dead at this point, but he was in a very bad way, what is believed to have happened in the kitchen is that Marcus Whitman entered the kitchen, and sat down to talk to the Cayuse ; one of the Cayuse worked his way round the back of the chair and wacked Marcus over the head with a Tomahawk, two shots were then fired simultaneously, one at Marcus and the other at John Sager who was about sixteen years old ( Catherine’s oldest brother) who was in there winding twine. Mary Ann Bridger, who was also in the kitchen, ran out of the outside door and round the building then in through the outside door of the room where Narcissa and the others were. We will carry on with Catherine’s words now ” Just then a man (Mr Kimball) from the beef came in at the same door, with his arm broken.( by a bullet) He said, ” Mrs Whitman, the Indians are killing us all. ” This roused her to action. The wounded man was lying on the floor calling for water. She brought him a pitcherful from another room, locked all the doors, then unlocking that doorshe went into the kitchen. As she did so several emigrant women with their small children rushed in. The Cayuse men had left the kitchen ( nobody left alive in there – well barely) to carry on their looting and killing elsewhere on the Mission Station . Narcissa, with the help of one of the other women, dragged Marcus back into the main room, he was mortally wounded but conscious. ” The blood was streaming from a gunshot wound in the throat. Kneeling over him, she implored him to speak to her. To all her questions he simply whispered “yes” or “no” as the case might be. Mrs Whitman would often step to the sash door ( sash door – door with glass panels to let in light) and look out through the window to see what was going on out of doors,as the roar of guns showed us that the bloodthirsty fiends were not yet satisfied. At such times she would exclaim: ” Oh that Jo Lewis is doing it all ! ( This is how Narcissa saw it – so consequently young Catherine Sager saw it this way too)
Carrying on with the Joe Lewis angle Catherine adds some more – “several times this wretch came to the door and tried to get into the room where we were. When Mrs Whitman would ask ” What do you want Jo?” he would run away. ( It seems to me that this Joe Lewis person had a particular dislike for the Whitmans, and the way that they behaved towards the Natives ) Again with Catherine – ” Looking out we saw Mr Rogers ( Marcus’s assistant) running towards the house, hotly pursued by Indians. He sprang against the door, breaking out two panes of glass. Mrs Whitman opened the door and let him in, and closed it in the face of his pursuers, who with a yell, turned to seek other victims. Mr Rogers was shot through the wrist and Tomahawked on the head; seeing the doctor lying upon the floor, he asked if he was dead, to which the doctor replied ,” No”
The Mission Stataion school teacher, Mr Sanders, having heard the gun shots in the kitchen ( being only two rooms away ) ran round to see what was happening. Finding that the door was locked, he stood , trying to take in the situation. Narcissa saw him and motioned for him to return back to the school room. As he was going away he was grabbed by a Native who had a large butcher knife . There was a struggle, with Mr Sander holding his own, until another Native joined in . Catherine says ” Standing by Mrs Whitmans side, I watched the horrid strife until, sickened, I turned away. Just then a bullet came through the window, piercing Mrs Whitman’s shoulder. Clasping her hands to the wound, she shrieked with pain, and then fell to the floor. I ran to her and raised her up. She said ” Child you cannot help me, save yourself.” We all crowded round her and began to weep. She commenced praying for us, ” Lord save these little ones.” She repeated this over many times. She also prayed for her parents saying: ” This will kill my poor mother .”
Helping Narcissa to her feet, they all retreated up the stairs, taking the sick children with them, Narcissa was laid on a bed, when crashing was heard downstairs as the Natives broke the door in and entered the downstairs room. The Osborn family, who were still in their room downstairs , had, very wisely lifted a loose floorboard and concealed themselves under the floor; escaping later that night. We must remember that the only people that were armed at the Mission, were the Natives, predominantly Cayuse Natives.Like I said previously – this is not a Hollywood version, this is a real life (and death) version with real living (and dying) people. The people upstairs, found a broken gun in the bedroom, which Mr Kimbal propped over the banister, to act as a deterrent
Forcing the door open at the bottom of the stairs, they saw the gun, so did not rush up the stairs. a short while later a Native called up to Mr Rogers , saying that he was going to save them as he was a Christian. He advised them that the others were going to burn down the building so they must leave. He said that they would carry Mrs Whitman out on the sofa that she was laying on, then come back for the others. Catherine Sagar warned Narcissa that this was one of the natives who had killed Mr Sander, the teacher, but Narcissa thought Catherine was mistaken. (She wasn’t). According to Catherine Joe Lewis took one end of the sofa, and Mr Rogers the other; ( francis Sager – Catherine’s other brother aged about 14) was also present. They carried her out into the yard – Joe Lewis dropped his end of the sofa, and a volley of bullets left, Narcissa , young Francis, and Mr Rogers bleeding and dying on the ground. I did find a more graphic version of this event in another piece of modern writing, allegedly copied from an account by Catherine Sager, involving Narcissa also being clubbed, but as I have not found that in Catherine’s works myself,(apart from on that piece) I will not use it.
The children from the school room had been rounded up and lined up in the kitchen, presumably to be shot, Some Cayuse leaders were in the kitchen discussing the fate of the children; Eliza Spalding ( remember her ?) was one of the children, and was fluent in the native language of the area and was aware of what was being said. The upshot was that they decided to spare the women and children, and to hold them for ransom. Below is a painting of two of the Cayuse chiefs who were allegedly involved in the massacre
The Natives persuaded the remaining people that they would be spared, and moved the women and children down to the emigrant house, Catherine Sager, her two sisters two other girls (adopted sisters) and Mr Kimball lay quiet upstairs, expecting the building to be burnt, and themselves with it, as the Natives left the building. Surprisingly the building was not burned, and through the night, some of the younger girls were crying out for water. No water was available in the building , so the wounded Mr Kimball said he would go to the river and get some. The brave man got some water at the river, but never made it back, he was spotted by the Cayuse, and paid with his life.
It is thought that more than 70 people – emigrants and residents, were present at the Mission Station, on the day of the massacre, 13 were killed, about 50 ransomed (nearly all women and children) , and a small number managed to escape. The big problem was, that the Massacre ( though actually only 13 people) gave the green light to the government, for the persecution of the Native Americans. We will end with Catherine Sager’s words –
” The clock tolled the midnight hour ere death came to the relief of these victims of savage brutality. The dead bodies lay where they fell from Monday night until Wednesday,when the Christian Indians, among whom the doctor and his wife had laboured for eleven years, and from whom the natives had received nothing but kindness, gave consent to have them buried, but not one of them would help in the task. Jo Stanfield was set at the work. A grave three feet deep and wide enough to receive the eleven victims was dug, and the bodies placed in it. The wolves excavated the grave and devoured the remains. The volunteers who went to fight the Indians gathered up the bones, placed them in a box, and again buried them, and this is all the burial these martyrs of Americanism in Oregan have ever received.
wessyman 
A fascinating story that I have never heard before, in all its brutal detail.
Even with (mostly) their best intentions, it sounded like an extremely complicated situation that they all found themselves in.
Also, thank you for introducing me to the Oregan Trail. I’d never heard of that before, until now. Good stuff.
The Oregan Trail was indeed a brutal journey, made by unprepared people, being sold things to take that they would not need, and finding that they had to discard them on the trail, to lighten their load