In 1835 Marcus and Narcissa Whitman arrived to the Pacific Northwest, building a mission on Cayuse land near the present day Washington/Oregon border with hopes of converting members of the Cayuse tribe to Christianity. However when a deadly measles outbreak devastated the area, it disproportionally killed Cayuse over whites, leading tribal leaders to believe Dr. Whitman was purposely poisoning them. This (along with other reasons) drove tensions so high that on November 29th, 1847, the Cayuse murdered the Whitmans and eleven others living at the mission.
My guest is New York Times bestselling author Blaine Harden, and his book is called “Murder at the Mission: A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West”. He explains the volatile situation that led to the massacre, and how the murders created a ripple effect that led to an explosion of white migration into the Pacific Northwest. He also dismantles a lie created by the Reverend Henry Spaulding that recast fellow missionary Marcus Whitman as the hero who “saved Oregon”.
More can be found at the author’s website here: https://blaineharden.com/
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