01Biography
Trained as a doctor in upstate New York, Whitman travelled west in 1836 with his wife Narcissa to found a Presbyterian mission at Waiilatpu, near present-day Walla Walla, Washington. In the winter of 1842-43 he made a brutal mid-winter ride east to St. Louis to defend his mission from being closed by the Mission Board. On the return leg he joined the Great Migration of 1843 and convinced its leaders to push their wagons all the way through to Oregon, a turning point in the trail's history.
02Why they matter
Proved wagons could finish the trail by helping to lead the 1843 Great Migration through to the Columbia.
03How they died
Killed on 29 November 1847 at the Whitman Mission. Cayuse warriors, blaming the mission's measles outbreak, which had killed roughly half the Cayuse children while sparing most settlers, attacked the mission. Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and eleven other settlers died in what became known as the Whitman Massacre.
04Legacy
His and Narcissa's deaths triggered the Cayuse War of 1847-55 and pushed Congress to formally organise Oregon Territory in 1848. The mission site is preserved today as Whitman Mission National Historic Site.