Kate Mulhall A romance of the Oregon Trail
do exactly as he thought they should, he openly showed his
disapproval and scolded them.
This helps to explain why the Mission was not as successful as it
might have been; but Whitman was nevertheless a thoroughly sincere
and honest man, always prompted by high motives. Due somewhat to the
lack of harmony in the establishment there, the Board finally
concluded that Waiilatpu should be abandoned.
Very different indeed was the disposition of the lovable and
sweet-tempered woman, Narcissa Whitman, his helpmate in the work. By
kindly manner and tactful methods she endeared herself to those in
her special charge, and was eminently successful in the care and
management of children.
WHITMAN'S RIDE AND THE MASSACRE
Having learned that the Board had ordered the abandonment of two
stations, including the one at Waiilatpu, Whitman asked the
missionaries to convene at that place {276} for consideration of what
steps should be taken to have the order rescinded. Upon arrival of
some of them, he called the meeting without awaiting the arrival of
those coming from a greater distance, as he deemed the matter too
urgent to be postponed even a day. It was decided to have the Doctor
proceed immediately to the East to lay the whole matter before the
Board.
Accordingly Whitman, accompanied by A. L. Lovejoy, left Waiilatpu
October 3, 1842, on the long and afterward famous horseback ride over
the Rocky Mountains and through the vast prairie country during the
winter. He was the kind of man no dangers or difficulties could
deter; and although he underwent great privations, successfully
completed the trip.
His reception by the Board was by no means cordial; but in a forceful
way he showed the serious consequences that would follow the
abandonment of the Missions. Finally convinced by his logic, the
Board rescinded the order, which action was the object for which the
ride was undertaken. After that he visited his old home in New York
State.
Westbound during May of the following year, Whitman overtook the 1843
emigrants somewhere along the Platte River and traveled with them as
far as Fort Boise on the Snake River. Worried about affairs at
Waiilatpu after so long absence, he then went on ahead.
From that time on the affairs of the Mission were still more
unsatisfactory; and the Indians gradually became alarmed at the
number of immigrants arriving in the country, bringing the measles
and other diseases generally fatal to the natives. Whitman was very
successful in treating his own people, but the great majority of
affected Indians succumbed to the diseases contracted from the whites.
The more superstitious ones began to imagine that the Doctor was
using "bad medicine" to kill them off so that his white brothers
could have their lands, an idea which became an obsession with them.
It did not bear fruit for awhile; but as time went on and conditions
showed no {277} signs of change, the foolish natives determined to
destroy the station and kill the missionaries. The latter had been
forewarned more than once by friendly Indians to be on their guard,
as something desperate might happen; but they did not take it
seriously.
On Monday, November 29th, the first of the fatal blows fell. Whitman
was in the sitting room talking with Mrs. Osborne who lived in an
adjoining room. An Indian came to the door, knocked and asked to see
the Doctor about some medicine; he stepped into the outer room where
several were assembled, and talked with them about their sick. While
thus engaged one of them suddenly drew a tomahawk from beneath his
blanket and delivered a crushing blow upon Whitman's head.
Then pandemonium broke loose, and with frightful yells the savages
began the slaughter of the defenseless inmates. In only one instance
was any resistance offered; when attacked by an Indian with a knife,
the school-teacher grappled with his assailant and struggled for his
life until dispatched by another of the natives.
Mrs. Whitman was shot through the breast by a renegade half-breed,
Joe Lewis, and afterwards beaten over the head and face with clubs
until life was extinct. She was the only woman slain, the others
being made captive and confined in one of the Mission houses. The
reign of terror continued through Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
with several other murders of the white people. Two seriously ill
men were dragged out of their beds and clubbed in a most barbarous
manner until they expired.
It is surprising that, wrought up to such a high state of frenzy
against the Mission and its inmates, the Indians did not also
massacre the fifty or more women and children who fell into their
hands. Through the untiring efforts of Peter Skene Ogden, Chief
Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, the latter were ransomed after a
few weeks' captivity.
The Whitman Massacre was one of the saddest and most revolting
episodes in the annals of missionary effort in North America. It
cast a shadow over the land, and {278} caused those who were active
in the movement for the regeneration of the red men to almost abandon
it in despair.
No doubt you think it strange that in telling you about the Oregon
Country, its exploration and early settlement, I should have devoted
so much time to the expeditions, labors and sufferings of the
missionaries. But it was owing primarily to the initiative from
those sources that the Pacific Northwest, with all of its wonderful
resources and possibilities, became known to the people of "the
States"; large numbers were thus encouraged to emigrate to it, aiding
materially in bringing all of that vast region under the flag and
within the dominion of our beloved country.
Otherwise the choicest portion of that territory would in all
probability have passed into the possession of a foreign power. Is
not that a good reason for occupying so much time in recounting their
efforts and exploits? I will now give briefly a few of the
outstanding incidents since the migration to the Oregon Country began
in the wake of the missionaries.
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
In the spring of 1843, a kind of Provisional Government for the
Oregon Country was organized at a meeting of settlers held at
Champoeg in the Willamette Valley. Previous attempts had been made
for that purpose, but owing to divergent views, they had ended in
failure.
Now, however, at a gathering in March, 1843, called ostensibly for
the purpose of taking steps to protect the settlement from predatory
animals and known as the "Wolf Organization," a resolution was
introduced and carried to appoint a committee of twelve to formulate
a plan. At the meeting held on May 2nd attended by both British and
American partisans, the vote was very close, the advocates of a
Provisional Government winning by a slight margin.
It was so close that there was difficulty in determining {279} which
side had the majority; so after one or two unsuccessful attempts to
decide by a _viva voce_ vote, an agreement was reached to have a
division and count--those in favor of the proposal going to the
right, while those opposed went to the left. Joseph L. Meek, a man
of splendid physique and the hero of many adventures in the Rockies,
clad in the garb of the mountaineers, with sparkling eyes, a voice of
command and the air of a Major General, stepped to a niche in history
as he strode to his position crying out, "Who's for a divide! All in
favor of the report and organization follow me."
The hunters and trappers who were present followed his lead, and so
carried the day for the proponents of the measure. More than half
the Americans present voted against it, because they (wrongfully)
believed it a scheme of the Mission party to secure control of the
organization. Were it not that quite a number of French-Canadians
favorable to self-government voted in the affirmative, it would have
lost.
On the following day, May 3rd, the Provisional Government was duly
organized--a date and event long to be remembered. That government
was ably and wisely carried on for a term of six years, until the
United States assumed jurisdiction in 1849.
Dr. John McLoughlin recognized it, as he never would have done were
it not worthy of respect. It demonstrated that the Oregon pioneers
were capable, resourceful and not mere imitators of other men. Their
deeds should be admired and their names venerated.
I might add that the entire white population of the Oregon Country at
that time was only a little more than two hundred. But the tide had
set in, and nearly five times that number were already assembled at
different points on the Missouri River preparing to start overland.
THE 1843 MIGRATION
This was in many respects the most remarkable and important migration
that ever left the Missouri River {280} for the far Northwest.
Although numerically far below those of the following years, it was
the first company regularly organized to go out to that territory
with the sole object of making permanent settlements, and growing up
with it.
The people composing it were not influenced to any considerable
extent by the evangelical movement, but mostly farmers, tradesmen and
mechanics determined to find and make the best of opportunities for
improving their material condition. It was the first migration to
succeed in taking wagons beyond Fort Hall to the banks of the
Columbia and down along the south side of that river to The Dalles,
thence by batteaux or rafts to Fort Vancouver and the Willamette
Valley, thus blazing a trail for future thousands to follow.
Among those emigrants were several men of unusual ability and
forceful character, who were subsequently very successful and
attracted wide attention. Peter H. Burnett--keen, alert and
ambitious, the possessor of an almost inexhaustible fund of
information and anecdote--became the first Governor of California,
1849-51.
Another one was J. W. Nesmith, witty and brilliant, later United
States Senator from Oregon. Jesse Applegate, one of the men who came
over the Oregon Trail in 1843, was a versatile writer, forceful
speaker and a leading worker in the ranks of every progressive
movement in the Pacific Northwest during his long and useful life
there.
These men had the hardihood to attempt a feat considered utterly
impracticable by those who had passed and repassed over that route on
horseback for many years. When asked for his opinion as to the
feasibility of taking the wagons to the Columbia, Richard Grant, the
Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Hall, made this
characteristic and undoubtedly honest reply, "I will not say that
Americans cannot do it, but for myself I cannot see how it would be
possible."
The news that a large company of home seekers had succeeded in
driving their teams and four-wheeled vehicles {281} all the way
through by that route caused widespread rejoicing throughout "the
States," and virtually settled the question as to which nation the
region should belong.
THE UNFORTUNATE SAGER FAMILY
Of the many tragic and pathetic incidents along the Trail during the
early migration to Oregon, none surpasses that of this most bereaved
and sorely afflicted family. Mr. Sager, a blacksmith, went in 1838
from Ohio to Missouri; in the fall of 1843 he moved to St. Joseph in
that State, and in the spring of 1844 joined the Gillman party bound
for the Oregon Country. He was accompanied by his wife and six
children, the eldest a boy of fourteen (a seventh was born on the
road), making five girls and two boys.
While crossing the Platte River one of his wagons in which Mrs. Sager
was riding, overturned and so seriously injured her that she never
entirely recovered from it. Near Fort Laramie the oldest girl fell