Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/116

114 growing influence with the Indians, charged that the whites were being cured, but that Doctor Whitman was exterminating the Indians by his treatment, in order that the whites might occupy Indian possessions. It was also pointed out by Thomas Hill, an educated Shawnee, that Doctor Whitman had a few years before made a mid-winter journey across the continent to persuade more whites to come west; and that in the following summer of 1843 he piloted the emigration train of 675 persons to the Oregon Country in order that the whites might overrun the territory and eventually drive the Indians away from the land of their fathers, as the whites had already driven the Shawnees from their land. At this time Joe Lewis, a half-breed Indian who had been befriended by Doctor Whitman, was aided by other Indians in kindling the growing antagonism into a flame of wrath among the tribesmen. As a result of these and other forces that were at work it was decided by the Cayuses to exterminate the protestant missionaries in that country, and in order to make their destruction complete, they determined also to kill the whites of the other protestant missions east of the Cascade Mountains. To conduct successfully this general massacre of the whites, the Cayuses found it necessary to form alliances with all Indians affected by the missionary movement, and emissaries were sent to other tribes to urge their cooperation.

The Whitman Massacre. Hints from friendly Indians and the sulky manner of the hostiles convinced Doctor Whitman that treachery was intended. The sacrifice that Doctor and Mrs. Whitman had undergone in aiding the Indians was already so great that taken together with hostile threats, the Doctor and his wife at last realized that they had too long delayed their departure from the Waiilatpu Mission. On the afternoon of November 29, 1847, the Indians suddenly broke into the mission house and barbarously and treacherously killed Doctor and Mrs. Whitman and seven