USA > Oregon > Pioneer days of Oregon history, Vol. II > Part 5
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The doctor returned to the frontier settlements, urging the citizens to immigrate to the Pacific coast. After his exertions in this behalf, he left for Independence, Mo., and started for Oregon with a large immigrant train some time in the month of May. With his energy and knowledge of the country he rendered them very great assistance, and continued to do so until he reached his home about the first of October, to find the home of his choice sadly neglected and the flour- ing mill burned. The Indians were very hostile about the doctor's leaving at the time he did, and I have no doubt that during his absence the seeds of the awful massacre were sown by these haughty and savage Cayuses, although it did not take place until four years afterwards.
Colonel Joseph K. Kelly, who represented Oregon in the United States Senate, and was lieutenant-colonel in the In- dian Wars of 1855-57, and resided later in Washington, has told me several incidents of that fearful mid-winter journey
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that he had direct from Lovejoy. One was, that as they were penned in that fearful ravine, they one evening saw a camp-fire on the bluffs above, and Whitman made his way up the steep bank to learn if they were savages or white men. He had reached where a fallen tree protected him from their view, and soon saw they were whites, though they used the Spanish language. They were surprised when he appeared, and seized their guns, but when they realized his being a white man, greeted him cordially and sent some down to assist his friends to climb up there with their animals. They were a company from Taos, N. M., who had hunted buffalo. They had abundance of jerked meat, fed them bountifully, treated them kindly and took them on to Taos. It was indeed a friendly procedure.
This account of that fearful winter journey, written over twenty-five years later, shows what determined men they were and how Whitman himself was daring in the extreme in carrying out his plans. As to the motives for his journey, it is clear enough to any unprejudiced person, who will read all the evidence, that while he had at heart the cause of the mission, that he was equally impressed with the im- portance of influencing immigration to determine the title to Oregon by occupancy, and made that fearful mid-winter journey to reach the frontier in time to address the people.
It is useless to canvass all the accounts published as to what Whitman did or did not do on arrival and while at the East. That he published word that went through Mis- souri, Arkansas and reached Texas, to influence immigra- tion, is beyond question, informing them that the caravan of 1842 had reached the Columbia River in safety and giving assurance that he would return with the immigra-
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tion in the spring and render all aid in his power. Those were not days when the newspaper was such a power in the land ; the telegraph, as well as railroad, was in the future, but what Whitman wrote went into many Western news- papers, and a pamphlet was published that helped to swell the throng that gathered on the border.
In his defence of Whitman, Rev. Myron Eells says:
He reached Missouri early in 1843. As soon as he reached that State he scattered word as far and as fast as his haste to reach Washington would permit, urging the people to go to Oregon, certify- ing that they would be able to reach the Columbia with their wagons, and promising to aid them by his knowledge and presence. After reaching Washington and conferring with those in authority, he evi- dently became more than ever impressed with the belief that immi- grant wagons reaching the 'Columbia that year was the necessity for saving Oregon. According to the testimony of John Zachary, then of Texas, and C. D. Carey, then of Missouri, both of whom came that year, having been induced to do so by Dr. Whitman, he pub- lished a pamphlet in which he described Oregon, its soil, climate and desirableness for American colonists, and assured those who wished to go that wagons could be taken to the Columbia, notwith- standing the representations of the Hudson's Bay Company that they could be taken no further than Fort Hall.
There has been much written on this question, and while over-sanguine friends have claimed too much, it looks as if some have jealously grudged this noble man the little he desired. Some historians, who gave him abundant praise as a patriotic man, denounce the story that he visited Wash- ington as a myth or fabrication. He certainly did visit the national capital and saw Webster, who was Secretary of State, but could not convince him of the Value of Oregon to the nation. In Secretary of War Spencer, of the Cabinet, he found an old friend of his young days, who
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introduced him to President John Tyler, who listened with interest to his claims for the Columbia region and to his promise that he would take through a wagon train in the spring and summer to the Columbia. No doubt Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, had assured them that such a wagon road was impracticable, for he may have thought so, even if the wish was father to the thought, for his company had left their own wagons at Fort Hall.
Years ago the author received from Dr. William Geiger, who filled Whitman's place at the mission during his ab- sence, and who was so entirely reliable that the reader can unhesitatingly believe what he says, the statement that Whitman made him soon after his return, as follows :
Reaching the border, he spent there only the time necessary to give out word that in the spring he would pilot an immigration to the Columbia River and take them through in their wagons. This done, he took a direct route to Washington to make his report to our government. He crossed the plains in a rough mountain suit made of a blanket coat, fur cap and coat and leather leggings, dressed in the half civilized garb peculiar to the mid-continent.
In his schoolboy days the doctor had been acquainted with the Secretary of War, John C. Spencer, of New York. He went to him, told a plain story of the value of the country, and was introduced by him to Daniel Webster, Secretary of State; then laid all the facts before him, praising the country as of immense value to the United States, and adding that he had heard there was a possibility it might be transferred to Great Britain. But Webster made the reply that has been attributed to him, calling forth such animadversion and severe criticism: "You are too late, doctor, the Oregon question is in the hands of the President." Whitman made the strong plea his in- tense feeling prompted and his use of language and knowledge of the· facts allowed, with no effect.
Webster was entirely biased by his feelings as a New
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Englander ; he knew that the fishermen of his State had mil- lions of annual interest in the Newfoundland fisheries, and thought that more important than to save Oregon. What a difference it would have made had the Columbia River been the north boundary of Oregon! He quoted the argument that distance rendered our region worthless to the nation. If we kept it we could make no practical use of it, because no roads could be made to create travel or commerce. Finally, he said the Oregon question had been considered and turned over to President Tyler ; so far as he was con- cerned it had passed entirely out of his hands. Of course, those who contend that Whitman never even went to Wash- ington on such an errand laugh at this, but it is well known that Webster asserted that the St. John River, of Canada, was a hundred times the importance of the Columbia ; he could not be made for a long time to see the value of Oregon to the nation. He did know the value of the fish- eries on the North Atlantic, but did not grasp the idea that the fisheries on the Pacific could be of equal importance ; that the Columbia was one of the great rivers of the world, and that what was then Oregon had a not distant future that would see in its bounds a group of States to be of equal importance with New England. In time Daniel Webster realized something of this, but not in that early spring of 1843.
Whitman brought back with him his nephew, Perrin B. Whitman, who testified that when at the East, preparing to leave for Oregon, he heard his uncle, the doctor, tell all these facts as they are told here, and show the greatest in- terest in securing immigrants to join the trains in 1843.
Webster declined to take Dr. Whitman to see the Presi-
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dent, so Dr. Geiger said he secured the friendly aid of Secretary Spencer again ; was well received and told Presi- dent Tyler his plain, unvarnished tale. Tyler was greatly interested, promised not to allow Oregon to be negotiated away if a wagon train could be taken to the Columbia, and to wait to know if that could be accomplished. This was all Whitman asked or desired; he left the White House with the resolve that wagons should reach the Columbia and Ore- gon become United States territory. This much he did toward saving Oregon, and this was the plain account he gave Dr. Geiger, his friend and fellow-missionary, as they rode over the hills from Lapwai to Waiilatpu at the moment of his returning in the fall of 1843, which Dr. Geiger gave the writer of this work, forty years later, as his contribution to the history of that past epoch.
Dr. Geiger further said: "From Washington Dr. Whit- man went to Boston to see the Secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions. He was received with coolness and disfavor ; his coming was objected to, the expense com- plained of. The Board was not in political movements, not prepared to pay for political work to help the nation. Whitman averred that first of all he was loyal to his coun- try and had risked much personal danger to bring the facts of the value of Oregon to the government ; having accom- plished his errand, he had nothing to regret." Clad in his mountain garb, standing there to assert his loyalty and de- fend his country, he was a fair representative of Oregon as its pioneers have given it being. The Secretary changed the subject to offer Whitman money to buy a suit of clothes "fit to appear in," but Whitman refused it, and said he would draw on him when he needed money. It seems that
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he wore his mountain suit most of the time while at the East.
As to whether a treaty involving the fate of Oregon could have been in progress, those who have searched government records say they find nothing to indicate that the Oregon question was ever before Tyler's administration, much less was partially agreed on ; but Hon. George H. Williams, who has been United States Senator, Cabinet Minister, and one of the commissioners to settle the Alabama claims, assured me that it was all possible, for no public record is made of a treaty until it is definitely completed. So that, so far as Oregon was connected with pending negotiations, Webster's words may have been true and the fate of Oregon have been in President Tyler's hands. Receiving these facts, as the author of this work does, from one of the most responsible of the men of that time, as he received it from Marcus Whitman as they rode together that long way of 120 miles that lies between Lapwai and Waiilatpu, and given in the fulness of his heart, it comes as the sincere word of Whit- man himself. Dr. Geiger said the subject had not been mentioned during the days they were at Lapwai, and that, as he closed his story, Whitman said: "I set out to bring an immigration through with their wagons to the Columbia, and I have done it."
This did not mean that Whitman claimed to have in- fluenced all that immigration, or claimed to be its author and builder, for he was a modest man, hopeful and not pre- suming, and never was known to assert himself on the road, or any time later while he lived, as having saved Oregon to the United States. What he certainly did was, he conveyed to the government valuable information as to Oregon, and
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encouraged and inspired many who would not else have come, by his personal influence as well as by his publications. From the estimate made by Dr. Myron Eells, as to his ser- vices and the number who are known to have been influenced by him, it is not unreasonable to think that one-third of those who crossed the plains to Oregon in the immigration of 1843 would not have come had they not learned that the · journey was safely made by those who crossed in 1842, and for the assurance Whitman gave that he could pilot them, with their wagons, through to the Columbia River.
Neither the indiscretion of over-zealous friends nor the jealousy of those who have no right to be his detractors, can deprive Marcus Whitman of the honor of doing what few could or would have done to help save Oregon to be, what that region has become, one of the brightest sections of the Union.
Leaving the sage plains of the Snake River valley, where the soil is often white with alkali, the old emigrant road fol- lowed the terrible canon of Burnt River, that was to be the scene of many an Indian massacre, where nature assumes fearful shapes of lava in rough-riven shores and startling precipices ; from thence to the Columbia, almost two hun- dred miles, was the most rugged part of the long road "across the plains," relieved for a while by the pleasant valley of Powder River, and made charming as they passed through Grande Ronde Valley, for thirty miles cradled in loveliness among the towering ranges of the Blue Moun- tains. Leaving it, the road for many miles climbed up and on, rising continually, now through forest glades, where pines grew in serried ranks with only the velvet of the moun- tain grasses spread beneath; now threading deep ravines,
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but always ascending, until at last, from the pine-clad sum- mit, the ranges break down abruptly for five thousand feet, over well-grassed foothills, to the bunch-grass uplands of the Umatilla.
Half a century ago-in the forties-that same prospect overlooked the widespread valley of the Columbia. The deep cañons held the rivers in their grasp, but the view was as wonderful as it was broadly spread. There were herds of Indian ponies here and there, and occasional smoke as- cended to tell where the Cayuses and Walla Wallas had their lodge fires, but the scene was primeval in its original wild- ness, and no one could know if the soil was productive or what the future could bring forth.
I saw that scene before the hand of man had tamed and transformed it, and lived to see the change that human energy could create; to see river steamers replace the canoes of the wild tribes and the batteaux of the Canadian voyagers ; still later saw the Inland Empire girdled with railroads and traversed by the Iron Horse. I have seen it as that little band of missionaries saw it, two-thirds of a century ago, the wilderness that nature left in all its pris- tine beauty ; and as it is to-day, a scene where harvests ripen to their rich fruition, and midsummer winds billow bending waves of golden grain. The scene of to-day is but the harvest of the mission seed; the cities, towns, villages, churches, homes and schools of the present and the future will always bear witness to the Christian heroism that planted that mission in the early time.
It is easy enough to sum up facts to prove what Whit- man's chief object was in making that fearful journey, for before he concluded to go he called his associates together,
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explained his motives and intentions, and when most of them objected he asserted that he should go, and would resign his position if there was objection made. Mrs. Lovejoy, since the death of General Lovejoy, has assured me that her husband so understood the matter when Dr. Whitman re- quested him to accompany his return. No small credit is due A. L. Lovejoy for also making this journey, for Whit- man could not venture alone. Lovejoy was also patriotic in furthering the American cause at expense of so much hard- ship. Abundant testimony is furnished from many who were prominent in that immigration as to the value of Whit- man's services through the entire journey. J. W. Nesmith stated how Captain Grant, at Fort Hall, tried to persuade them to leave their wagons, showing them wagons remaining there left by the immigration of the proceeding year, and asserting the impracticability of the route; but he adds : "Happily, Whitman's advice prevailed." It was beyond question due to Whitman that wagons were brought through to the Columbia that year, and if he had not insisted and implored they would not have been brought past Fort Hall.
I have stated what Whitman's friend, Dr. William Gei- ger, told me in 1885, as Whitman related to him after his ar- rival that fall. It remains now to quote Whitman's own words, written to the American Board to prove the object of that journey. On April 1, 1847, after hearing of the adop- tion of the Oregon treaty of June, 1846, he wrote as fol- lows: "I often reflect on the fact that you told me you were sorry I came East. It did not then, nor has it since, altered my opinion in the matter. American interests acquired in the country, which the success of the immigration of 1843 alone did or could have secured, have become the foundation
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of the late treaty between England and the United States in regard to Oregon, for it may easily be seen what would have become of American interests in the country had the immigration of 1843 been as disastrous as were the immi- grations of 1845 and 1846, that came later and fol- lowed other routes. The disaster was great again, last year, to those who left the track I made for them in 1843, as it has been in every attempt to improve it. Not that it cannot be improved, but it demonstrates what I did in making my way to the States in the winter of 1842-43, after the 3d of October. It was to open a practicable route and safe passage and secure a favorable report of the journey from immigrants which, in connection with other objects, caused me to leave my family and brave the toils and dangers of the journey, notwithstanding the un- usual severity of the winter and the great depth of snow."
Six months later, on the 18th of October, 1847, only six weeks before the Waiilatpu massacre, he wrote again: "Two things, and it is true those which were the most important, were accomplished by my return to the States. By means of the establishment of the wagon road, which is due to that effort alone, the immigration was secured from disaster in the fall of 1843. Upon that event the present acquired right of the United States by the citizens hung. And not less certain is it that upon the result of that immigration to this country the present existence of this mission and of Protestantism hung also." While it is not known that Whit- man ever assumed credit with his associates here to that ex- tent, for he was not boastful, yet he was so rejoiced to hear that the great object of his efforts was accomplished, and that by treaty Oregon was made safe to the United States,
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that he wrote those sentences to the American Board, whose Secretary had blamed him so harshly for "interfering with political matters."
There is reason to believe that the country south of the Columbia was always held to be American soil, at least all statesmen of our country had so considered it, but we can pardon a little of sanguine assurance from Whitman, to show the result of his mission to his superiors who had dis- trusted, discountenanced and denounced him. It was a proud day in the humble missionary's life when he could prove to the board that he had builded so much better than they knew.
It is also a little amusing-to one who has taken up the cudgels for Whitman for a quarter of a century-to claim for him all he himself could have asked, to see with what avidity and lusty pride in those latter days this same American Board of Missions, who afforded Whitman the scant pittance with which he worked so many years and who regretted to pay the expenses of his return, claim the honor of having furnished the champion who did so much to save Oregon to the Union by his heroic action.
"The mills of the gods grind slowly, But they grind exceeding fine."
In the last weeks of his life of self-sacrifice Dr. Whit- man was rejoicing to know that the success of his heroic efforts were fully accomplished. As we pass the half-cen- tury mark, from the date of the fearful day of massacre, the world he lived in does honor to his memory and recalls with pride the heroism that dared so much-
"To win or lose it all!"
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E. T. C. ROSS AND OTHERS ON WHITMAN'S JOURNEY
Elwood Evans denied that Whitman was in Washington in March, 1843, but Hon. Alexander Ramsay wrote Evans that he felt certain he met Whitman at the home of Joshua Giddings, and heard the story of his journey, but after nearly forty years could not say certainly. As no other mis- sionary from Oregon was there, who had made such a winter journey, there can be no doubt that his impression was correct.
When the massacre occurred he mourned for him as the same he lately had met in Washington. He saw there the missionary who was afterwards murdered by the Indians in 1847. His actual version was: "I visited Washington and called on Mr. Joshua Giddings. When so visiting, Mr. Gid- dings introduced me to Dr. Whitman, from Oregon, who talked to me and others of the difficulties of his journey, of the character of the country, Indian affairs, British en- croachments, etc."
Mr. E. T. C. Ross says in effect that our minister in London had instructions from the home government that Secretary of State Webster might have agreed to and signed papers and given them to the President-as he in- timated to Whitman-and after hearing Dr. Whitman, these instructions may have been withheld by the President, and others substituted after Dr. Whitman had fulfilled his promise to take the immigration and their wagons through to the Columbia River.
As to Whitman receiving the consent of his coadjutors for his journey East, and his object, Mr. Ross quotes letters from Rev. Cushing Eells to Evans as to that; and as to
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the presence of W. H. Gray at the Waiilatpu meeting, Sep- tember, 1842: "To my certain knowledge Mr. Gray was present and participated in the meeting held at Waiilatpu, September, 1842. Mr. Gray says he "left Waiilatpu the Ist of September, 1842, to go to the Willamette and re- turned to the station for my family on the 21st of September. There was a special called at Dr. Whitman's station in September to consult about Dr. Whitman's proposition to go to Washington to inform our government of the pro- ceedings and designs of the Hudson's Bay Company, first made known to me by Frank Ermatinger, at what was known as House Plains, the usual place to meet the Flathead tribes, I think in May, 1837. On that occasion Ermatinger got drunk on Hudson's Bay Company's rum ; as per bargain we made, he was to drink the rum and Gray the water. On that occasion the rum became patriotic for the company and England, and the water for Uncle Sam. To close the argument he said, "Pooh, what can your government do? All the company has to do is to arm their eight hundred half-breeds and they can control the Indians and drive back any troops your government can send across the mountains. Our navy can protect the coast." I never forgot the threat and told Dr. Whitman about it when we met the next year.
"The meeting [of September, 1842] was divided; Revs. Walker and Eells thought not proper for him [Dr. Whit- man] to leave his place and mix in political affairs. Rev. Spaulding and W. H. Gray approved his object and design, being more fully informed of the designs of the Hudson's Bay Company than the two opposing members of the mission."
Rev. Horace Lyman said, in January, 1885, "I came to
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Portland in 1849, and though I cannot state the exact date when I first heard the claim made that Dr. Whitman went East that winter-1842-43-to make the effort to save Oregon to the United States, yet this decided impression was made upon my mind within two years of my coming here, i.e., with my first acquaintance with Mr. Gray and Mr. Spaulding, Mr. Eells and Mr. Walker, that this was one of his great objects, and his main one." Mrs. Mary Walker (widow of Rev. Elkanah Walker, one of the contem- poraries of Whitman, and one of the Mission Board) wrote Elwood Evans, who was trying to disprove that Whitman went East with such motive: "In answer to your inquiry about Dr. Whitman, I will say that he went East in 1842 mainly to save the country from falling into the hands of England, as he believed there was great danger of it. He had written Mr. Walker several times before about it ; one expression I well recollect, he wrote about as follows: 'This country will soon be settled by the whites. It belongs to the Americans ; it is a great and rich country. What a coun- try this would be for Yankees?' Mr. Walker and asso- ciates felt that Dr. Whitman, in leaving the missionary work and going on this business, was likely to bring disgrace also on the cause, and were so afraid of it that for a long time they would hardly mention that object of Dr. Whitman's journey publicly."
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