The Whitman Massacre

What caused the Whitman Massacre?  I believe it happened because the Cayuse believed Dr. Whitman was not healing them and deliberately poisoning them.  Dr. Whitman could heal many diseases, but when the Cayuse were exposed to small pox near the Oregon Trail, he could not heal them because he didn't know how to heal small pox.  The Cayuse had seen him healing white settlers, but he was not healing them.  They believed that either he had lost his healing powers or he was not curing them on purpose.  Also, the children in the Cayuse tribe would take the Whitmans' watermelons because the Natives shared everything with one another.  Dr. Whitman didn't appreciate this because he thought this was stealing, not sharing as the Cayuse believed.  He injected the watermelons with laxatives to teach the children a lesson, but when the laxatives kicked in, the Cayuse thought that Dr. Whitman was poisoning them.  I think that is what caused the Whitman Massacre.

Marcus Whitman

Narcissa Whitman

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Protestant and Roman Catholic Missionaries

Of the two missionaries that came to the Oregon Country, I believe the Roman Catholic missionary was the most successful.  According to Dale A. Lambert the Roman Catholic missions traveled among the Native American tribes instead of making them live in the area.  They also made their church services attractive to the Native Americans.  The Roman Catholic Missionaries didn't encourage people to immigrate into the region either, and their teaching methods were easier for the Natives to understand.  That is why the Roman Catholics were the most successful.

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