Narcissa whitman biography

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Narcissa Whitman might have lived out her life in historical obscurity but for two developments. The first was her decision, in , to marry a missionary named Marcus Whitman () and travel with him to what was then called Oregon Country, some 3, miles from her home in upstate New York.

Narcissa Whitman Biography - life, family, children, parents ...

The second was her death 11 years later, at the hands of Cayuse Indians at the mission she and her husband had established near Walla Walla. The Whitmans set out to Christianize and “civilize” a people they considered “heathen.” They soon gave up trying to convert Indians and instead turned their mission into a way station for white emigrants on the Oregon Trail.

Tensions built up over time and finally erupted on November 29, , when a group of Cayuses attacked the mission, killing the Whitmans and 11 others. The attack accelerated efforts to extend federal authority over the present-day states of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon and parts of Montana and Wyoming. Narcissa Whitman | American missionary | Britannica RUJ