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WHITMAN, MARCUS (1802-1847)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 610 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WHITMAN, See also:MARCUS (1802-1847) , See also:American missionary and See also:pioneer, was See also:born at Rushville, New See also:York, on the 4th of See also:September 1802. He studied See also:medicine at See also:Pittsfield, See also:Massachusetts, and practised in See also:Canada and in See also:Wheeler, See also:Steuben See also:county, New York. In 1834 he was accepted by the American See also:Board of Commissioners for See also:Foreign See also:Missions for missionary See also:work among the American See also:Indians, and was assigned to the See also:Oregon territory, then under the See also:joint occupation of See also:Great See also:Britain and the See also:United States. He set out See also:early in 1835, but returned almost immediately II to secure other workers. In See also:February 1836 he married and in See also:March again crossed the See also:continent, accompanied by his wife, Rev. and Mrs H. H. See also:Spalding and W. H. See also:Gray, and settled at Waiilatpu, near the See also:present Walla Walla, See also:Washington. Dissensions which arose among the missionaries and their apparent lack of success led to a See also:resolution (February 1842) of the Prudential See also:Committee of the Board to abandon the See also:southern station. With the consent of his associates, Dr Whitman started from the station (3rd See also:October 1842) on the perilous See also:winter See also:journey over the Rocky Mountains and across the plains for the missionary headquarters at See also:Boston, to urge the revocation of the See also:order. He visited New York and Washington also to enlist help and sympathy.

On his return journey he joined a considerable See also:

body of emigrants on their way to Oregon and piloted them across the mountains. The See also:mission, however, gained the See also:ill-will of the Indians, and, on the 29th of October 1847 Dr and Mrs Whitman and twelve others were killed, and the station was broken up. On the 16th of See also:November 1864 the statement was published, on the authority of Mr Spalding, that the purpose of Dr Whitman s ride, twenty-two years before, was to prevent the cession of the territory to Great Britain. The See also:story was amplified by Spalding and Gray in 1865, 1866 and 187o, and in its final See also:form declared that Whitman learned at the See also:British fort Walla Walla in September 1842 that a large number of British settlers were expected, and that it was hoped that the treaty then supposed to he in See also:process of negotiation between See also:Lord See also:Ashburton and See also:Daniel See also:Webster, Secretary of See also:State, would give the territory to the British. Thereupon Whitman made his way to Washington, and with much difficulty convinced Webster and See also:President See also:Tyler of the value of the See also:country and prevented its ex-See also:change for fishing privileges off See also:Newfoundland. This story has been widely disseminated, but See also:Professor E. G. See also:Bourne and Mr W, I. See also:Marshall independently investigated the whole question, and showed that there is no See also:evidence that Dr Whitman influenced or attempted to See also:influence the State See also:Department. For the See also:pro-Whitman See also:side, see W. H. Gray, Oregon (See also:Portland, 1870) ; See also:William Barrows, Oregon (Boston, 1883) ; O.

W. See also:

Nixon, How Marcus Whitman saved Oregon (See also:Chicago, 1895) ; W. A. Mowry, Marcus Whitman (New York, 19o1); See also:Myron Eells, Marcus Whitman (See also:Seattle, 1909). On the other side see H. H. See also:Bancroft, Oregon (See also:San Francisco, 1886–1888) ; E. G. Bourne, Essays in See also:Historical See also:Criticism (New York, 1901); W. I. Marshall, See also:History v. The Whitman-saved-Oregon Story (Chicago, 1904).

End of Article: WHITMAN, MARCUS (1802-1847)

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