Remembering the Whitman Massacre Fifty-Six Years Later
A commemorative address at the Congregational church reflects on the life and violent death of Dr. Marcus Whitman, an event that defined the early history of the Walla Walla Valley.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The fifty-sixth anniversary of the massacre of Dr. Marcus Whitman, the pioneer missionary, was fittingly commemorated Sunday morning at the Congregational church. The services were conducted by Rev. Austin Rice. Edwin Eells, of Tacoma, the only native-born survivor of the massacre, delivered a masterly address describing the trials of the early missionaries. Eells reflected on the atmosphere of the region sixty years ago, noting that it was remote from civilization, with news from the 'States' taking six months to arrive. He detailed the complex tensions between the Cayuse, Nez Perce, and Spokane tribes, and the encroachment of white settlers and Hudson Bay Company employees. Eells concluded by calling Whitman College the fitting monument to commemorate the noble deeds, devotion, and patriotism of Dr. Marcus Whitman and his associates.
“From this eminence of the present we can look back over the past, and taking into view the wider scope of time and events, see that his martyred death was the crowning glory of his illustrious life.”
The legacy of Marcus Whitman remains central to Walla Walla's civic identity, as evidenced by the college and the street names still present today. However, the 1903 perspective on the 'massacre' reflects a colonial narrative that has been significantly revised by contemporary historians and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to include the agency of Indigenous peoples and the devastating impact of white settlement.
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