1. Marcus Whitman was an American physician and missionary.
18 Facts About Marcus Whitman
1. 2.
Marcus Whitman is most well known for leading American settlers across the Oregon Trail, unsuccessfully attempting to Christianize the Cayuse Indians, and was killed by the Cayuse Indians in an event known as the 1847 Whitman massacre, over a misunderstanding, resulting in the beginning of the Cayuse war.
3.
In 1836, Marcus Whitman led an overland party by wagon to the West.
4.
On September 4,1802, Marcus Whitman was born in Federal Hollow, New York to Beza and Alice Marcus Whitman.
5.
Marcus Whitman dreamed of becoming a minister but did not have the money for such schooling.
6.
Marcus Whitman returned to New York as a young man.
7.
Marcus Whitman studied medicine for two years with an experienced physician under the form of apprenticeship approved then, and received his degree from Fairfield Medical College in New York.
8.
Marcus Whitman practiced medicine for a few years in Canada but was interested in going to the west.
9.
In 1835, Marcus Whitman traveled with the missionary Samuel Parker to present-day northwestern Montana and northern Idaho, to minister to bands of the Flathead and Nez Perce nations.
10.
Parker and Marcus Whitman were present for the 1835 Rocky Mountain Rendezvous.
11.
In 1836, Marcus Whitman married Narcissa Prentiss, a teacher of physics and chemistry.
12.
Marcus Whitman had been eager to travel west as a missionary, but she had been unable to do so as a single woman.
13.
Marcus Whitman was named after her grandmothers but drowned in the Walla Walla River at age two.
14.
Marcus Whitman farmed and provided medical care, while Narcissa set up a school for the Native American children.
15.
In 1842, Marcus Whitman traveled east, and on his return, he accompanied the first large group of wagon trains west.
16.
Marcus Whitman's mission is preserved as Whitman Mission National Historic Site.
17.
Fort Marcus Whitman located near LaConner, Washington was named for him.
18.
Marcus Whitman's alleged political influence over the United States' claim to the Oregon country, as well as his purported leadership role in the emigration, were greatly exaggerated in the decades following his death, leading to great controversy in popular and academic literature.