Missionaries, measles, and manuscripts: revisiting the Whitman tragedy

Authors

  • Melanie J. Norton Head of Access and Delivery Services, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven CT
  • John Booss Professor Emeritus, Departments of Neurology and Laboratory Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.538

Keywords:

Measles, Disease, Epidemics, Missionaries, American Indians

Abstract

The missionaries Marcus Whitman, a doctor, and Narcissa Whitman, his wife, and twelve other members of the Waiilatpu Mission were murdered in November 1847 by a small contingent of the Cayuse Indians in the Oregon Territory. The murders became known as the “Whitman Massacre.” The authors examine the historical record, including archived correspondence held at the Yale University Libraries, for evidence of what motivated the killings and demonstrate that there were two valid perspectives, Cayuse and white. Hence, the event is better termed the “Whitman Tragedy.” The crucial component, a highly lethal measles epidemic, has been called the spark that lit the fuse of the tragedy.

Author Biographies

Melanie J. Norton, Head of Access and Delivery Services, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven CT

I am the Head of Access and Delivery Services at the Cushing/Whitney Medical  Library at Yale University.

John Booss, Professor Emeritus, Departments of Neurology and Laboratory Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

Professor Emeritus
Departments of Neurology and Laboratory Medicine
Yale University School of Medicine

References

Drury CM. The Whitman massacre. In: Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the opening of old Oregon. Glendale CA: Arthur H. Clark; 1973. p. 205–65, 476, 435.

Crosby AW. Virgin soil epidemics as a factor in the aboriginal depopulation in America. William Mary Q. 1976 Apr;33(2):289–99. [cited 7 Jul 2018]. .

Whitman M. Whitman family papers, 1838–1847. (Yale University, Beinecke Library, Gift of William Robertson Coe).

Boyd R. The Pacific Northwest measles epidemic of 1847–1848. Oregon Hist Q. 1994 Spring;95(1):6–47.

Jeffrey JR. Converting the West: a biography of Narcissa Whitman. University of Oklahoma Press; 1991.

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Published

2019-01-04

Issue

Section

History Matters