Chapter 5looking West

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• Chapter 5-looking West
• Christian Missionaries
• Early 1800s people were excited about religion
• Church was the center of village life
• They sang songs, had revivals, and sent
  missionaries all over the world including the
  WEST
• Missionaries tried to teach how to read the Bible
  and dress, speak, and live like Christian
  Americans
• The Request for Christianity
• a. In 1831 the Nez Perce and the Flathead
  Tribes asked to learn more about the whites
  religion.
• b. They hope to learn the ways of the white
  people and the ways of their powerful god.
• c. The story was printed in a religious paper
  and the news spread and whites got excited.

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• 3. Methodist Missionaries
• Jason Lee and his Nephew Daniel Lee, Methodist
  Ministers were the first to answer the request
  from the Nez Perce.
• John McLoughlin (Hudson Bay Company) advised
  them to settle in Willamette Valley
• The Lees converted few Indian.
• natives did not take to white religion or
  lifestyle, and their children did not like the
  strict schools
• Jason Lee goes back east and gets 50 more
  settlers
• Lee spends his time setting up a new government
  for settlers and does little with Indians.
• He is accused of neglecting the Indians and his
  mission was closed.

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• 4. Catholic Missionaries
• some members of the Hudson Bay Company were
  Catholic and wanted fathers to come.
• Father Francis Blanchet came and spent time with
  the French and not the Indians.
• Peter John de Smet and other priest came and
  worked with the Coeur dAlenes and Flatheads.
• many of these Indians were Baptized Christian and
  mixed their own religion with that of their new
  religion.

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• 5. Presbyterian Missionaries
• Narcissa and Marcus Whitman were married so they
  could open a mission in the Oregon Country
• Only married people were sent on missions
• They planned to open a mission in the Rocky
  Mountains
• Henry and Eliza Spalding joined them on the trail
  to open a mission for Indians
• The 4 traveled with a fur party to the Oregon
  country
• it took 207 days and included a lot of walking
• Eliza and Narcissa were the first white women to
  travel across the entire continent
• Dr. McLoughlin helped them with supplies and
  recommend where to build their mission.

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F. The 2 couples did not get along on the trip
and decided to make 2 missions G. The Spalding
built their mission by the Clear River with the
Nez Perce. H. The Whitman's built on the Walla
Walla River among the Cayuse Indians

• 6. More Missionaries
• 2 years later more couples joined the Whitmans
  making a small community
• Mary and Elkanah Walker and Myra and Cushing
  Eells built missions among the Spokane Indians
  (near present day Spokane)
• They built log houses, schools, and taught N.A.
  men and women to
• Raise animals, grow harvest crops, grind wheat
  and flour, weave wool into cloth
• they translated the Bible into N.A. languages so
  they could teach them to read.
• Letter took up to 2 years to get, they had to go
  by ship.

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• 7. Missionary Children
• Children born at the missions were the first
  American children born in the region
• The Whitmans adopted 16 children

• Disease and Death
• Indians had no immunity to European diseases.
• Smallpox, measles, cholera, influenza (flu), and
  malaria.
• Entire villages were killed by the sicknesses
• In 1847 almost 5,000 Am. Pioneers came through
  the Whitman mission.
• Many travelers had measles as they came through
• A few whites died from the sickness

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• D. At the same time the Coastal Indians also got
  the measles. (from immigrants)
• E. Over 50 of the Cayuse tribe died from the
  diseases that the pioneers/immigrants brought
  through
• They blamed Dr. Whitman who had saved a few
  whites but could not help the N.A.
• After many deaths and some bad information the
  Cayuse attacked the Mission and killed Marcus and
  Narcissa Whitman and 11 others
• They took 47 women and children hostages
• After talking to Hudson Bay officials they traded
  the hostages for blankets, shirts, tobacco, and
  guns
• 500 white volunteers formed a militia (army) and
  the1st INDIAN WARS started.
• The Cayuse wars lasted 2 years