Delaware County District Library

Murder at the mission, a frontier killing, its legacy of lies, and the taking of the American West, Blaine Harden

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-416) and index

contains biographical information

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

Murder at the mission

bibliography

Blaine Harden

a frontier killing, its legacy of lies, and the taking of the American West

In 1847 Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife, and eleven others were massacred by a group of Cayuse. The Cayuse were portrayed as murderous savages; five were executed. Whitman and Reverend Henry Spalding had headed to Washington state and Idaho on the Oregon Trail with their wives; they aimed to convert members of the Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes. As Spalding told it, after uncovering a British and Catholic plot to steal the Oregon Territory from the United States, Whitman undertook a heroic solo ride across the country to alert the President. In fact, he had traveled to Washington to save his own job. Harden exposes the hucksterism and self-interest at the root of American myth-making. -- adapted from jacket

Introduction: The good doctor -- Act one: Kill. "Do nothing to irritate" ; "What a delightful place" ; Cayuses in the kitchen ; "Want of Christian feeling" ; "A thousand little harassing events" ; "Beastly & savage brutalities" -- Act two: Hang. "Priests wet with the blood" ; A proper trial ; Five at once ; "Seeing that they stood alone" -- Act three: Lie. Authentic account ; Collaborate ; Brother Spalding goes to Washington ; The old college life -- Act four: Expose. Skulls, bones, money ; "A defenseless little Western institution" ; Mephistopheles and the original sources ; Lost cause -- Act five: Revive. Predators ; Broke ; White people's money -- Epilogue

Frontier killing, its legacy of lies, and the taking of the American West