days, life was peaceful at the Whitman Mission, but within a year, it became clear that Whitman was not going to pay for the land where the mission had been established, as previously promised, and tensions between Whitman and the Cayuse mounted over Whitman's refusal to pay. Other major sources of tension where that the Whitman's tried to prevent the Cayuse from spending time in their Mission House resulting in them providing lower quality medical care for the Cayuse than the did for white settlers, and the fact that after it became clear that the Cayuse preferred the Catholic missionaries to the Whitmans, Marcus began aggressively preaching damnation. In 1837 Narcissa Whitman, aged 29, gave birth to a daughter, Alice Clarissa. Two years later, she was distracted for a moment and Alice drowned in the nearby Walla Walla River, having gone there to fill her cup with water. In an attempt to regain some sense of family she began taking care of other children. Soon four were in their custody, including the daughters of mountain men Joseph Meek and Jim Bridger. In early October 1844, the Independent Colony reached the Whitman Mission, and the Sager orphans found a new home with the Whitmans. Narcissa was keen to adopt Henrietta, but not the other children. Marcus wanted to adopt the boys. William Shaw told them that he had promised Naomi that he would try keep her children together in the same family, and made Marcus Whitman sign a contract to keep them together at least until Spring if they were going to adopt the three they wanted. By Spring, Narcissa had bonded with the other girls, and wanted to keep them too. In July 1845 Marcus obtained a court order giving him legal custody of all seven children. Francis Sager soon decided to run away and join the settlers in the nearby valley because the Whitmans were strict disciplinarians, and he didn't like living with them. Others who lived with the Whitmans including Joe Lewis who later participated in the attack against them also left complaining of ill treatment. The Cayuse were considerably more susceptible to the diseases the settlers brought with them. In the fall of 1847 measles carried west with an emigrant train swept through the Cayuse villages. In the cold and damp weather of November 1847 the epidemic reached its peak and half the tribe died, including most