On September 1 , 1836 , Marcus Whitman arrived with his wife Narcissa Whitman . Here they established the Whitman Mission in an unsuccessful attempt to convert the local Walla Walla tribe to Christianity . Following a disease epidemic , both were killed in 1847 by the Cayuse who believed that the missionaries were poisoning the native peoples . Whitman College was established in their honor
killed
Whitman massacre
Walla Walla, Washington