Marcus Whitman ( September 4 , 1802 – November 29 , 1847 ) was an American physician . In 1836 , Marcus Whitman led an overland party by wagon to the West . He and his wife , Narcissa , along with Reverend Henry Spalding and his wife , Eliza , and William Gray , founded a mission at present day Walla Walla , Washington in an effort to convert local Indians to Christianity . In the winter of 1842 Whitman returned east , returning the following summer with the first large wagon train across the Oregon Trail . The new settlers encroached on the Cayuse Indians living near the Whitman Mission and were unsuccessful in their efforts to Christianize the Tribe . Following the deaths of a large number of nearby Cayuse from an outbreak of measles , some remaining Cayuse accused Whitman of murder , suggesting that he had administered poison and was a failed shaman . In retaliation , a group of Cayuse killed the Whitmans and twelve other settlers on November 29 , 1847 , an event that came to be known as the Whitman Massacre . Continuing warfare between settlers and Indians reduced the Cayuse numbers further
Whitman Massacre
Whitman massacre
Marcus Whitman