Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

WALLA WALLA — The Great American Frontier was a time of prosperity, farming, growth, and exploration. Two missionaries gave Whitman County its name in 1871.

This was long after their grizzly murders in 1847 when the two missionaries, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, were killed by the Cayuses and Umatillas people, after being accused of poisoning 200 Cayuse in their medical care during a measles outbreak, including the Whitman household.

On November 29, 1847, Marcus, his wife Narcissa, and eleven other men served in a medical tent to aid locals. The killings occurred at the Whitman Mission a...