America's Hidden History | Jason Lee and The Whitmans
November 7, 2019
27:30
America's Hidden History
Closed captions
America's Hidden History | Jason Lee and The Whitmans
Show timecode
Hide timecode
- (tense music)
- 00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:01.290
- - [Narrator] Modern historians have revised, rewritten,
- 00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:04.230
- and even deleted entire chapters of American history.
- 00:00:04.230 --> 00:00:08.090
- So what are we missing?
- 00:00:08.090 --> 00:00:10.090
- What happened to the history that didn't make the books?
- 00:00:10.090 --> 00:00:13.290
- Join historian David Barton, Tim Barton, and special guests
- 00:00:13.290 --> 00:00:18.010
- as they uncover they uncover the facts
- 00:00:18.010 --> 00:00:19.170
- some historians don't want you to know.
- 00:00:19.170 --> 00:00:21.240
- This is "America's Hidden History."
- 00:00:22.290 --> 00:00:25.090
- (intense music)
- 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:32.020
- - We're up in the mountains in the northeast
- 00:00:51.260 --> 00:00:53.080
- of the U.S. where the individual we're talking about,
- 00:00:53.080 --> 00:00:55.050
- the hidden hero of today's episode, comes from, Jason Lee.
- 00:00:55.050 --> 00:00:57.200
- Now, Jason Lee was a founder of Oregon,
- 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.120
- but the reason he actually even went west
- 00:01:00.120 --> 00:01:02.080
- from these New England mountains all the way
- 00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:03.280
- out to Oregon was largely
- 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:05.090
- because of his Christianity.
- 00:01:05.090 --> 00:01:06.220
- - Yeah, Jason Lee had an interesting story.
- 00:01:06.220 --> 00:01:09.020
- His father was a soldier in the American Revolution,
- 00:01:09.020 --> 00:01:11.290
- and his father actually moved into Canada,
- 00:01:11.290 --> 00:01:14.260
- Quebec, Canada, and when they're in Canada,
- 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:16.290
- when Jason's only three years old, his father dies,
- 00:01:16.290 --> 00:01:19.030
- and so at that point, the kids are on their own,
- 00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:21.130
- and by the time Jason's 13, he's actually taking care
- 00:01:21.130 --> 00:01:24.150
- of himself, he's self-sufficient,
- 00:01:24.150 --> 00:01:26.040
- comes back to Massachusetts and he gets an education,
- 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:29.140
- and he decides he wants to be a minister,
- 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:31.050
- and he becomes a minister for the Wesleyan Methodists,
- 00:01:31.050 --> 00:01:34.060
- and March of 1833, he came across an article
- 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:37.250
- in the Christian Advocate magazine
- 00:01:37.250 --> 00:01:39.190
- that changed the course of his life.
- 00:01:39.190 --> 00:01:41.080
- - But, let me back up because Lewis and Clark
- 00:01:41.080 --> 00:01:43.110
- made a famous expedition, they went west,
- 00:01:43.110 --> 00:01:45.150
- and this was the early 1800's.
- 00:01:45.150 --> 00:01:47.080
- Well, Lewis and Clark made many Indian friends
- 00:01:47.080 --> 00:01:49.080
- along the way.
- 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:50.150
- In fact, Clark goes and lives with Indians
- 00:01:50.150 --> 00:01:51.090
- for several years.
- 00:01:51.090 --> 00:01:52.240
- Well, he comes back, he's now in charge of Indian affairs
- 00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:54.250
- for the U.S.
- 00:01:54.250 --> 00:01:56.030
- Well, there was a group of Indians,
- 00:01:56.030 --> 00:01:57.170
- and they decided there's something that we really need.
- 00:01:57.170 --> 00:01:59.280
- They'd encountered some missionaries.
- 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.210
- In fact, there was a couple boys from their tribe
- 00:02:01.210 --> 00:02:03.160
- who'd gone and then been trained by ministers,
- 00:02:03.160 --> 00:02:05.220
- and they boys came back and were telling them about
- 00:02:05.220 --> 00:02:07.190
- the God of the universe, and they said,
- 00:02:07.190 --> 00:02:08.280
- we need to know more.
- 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:10.100
- There were hundreds of people who wanted to respond,
- 00:02:10.100 --> 00:02:12.270
- who wanted to help, and so actually,
- 00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:14.240
- over the next several years, even decades,
- 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:16.270
- there's a huge missionary movement of people saying,
- 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:19.250
- well, the Indians want to know the Bible,
- 00:02:19.250 --> 00:02:21.240
- and they want to know about Christianity,
- 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:24.060
- we should go tell them.
- 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:25.130
- Jason Lee reads that account and says,
- 00:02:25.130 --> 00:02:27.000
- I want to be the ones to go help.
- 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:28.180
- - He was one of the first guys to make the decision to go,
- 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:31.070
- and so what he did was he grabbed his nephew,
- 00:02:31.070 --> 00:02:33.100
- and he and his nephew made the 3.000 mile journey
- 00:02:33.100 --> 00:02:37.130
- across what eventually becomes the Oregon trail,
- 00:02:37.130 --> 00:02:40.120
- and he becomes the first Protestant missionary
- 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:42.200
- to go from the east to the west.
- 00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:45.040
- (intense music)
- 00:02:45.040 --> 00:02:47.240
- - We're in Salem, Oregon and behind us is
- 00:02:53.110 --> 00:02:54.260
- a First United Methodist Church of Salem,
- 00:02:54.260 --> 00:02:57.080
- and the reason we're in front of it is because
- 00:02:57.080 --> 00:02:58.240
- that church is there because of Jason Lee.
- 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:01.080
- Now, when we left Jason Lee, he was on his way out,
- 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:04.000
- and he was part of a big company
- 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:05.150
- that was coming out west.
- 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:06.290
- It took them several months making the journey
- 00:03:06.290 --> 00:03:09.100
- to get out here, and they didn't actually come here.
- 00:03:09.100 --> 00:03:11.140
- They actually went to Fort Vancouver,
- 00:03:11.140 --> 00:03:13.040
- and Fort Vancouver at that time was a well-established fort,
- 00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:15.240
- it's where safety was, so their company goes
- 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:18.000
- to Fort Vancouver, but the reason Jason Lee was coming,
- 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.100
- and the men that were with him,
- 00:03:20.100 --> 00:03:22.000
- they wanted to be missionaries.
- 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:23.150
- We want to share the gospel, we want to reach the lost,
- 00:03:23.150 --> 00:03:25.260
- so they were looking for a place where they could do that.
- 00:03:25.260 --> 00:03:27.290
- Well, when they got here, they discovered
- 00:03:27.290 --> 00:03:29.160
- that the Indians that had come to Vancouver,
- 00:03:29.160 --> 00:03:31.110
- their tribe was fairly a nomad people
- 00:03:31.110 --> 00:03:33.290
- and they weren't really established in a certain region.
- 00:03:33.290 --> 00:03:35.270
- He said, well, then I'm not really sure where we need to go,
- 00:03:35.270 --> 00:03:38.020
- so he starts looking.
- 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:39.190
- Well, where are there natives that need to hear the gospel?
- 00:03:39.190 --> 00:03:41.120
- And it was at this point, they found the direction
- 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:43.130
- they needed to go.
- 00:03:43.130 --> 00:03:44.260
- - Yeah, when they recently arrived, they were going to stay
- 00:03:44.260 --> 00:03:46.170
- around Fort Vancouver.
- 00:03:46.170 --> 00:03:47.240
- Now, there's a couple problems with that.
- 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:49.080
- One is, that was the center for Hudson Bay Company,
- 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:51.160
- and Hudson Bay Company was a British company
- 00:03:51.160 --> 00:03:53.290
- that wanted all of the Pacific northwest to themselves.
- 00:03:53.290 --> 00:03:56.150
- They wanted all the resources, all the furs,
- 00:03:56.150 --> 00:03:58.150
- all the everything, and they had a monopoly on that,
- 00:03:58.150 --> 00:04:01.160
- and so, here these guys end up in their region
- 00:04:01.160 --> 00:04:04.160
- and that's really not what they want.
- 00:04:04.160 --> 00:04:06.190
- In addition to that, as they started the ministry
- 00:04:06.190 --> 00:04:08.160
- right there around, they found it was really
- 00:04:08.160 --> 00:04:10.040
- a fairly unhealthy place and a lot of the Native Americans
- 00:04:10.040 --> 00:04:13.000
- there were a lot more hostile and violent
- 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.050
- than in other places, so they came south
- 00:04:15.050 --> 00:04:17.100
- into the Willamette Valley, the Willamette River,
- 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.170
- that's here around Salem,
- 00:04:19.170 --> 00:04:21.020
- and so they sit up here and they started ministering.
- 00:04:21.020 --> 00:04:23.030
- They started ministering to the Indians
- 00:04:23.030 --> 00:04:24.200
- and they started schools and they did all the things
- 00:04:24.200 --> 00:04:26.230
- you would expect missionaries to do,
- 00:04:26.230 --> 00:04:28.060
- and it really was going well in so many ways,
- 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:30.280
- and then Jason says, well, you know,
- 00:04:30.280 --> 00:04:32.150
- we really need to see this more of an organized area,
- 00:04:32.150 --> 00:04:35.150
- because there's a lot of potential here.
- 00:04:35.150 --> 00:04:36.280
- We got a lot of good ministry going on,
- 00:04:36.280 --> 00:04:38.290
- why don't we set up and try to organize a territory here
- 00:04:38.290 --> 00:04:43.170
- in this big great interesting United States?
- 00:04:43.170 --> 00:04:45.190
- In addition to that, he says, you know,
- 00:04:45.190 --> 00:04:46.280
- this being reliant on the Hudson Bay Company,
- 00:04:46.280 --> 00:04:49.020
- this is not good.
- 00:04:49.020 --> 00:04:50.140
- We need to be independent as a mission here,
- 00:04:50.140 --> 00:04:52.190
- and so he helped form what's called
- 00:04:52.190 --> 00:04:54.150
- the Willamette Cattle Company, and what they did was
- 00:04:54.150 --> 00:04:57.080
- they went down to California,
- 00:04:57.080 --> 00:04:59.080
- which at that time was Mexico,
- 00:04:59.080 --> 00:05:01.040
- and they drove 750 cattle north back here,
- 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:04.220
- and 40 horses, and they got set up with their own ability
- 00:05:04.220 --> 00:05:07.190
- to have their own food and provide their own milk
- 00:05:07.190 --> 00:05:10.050
- and provide everything, and so they're starting to
- 00:05:10.050 --> 00:05:12.030
- become independent, and now that they've got this going,
- 00:05:12.030 --> 00:05:15.000
- they think, you know, this is a good time
- 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:16.280
- to go get some help.
- 00:05:16.280 --> 00:05:18.030
- - There were other people that had joined,
- 00:05:18.030 --> 00:05:19.170
- a few in number along the way.
- 00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:21.080
- In fact, one of the groups that came,
- 00:05:21.080 --> 00:05:23.180
- there were three young women that were in the group,
- 00:05:23.180 --> 00:05:25.190
- and one of the young women, he met and thought,
- 00:05:25.190 --> 00:05:27.190
- okay, this one's really impressive,
- 00:05:27.190 --> 00:05:29.280
- she needs to be a Mrs. Lee,
- 00:05:29.280 --> 00:05:31.130
- and he married her very shortly after she arrived,
- 00:05:31.130 --> 00:05:34.140
- but they recognize, we still are gonna need a lot of help
- 00:05:34.140 --> 00:05:37.000
- which is where they decide, let's go back east
- 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:38.140
- and let's try to get some help.
- 00:05:38.140 --> 00:05:40.040
- - And so they get back east,
- 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:41.120
- and what he did was he went to Congress.
- 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:42.260
- He said, hey, you guys need to know
- 00:05:42.260 --> 00:05:44.040
- there's a great territory out there
- 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:46.050
- and we've come up with a plan to organize this
- 00:05:46.050 --> 00:05:47.270
- so we can have this territory,
- 00:05:47.270 --> 00:05:49.120
- and so he lets Congress know about this great potential
- 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:52.060
- that's out there, but at the same time,
- 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:53.290
- he is looking for more help,
- 00:05:53.290 --> 00:05:55.140
- and so he starts traveling for the next year,
- 00:05:55.140 --> 00:05:57.090
- going all around that region saying,
- 00:05:57.090 --> 00:05:59.200
- hey, look at the great potentials out there,
- 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:01.270
- and so after about a year of recruiting,
- 00:06:01.270 --> 00:06:03.290
- they return back to Oregon and he's got 51 folks with him.
- 00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:07.160
- - And it's worth pointing out that while he was gone,
- 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:09.250
- during this two year period, he actually got word
- 00:06:09.250 --> 00:06:12.140
- that his wife had died during childbirth,
- 00:06:12.140 --> 00:06:14.230
- so he actually married, at this time,
- 00:06:14.230 --> 00:06:17.110
- it was his second wife, and so she ends up going with him
- 00:06:17.110 --> 00:06:20.200
- back to Oregon, although she died shortly after, as well.
- 00:06:20.200 --> 00:06:24.110
- This was a very trying time for him.
- 00:06:24.110 --> 00:06:25.290
- Nonetheless, he did find 51 people to come back with him,
- 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:29.000
- and they really kind of changed things a little bit
- 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.030
- when they got back.
- 00:06:31.030 --> 00:06:32.100
- - Yeah, they called it the Great Reinforcement,
- 00:06:32.100 --> 00:06:34.150
- and when they got back, they've still got the mission,
- 00:06:34.150 --> 00:06:36.210
- it's been developed really well,
- 00:06:36.210 --> 00:06:37.270
- and they said hey, let's build a church,
- 00:06:37.270 --> 00:06:40.050
- and that's what we have behind us.
- 00:06:40.050 --> 00:06:42.110
- So, this is the church that was built when Jason Lee
- 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:44.070
- returned from that time in Washington, D.C.
- 00:06:44.070 --> 00:06:46.140
- - But when they got here, they didn't just build the church.
- 00:06:46.140 --> 00:06:48.180
- In fact, there was a lot of things that they got involved in
- 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:51.030
- and there's a little more to the story we need to tell you.
- 00:06:51.030 --> 00:06:54.060
- (intense music)
- 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:56.260
- - We're standing outside the Oregon state capitol,
- 00:06:59.010 --> 00:07:01.150
- and here is a statue of Jason Lee.
- 00:07:01.150 --> 00:07:04.070
- Now, after Jason and the group returns in 1841,
- 00:07:04.070 --> 00:07:07.210
- they get the church built and the spiritual side of things
- 00:07:07.210 --> 00:07:10.110
- are really thriving, and Jason starts saying,
- 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:12.170
- now we need to make this self-sustaining,
- 00:07:12.170 --> 00:07:14.080
- we need to get this strong, and so they
- 00:07:14.080 --> 00:07:16.150
- start building gristmills, they start building sawmills.
- 00:07:16.150 --> 00:07:20.020
- In addition to that, they say, you know,
- 00:07:20.020 --> 00:07:21.140
- if all these settlers going to come in,
- 00:07:21.140 --> 00:07:23.060
- if this going to be a new territory, we need education here,
- 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:25.110
- and so they found what is now known as Willamette University
- 00:07:25.110 --> 00:07:28.120
- and then he says, and we have to be better organized,
- 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:31.160
- and so he presides over the organizational meeting
- 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:34.180
- of the territory, and then three years later
- 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:36.260
- is there for the organizational meeting
- 00:07:36.260 --> 00:07:38.210
- of the government in the territory.
- 00:07:38.210 --> 00:07:40.170
- So, he does a great job of making this a very sustainable,
- 00:07:40.170 --> 00:07:44.070
- very strong territory in the United States.
- 00:07:44.070 --> 00:07:46.280
- - Now, there was some accusations against him
- 00:07:46.280 --> 00:07:48.240
- when it came to the mission work because
- 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:51.000
- people saw what he was doing for the territory
- 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:52.270
- and they said, wait a second, if you're spending time
- 00:07:52.270 --> 00:07:55.010
- working on the territory,
- 00:07:55.010 --> 00:07:56.170
- how are you going to be an effective minister of the gospel?
- 00:07:56.170 --> 00:07:58.230
- Well, the conflict got bad enough that some of these
- 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:00.290
- other guys working the mission begin writing back
- 00:08:00.290 --> 00:08:03.020
- to the mission board in the east.
- 00:08:03.020 --> 00:08:04.170
- He had to go back to the east to give an account
- 00:08:04.170 --> 00:08:06.130
- for all these accusations, and when he got there,
- 00:08:06.130 --> 00:08:08.260
- he had a defense for every single thing
- 00:08:08.260 --> 00:08:10.180
- that was against him, and well the board hears and they go,
- 00:08:10.180 --> 00:08:12.170
- oh, well you have good reasons for everything.
- 00:08:12.170 --> 00:08:14.230
- Okay, we exonerate you from all the charges against you,
- 00:08:14.230 --> 00:08:17.260
- but Jason, we already sent a replacement out,
- 00:08:17.260 --> 00:08:20.240
- and while you were coming east, he was going west,
- 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:23.230
- he's already there.
- 00:08:23.230 --> 00:08:25.050
- We can't just pull him at this point,
- 00:08:25.050 --> 00:08:27.040
- so he's going to be the head of the mission
- 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:28.290
- but you're not in trouble anymore.
- 00:08:28.290 --> 00:08:31.020
- Well, that's kind of a mixed thing for Jason Lee
- 00:08:31.020 --> 00:08:33.040
- because he's the one that founded the mission.
- 00:08:33.040 --> 00:08:34.230
- He gets appointed out in the east to represent
- 00:08:34.230 --> 00:08:36.240
- the Oregon territory, but before he goes very far with that,
- 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:40.090
- he actually gets sick and dies shortly after.
- 00:08:40.090 --> 00:08:42.110
- He never makes it back to Oregon again,
- 00:08:42.110 --> 00:08:44.080
- but the reason he has a statue here is because
- 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:47.040
- Oregon became a state largely because of the work
- 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:49.130
- of Jason Lee,
- 00:08:49.130 --> 00:08:51.000
- the mission out here, largely the work of Jason Lee,
- 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:52.250
- and what made Jason Lee special wasn't that
- 00:08:52.250 --> 00:08:55.100
- he was a politician or businessman or frontiersman
- 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:58.130
- or woodsman, they said simply, he was someone who loved God
- 00:08:58.130 --> 00:09:02.010
- and who wanted to serve people
- 00:09:02.010 --> 00:09:03.110
- and he gave everything he had.
- 00:09:03.110 --> 00:09:05.290
- There's no doubt, when you look at heroes
- 00:09:05.290 --> 00:09:07.170
- from American history,
- 00:09:07.170 --> 00:09:09.070
- Jason Lee certainly is one of those hidden heroes
- 00:09:09.070 --> 00:09:11.280
- of American History.
- 00:09:11.280 --> 00:09:12.280
- (easy music)
- 00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:16.020
- - We've got an early biography over here
- 00:09:16.020 --> 00:09:17.180
- and it's called "Jason Lee, the Prophet of New Oregon."
- 00:09:17.180 --> 00:09:21.080
- We've also got a very great portrait of him, right there,
- 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.160
- and it's cool that they highlighted the fact
- 00:09:24.160 --> 00:09:26.200
- that he was there for a reason.
- 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:28.090
- He was there to spread the Christian religion
- 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:30.140
- and the good news to the inhabitants of the area,
- 00:09:30.140 --> 00:09:33.120
- but what's really cool is, we've got a newspaper.
- 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:37.000
- This is The Globe newspaper, it's out of Washington, D.C.,
- 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.000
- and this is in 1838, when Jason Lee comes back,
- 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.030
- travels from coast to coast again,
- 00:09:44.030 --> 00:09:47.030
- and it says that some missionary meetings recently held
- 00:09:47.030 --> 00:09:49.240
- in this city, Washington, D.C., had been rendered
- 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:52.160
- particularly interesting by the presence
- 00:09:52.160 --> 00:09:54.180
- of the Reverend Jason Lee, one of the earliest missionaries
- 00:09:54.180 --> 00:09:57.100
- to that region.
- 00:09:57.100 --> 00:09:58.250
- So, he's back, doing the good work, having other people,
- 00:09:58.250 --> 00:10:01.070
- encouraging other people to follow them out there
- 00:10:01.070 --> 00:10:03.030
- to also help spread the good news of the gospel.
- 00:10:03.030 --> 00:10:06.210
- (intense music)
- 00:10:06.210 --> 00:10:09.100
- - We're up in the northeast, actually talking about
- 00:10:29.060 --> 00:10:30.210
- two people who really are known for helping blaze
- 00:10:30.210 --> 00:10:33.260
- the Oregon trail, but it was two Christian missionaries,
- 00:10:33.260 --> 00:10:35.290
- Marcus and Narcissa Whitman.
- 00:10:35.290 --> 00:10:37.150
- Now, they were both from the state of New York.
- 00:10:37.150 --> 00:10:39.120
- They both were people who end up becoming Christians,
- 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.030
- and actually are from a region that was known as
- 00:10:42.030 --> 00:10:44.240
- the burned-over region, because the fire of revival
- 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:48.010
- had spread so much through New York,
- 00:10:48.010 --> 00:10:49.270
- they thought, there's nothing left to burn,
- 00:10:49.270 --> 00:10:51.080
- we've all been revivaled.
- 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:52.240
- - And they have parallel tracks, very different stories,
- 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:56.000
- but you start back with Narcissa.
- 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.030
- She's born in 1808, and Marcus is born six years
- 00:10:58.030 --> 00:11:01.190
- earlier in 1802.
- 00:11:01.190 --> 00:11:02.250
- Now, they lived about 40 miles apart,
- 00:11:02.250 --> 00:11:04.090
- really didn't know each other,
- 00:11:04.090 --> 00:11:05.240
- but they're both very passionate about the Lord.
- 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:07.170
- As a matter of fact, Narcissa had her first experience
- 00:11:07.170 --> 00:11:10.070
- with the Lord when she was 11 years old.
- 00:11:10.070 --> 00:11:11.190
- One of those waves of revival came through
- 00:11:11.190 --> 00:11:13.180
- and she committed herself to the Lord,
- 00:11:13.180 --> 00:11:14.270
- became a Christian, and then about,
- 00:11:14.270 --> 00:11:17.020
- actually about when she's 16, the second wave of revival
- 00:11:17.020 --> 00:11:19.170
- comes through and she says, not only am I a Christian,
- 00:11:19.170 --> 00:11:22.080
- I want to be a missionary,
- 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:23.220
- and so she starts reading every magazine she can
- 00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:26.060
- get a hold of on missions,
- 00:11:26.060 --> 00:11:27.270
- and she grew up in a rural area of New York
- 00:11:27.270 --> 00:11:30.020
- which meant she had to know how to do a lot of everything,
- 00:11:30.020 --> 00:11:32.170
- and by the way, she's one of the first women
- 00:11:32.170 --> 00:11:34.140
- in that entire area to get an academic education,
- 00:11:34.140 --> 00:11:37.080
- which really prepared her very well
- 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:39.110
- for what they're going to have to do out west
- 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:40.240
- where she does have to do everything by herself
- 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:42.190
- and needs a good education,
- 00:11:42.190 --> 00:11:44.030
- and then you have Marcus, who lives in a different area.
- 00:11:44.030 --> 00:11:45.280
- Now, he became a Christian at a young age, too,
- 00:11:45.280 --> 00:11:48.020
- and so by the time he's 18, he wants to go into the ministry
- 00:11:48.020 --> 00:11:50.260
- and his parents say, no, you don't want to go
- 00:11:50.260 --> 00:11:52.260
- into the ministry, you want to be a doctor.
- 00:11:52.260 --> 00:11:54.200
- I want to be a doctor?
- 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:55.180
- You want to be a doctor.
- 00:11:55.180 --> 00:11:56.260
- Well that decision for them was kind of easy,
- 00:11:56.260 --> 00:11:59.000
- it took you about seven years to become a minister,
- 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:01.090
- only took you three years to become a doctor.
- 00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:03.050
- So, he becomes a medical guy and he's really good
- 00:12:03.050 --> 00:12:05.070
- in the region, people really love him.
- 00:12:05.070 --> 00:12:06.220
- He really does a great job of being a physician,
- 00:12:06.220 --> 00:12:09.120
- and he decides he wants to be a medical missionary,
- 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:12.230
- and so he applies to be a medical missionary
- 00:12:12.230 --> 00:12:14.270
- but they say, ah, sorry, we don't take unmarried guys,
- 00:12:14.270 --> 00:12:18.140
- sorry about that.
- 00:12:18.140 --> 00:12:19.210
- About the same time, he comes across a guy
- 00:12:19.210 --> 00:12:21.100
- named Samuel Parker.
- 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:22.230
- The Reverend Samuel Parker had read an article
- 00:12:22.230 --> 00:12:25.130
- in a March 1833 magazine that talked about Indians out west.
- 00:12:25.130 --> 00:12:30.010
- - Yeah, and actually that article got circulated
- 00:12:30.010 --> 00:12:31.190
- all over the U.S., all over the early colonies,
- 00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:34.050
- all over these early states,
- 00:12:34.050 --> 00:12:35.190
- so people are singing, the article was about four Indians
- 00:12:35.190 --> 00:12:38.110
- who had come from the Oregon and Washington territory.
- 00:12:38.110 --> 00:12:41.000
- They go 2.000 miles down to Missouri
- 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.090
- and they actually came in search of the Great Book.
- 00:12:44.090 --> 00:12:46.180
- Well, the Great Book they were looking for
- 00:12:46.180 --> 00:12:47.280
- was the Bible.
- 00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:49.120
- They wanted someone that could explain the Bible to them,
- 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:51.060
- that could explain the gospel to them,
- 00:12:51.060 --> 00:12:52.120
- explain about the great Creator to them,
- 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:54.190
- and they wanted somebody to come out to their tribes.
- 00:12:54.190 --> 00:12:56.280
- Well, as Christians begin to find out,
- 00:12:56.280 --> 00:12:59.030
- they said, well we should do something.
- 00:12:59.030 --> 00:13:00.180
- Hundreds of people said, we want to get involved,
- 00:13:00.180 --> 00:13:02.270
- and they begin an influx of missionaries
- 00:13:02.270 --> 00:13:04.290
- wanting to go west.
- 00:13:04.290 --> 00:13:06.140
- Well, this is part of that article that was read.
- 00:13:06.140 --> 00:13:08.070
- - Yeah, and so Dr. Parker sees that and says,
- 00:13:08.070 --> 00:13:10.030
- I want to be one of those guys, I want to go west.
- 00:13:10.030 --> 00:13:12.020
- Who wants to go with me?
- 00:13:12.020 --> 00:13:13.160
- And so he started holding meetings all over that
- 00:13:13.160 --> 00:13:15.160
- burned-out district, and saying,
- 00:13:15.160 --> 00:13:16.270
- who wants to go to mission work with me,
- 00:13:16.270 --> 00:13:18.240
- and so he was preaching one night in Narcissa's church
- 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.240
- where her family was and she heard that and she said,
- 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:23.290
- I want to go, and so when she applied, they said,
- 00:13:23.290 --> 00:13:26.130
- sorry, we don't take single ladies as missionaries.
- 00:13:26.130 --> 00:13:29.200
- So, you got Marcus who wants to go,
- 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:31.220
- Narcissa who wants to go, they're both single,
- 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:33.120
- and that's a problem.
- 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:35.050
- - Yeah, it was kind of like this marriage of convenience,
- 00:13:35.050 --> 00:13:37.010
- almost, I don't know how it unfolded,
- 00:13:37.010 --> 00:13:38.190
- but we know they end up getting together.
- 00:13:38.190 --> 00:13:40.140
- - And they get married, and the very next day
- 00:13:40.140 --> 00:13:43.010
- they set out together to go to the Oregon territory,
- 00:13:43.010 --> 00:13:46.040
- and they went across a trail that people had been across
- 00:13:46.040 --> 00:13:48.120
- before but never had an Anglo woman ever crossed
- 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:50.270
- into the Rockies, so she becomes the first,
- 00:13:50.270 --> 00:13:53.100
- and never had a wagon gone across that trail,
- 00:13:53.100 --> 00:13:55.100
- and they took a wagon and took all their gear
- 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:57.200
- with them and everything.
- 00:13:57.200 --> 00:13:59.040
- So, they really kind of opened up what became known
- 00:13:59.040 --> 00:14:01.190
- as the Oregon trail, and they showed it's possible
- 00:14:01.190 --> 00:14:03.190
- for families to come from the east and go west,
- 00:14:03.190 --> 00:14:06.040
- and they actually kind of blazed a trail like this
- 00:14:06.040 --> 00:14:08.160
- that went west, but that's just a part of their story.
- 00:14:08.160 --> 00:14:12.110
- (intense music)
- 00:14:12.110 --> 00:14:15.010
- So when Marcus had made his trip west to explore,
- 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:27.090
- he came right along this trail.
- 00:14:27.090 --> 00:14:29.130
- Now, it didn't look like this yet,
- 00:14:29.130 --> 00:14:30.280
- this is the Oregon trail, this is what it looked like
- 00:14:30.280 --> 00:14:32.250
- after all the wagons followed him,
- 00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:34.230
- but he came along here and he ended up
- 00:14:34.230 --> 00:14:36.130
- here in Wyoming.
- 00:14:36.130 --> 00:14:37.270
- Now, they've come with a couple named the Spaldings,
- 00:14:37.270 --> 00:14:40.230
- and so as they're coming along,
- 00:14:40.230 --> 00:14:42.180
- Narcissa keeps a journal of everything that's happening,
- 00:14:42.180 --> 00:14:45.040
- and she crosses through the trail here.
- 00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:48.220
- Now, Narcissa in her notes records that it was really
- 00:14:48.220 --> 00:14:51.140
- a different thing for her because,
- 00:14:51.140 --> 00:14:53.280
- as they would meet these Indian tribes,
- 00:14:53.280 --> 00:14:55.290
- Indians had never before seen a white woman,
- 00:14:55.290 --> 00:14:58.080
- and this is something new, and so the ladies would stay
- 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:01.160
- in the wagon and they would raise the covers of the wagon,
- 00:15:01.160 --> 00:15:03.220
- look and point, oh look at these,
- 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:05.250
- we've never seen anything like this.
- 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:07.130
- When she gets out west, her journal's actually published
- 00:15:07.130 --> 00:15:10.130
- back east, and when that journal is published,
- 00:15:10.130 --> 00:15:13.160
- all of a sudden, interest goes up in the east, said,
- 00:15:13.160 --> 00:15:15.150
- hey, these women made it west and they made it in a wagon,
- 00:15:15.150 --> 00:15:19.140
- we can do that, too,
- 00:15:19.140 --> 00:15:21.020
- and so by the thousands, people started coming west,
- 00:15:21.020 --> 00:15:24.020
- and that's where you get the Oregon trail,
- 00:15:24.020 --> 00:15:26.110
- following the trail that really Marcus and Narcissa
- 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:28.260
- had publicized, all these wagons going to west
- 00:15:28.260 --> 00:15:31.230
- to find a new life.
- 00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:33.050
- (intense music)
- 00:15:33.050 --> 00:15:35.250
- - We're standing beside Register Cliff in Wyoming,
- 00:15:43.040 --> 00:15:45.050
- and if you notice there's actually a lot of names
- 00:15:45.050 --> 00:15:47.140
- inscribed along this cliff,
- 00:15:47.140 --> 00:15:49.160
- and this was part of the Oregon trail.
- 00:15:49.160 --> 00:15:51.150
- For hundreds of years it seems that people have come along
- 00:15:51.150 --> 00:15:54.170
- and carved their name, maybe to let people know
- 00:15:54.170 --> 00:15:56.120
- they were here, but this was one of the stops
- 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:58.110
- for the Whitmans along the Oregon trail.
- 00:15:58.110 --> 00:15:59.260
- - It was.
- 00:15:59.260 --> 00:16:01.070
- Now, after the Whitmans made it out to the west
- 00:16:01.070 --> 00:16:02.180
- and the Spalding family was with them,
- 00:16:02.180 --> 00:16:04.040
- their purpose was to be missionaries
- 00:16:04.040 --> 00:16:05.200
- to Native Americans, and so the Spaldings went one way,
- 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:08.000
- set up a mission, Marcus and Narcissa set up their mission,
- 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.010
- and their mission was for the Cayuse Indians,
- 00:16:11.010 --> 00:16:13.010
- and so for the next several years,
- 00:16:13.010 --> 00:16:14.240
- the mission's operating, it's running,
- 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.200
- it's doing its missionary work,
- 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:18.020
- and then in 1842, Marcus gets word
- 00:16:18.020 --> 00:16:20.210
- from the American Board of Commissions and Foreign Missions,
- 00:16:20.210 --> 00:16:22.250
- who originally funded them and sent them out there,
- 00:16:22.250 --> 00:16:25.060
- they said, hey, we've decided we're not liking
- 00:16:25.060 --> 00:16:27.180
- what's going on, we're going to cut your funding,
- 00:16:27.180 --> 00:16:29.110
- because word had gotten back to them from some naysayers
- 00:16:29.110 --> 00:16:32.010
- that said, oh, that work is not worth anything,
- 00:16:32.010 --> 00:16:34.000
- and Marcus is going no, because if they cut the funding,
- 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.260
- that essentially cuts the missionary work going on.
- 00:16:36.260 --> 00:16:39.060
- So, this is winter time, he gets the word.
- 00:16:39.060 --> 00:16:41.230
- He hops on horseback, he takes off back to the east coast
- 00:16:41.230 --> 00:16:44.240
- in winter, is crossing the Rocky Mountains,
- 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.020
- crossing the high peaks, crossing all the stuff that passes
- 00:16:47.020 --> 00:16:49.200
- in winter time.
- 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:50.270
- He made it back to the east coast.
- 00:16:50.270 --> 00:16:52.140
- He said, guys you don't understand what's happening here.
- 00:16:52.140 --> 00:16:54.030
- Let me tell you,
- 00:16:54.030 --> 00:16:55.170
- and they said, oh, that's, yeah, we do want to fund that,
- 00:16:55.170 --> 00:16:57.230
- so they reinstated his funding,
- 00:16:57.230 --> 00:16:59.110
- so he gets on horseback and now is coming
- 00:16:59.110 --> 00:17:01.130
- back out west, and as he gets about halfway across the
- 00:17:01.130 --> 00:17:04.040
- United States he comes on a group that's debating
- 00:17:04.040 --> 00:17:06.140
- whether they should go to the Oregon territory or not.
- 00:17:06.140 --> 00:17:09.210
- I don't think we can get wagons there
- 00:17:09.210 --> 00:17:11.210
- and I don't know if we can get women there,
- 00:17:11.210 --> 00:17:13.050
- and it's going to be really hard,
- 00:17:13.050 --> 00:17:14.200
- and he says guys, I've been over the trail several times,
- 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:16.180
- I can help get you there,
- 00:17:16.180 --> 00:17:18.110
- and so as he talked to them, said yeah, bring your wagons,
- 00:17:18.110 --> 00:17:21.190
- they started off, and there was 120 wagons,
- 00:17:21.190 --> 00:17:24.110
- there was 1.000 people, and there were several thousand
- 00:17:24.110 --> 00:17:26.240
- head of cattle, and so Marcus leads them across
- 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:30.050
- what is now known as the Oregon trail,
- 00:17:30.050 --> 00:17:32.180
- and this is one of the locations where the settlers,
- 00:17:32.180 --> 00:17:35.030
- and they did this for decades,
- 00:17:35.030 --> 00:17:36.160
- is they would come across anywhere they could find a place
- 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.140
- to give some kind of a sign that they had been there,
- 00:17:38.140 --> 00:17:41.000
- that was word for their family that might come after,
- 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.070
- because there's no communication out here,
- 00:17:43.070 --> 00:17:44.210
- there's no mail, there's no telegraph.
- 00:17:44.210 --> 00:17:46.140
- You don't know if your family made it or not.
- 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:48.090
- You don't hear from them,
- 00:17:48.090 --> 00:17:49.240
- and so settlers coming out would try to find places
- 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:52.050
- where they could carve their name in the rock
- 00:17:52.050 --> 00:17:53.260
- and leave a message and that's part of what's here.
- 00:17:53.260 --> 00:17:55.290
- So, Marcus brings that entire group out.
- 00:17:55.290 --> 00:17:58.030
- He gets them out in the Oregon territory,
- 00:17:58.030 --> 00:18:00.140
- and they were quite a remarkable group,
- 00:18:00.140 --> 00:18:02.170
- at least that's the word from those who lived among them.
- 00:18:02.170 --> 00:18:04.170
- - Although the trek was very difficult-
- 00:18:04.170 --> 00:18:06.210
- - It was. - Not an easy thing to do,
- 00:18:06.210 --> 00:18:08.070
- months, in fact, tens of thousands of people died.
- 00:18:08.070 --> 00:18:10.280
- This was not an easy thing to do,
- 00:18:10.280 --> 00:18:13.000
- but the Whitmans certainly helped lead a big group
- 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.210
- and blaze that trail out to Oregon.
- 00:18:15.210 --> 00:18:17.170
- - Yeah, eventually you had 400.000 Americans come along
- 00:18:17.170 --> 00:18:21.080
- the Oregon trail, and that's really why you ended up
- 00:18:21.080 --> 00:18:24.170
- with the states of Idaho.
- 00:18:24.170 --> 00:18:26.070
- You ended up with the states of Oregon,
- 00:18:26.070 --> 00:18:27.230
- the states of Washington,
- 00:18:27.230 --> 00:18:29.050
- because so many Americans made it out there,
- 00:18:29.050 --> 00:18:30.190
- they made it into territories.
- 00:18:30.190 --> 00:18:31.290
- They eventually become states,
- 00:18:31.290 --> 00:18:33.200
- but that's largely because of the trailblazing work
- 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.280
- of Marcus Whitman.
- 00:18:35.280 --> 00:18:37.050
- (intense music)
- 00:18:37.050 --> 00:18:39.250
- We're at the Whitman Mission in Walla Walla, Washington.
- 00:18:49.290 --> 00:18:52.230
- After the Whitmans had come across the trail that later
- 00:18:52.230 --> 00:18:55.120
- became known as the Oregon trail,
- 00:18:55.120 --> 00:18:57.080
- and while this is not their wagon, they would have come
- 00:18:57.080 --> 00:18:59.120
- in something like this.
- 00:18:59.120 --> 00:19:01.000
- So, after they reach here, it's right here beside us
- 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:03.100
- that they form the mission,
- 00:19:03.100 --> 00:19:05.070
- and they formed it among the Cayuse Indians,
- 00:19:05.070 --> 00:19:07.200
- and then they start finding things didn't go the same
- 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.100
- as what they had planned.
- 00:19:11.100 --> 00:19:12.260
- For example, the Cayuse turn out to be a nomadic people,
- 00:19:12.260 --> 00:19:15.070
- and they're not here all the time,
- 00:19:15.070 --> 00:19:16.250
- they're moving around from place to place, so-
- 00:19:16.250 --> 00:19:18.160
- - And that is a big culture shock if you're from the east,
- 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.220
- because you build a house and you never leave, right?
- 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:23.090
- And so, I'm going to come and we're going to minister
- 00:19:23.090 --> 00:19:25.120
- to people that have never heard the gospel,
- 00:19:25.120 --> 00:19:26.160
- I'm going to build a house,
- 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.070
- and then they get up and move and you're like,
- 00:19:28.070 --> 00:19:29.020
- hey, where you going?
- 00:19:29.020 --> 00:19:30.170
- That's what happened, and so when they started dealing
- 00:19:30.170 --> 00:19:32.200
- with a different culture of a nomad people,
- 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:34.200
- they realized, we're going to have to change
- 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:36.120
- the way we look at this.
- 00:19:36.120 --> 00:19:37.260
- - It probably affected Narcissa a whole lot more
- 00:19:37.260 --> 00:19:40.060
- than it affected Marcus.
- 00:19:40.060 --> 00:19:41.150
- She just wasn't able to make the transition
- 00:19:41.150 --> 00:19:43.190
- in some ways to what was going.
- 00:19:43.190 --> 00:19:45.040
- - She grew up in a culture where everybody kind of thought
- 00:19:45.040 --> 00:19:48.180
- and understood the same.
- 00:19:48.180 --> 00:19:50.030
- She got here and realized, they don't have the same ideas
- 00:19:50.030 --> 00:19:52.110
- and attitudes that we do.
- 00:19:52.110 --> 00:19:54.110
- It was reported that there were times when
- 00:19:54.110 --> 00:19:56.110
- she would be out and she would come home
- 00:19:56.110 --> 00:19:58.080
- and she would find Indians in her house,
- 00:19:58.080 --> 00:19:59.200
- going through her stuff, and what are you doing,
- 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:02.050
- leave my stuff alone.
- 00:20:02.050 --> 00:20:03.180
- Indians didn't have this idea of private property
- 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:05.180
- the same way that many of the settlers from the east
- 00:20:05.180 --> 00:20:07.090
- did because Indians are communal people,
- 00:20:07.090 --> 00:20:09.110
- they share together and they share equal
- 00:20:09.110 --> 00:20:11.000
- and they share everything.
- 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:12.140
- Well, that really bothered her, that she had no privacy.
- 00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:14.120
- She built a fence around their house and told the Indians,
- 00:20:14.120 --> 00:20:16.280
- you can't come past this fence, this is our boundary.
- 00:20:16.280 --> 00:20:19.170
- Well, they didn't understand that, either,
- 00:20:19.170 --> 00:20:21.120
- and so there was great frustration with Narcissa
- 00:20:21.120 --> 00:20:23.150
- which then got compounded because she and Marcus
- 00:20:23.150 --> 00:20:26.130
- had a daughter, and the daughter,
- 00:20:26.130 --> 00:20:28.020
- when the daughter was just a couple years old,
- 00:20:28.020 --> 00:20:29.260
- the daughter tells Narcissa, mom, I'm thirsty,
- 00:20:29.260 --> 00:20:31.280
- and so presumably Narcissa thinks, well that's fine,
- 00:20:31.280 --> 00:20:34.130
- right, go back to the house, there's a bucket,
- 00:20:34.130 --> 00:20:36.270
- get some water out of the bucket.
- 00:20:36.270 --> 00:20:38.050
- Well, the daughter actually went to a river
- 00:20:38.050 --> 00:20:40.130
- which was just beside their house.
- 00:20:40.130 --> 00:20:41.270
- Narcissa didn't know, and the daughter didn't come back
- 00:20:41.270 --> 00:20:44.000
- for a little bit but Narcissa wasn't worried,
- 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.000
- until an Indian came and say hey, we found your daughter
- 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.200
- and she actually drowned in the river.
- 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:50.200
- It totally crushed her, devastated her.
- 00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:52.270
- She became much of a recluse and wanted
- 00:20:52.270 --> 00:20:55.030
- to stay inside the house.
- 00:20:55.030 --> 00:20:56.110
- Her friends were the friends who were there
- 00:20:56.110 --> 00:20:57.210
- on the mission but she was very frustrated,
- 00:20:57.210 --> 00:20:59.260
- and it is an interesting contrast between her and Marcus
- 00:20:59.260 --> 00:21:02.220
- because Marcus was able to handle a lot of the environment
- 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:06.020
- and culture a lot better than Narcissa.
- 00:21:06.020 --> 00:21:08.010
- - Yeah, Marcus understood, we've got vast cultural
- 00:21:08.010 --> 00:21:10.120
- differences and this is not the kind of stuff you can change
- 00:21:10.120 --> 00:21:12.280
- in a week or two or year or two.
- 00:21:12.280 --> 00:21:15.080
- Now remember, he's a medical missionary,
- 00:21:15.080 --> 00:21:17.030
- and so he's out here and he's doing medical work
- 00:21:17.030 --> 00:21:19.180
- wherever he can.
- 00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:21.000
- He serves the Cayuse Indians, anytime they get sick
- 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:22.110
- he's there to help.
- 00:21:22.110 --> 00:21:23.220
- One of the things that occurred was a measles epidemic
- 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:25.190
- hit the Cayuse Indians, and why he helped so many,
- 00:21:25.190 --> 00:21:28.200
- particularly the children, he didn't keep them all alive,
- 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:31.210
- and in the Cayuse culture, if you're a medicine man
- 00:21:31.210 --> 00:21:34.090
- and you treat someone who's sick and they die,
- 00:21:34.090 --> 00:21:37.260
- the family has the right to kill you
- 00:21:37.260 --> 00:21:39.270
- because you did not heal them.
- 00:21:39.270 --> 00:21:43.040
- Well, he didn't heal everyone he treated in the Cayuse tribe
- 00:21:43.040 --> 00:21:46.110
- and as he and Narcissa were at home one day,
- 00:21:46.110 --> 00:21:49.120
- right at the mission, they were sitting in kind of
- 00:21:49.120 --> 00:21:51.200
- the living room area, a Cayuse Indian walks in behind him
- 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:54.110
- and buries a tomahawk right in his head,
- 00:21:54.110 --> 00:21:57.020
- kills him right there.
- 00:21:57.020 --> 00:21:58.110
- Another one walks through the door,
- 00:21:58.110 --> 00:21:59.250
- points at Narcissa, shoots her, and nine others
- 00:21:59.250 --> 00:22:02.040
- died that day at the mission.
- 00:22:02.040 --> 00:22:03.250
- They killed 11 that day, and then two days later,
- 00:22:03.250 --> 00:22:05.280
- they killed two more, and then they took 49 captives.
- 00:22:05.280 --> 00:22:10.120
- Word gets back to the Federal government,
- 00:22:10.120 --> 00:22:12.040
- and this leads to a seven year war between
- 00:22:12.040 --> 00:22:14.290
- the Federal government and the Cayuse Indians,
- 00:22:14.290 --> 00:22:16.220
- because for the Federal government,
- 00:22:16.220 --> 00:22:18.080
- these are Americans out here,
- 00:22:18.080 --> 00:22:20.020
- we're supposed to be protecting Americans,
- 00:22:20.020 --> 00:22:21.120
- and so what happens is,
- 00:22:21.120 --> 00:22:23.010
- the death of Narcissa and Marcus and all those with them
- 00:22:23.010 --> 00:22:26.240
- is what led to Oregon actually becoming
- 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:29.060
- an official territory,
- 00:22:29.060 --> 00:22:30.290
- and then five years later, this area where we are here
- 00:22:30.290 --> 00:22:33.140
- became the Washington territory.
- 00:22:33.140 --> 00:22:35.080
- Now, the Oregon territory, vast territory.
- 00:22:35.080 --> 00:22:37.270
- It is not what we think of today of the state of Oregon,
- 00:22:37.270 --> 00:22:39.250
- the Oregon territory was what today comprises states
- 00:22:39.250 --> 00:22:42.200
- of Washington and Oregon, most of Idaho,
- 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:45.090
- parts of Montana and Wyoming, it was huge and vast,
- 00:22:45.090 --> 00:22:48.010
- and that came to be part of the United States
- 00:22:48.010 --> 00:22:50.110
- because of what Marcus and Narcissa did out here,
- 00:22:50.110 --> 00:22:53.030
- and Marcus is so significant in the history
- 00:22:53.030 --> 00:22:55.290
- of the Pacific northwest that back in Washington, D.C.,
- 00:22:55.290 --> 00:22:59.080
- there is a law that was passed in 1863 that says
- 00:22:59.080 --> 00:23:02.130
- every one of the states gets to display two of its heroes
- 00:23:02.130 --> 00:23:06.020
- right here in the Federal government,
- 00:23:06.020 --> 00:23:07.290
- the capitol, Washington, D.C.
- 00:23:07.290 --> 00:23:09.240
- Washington state chose a statue of Marcus Whitman
- 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:13.020
- as one of their heroes.
- 00:23:13.020 --> 00:23:14.100
- - Which he actually has a Bible under his hand,
- 00:23:14.100 --> 00:23:17.010
- on his hip, which was really depicting
- 00:23:17.010 --> 00:23:19.120
- kind of who he was, right?
- 00:23:19.120 --> 00:23:21.020
- He and Narcissa, they were missionaries.
- 00:23:21.020 --> 00:23:22.250
- They were people who loved God and wanted to serve people,
- 00:23:22.250 --> 00:23:25.060
- wanted to reach the lost who have never heard the gospel.
- 00:23:25.060 --> 00:23:27.250
- Now, ended up taking their lives, but because of the work
- 00:23:27.250 --> 00:23:31.060
- they did is the reason Washington is a state,
- 00:23:31.060 --> 00:23:33.110
- which is why they're honored in the U.S. Capitol
- 00:23:33.110 --> 00:23:35.050
- by Washington, but as we look back at the legacy
- 00:23:35.050 --> 00:23:38.050
- they leave behind, there's no doubt that these are
- 00:23:38.050 --> 00:23:40.260
- hidden heroes of American history.
- 00:23:40.260 --> 00:23:43.000
- (easy music)
- 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:45.120
- - While the Bartons are on the Oregon trail,
- 00:23:48.270 --> 00:23:50.080
- I'm back here in the collection,
- 00:23:50.080 --> 00:23:51.290
- figuring out and going through archives
- 00:23:51.290 --> 00:23:53.170
- and seeing what we have about Marcus and Narcissa Whitman.
- 00:23:53.170 --> 00:23:56.170
- This is an early biography that was written
- 00:23:56.170 --> 00:23:58.260
- about their lives, it's called,
- 00:23:58.260 --> 00:24:00.030
- "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon."
- 00:24:00.030 --> 00:24:02.220
- So, people really thought it was very important
- 00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:05.070
- to collect what people who knew him and the writings
- 00:24:05.070 --> 00:24:08.080
- that they were able to find, to tell the story
- 00:24:08.080 --> 00:24:10.120
- about his life because of how important it was,
- 00:24:10.120 --> 00:24:13.040
- and then additionally, we have an Indian tomahawk
- 00:24:13.040 --> 00:24:16.140
- from around that period.
- 00:24:16.140 --> 00:24:17.230
- Now, this is what they would have used,
- 00:24:17.230 --> 00:24:20.010
- quite possibly, when Marcus Whitman was killed
- 00:24:20.010 --> 00:24:22.110
- in that attack.
- 00:24:22.110 --> 00:24:24.090
- So, we use, you know, the writings, books,
- 00:24:24.090 --> 00:24:27.030
- and the artifacts to really put together and find out
- 00:24:27.030 --> 00:24:29.190
- the true history behind these hidden heroes.
- 00:24:29.190 --> 00:24:32.140
- (guitar music)
- 00:24:32.140 --> 00:24:35.010
- - When I think about Jason Lee,
- 00:24:42.140 --> 00:24:43.190
- I see some character traits in him
- 00:24:43.190 --> 00:24:45.030
- that I really think we would benefit from today.
- 00:24:45.030 --> 00:24:47.250
- I don't see them as visibly today as I did back then,
- 00:24:47.250 --> 00:24:50.000
- and when he starts and he heads for Oregon
- 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.260
- and he goes out with all the passion of a missionary,
- 00:24:52.260 --> 00:24:55.040
- here's my objective, and he gets there
- 00:24:55.040 --> 00:24:57.090
- and has to keep shifting the way he does it.
- 00:24:57.090 --> 00:25:00.160
- He's still got the same objective, but you know what,
- 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:03.070
- we need a place to be able to provide some food
- 00:25:03.070 --> 00:25:05.050
- and materials for us, and we need cattle,
- 00:25:05.050 --> 00:25:07.030
- and we need to be free from Hudson Bay Company
- 00:25:07.030 --> 00:25:08.220
- and we need our own government, and so here's this guy
- 00:25:08.220 --> 00:25:10.240
- who's trained in ministry who's doing all these
- 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:12.210
- other things, and today, it's like we're specialists.
- 00:25:12.210 --> 00:25:15.210
- Well, that's not my job description,
- 00:25:15.210 --> 00:25:17.140
- I don't do that, and think what we would not have
- 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:20.210
- if he had that mentality.
- 00:25:20.210 --> 00:25:21.270
- Well, that's not my job description.
- 00:25:21.270 --> 00:25:23.120
- - Well, one of the things that even the Bible teaches us,
- 00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:24.290
- if you're going to be great in God's kingdom,
- 00:25:24.290 --> 00:25:26.180
- you have to be a servant of all,
- 00:25:26.180 --> 00:25:27.160
- and he definitely was a servant.
- 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:29.040
- I mean, the Whitmans, you could say the same thing.
- 00:25:29.040 --> 00:25:30.170
- They were servants, they wanted to serve and love people.
- 00:25:30.170 --> 00:25:32.170
- It's very cool that one of the legacies we have in America
- 00:25:32.170 --> 00:25:35.070
- is not only just that we were a nation based
- 00:25:35.070 --> 00:25:38.280
- on Biblical principles, but when you can see,
- 00:25:38.280 --> 00:25:40.260
- like the Lees, like the Whitmans,
- 00:25:40.260 --> 00:25:43.060
- when they're going out because of the Bible,
- 00:25:43.060 --> 00:25:45.220
- sharing the gospel, and were founding these new territories
- 00:25:45.220 --> 00:25:49.020
- and ultimately become states,
- 00:25:49.020 --> 00:25:50.190
- how God uses people in very difficult situations,
- 00:25:50.190 --> 00:25:54.120
- because there's no doubt for Narcissa and Marcus
- 00:25:54.120 --> 00:25:56.230
- that this was not ideal, you know,
- 00:25:56.230 --> 00:25:58.140
- their life was much more about,
- 00:25:58.140 --> 00:25:59.230
- I want to do the will of God.
- 00:25:59.230 --> 00:26:01.100
- - Look at how so much is done by people who are flexible.
- 00:26:01.100 --> 00:26:04.230
- You know, they go in with a vision and that they have to
- 00:26:04.230 --> 00:26:06.250
- adjust but they end up getting there,
- 00:26:06.250 --> 00:26:09.090
- and I don't think we would be the nation we were
- 00:26:09.090 --> 00:26:11.160
- if we didn't have these kind of flexible people
- 00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:14.180
- willing to adjust and pick up the task
- 00:26:14.180 --> 00:26:17.060
- and do it with all their heart,
- 00:26:17.060 --> 00:26:18.200
- even though it wasn't what I originally planned,
- 00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:20.120
- I mean, I think that's a kind of courage that we need.
- 00:26:20.120 --> 00:26:23.180
- (intense music)
- 00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:26.080
- - [Announcer] We hope you're enjoying TBN's exclusive series
- 00:26:30.050 --> 00:26:33.010
- "America's Hidden History,"
- 00:26:33.010 --> 00:26:34.180
- thrilling stories of ordinary and unsung Americans
- 00:26:34.180 --> 00:26:37.180
- whom God used in extraordinary ways to shape our nation.
- 00:26:37.180 --> 00:26:41.010
- Right now, we want to send you the entire first season
- 00:26:41.010 --> 00:26:43.160
- of "America's Hidden History" as our way of saying
- 00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:45.230
- thank you for your gift of support
- 00:26:45.230 --> 00:26:47.170
- to help TBN keep this kind of programming coming,
- 00:26:47.170 --> 00:26:50.000
- and if you're able to support TBN's mission
- 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:52.080
- to deliver the message of Jesus
- 00:26:52.080 --> 00:26:54.000
- with a gracious gift of $180 or more,
- 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:57.020
- we'll also send you a large print study Bible,
- 00:26:57.020 --> 00:26:59.100
- the Founder's Bible, filled with thousands
- 00:26:59.100 --> 00:27:01.200
- of illuminating notes.
- 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:02.260
- You will learn how the scriptures played
- 00:27:02.260 --> 00:27:04.240
- such a foundational role in the formation
- 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:07.010
- of the United States and discover a wealth of information
- 00:27:07.010 --> 00:27:09.130
- to share with others.
- 00:27:09.130 --> 00:27:10.290
- For a short time, you can receive all seven episodes
- 00:27:10.290 --> 00:27:13.030
- of "America's Hidden History" Season One
- 00:27:13.030 --> 00:27:15.020
- and the remarkable Founder's Bible
- 00:27:15.020 --> 00:27:17.110
- by helping TBN continue to deliver truth
- 00:27:17.110 --> 00:27:20.040
- around the world.
- 00:27:20.040 --> 00:27:21.100
- Call 800-866-2233,
- 00:27:21.100 --> 00:27:24.050
- or go online to TBN.org/hiddenhistory2.
- 00:27:24.050 --> 00:27:29.050