In 1836, missionary couples Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and Henry and Eliza Spalding accompanied a trapper caravan to what was then the Oregon country. Narcissa and Eliza were the first European-American women to make this trip. The Whitmans established a mission at Waiilatpu, on the Walla Walla River, about five miles west of the site of the eponymous modern city. They were initially welcomed by the Cayuse, the dominant Native American tribe where the mission lay. A daughter, Alice Clarissa, was born on March 14, 1837, and became a big…
