On September 1, 1836, Narcissa Whitman arrived in Walla Walla, Washington, and became one of the first Anglo women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains. She and her husband, Marcus, were missionaries who hoped to convert the “heathens” to Christianity. They established a mission for the Cayuse Indians and lived in peace for a time, but in 1847, a measles epidemic wiped out most of the Indians. The white people seemed to have immunity. This angered the remaining Indians. They attacked the mission and killed all the white people there, including Narcissa.
