Where Wagons Could Go

by Whitman, Narcissa; Spalding, Eliza; Drury, Clifford Merrill

• ISBN13: 9780803266063
• ISBN10: 0803266065
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Narcissa Whitman and her husband, Marcus, went to Oregon as missionaries in 1836, accompanied by the Reverend Henry Spalding and his wife, Eliza. It was, as Narcissa wrote, "an unheard of journey for females." Narcissa Whitman kept a diary during the long trip from New York and continued to write about her rigorous and amazing life at the Protestant mission near present-day Walla Walla, Washington. Her words convey her complex humanity and devotion to the Christian conversion and welfare of the Indians. Clifford Drury sketches in the circumstances that, for the Whitmans, resulted in tragedy. Eliza Spalding, equally devout and also artistic, relates her experiences in a pioneering venture. Drury also includes the diary of Mary Augusta Dix Gray and a biographical sketch of Sarah Gilbert White Smith, later arrivals at the Whitman mission.

Author Biography

Clifford Merrill Drury, clergyman and historian, was known for such books as Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Opening of Old Oregon. Julie Roy Jeffrey, chair of the Department of History and Historical Studies at Goucher College, is the author of Converting the West: A Biography of Narcissa Whitman.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO THE BISON BOOKS EDITION	11	(6)
SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	17	(4)
THE WOMEN	21	(4)
MRS. MARCUS WHITMAN	25	(148)
NARCISSA PRENTISS WHITMAN	25	(14)
Where Wagons Could Go, Women Could Go	31	(2)
Whitman Finds the Spaldings	33	(2)
Marriage and Departure	35	(4)
MRS. WHITMAN'S DIARY, MARCH TO JULY 1836	39	(22)
Letters of March 15 and 31	40	(8)
The Mission Party Almost Left Behind	48	(2)
Letters of June 3 and 27	50	(11)
THE OREGON TRAIL AS FOLLOWED BY THE MISSIONARIES	61	(10)
The Rendezvous	63	(8)
MRS. WHITMAN'S DIARY, JULY TO OCTOBER 1836	71	(48)
The Rendezvous to Fort Hall	73	(5)
Fort Hall to Fort Walla Walla	78	(17)
Fort Walla Walla to Fort Vancouver	95	(4)
At Fort Vancouver	99	(15)
"An Unheard-of Journey for Females"	114	(5)
MRS. WHITMAN'S DIARY, DECEMBER 1836 TO MARCH 1837 AT WAIILATPU	119	(54)
The Whitman Home	129	(14)
Narcissa and Her Children	143	(11)
"It was Her Misfortune"	154	(7)
The Tragedy at Waiilatpu	161	(12)
MRS. HENRY HARMON SPALDING	173	(64)
ELIZA HART SPALDING	173	(5)
Called to Oregon	178	(5)
MRS. SPALDING'S DLART	183	(26)
The Nez Perce Mission House	198	(2)
The Diary, January 1837 to July 1840	200	(5)
A Record of Religious Meditation	205	(4)
AT LAPWAI	209	(28)
The Columbia Maternal Association	209	(1)
The Spalding Home on the Clearwater	210	(3)
Letter of February 14, 1842	213	(3)
Mrs. Spalding's Ill Health	216	(2)
The Protestant "Ladder"	218	(7)
The Last Four Years at Lapwai	225	(12)
MRS. WILLIAM HENRY GRAY	237	(36)
MARY AUGUSTA DIX GRAY	237	(8)
Letters of April 4 and September 29, 1838	242	(3)
FOUR UNHAPPY YEARS	245	(22)
Mrs. Gray's Diary, May to August 1840	248	(6)
Mrs. Gray's Diary, January 1841 to September 1842	254	(13)
IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY	267	(6)
MRS. ASA BOWEN SMITH	273
SARAH GILBERT SMITH	273
The Move to Kamiah	275	(1)
Mrs. Smith's Ill Health	276	(3)
Nearly Four Years in Hawaii	279	(1)
The Seed Takes Root	279