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Author Harden, Blaine, author.

Title Murder at the mission : a frontier killing, its legacy of lies, and the taking of the American West / Blaine Harden.

Publication Info. [New York] : Viking, [2021]

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Cromwell-Belden Public Library - Adult Department  979.503 HAR    Check Shelf
 Enfield, Main Library - Adult Department  979.503 HAR    Check Shelf
 Middletown, Russell Library - NEW Adult Nonfiction  979.503 HAR    Missing
 Newington, Lucy Robbins Welles Library - Adult Department  979.503 HARDEN    Check Shelf
 Windsor, Main Library - Adult Department  979.5 HA    Check Shelf
Description xxxi, 432 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [409]-416) and index.
Summary "The New York Times bestselling author of Escape From Camp 14 returns with the riveting and revealing story of one of the most persistent "alternative facts" in American history: the story of a missionary, a tribe, a massacre, and a myth that shaped the American West In 1836, two missionaries and their wives were among the first Americans to cross the Rockies by covered wagon on what would become the Oregon Trail. Dr. Marcus Whitman and Reverend Henry Spalding were headed to present-day Washington state and Idaho, where they aimed to convert members of the Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes. Both would fail spectacularly as missionaries. But Spalding would succeed as a propagandist, inventing a story that recast his friend as a hero, and helped to fuel the massive westward migration that would eventually lead to the devastation of those they had purportedly set out to save. As Spalding told it, after uncovering a British and Catholic plot to steal the Oregon Territory from the United States, Whitman undertook a heroic solo ride across the country to alert the President. In fact, he had traveled to Washington to save his own job. Soon after his return, Whitman, his wife, and eleven others were massacred by a group of Cayuse. Though they had ample reason--Whitman supported the explosion of white migration that was encroaching on their territory, and seemed to blame for a deadly measles outbreak--the Cayuse were portrayed as murderous savages. Five were executed. This fascinating, impeccably researched narrative traces the ripple effect of these events across the century that followed. While the Cayuse eventually lost the vast majority of their territory, thanks to the efforts of Spalding and others who turned the story to their own purposes, Whitman was celebrated well into the middle of the 20th century for having "saved Oregon." Accounts of his heroic exploits appeared in congressional documents, The New York Times, and Life magazine, and became a central founding myth of the Pacific Northwest. Exposing the hucksterism and self-interest at the root of American myth-making, Murder at the Mission reminds us of the cost of American expansion, and of the problems that can arise when history is told only by the victors"-- Provided by publisher.
Subject Whitman, Marcus, 1802-1847.
Spalding, Henry Harmon, 1803-1874.
Whitman Massacre, 1847.
Cayuse Indians -- Missions -- Northwest, Pacific.
Cayuse Indians -- Columbia Plateau -- History -- 19th century.
Nez Percé Indians -- Missions -- Northwest, Pacific.
Nez Percé Indians -- Columbia Plateau -- History -- 19th century.
Missionaries -- Northwest, Pacific -- History -- 19th century.
Northwest, Pacific -- History -- 19th century.
Columbia Plateau -- History -- 19th century.
Spalding, Henry Harmon, 1803-1874. (OCoLC)fst00238800
Whitman, Marcus, 1802-1847. (OCoLC)fst00028947
Cayuse Indians. (OCoLC)fst00849983
Cayuse Indians -- Missions. (OCoLC)fst00849986
Missionaries. (OCoLC)fst01023720
Nez Percé Indians. (OCoLC)fst01037222
Nez Percé Indians -- Missions. (OCoLC)fst01037232
Pacific Northwest. (OCoLC)fst01242543
United States -- Columbia Plateau. (OCoLC)fst01240043
Whitman Massacre (1847) (OCoLC)fst01174840
Chronological Term 1800-1899
Genre/Form History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
Added Title Frontier killing, its legacy of lies, and the taking of the American West
Other Form: Online version: Harden, Blaine. Murder at the mission [New York] : Viking, [2021] 9780525561675 (DLC) 2020053153
ISBN 9780525561668 (hardcover)
0525561668 (hardcover)
9780525561675 (ebook)
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