of 1843, one of which was the Zachrey letter.[1] Not a single one of the fourteen who was a responsible head of a family in 1843 reported that he was induced to go by Dr. Whitman. The two Applegates and J. M. Shively, leaders of the movement, asserted that they never heard of Whitman till he joined the emigration on the Platte River. One reported that he believed many were influenced by Whitman, but, on the other hand, J. W. Nesmith, in later life a senator from Oregon, wrote: "I know of no person who was induced to come to Oregon in consequence of Dr. Whitman's representations." Of the three besides Zachrey who testify to Whitman's influence in their own cases one was a boy of ten in 1843, another presumably a young girl in 1843, who attributed her coming to "a pamphlet Dr. Whitman wrote," and the third a man who said that his father was on the way to Wisconsin, and was persuaded by Whitman to go to Oregon instead. In reviewing this question Dr. Mowry omits all the adverse testimony, candidly printed though uncritically and fallaciously summarized by Myron Eells, while President Penrose calmly and reassuringly writes: "Undoubtedly there were many who had not heard of Dr. Whitman and were not influenced by him to go, but on the other hand a considerable number, about two-fifths of those who have been questioned on the subject, say that they went because of representations made by Dr. Whitman, either personally or through newspapers or through a pamphlet."[2] The recollections of those who were children or youth in 1843, that their parents were influenced by Whitman's articles or pamphlet all refer to Dr. White's efforts in 1842. Such a confusion at first sight seems less likely than it really was because of the enormous factitious reputation that the legend has created for Whitman in the last thirty years. But from 1842 Dr. White was a more prominent and a better known man than Dr. Whitman. As the representative of the United States government he would be a conspicuous person
- ↑ Marcus Whitman, M.D., 27–31.
- ↑ His letter to the Boston Transcript, Jan. 21, 1901.
