San Francisco Call/1895/How Dr. Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon
"HOW DR. MARCUS WHITMAN SAVED OREGON"
vs.
Mrs. Frances Fuller Victor.
BY DR. O. W. NIXON OF CHICAGO.
To the Editor of the Call—Sir: Some weeks ago Mrs. Victor made a criticism in The Call upon my book on Whitman, and you kindly offer me space to reply. Among the most persistent and continuous defamers of Dr. Marcus Whitman and the pioneer missionaries of Oregon is Frances Fuller Victor. She sailed into Oregon after the traveling was good, and soon after found she had a mission, viz.: to teach ignorant Oregonians pioneer history. More vapid, more untruthful and unreliable history has never been more snappily told. Her pretended historic facts have been disproved and utterly annihilated again and again, and yet she dresses up her dolls stuffed with sawdust, and tries to palm them off as creatures of life. In my volume that she assails, "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon," there is not a position that she assumes that is not disproved by facts of history that she utterly ignores. In this communication I do not propose to convert Mrs. Victor. That would be well-nigh hopeless. It would be a good deal like the job that an old Pennsylvania preacher had with the "Beaver family." The family was made up of "the old man Beaver and three stalwart sons, and known as 'a hard set.' "The venerable preacher had done his best, but they continued in their sins. He was finally "summoned in great haste to the Beaver home and found that "a rattlesnake had bit Bill." The good man got down on his knees and prayed: "O Lord, we thank thee for rattlesnakes. We thank thee that one has bit Bill. Send one to bite Bob, and one to bite Jim, and a big one to bite the old man, for nothing but rattlesnakes will ever convert the Beaver family." Mrs. Frances Fuller Victor has long had a mission, and that is to dance upon the grave of Dr. Marcus Whitman and his noble wife, and make faces, and say unkind things of every one who dares to speak a word in their defense. As a boy and young man it so happened that many years ago I was in Oregon. From the old pioneers and their sons and daughters I received such kindness that in all the forty-five years since I have never stood silently by while the tongue of slander was wagged. I have no hope of converting Mrs. Victor. I doubt whether a diamond-back with twenty rattles and a button could accomplish that. The whole subject is too large to discuss in a newspaper article, and I will content myself with a brief review of some of the facts. It will be remembered that Mrs. Victor is the author of the quirks and fables called history in Bancroft's Oregon, which have dishonored his history throughout the land. I, however, give Mr. Bancroft credit for having "changed some things," Mrs. Victor wrote, and as she avers, "printed falsehoods" in their stead. In Mr. Bancroft's lucid moments when left to his own instincts, he compliments Dr. Whitman. Mrs. Victor could not forgive a crime of that kind. It, for instance, would be impossible for Mrs. Victor to say, as Mr. Bancroft does on page 584, vol. 1, Chronicle of the Builders: "The missionaries and pioneers of Oregon did much to assure the country to the United States. Had there been no movement of the kind England would have extended her claim over the whole Territory, with a fair prospect of making it her own." Again Mr. Bancroft says: "The missionary, Dr. Whitman, was no ordinary man. I do not know which to admire most in him, his coolness or his courage. His nerves were as steel, his patience was excelled only by his fearlessness. In the mighty calmness of his nature he was a Caesar for Christ." Mrs. Victor accuses Mr. Bancroft in his history of "changing her sentiments and telling falsehoods." It would have been well for the credit of Mr. Bancroft's great work if he had done more changing and kept his history consistent. For instance, he allows Mrs. Victor to say on page 579, vol. 1, in speaking of the mission work in Oregon: "But missionary work did not pay, however, either with the white men or the red, whereupon the apostles of this religion began to attend more to their own affairs than to save savage souls. They broke up their establishments in 1844 and thenceforth became a political clique, whose chief aim was to acquire other men's property." That is a Victor sentiment. If it is a truth Christianity to-day, as then, stands disgraced. If it was and is a falsehood what should we call the woman author? Just turn the leaves of the same volume and read Mr. Bancroft's account of the great massacre at Waii-latpuii. where Dr. Whitman, his wife and twelve others perished and forty-seven women and children were carried away captives. Mrs. Victor says, "In 1844 they broke up their establishments and became a political clique," etc. Now, mind you, the Whitman massacre did not occur until November 29, 1847. The challenge to Mrs. Victor's truthfulness is squarely made and needs no comment. The Whitman mission was never at any time more prosperous than between 1844 and 1847. In an article of this kind I can but barely mention the facts. I went to Oregon in 1850. I heard Oregon history direct from the men and women that made it—before it was a written history. I had it through multiplied sources when every fact and incident was fresh in the minds of the people. I taught three sessions of school with boys and girls of the old pioneers as pupils. I was a guest in their homes. Later on I was a purser upon the first steamer built upon Columbia River waters, and there met still another class of the makers of pioneer history. I do not stop to bandy words or argue with this astute person, but only to state my sources of information and allow your readers to judge for themselves. In my volume, pages 205 to 212 inclusive, I have sized her up concisely and have given reasons therefor. Mrs. Victor's charge that Dr. Whitman made his long winter ride to Washington wholly for selfish reasons is almost too senseless to need a reply. She says: "He foresaw wealth and importance and that his place must become a stopping place, a supply station to the annual emigration." Proceeding, Mrs. Victor says: "The missionaries all believed that the United States would finally secure a title to at least that portion south of the Columbia River, out of whose rich lands they would be given large tracts of land by the Government, and that was reason enough for the loyalty exhibited."
Proceeding with her calumny Mrs. Victor says: "Dr. Whitman got well-to-do by selling flour and grain and vegetables to immigrants at high prices." Right here I want to quote what Dr. H . H. Spalding says in answer to Mrs. Victor. "Immigrants by hundreds and thousands reached the mission, wayworn, hungry, sick and destitute, but he cared for all. Seven orphan children of one family were left upon the hands of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, one a babe four months old, but they cared for them all, giving them clothing, medicine and food without pay. Frequently the doctor would give way his entire food supply and have to Rend tome for grain to get tn rough the winter." Let any honest reader taue in Mrs. Victor's assertions and then read Dr. Spalding's and I will abide by the verdict. Mrs. Whitman, in a letter to her sister, dated October 9, 1840 and published by the Oregon Pioneer Association, volume 1893, page 137, says: "We are thronged with company. As we are situated our house is a missionary's tavern. We are in peculiar and somewhat trying circumstances. We cannot sell because we are missionaries and not traders, but we can give and report to the board." Now, compare this statement of Mrs. Whitman, as grand a specimen of a truthful American woman as ever lived, with the assertion of Mrs. Victor that Dr. Whitman got well-to-do by selling flour and grain and vegetables to immigrants at high prices." Mrs. Victor seems to be specially enraged over any claim that Dr. Whitman aided in any sense the immigration of 1843. She even denied that he went to Washington at all, or had interviews with the President and Secretaries of State and of War, until the public documents on file in the departments at Washington were published to the world. These I have" reproduced in the appendix of "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon." As I have said. I do not propose to argue with Mrs. Victor, but will simply give her a quietus by copying a few sentences from an address by the Hon. Jesse Applegate, delivered before the Pioneer Association of Oregon in 1876. Mr. Applegate was with the immigration of 1843 piloted across the plains by Dr. Whitman. Mr. Applegate, in speaking of that memorable journey, says: "1 would Fain now and here pay a tribute to that noble and devoted man, Dr. Whitman. From the time he joined us on the Platte until he left us at Fort Hall his great experience and indomitable energy was of priceless value to the migrating column. His constant advice was travel, travel, travel ; nothing else will take you to the end of your journey. His great authority as a physician saved as many ruinous delays; and it is no disparagement to others to say that to no other individual are the immigrants of 1843 so much indebted for the successful conclusion of their journey as to Dr. Marcus Whitman." There is more to the same import. Just read again Mrs. Victor's ridicule of "Whitman having anything to do with the great immigration in 1843, and then compare it with this plain statement of one of Oregon's most honored pioneer patriots. She may well hang her head in shame. Now I wish to make one other extract. Unfortunately I have lost the cony of The Call which contained her article, but it was copied by the Spokesman-Review, and I clip from that where Mrs. Victor says:
"One of their chiefs invaded the chamber of Mrs. Whitman at night, she being protected by a single white man. Alarmed at this outrage she fled to Fort Walla Walla and was sent to The Dalles, where the Methodists had a station, and spent the year of her husband's absence in visiting different places in the Columbia and Willamette valleys. Even in the matter of Mrs. Whitman's desertion in the midst of an Indian country Dr. Nixon descends to the subterfuge, giving the impression that the doctor provided for his wife's removal to The Dalles before leaving his station; although, if he knew his subject at all, he must have known that he left her in charge of the mission, with only one man for a helper." I confess a failure to find proper expression in language that is amiable of my contempt for slander or for a slanderer. Mrs. Victor had but one source of information of the happenings at the Whitman mission, and that was Mrs. Whitman herself. She ignores Mrs. Whitman and proceeds to tell the story as above, as it appeared in your columns. Mrs. Whitman says: "About midnight I was awakened by some one trying to open my bedroom door. I raised my head and listened. Soon the latch was raised and the door opened a little. I sprang from the bed in a moment, closed the door, the ruffian pushed, tried to unlatch it and could not succeed. I calling John, he ran as for his life."
There is no difficulty in seeing the perfect willingness on the part of Mrs. Victor of having her readers believe that Mrs. Whitman, left by that brute of a husband unprotected, an Indian chief invaded her chamber, and mark, "alarmed at the outrage, she fled," etc. The plain insinuation is one that every loyal man and woman will resent. She may not have intended to insult the memory of Mrs. Whitman, but only to make the more impressive the meanness of Dr. Whitman. For she adds: "Even in the matter of Mrs. Whitman's desertion in the midst of an Indian country Dr. Nixon descends to subterfuge, giving the impression that the doctor provided for his wife's removal," etc. Again, I ask no reader to take my testimony alone. Upon page 306, "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon," the reader will find a letter, written and dated at Oregon City, February 14, 1876. It was addressed to the Rev. Dr. Atkinson and signed A. Laurence Lovejoy. It is a letter outlining the great journey to Washington and the midwinter ride, and how he (Lovejoy) happened to make the journey with Whitman. In this letter he says: "His (Whitman's) arrangements were rapidly made. Through the kindness of Mr. McKinley, stationed at Walia Walla, Mrs. Whitman was provided with suitable escort to the Willamette Valley, where she was to remain with missionary friends until the doctor's return."
Now who would likely best know the family arrangement in the mission home, General Lovejoy or Mrs. Victor? General Lovejoy was at the mission, the friend and adviser of Whitman. Mrs. Victor was not even a resident of the country, but was many thousand miles away, wholly unacquainted with a single happening. So "Dr. Nixon resorts to subterfuge, giving the impression that the doctor provided for his wife's removal," etc. Mrs. Whitman tells plainly the situation in her dally diary. She was a true, noble, Christian woman, and proposed to shirk no duty. Her health had been poor, and the talk of a rest and a visit to the Willamette country had been suggested. She says, "For myself I would prefer to remain at the mission, hut my friends insisted and I consented." The teacher, she explains, who was engaged to take charge of the mission had been detained longer than was expected.
Mrs. Victor dotes upon her astuteness in discovering that Dr. Whitman's winter ride at the risk of his life was solely forselfi'h purposes, to get the American Board to continue to let him work fifteen hours per day and live on horse meat at Waii-lapuii, but she fails to account for General Lovejoy. Did he take the ride with Whitman to have fun? He was just off the long journey and knew its sorrows and perils even under the most favorable conditions. Would he likely have made such a trip with such a maggot in his brain as Mrs. Victor coddles? The next time Mrs. Victor rushes into print and attempts to dishonor the name of Whitman, she would do well to explain how General Lovejoy, who had no business with the American Board and no selfish aims insight, risked his life to go with him upon the journey. Again, Mrs. Victor lays great stress upon the fact that Dr. Whitman could not have led the immigration in 1843 because he "did not reach the party until the crossing of the Platte." General Lovejoy and others tell why he remained in the rear. It was to help and encourage the last starters. There was no need of a guide or adviser before reaching the Platte. Ii was a plain traveled road. But he was as usual on hand when needed. The crossing of the Platte with 225 wagons, a thousand head of loose stock and one thousand men, women and children was not a small matter. Until Whitman reached the head of the column not a wagon entered the turbid waters of the Platte, which at the place ot crossing is a mile wide, and wagons often have to travel from two to three miles to keep on the bar while crossing.
In the volume "How Dr. Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon," I have attempted to pull no man down to lift Whitman up. I have simply shown that his work done at the right time, and in the right way, was largely instrumental in accomplish lug the grand results, reached. The war of the revolution might have resulted as it did without "The Father of his Country"; Vicksburg might have fallen without Grant; the army might have marched to the sea and reached Appomattox without Sherman or Sheridan; If Lincoln had not lived the old flag might still be waving over a united country! But what patriot stops now to cavil and sneer and withhold honors from any one of them? Dr. Marcus Whitman was a modest old Christian hero who went quietly and without noise about his work and never blew a horn. What he accomplished is recorded, and is history so plain that honest readers will not doubt. "No one of his friends has asked for him all the credit of saving Oregon. The wild talk of Mrs. Victor that many of the immigrants of 1843 did not know Whitman and "that he could not have induced them to immigrate" is all childish twaddle. No one has claimed that he did. But that to him more than to any other one man is due the National awakening no reasonable reader can doubt. The American people are honest end patriotic, and they only need to learn the real facts of history to do honor to the name of Whitman and his associate heroes and heroines. The world has always had its critics and doubters and groaners, and doubtless they will continue to do business at the old stands. There will continue to be Donnelleys who will prove that "Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare's plays"; more Colonel Ingersolls who will find fresh "Mistakes of Moses," and very sure we will have Mrs. Victor standing in the middle of the road and throwing mud at the old pioneers of Oregon. They all remind one of the fable of "the fly that lighted on the horn ot the ox" — like the ox, the patient public will pass along and not even know they were there.
The right ever comes uppermost,
And ever is justice done.
Very respectfully yours,O. W. Nixon.