Marcus Whitman was one of the first white settlers in Oregon and a missionary. Together with his wife, they tried to convert the local Indian tribes to Christianity. Yet, their efforts ended up in a measles outbreak to which the Indians weren't immune. Since measles was a common disease in Europeans, the Indians suffered much harder. As a result, they believed Marcus Whitman and his wife poisoned the tribe and killed them. This story is about the good effects of Marcus Whitman's life in Oregon, his role in the first settlements, and other deeds. In addition, an author presents Whitman as a Christian martyr and a great man of faith.

A highly-readable, myth-busting history of the Whitman Massacre—a pivotal event in the history of the American West—that includes the often-missing Native American point of view. In 1836, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, devout missionaries from upstate New York, established a Presbyterian mission on Cayuse Indian land near what is now the fashionable wine capital of Walla Walla, Washington. Eleven years later, a group of Cayuses killed the Whitmans and eleven others in what became known as the Whitman Massacre. The attack led to a war of retaliation against the Cayuse; the extension of federal control over the present-day states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming; and martyrdom for the Whitmans. Today, however, the Whitmans are more likely to be demonized as colonizers than revered as heroes. In Unsettled Ground, historian and journalist Cassandra Tate takes a fresh look at the personalities, dynamics, disputes, social pressures, and shifting legacy of a pivotal event in the history of the American West. “[Tate] tells the Cayuse’s side of the story with empathy and clarity . . . a meticulously researched book.” —The Seattle Times