1-800-TYPHOID: The Oregon Trail Part Two

Hope can fit inside a covered wagon, but so can heartbreak. We trace the Sager family’s 1844 push toward Oregon—from a baby born on the prairie and a nine-year-old’s leg crushed under a wagon wheel to typhoid, orphanhood, and a desperate bid for safety at the Whitman Mission in Walla Walla. What looks like a quiet waystation becomes the center of an epidemic, a cultural collision, and the event that reshaped the Pacific Northwest: the Whitman Massacre.

We walk through the mission’s daily life under Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, the strict routines that held the Sager orphans together, and the slow unspooling of trust with the Cayuse. When measles struck in 1847, immunity lines drew fault lines. Many settler children recovered while Cayuse families buried their young, fueling suspicion that the “medicine man” favored newcomers over the people whose land the mission occupied. Rumor blended with grief, and a violent reckoning followed. The massacre claimed 14 lives, including the Whitmans and the Sagers’ two eldest boys, and left women and children, the Sager girls among them, imprisoned through winter until Hudson’s Bay Company trader Peter Ogden ransomed the survivors with blankets, muskets, and tobacco.

From there, the story widens. The rescue led to foster placements in the Willamette Valley, the official creation of the Oregon Territory, and the Cayuse War. We follow each surviving Sager sister forward: Catherine’s amputation and classic memoir Across the Plains in 1844, Elizabeth’s long memory of the mission, Matilda’s resilience across marriages and states, and Henrietta’s brief, tragic life. Along the way we press on the larger questions the Trail still asks: Who gets care when medicine is scarce? How do missions, settlers, and Indigenous nations negotiate land, respect, and survival? And what costs get folded into the myth of westward expansion?

If you’re drawn to true pioneer stories, Indigenous–settler history, and the real Oregon Trail beyond the game screen, you’ll find a human, unflinching account here. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves history, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. What moment stayed with you most? Tell us on YouTube, X, Instagram, or Facebook at History Buffoons Podcast.

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:16

Oh, hey there.

SPEAKER_03 0:18

That was my apologies. He wasn't wearing his headphones. I forgot my headphones.

SPEAKER_06 0:22

You can't hear me without his headphones. What? What?

SPEAKER_03 0:26

We are the History Buffoons. I am Bradley. And I'm Kate. How are you today, Kate?

SPEAKER_06 0:31

I'm doing well. Thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

Yeah, on uh part two of Senor Oregon Trail. Senor? I don't know why I said that.

SPEAKER_06 0:40

Mr. Oregon Trail.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Made you laugh. That's why I'm here. Refer to the jokes.

SPEAKER_06 0:46

How about El Oregon Trail?

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Do you know what they call cancer in Spanish? El cancer. El cancer. I love that line in Deadpool. It's so good. So my cats are incessant for food.

SPEAKER_06 1:01

They is not time for them to eat. Um, but if you hear them in the background, that is because um Amos is hungry and he's speaking for all cats everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

And Nathan is currently napping.

SPEAKER_06 1:13

Yes, as you should.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

And and we are trying to not be too loud, but you know what? Things happen.

unknown 1:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

I get pretty heated about the Oregon Trail. So Okay, so uh oh, we drinking to die. So we had wine the other the other episode. Yeah. Part one. Part one. Did we have that on part one?

SPEAKER_06 1:33

I think so, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

No, we had Sarah Nevada. That's right. We did, did we? We didn't. We had wine uh anyways.

SPEAKER_06 1:41

We had wine some time ago.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Not that long ago. But uh so we we had uh Sauve Blanc that is my flavor of wine, if if I ever have wine that I usually go to, and it's a white. Um you like Pinot Grigio, so Pinot Grigio, yeah. We are doing 14 hands Pinot Grigio. You've had this before, correct?

SPEAKER_06 2:02

I've I don't know if I've had that particular Pinot.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

But you've had 14 Hands before.

SPEAKER_06 2:06

I've had 14 hands before. I think they've always been red blends, but I really liked 14 hands. Okay. Um so yeah, this is a Pinot Grigio, which is my favorite flavor of wine. So cheers.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Cheers.

SPEAKER_06 2:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Yep, that's Pinot Grigio.

SPEAKER_06 2:23

That's delicious.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

I also have a backup beer. Um not not because I didn't think I would like it, it's just because it's a backup, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:33

Well, yeah, it's an additional one.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Yeah, because you know I I'm I'm thirsty.

Recap Of Part One

SPEAKER_06 2:38

So if you have not listened to part one yet, um you do not have to listen to that one to to follow this one.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Right.

SPEAKER_06 2:46

Um, however, the first part um is all about the general idea, the general background of what the Oregon Trail was.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Yeah, the promise of of greater pastures in Oregon.

SPEAKER_06 2:59

Yeah, so it would go over um where people would start from, where they would end, independence, what um types of um situations they might encounter along the trail, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Yeah, so just a very generalized background of locations and trials and tribulations along the path to Oregon. And this part Sorry, I was just overpronouncing Oregon.

SPEAKER_06 3:28

This part is about a particular family, and some of the things that we talked about in part one definitely happened to this family.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

And we might bring up the game again.

SPEAKER_06 3:39

Oh, we did play the game. Let's just start that right now.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 3:42

Um, so I tried to find the Oregon Trail card game and I could not.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Um but not without getting it here in a timely manner.

SPEAKER_06 3:49

But you can literally get the 90s version of the Oregon Trail at Oregon Trail. And you can play it for free online. I will put in a couple screenshots for those of you listening to or watching the YouTube version.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 4:06

Um, Bradley was one of the characters.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Not because you put me in, right?

SPEAKER_06 4:11

It was Oh no, I put your name in. Oh, it was. Oh, I put yeah, I put my name in and your name in, and then the other three were randomized.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

I thought that I thought that was pure coincidence when you told me about it.

SPEAKER_06 4:22

So I have a screenshot of Bradley getting a snake bite, and then Bradley died.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

I did not make it to Oregon. My apologies.

SPEAKER_06 4:31

Um, and then you found a Oregon trail.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

So I have um Apple stuff, so I have Apple Arcade, and it's the it's a pretty much an updated version of it with obviously much better graphics and such and so on. So I was playing it just a little bit. I didn't I didn't get too far into it, but it was kind of funny because you know you gotta still make uh it's question-based, you know, like who do you want to do this and so on and whatever. But it was it was kind of fun. Yeah, it looked nice, obviously, because it's again, it's newer, but um, but yeah, it was funny.

SPEAKER_06 5:06

But I'm going to put this um website in our show notes as well because it's it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

I mean it's classic.

SPEAKER_06 5:15

It's nostalgic.

Meet The Sager Family

SPEAKER_03 5:17

If anyone in our general time time age group, age group, yeah. There's the word I was looking for. Um they've there's you most likely have played it in your youth. Yeah there's a very good chance. So you know, nostalgic, like you said. So I like shit like that. So all right.

SPEAKER_06 5:37

Well, let's get into part two here.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_06 5:39

We are gonna talk about the Sager family.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Sager?

SPEAKER_06 5:42

C-A-G-E-R, Sager. Sager. Mm-hmm. Sager? Sager.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Spell it again?

SPEAKER_06 5:50

S-A-G-E-R.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

Oh, Sager. Okay. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_06 5:53

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

I'm not a smart man.

SPEAKER_06 5:56

So um we have Henry and Naomi Sager. Uh-huh. Those are the um man and wife. Yep. And they had already moved their family multiple times at this point. We're uh from Virginia to Ohio to Indiana, they were always in search of better prospects.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 6:14

And by 1839, they settled on a farm in Platte County, Missouri. Okay, where Henry worked as a farmer and a blacksmith. But come late 1843, um, tales of the fertile Oregon County and hopes for a more healthy climate led them to sell their farm and prepare to head west.

SPEAKER_04 6:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 6:37

Okay. They wintered in St. Joseph, Missouri. This was one of the jumping off points.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Oh, it was, okay.

SPEAKER_06 6:45

And by spring, the Sagers were determined to join the Great Migration.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 6:50

So in April of 1844, Henry Sager, 34, and Naomi, 36, set out on the Oregon Trail with not one kid, not even four kids. Seven, six children, and Naomi was pregnant with her seventh.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

I kind of got it right.

SPEAKER_06 7:09

You did. They joined a wagon train known as the Independent Colony, a group of about 300 pioneers with 72 covered wagons. Holy shit. And they were led by Captain William T. Shaw.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

William T. Shaw, okay.

SPEAKER_06 7:28

He was a veteran of the War of 1812. He was an experienced frontiersman. He was from Iowa. He served as state legislator. Like he was kind of the natural leader. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Okay. So on April 30th, 1844, the caravan ferried across the Missouri River and officially began the 2,000-mile trek to Oregon.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

Good lord.

SPEAKER_06 7:54

The Sagres wagon was heavy with provisions and children.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Well, yeah, six of them.

SPEAKER_06 7:59

Ages range ranging from toddler to early teens. And of course, the journey start was really chaotic.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:05

Catherine Sager, who was nine years old at the time, later wrote that simply getting used to the wagon's jostling motion was hard.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Well, I mean, they didn't really have great suspension back then. No, not so much.

SPEAKER_06 8:19

They had probably some, but they did in the in the driver's seat.

SPEAKER_03 8:24

Yeah, more or less, you know, those metal to help with the bounce. But yeah, I can't imagine that was very great. You're just bouncing up and down in the back there.

SPEAKER_06 8:34

But she qu said, quote, the motion of the wagon made us all sick, and it was weeks before we got used to the C sick motion. I would be dead just.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

You would be screwed. You get you get car sick, motion sick, whatever you want to call it.

SPEAKER_06 8:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Very easily. Yeah. So could you imagine you going through this?

SPEAKER_06 8:51

No.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

You would have looked at it and thrown up.

SPEAKER_06 8:53

I would have to drive.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

No, you that would have been scary. You driving oxen.

SPEAKER_06 8:59

We're all walking beside who are we getting. Yeah, I know. So despite early mishaps, because at one point their oxen had strayed back to their winter pasture, causing a delay.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

It's like, hold on, I just I gotta go back and get my ox.

SPEAKER_06 9:11

The wagon train made steady progress westward in the early weeks. So five weeks into the journey in late May of 1844, Naomi Sager gave birth in the wagon to a baby girl, Rosanna Sager. Rosanna? Okay. And the birth took place right along the trail in what is now Kansas.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_06 9:31

It was a perilous delivery on the open prairie, but both mother and infant survived.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yay.

SPEAKER_06 9:37

However, Naomi's recovery was quite slow. Child birth left her weakened for a really long time. Sure. Um, the wagon train paused to celebrate July 4th of 1844 with a patriotic gathering on the Platte River banks. Wow, all right. Um, it was a brief moment of festivity before fate would actually strike again.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Oh, what happened?

SPEAKER_06 9:59

A few days after the Independence Day respite, while fording the South Fork of the Platte, the Sager's wagon overturned in the shallow river.

unknown 10:09

Oh no.

SPEAKER_06 10:10

Naomi, the mother, was severely injured.

SPEAKER_04 10:14

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 10:15

She was caught in the wreckage and soaked, um, and she likely suffered internal injuries or bruising.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_06 10:21

Um, she was either standing or kneeling inside the wagon, um, likely tending to children. When it toppled. Yeah, a sudden jolt like threw her against the side of the wagon. She struck her head and her side really hard and knocked and was knocked unconscious. Oh boy. So she was hurt and she was weak um for quite some time, but Naomi knew that she had to continue on.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Right.

SPEAKER_06 10:45

So the train pressed forward into the vast Nebraskan plains, passing famous landmarks like Chimney Rock.

Birth On The Trail And Early Mishaps

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Chimney cricket.

SPEAKER_06 10:55

And that was at the end of July.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:58

So I asked my my parents after the part one, have I been to Chimney Rock? And they said, Yes, but you were motion sick the entire time.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

And did you go, did you take me there in a covered wagon? Imagine that.

SPEAKER_06 11:17

They they they said that they thought I was coming down with something, but nope, I was just car sick.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

Yeah, yeah. It's a lifelong uh, I don't know, affliction problem, we'll call it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:28

So each milestone um underscored that the Great Plains were nearly behind them and the Rocky Mountains lay be uh ahead. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:36

So the fate the Sagers, of course, faced one crisis after another. Near Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming. Yep, young Catherine Sager suffered a horrible accident.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

The this was the nine-year-old. The nine-year-old. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:50

As she later recounted, she jumped out of the moving wagon, which they often did so they wouldn't have to stop and start. Yeah, yeah. Her dress got caught on an axle. Oh boy. And before the team could halt, one of the heavy wagon wheels ran over her leg, shattering it in multiple places.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

Oh dear. That sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_06 12:12

Now, this type of injury could have easily been fatal via like infection or gangrene.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:18

But Catherine's parents and uh fellow travelers sprang into action right away. Henry Sager, with no doctor available, set his daughter's broken leg himself. Sure. So miraculously at Fort Laramie, they did encounter a German-born physician, Dr. Dagon, who praised Henry's splinting job and decided to accompany the family to tend to Catherine's injury. Like that he came along.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

He's like, hey, uh, it's kind of like in the game I played, they met uh a guy out there and he joined the party, whatever. So yeah, that's kind of funny. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 12:55

So Catherine um was confined lying in the wagon for the rest of the trip.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Could you imagine jostling around with a broken leg like that in a covered wagon? That could not have been covered.

SPEAKER_06 13:06

How many miles?

SPEAKER_03 13:07

A lot.

SPEAKER_06 13:08

But, and she had a makeshift cast on, but thanks to Dr. Dagan's care, Catherine avoided infection and slowly did heal.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 13:17

So by August 1844, the wagon company had crossed the Continental Divide at South Pass in Wyoming. Okay. So it's the line of highest ground that separates river systems flowing into different oceans.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

Correct.

SPEAKER_06 13:32

So the east side of the divide, rivers like the Missouri, the Mississippi, the Platte would eventually flow into the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 13:43

Um west of the divide. The Pacific, yep. Um, yes, rivers like the Snake River, Columbia River would go towards the Pacific. Exactly. So um with the height of the Rockies, obviously come increase of disease. An outbreak of camp fever.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_06 14:05

Spread throughout throughout the train.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

What is exactly a camp fever, anyways?

SPEAKER_06 14:10

So it is referring to either typhoid or typhus. So they are two different things.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

Sure, but it's something else. They just refer as a blanket camp fever because yes. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_06 14:25

So typhoid is caused by a type of salmonilla bacteria.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_06 14:30

And it is spread by contaminated food or water.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 14:34

Um often due to poor sanitation, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Which I can't imagine.

SPEAKER_06 14:39

Drinking river water is also kind of the bathroom. So in a lot of TV, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

So it's not like they stopped and dug a latrine every time they stopped or had to go or whatever. So yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_06 14:49

Um, typhus is another type of bacteria that is spread by body lice.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Body lice.

SPEAKER_06 14:56

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 14:58

So specifically from scratching lice feces into small skin abrasions.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Oh, boy. It's typhus. I never I never knew that.

SPEAKER_06 15:06

I didn't either. Oh. Yeah. So camp fever is an all encompassing bacterial infection. It's not good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Yeah. We'll just say it's not good.

SPEAKER_06 15:16

Henry Sager, the fogger, the fog the fogger, the father, Faja. Was among those who fell sick as they descended towards the Green River, and his condition deteriorated rapidly. Oh dear. Captain Shaw, the wagon master, and others did what they could, but medicine was also very scarce.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Of course.

SPEAKER_06 15:36

Catherine, the nine-year-old, was immobilized with a broken leg.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Yep.

Catherine’s Broken Leg And Fort Laramie

SPEAKER_06 15:40

Shit. Excuse me. She lay beside her ailing father in the wagon and later recall recalled his last night.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_06 15:49

Henry Sager died on August 23rd, 1844, near the Green River in present-day Wyoming, likely from typhoid. So the salmonella.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:59

Before he passed, he wept over the fate of his family. He said, quote, his wife was ill, the children small, and one likely to be a cripple. They had no relatives near, and a long journey lay before him.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Because he's his journey's.

SPEAKER_06 16:16

He's about to die.

SPEAKER_03 16:17

Like he's about to dead.

SPEAKER_06 16:19

I did say that. I know.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

He's about to dead.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

He's about to dead. Oh, some of the shit you say is just so great. I can't get over it. Some of the things that you've spouted out on this podcast. He's about to dead.

unknown 16:38

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_03 16:39

That is so great. That might be a contender for title. I'm just saying. He's about to dead. Thank you for putting that in the notes.

SPEAKER_06 16:53

Otherwise, we forget about it.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

And then I have to do searching and it's horde.

SPEAKER_06 16:57

So he begged the captain to take charge of them and see them through.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

The rest of his family. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:03

So Captain uh William Shaw promised to care for the children and honored that vow completely.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

He married his wife. No.

SPEAKER_06 17:12

Okay. The company halted to bury Henry in a coffin fashioned from a hollowed-out log.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_06 17:20

And his grave is somewhere by the Green River.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

Did they mark it at all? Do you know?

SPEAKER_06 17:24

So they do sometimes and they don't sometimes. So later immigrants or people who've traveled after the Sager family found that wolves or coyotes had disturbed his resting place at one point.

SPEAKER_03 17:38

Oh, so they dug him up, kind of thing. So it's probably not even there. But okay.

SPEAKER_06 17:43

So now a widow with seven children, one of them an infant, one of them injured. Yeah. Naomi Sager pressed on with just devastation. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

She just lost her husband. And yeah. This travel is tough.

SPEAKER_06 17:57

So and they still had hundreds of miles to cover.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Sure. Do you have so they're in Wyoming right now by the Snake River? Do you know how much further they have?

SPEAKER_06 18:07

Not okay. I can look it up.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

It's fine. Okay. I I was just curious if you happen to have something on that, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_06 18:14

So Naomi's own health was fragile. She had never fully regained regained strength after giving birth and then being knocked unconscious.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:23

With potential internal injuries and the strain of driving the wagon and caring for the family alone. It was it was a lot.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 18:31

Um, so within weeks of Henry's death, Naomi succumbed to illness as well. Oh dear. She likely contacted contracted typhoid as well. As well. Okay. Yep. The same fever outbreak.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Hey typhoid, can you come get me? I I'm missing my husband and I want to die the same way. Jesus. So 1-800 typhoid. Or as they would have said, 1-800 camp fever.

SPEAKER_06 19:05

1-800 cam fever. Wow. So with fever, week with fever, Naomi actually became delirious on the trail.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Oh no.

SPEAKER_06 19:19

Yeah, in um the Idaho territory. She knew she was dying. So in a lucid moment, she called Dr. Dagon to her side and said, take these children to Dr. Whitman's mission in Walla Walla.

SPEAKER_03 19:36

Bing bang.

SPEAKER_06 19:37

Walla walla bing bang. So Marcus Whitman's missionary um settlement was in Oregon Country.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Oh, so she already knew that? Like, did she know this person?

SPEAKER_06 19:51

So remember I had mentioned that they kind of had guidebooks.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:56

So I think this everybody was like headed towards this one particular. Thing. So they knew Chimney Rock. They knew Fort Laramie. And Whitman Mission was just another landmark. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

So because she's going, husband died already, obviously, dad died. I need my kids looked after. Yes. Take them to this. Because now they're going to be fucking orphans. Yes. That's sad.

SPEAKER_06 20:18

And I will tell you a little bit more about um the Whitmans. Of course. Because they actually took in a lot of children and they knew that as well.

Camp Fever Strikes And Henry Dies

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Well, I mean, this journey was perilous. It was. Obviously, the younger you are, the faster you can recover. Right. I mean, even with a broken leg, it sucks. But you know, your body recovers when you're younger quicker. So you had to expect a lot of adults to die on this journey. I mean, it was it wasn't easy. No. Even though it sounds like, oh, you're in a wagon going across land. How hard can it be?

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

Going up mountains, rivers, crossing rivers, blah, blah, blah. There was it was pretty treacherous. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:58

On September 27th, 1844, 26 days after Henry died. Jesus. Naomi Sager died.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

That is sad. Could you imagine those kids? Seven kids and a fucking infant, no less. I mean, what, two months old, right? Yeah. Three months old, whatever. Give or take.

SPEAKER_06 21:17

So she said. She died near the Snake River, which is close to present-day Twin Falls, Idaho.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 21:24

According to her children, her final words were a cry to her already deceased husband. Sure. She so maybe a little delirious here at the end, but she said, quote, Oh Henry, if you only knew how we have suffered.

SPEAKER_03 21:39

But he does, he's already dead.

SPEAKER_06 21:40

I know. That's what I was thinking. I was like, well, he did suffer too. But that's what she said.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

So that's what she said.

SPEAKER_06 21:48

Lacking lumber, the wagon party wrapped Naomi in a bed sheet and laid her in a shallow grave on the frontier.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Oh, so the coyotes got her.

SPEAKER_06 21:57

Their eldest son, 13-year-old John Sager, made a wooden grave marker with her name and age. It was likely a headboard of some kind, but I don't know for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:10

So this is one where they did try to write a headboard. Headstone? Grape marker. Whatever. Headstone. Headstone? Is that it?

SPEAKER_03 22:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Headboard.

SPEAKER_06 22:22

The sacred what? What'd you say?

SPEAKER_03 22:25

I just find it funny you called it a headboard.

SPEAKER_06 22:28

Because that's what he made it out of. I get that. Like a bedheadboard.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

Bed headboard?

SPEAKER_06 22:33

Bed headboard.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

I hate bedhead. I hate bedheadboards even more. A bedboard. Jesus Christ. What is wrong with you? I don't know. Your words are making me laugh uncontrollably.

SPEAKER_06 22:49

Okay, this is serious.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

Death is serious.

SPEAKER_06 22:53

So the Sager children are now orphans on the Oregon Trail.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

So we got a 13-year-old, we know a nine-year-old, we got a three-month-old and a whole bunch of others in between. God damn, that is sad.

SPEAKER_06 23:05

So for the remaining journey, the entire wagon train became a surrogate family for that. Of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

I mean I would imagine they probably grew pretty close with some of the travelers they were with.

SPEAKER_06 23:15

Yeah. So true to his promise, Captain Shaw took charge of the group, and the um other uh adults also divided responsibilities.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

That's see, at least they were with at least they weren't on their own.

SPEAKER_06 23:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

You know, because obviously they would have been fucked.

SPEAKER_06 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

At least they were a part of this big community wagon train to go to Oregon. Did that for you. Um, but man, could you imagine if they were on their own? They would have been fucked.

SPEAKER_06 23:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:43

Because the 13-year-old, I mean, I know times are different. Yeah. This is what almost almost.

SPEAKER_06 23:47

13-year-old, he's he's he's basically a man.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Well, at that point, yeah. Why doesn't he have children already?

SPEAKER_06 23:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

But you know, fuck, that that had to be crazy to lose your parents like that.

SPEAKER_06 23:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 23:58

So William Shaw and his wife Sally particularly stepped up as they uh as they promised. Yep. And they took the older Sayer children into their wagon, seeing to their meals and their care. And another woman fed and tended to baby Rosanna.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Rosanna, that's right. I forgot that was a name.

SPEAKER_06 24:17

Um, and and I believe the Shaws also had two children of their own. So they they had a big little company there.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

Okay. So food a big little company. Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_06 24:32

So food supplies are running low for everyone. Yeah. Um, the emigrants had run out of flour and other staples, surveyingly mainly on hunted game.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 24:42

So the Shaws still shared whatever they had. Sure. Um, as the wagon train led on, many assumed the baby might not survive to Oregon as and the infant was very sick and frail.

Naomi’s Last Wish And Passing

SPEAKER_03 24:56

What do you feed an infant at that time with no breast milk and all that stuff? I mean, I know we had formula for our kids, that's what we mainly did. Um but like we're talking, what are we 1844 still, right?

SPEAKER_06 25:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

I don't think they have formula back then. So it's like, what do you what do you feed a baby at that time? That's no idea. That's crazy. Okay, anyways.

SPEAKER_06 25:22

So in Oct October 1844, the wagon train finally re reached the Whitman mission.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Oh, so they're and that's within the Oregon territory. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 25:33

And this is in uh the Walla Walla Valley. Bingo. Okay. So the mission station was run by Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa Whitman.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Narcissa. She and Harry Potter?

SPEAKER_06 25:46

Jesus Christ. And they were this welcome community on this trail. Sure. Um, it was founded in 1836 by Dr. Marcus Whitman, who was a physician missionary, and his wife Narcissa, both sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Oh, wow. A Protestant missionary group of New England.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

So they were probably with some of the earlier ones there, though, right? Okay.

SPEAKER_06 26:16

Their goal was to get convert and civilize the Cayus and the Nez Perse tribes through Christianity, medicine, and education. Fair enough. Okay. So it this is like a little tiny frontier village. Yeah. Um, there was a main house, which was the home, a school, an infirmary.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 26:37

They had a blacksmith uh for settlers and tribes. They had fields and gardens of wheat, corn, potatoes, livestock. They had um that mission school. They taught English, religion, and domestic skills.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Good.

SPEAKER_06 26:51

Um Narcissa ran classes, sang hymns, and taught sewing while Marcus doctored everyone within a hundred mile radius, white emigrants and the Cayus. Gotcha. Okay. All right. So very, very welcome sight for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Oh, I have no, I have no doubt. I mean, I'm I can imagine be like, thank fucking god, we got some civilization here, you know, to help out with certain things, whatever. Yeah, that had to be a relief for some of these people.

SPEAKER_06 27:17

So how did you like your wine? I see you're it's empty.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

It was good.

SPEAKER_06 27:20

Yeah, you liked it?

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Yeah, I did. Good. It was I'm I've had Pinot Grigio before. Um, I again, as we've talked about the last time we had wine, I'm not a big wine person. Yeah. Um, but no, it was good. It's something different. It's certainly uh a nice little change that we did the last couple times we did it. But um, no, it was good. Um I'm excited to have the 14 hands soft block we got too. Yeah. Um, whether we do it on this episode or afterwards, maybe. Um we'll we'll force some to Nathan because he's a big wine guy, and I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_06 27:50

He's really not.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

Not at all.

SPEAKER_06 27:52

Okay, so the Shaws honoring Naomi's dying wish appealed to the Whitmans to take care of the Sager orphans, at least for the winter. Because we're in October now.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

Yeah, I mean, obviously, winter's upon you.

SPEAKER_06 28:07

Yeah, and I don't know what Oregon is like in the winter, but I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

Yeah, um, especially back in the 1840s, because you know, global warming.

SPEAKER_06 28:14

I'm just kidding. Anyways, at first there was some hesitation. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman had already opened their home to other orphans and displaced children.

SPEAKER_03 28:24

They're probably like pretty full on.

Arrival At Whitman Mission

SPEAKER_06 28:25

Yeah, exactly. So Narcissa actually had lost her own biological child in 1839. There's seven more. Yeah, so she she had a compassionate heart for children in need.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

Of course. I mean, that's that's tough, obviously, to lose a child. I couldn't I couldn't fucking imagine it.

SPEAKER_06 28:42

And she was immediately drawn to baby Rosanna.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Well, that's good because she probably needs the most care.

SPEAKER_06 28:48

And she asked to adopt her as well.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

Like that's how who should who did she ask?

SPEAKER_06 28:56

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Like, who would you ask? Just fucking adopt her. The other kids are probably not gonna say anything. No, you shall not adopt my sister.

SPEAKER_06 29:05

So Marcus Whitman was inclined to take in the two uh Sager boys as he saw value in Well, work and yeah, exactly. Work around the mission. Yep. However, Captain Shaw, the wagon master, firmly insisted that the siblings not be separated.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Good for him.

SPEAKER_06 29:23

After all that they had endured.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

Oh, fuck yeah. Yeah, lost good man. Both parents on this trip. Yeah, they're the last of their family. I mean, I they might have relatives somewhere, whatever. But yeah, don't fucking split them up. Like, no, um, let's go.

SPEAKER_06 29:36

I'm just gonna take the baby.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

I'm gonna uh the wife's taking that, and I'm taking those two guys right there.

SPEAKER_06 29:41

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Rest of you go fuck off. Yeah, it's like no, keep them all together, they're fucking family. Yeah, I hate when that shit happens.

SPEAKER_06 29:47

So he reportedly made Dr. Whitman sign a contract to keep all seven children.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

That's fantastic. Good for at least through the winter. Shaw is like good on Shaw for that. Fuck you. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_06 29:59

So the Whitmans agreed, thus the Sager children. I'm gonna name them off John, Frank.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Is this in order? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 30:06

Okay John is the oldest.

SPEAKER_03 30:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:08

John, Frank, Catherine, Elizabeth, Matilda, Louise, and baby Rosanna.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Louisi?

SPEAKER_06 30:14

Louisa.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Louisa, okay.

SPEAKER_06 30:16

And baby Rosanna found a new home under the Whitman's roof in 1844.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

October still, right?

SPEAKER_06 30:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 30:24

Yes, that's right. That's a lot of that's a lot of kids.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

Well, so they Narcissa, right? Mm-hmm. Lost a child.

SPEAKER_06 30:33

Her own child, yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

Only one?

SPEAKER_06 30:35

I believe so.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

Okay. So, but yet obviously they took in other orphans.

SPEAKER_06 30:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

Were they all living under the same roof at this point, as far as you know, or no? You're not sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 30:45

This is a fairly large community. Yeah. So I'm not sure if it's a big house or if there's little tiny things here and there to create a little community. I'm not 100% sure.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

Which would make more sense, in my opinion, being the little things, you know, spread around. But like, could you imagine going to from what's his name? Martin? Martin and Narcissa?

SPEAKER_06 31:09

Henry.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

Henry, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06 31:10

Oh, Narcissa and uh Marcus. Marcus. Marcus. The Whitmans, yeah. Marcus.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

I don't know why I said I thought Martin. But like going from, hey, what do you want to do tonight? Hey, we got seven kids. Yeah, that's uh holy balls. That's I was good with one. Love you, Vesper.

SPEAKER_06 31:27

So at the Whitman Mission, yeah, the seven Sager children began a new chapter under the care of Dr. Marcus Whitman and Narcissa Whitman.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:36

The Whitman's outpost was established in 1836. So not that long, not that earlier, yeah. Um, and it served both as a Christian mission to the local Cayuse Indians and as an unofficial way station for the emigrants.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

Correct. So sorry to interrupt. Um, how much further past this mission did people go?

SPEAKER_06 31:59

I think at this point it was wherever you want.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Because again, if correct me if I'm wrong on this number, but like they were promised 640 acres.

SPEAKER_06 32:09

Yeah, it was a lot.

SPEAKER_03 32:10

So, like, go that way.

SPEAKER_06 32:13

Whether or not they took all 640 per per per person or whatever perfectly. Per family or whatever, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

Doesn't matter, yeah. But like, so basically they're in Oregon now. Yes, this is the territory, yes, because obviously it wasn't a state or anything at this point. Yes. Go that way, you'll find your acres. Go that way, you'll find your acres, kind of thing, right? I mean so okay. Anyway, sorry, continue.

SPEAKER_06 32:35

Um, so by the time the Sagers arrived in October 5th of 1844, Narcissa was in her early 30s.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

Oh, oh, so they were pretty young.

SPEAKER_06 32:46

Yeah, and so she was actually kind of considered like the frontier foster mother.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 32:51

Um, as I told you this the before, they often had orphan children and other stranded children.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 32:59

Yes. So Narcissa was very kind, but she was strict.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Well, you kind of needed to be back then, especially with a lot of youngins.

Life Under The Whitmans

SPEAKER_06 33:10

So she and Marcus took the Sager orphans into their large mission house and adding to their already full household. Yep. Narcissa once wrote, quote, our little place is a resting spot for many a wary, way-worn traveler, and we'll be as long as we live here. In the months after the Sager's arrival, the Whitmans grew attached to them. Oh, good. And by July of 1845, Marcus had obtained legal custody to adopt all seven Sager children. Oh, cool. Ensuring that they would not be split up.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it is. I'm so glad Shaw put that notion into his brain, too.

SPEAKER_06 33:49

There is a little caveat with this.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

I'm sure there is. There always fucking is. Fucking caveat. God damn, I hit my microphone. Fucking caveats, am I right?

SPEAKER_06 33:57

They actually changed Rosanna, the baby Rosanna's name.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

Why?

SPEAKER_06 34:03

I will tell you. They changed her name from Rosanna to Henrietta Naomi. Her parents Henry and Naomi. I thought that was kind of sweet. Even though I probably would have just kept the child's name as that's what they wanted to name her.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Yeah, but but I see it both sides.

SPEAKER_06 34:21

Yes, I see both sides as well.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

It's a nice honoring of the parents. Yes. Because obviously they're gone. Yes. They lost their the children lost their parents. Even though they're not the children aren't the one that renamed her.

SPEAKER_06 34:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

But the kid's not going to remember Rosanna. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:36

That's fair.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

So uh so you said Henrietta what?

SPEAKER_06 34:40

Naomi.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

Henrietta Naomi. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 34:43

Henrietta for Henry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

Obviously, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That that's kind of cute that they did that just to honor the parents. But I feel like at that point she was already uh so at this point she was, yeah, at least yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:56

Oh but I don't know, I don't know when they changed her name.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

Sure. Which maybe at adoption, I don't know. It could have been three months prior, it could have been six months prior, whatever. It doesn't matter. I think that's inconsequential. I understand both sides of it, keeping the name, yeah, honoring the parents, whatever. I'm good, I'm good with it.

SPEAKER_06 35:14

So each child actually began to call the Whitman's Ma and Pa. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

You know it's official when they call them Ma and Pa.

SPEAKER_06 35:22

Yeah, so they were they were all happy. Good. So life at the mission between 1844 and 1847 offered the orphans regular meals, schooling, and church. Um, the older children helped with farm chores, tending crops and animals, while the younger ones learned to read and write in Narcissus school. Oh, cool. So Dr. Whitman was both a physician and a farmer. Yep. He expected everyone to work diligently and he provided medical care to natives and settlers alike.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 35:52

Narcissa, for her part, enforced strict household discipline and religious instruction.

SPEAKER_03 35:58

Okay. I mean, that was the time, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:00

The the strictness did not set well with all the children. Sure, of course not. They're children. Yeah. At this time, 14-year-old uh Francis or Frank Sager, he was the second oldest. Yes. Um, he kind of balked at the rules and unused to the Whitman's stern Protestant regimen, he actually ran away from the mission for a time to join settlers in the valley.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 36:25

He did eventually return, but he was very clear that he was unhappy with the Whitman's authority. Not with living with him, just the authority.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

I didn't like I don't like your tone of the rules.

SPEAKER_06 36:34

I don't like the rules.

SPEAKER_03 36:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

Ease up.

SPEAKER_06 36:38

So afterwards, um, at the mission, um, excuse me, not afterwards, other wards at the mission, a mixed don't make fun of me.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

I'm not this was really funny, and I don't afterwards, other wards. That is so fucking great. I I can read. I'm sorry. You're goofy. I need another beer.

SPEAKER_06 37:07

Oh dear. Um, I have a I have a breaking point if we need to get.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

Let's take a pick that up. So let me know.

SPEAKER_06 37:15

So other wards of the mission. There was a mixed native teen named Joe Lewis. He also left on bad terms, and he would actually play a dark role in an upcoming story.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Oh dear. So he left on bad terms from the Whitmans? Yes. Oh, fuck. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 37:33

So still by spring of 1847, Narcissa Whitman wrote fondly of having 11 children in her home. Holy shit. The Sagers plus adopts other adopted kids, and now their voices make our house lively, as she had noted in her letters. A lot of fucking voices, so the Sager girl Sager girls in particular grew close to Narcissa and assisted her daily. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 37:59

They kept the name Sager? Yes, I believe so. Okay. I was just curious because they did. Obviously, they more or less adopted them.

SPEAKER_06 38:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

A lot of times they'll take on those names of the adopters. You're right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:14

I believe they kept Sager. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 38:15

I I kind of I'm glad that they did.

SPEAKER_06 38:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

Because also honoring the family. Right?

SPEAKER_06 38:22

Yeah, exactly. So what what they did with baby Rosanna. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

Yeah. Which, you know, let's change your name.

SPEAKER_06 38:28

As I said, so the Sager girls were actually pretty fond of Narcissa. Okay. Um they later defended her memory as a loving but firm guardian.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

So she dies.

SPEAKER_06 38:40

Eventually.

unknown 38:42

I know.

SPEAKER_06 38:43

Calm down. Meanwhile, the Whitman the Whitman's mission.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Took a dark turn.

SPEAKER_06 38:51

Their relations with the Cayus tribe were deteriorating.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

How so?

SPEAKER_06 38:56

On that note, we are gonna take a brief break so you can get another beverage.

Tension With The Cayuse

SPEAKER_03 39:01

We'll be right back. And we're back. I kind of want to leave that in. That was pretty funny.

SPEAKER_06 39:13

Okay, so like I said, um the Whitman's mission, their relationship with the local Cayuse tribe were starting to deteriorate.

SPEAKER_03 39:21

I've never heard of the Cayuse tribe before.

SPEAKER_06 39:23

I hadn't either until this story.

SPEAKER_03 39:25

Okay, so I mean, I'm not from the Pacific Northwest, obviously, so and I am very, very little part Native American. Chippoah. Um I've told you this before. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot your memory sucks. But I've I've never heard of the Cayuse, right? Cayuse term. Yeah. I'm I'm not familiar not not like I'm fucking all about all the different tribes. Again, I am very, very little Chippewa.

SPEAKER_06 39:56

But um like one sixty fourth.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

If if that even, who knows? I I gotta ask my mom again. She'll she'll remember. I'll see her on Thanksgiving. I should ask her again, just be like, who the fuck was the a Native American in our in our family? Because I always forget, was it on my mom's side, my dad's? I'm pretty sure it was on my mom's side, because my dad, his parents again, mystery mom died early. I'm pretty sure it was on my mom's side. So I have I have to ask that again. Um, but I know a decent amount of tribes throughout the states, just from school and whatever. I've never heard of the Cayuse tribe before. So Pacific Northwest. All right.

SPEAKER_06 40:40

Yeah. So initially the Cayus had welcomed the missionaries. They had helped the Whitmans build the mission and even celebrated the birth of the Whitman's baby in 37 before the baby died.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Correct.

SPEAKER_06 40:51

Um, but over the the years, cultural tensions and misunderstandings started to fray this relationship. I can see that.

SPEAKER_03 40:59

Absolutely. Yep, yep. Do you know what the Whitman's child was named before? I do not. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 41:06

So the Whitmans expected the Cayus to convert to Christianity and adopt farming, which a few did.

SPEAKER_03 41:14

Oh, I'm sure a few did because they saw the benefits of farming.

SPEAKER_06 41:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

But like it's this is funny because, like, hey, um, religion, get it. Yeah, just start believing. So, like, we got our own gods and beliefs and whatever the fuck it might be. No.

SPEAKER_06 41:34

Yeah. So the Cayus, for their part, expected payment for their use of their land and viewed the steady arrival of white settlers as their concern.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 41:46

So Marcus Whitman himself became more focused on aiding American settlers rather than this the Cayuse Ministry by the 1840s. Sure. He was an outspoken advocate for U.S. expansion into Oregon. Promises were broken. For example, the Cayuse leaders believed that Whitman had promised to compensate them for the mission site, but Whitman refused to pay rent or honor Cayuse ownership of the land. See, that seems like a dick move. And that's obviously a lot of resentment there.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

Yeah, for sure. Because to them, this is our land. You white folk just came in.

SPEAKER_06 42:25

We helped you build it. The white coming in.

SPEAKER_03 42:27

We we aided you in building this mission. Uh, we we want something for that. So yeah, I can see why they would be a little what the fuck resentful, yeah. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_06 42:39

So the Cayus also observed that Dr. Whitman's medical care seemed to favor the white immigrants.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

Well, I mean, sure, I get that.

SPEAKER_06 42:49

So Whitman sometimes turned Cayuse families away from the mistress house to avoid disruption, providing the medicine outside, which the Cayuse pre-served as disrespectful, perceived, perceived, perceived, as disrespectful and unequal treatment.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Basically, they wouldn't invite them into their house to give them the care. Yes. Like, you know, see that wall? We'll we'll do it outside though.

SPEAKER_06 43:16

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

See, that's kind of shitty. Yeah. Because again, you're all supposed to be humans.

SPEAKER_06 43:22

Christian humans.

SPEAKER_03 43:24

Doesn't even matter what religion at this point. They're all human.

SPEAKER_06 43:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

Give them the same respect as you give the other human that just happened to be a different skin color. Right. I mean, seriously, fuck off.

SPEAKER_06 43:36

So there was a little bit of religious rivalry. Yep. Um, Catholic missionaries, the Jesuits, um, had gained favor with some Cayus.

SPEAKER_03 43:45

We talked about the Jesuits before.

SPEAKER_06 43:47

And that made the Whitmans, which were staunch Protestants, feel undermined.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Right.

SPEAKER_06 43:52

So Marcus Whitman reacted by preaching Hellfire to the Cairus.

SPEAKER_03 43:56

Hellfire?

SPEAKER_06 43:57

Hellfire. What did I say?

SPEAKER_03 44:00

I I was just confirming you said Hellfire.

Measles Epidemic And Mistrust

SPEAKER_06 44:04

Further straining trust. Okay. So the flashpoint came with the measles epidemic in 1847. Oh shit. In the fall of that year, a wagon train from the east inadvertently brought measles into the region.

SPEAKER_03 44:21

Oh dear. I know, I know, I know. And especially with the natives who had the the they're all new, they're all new to that. They had zero immunity to a lot of um diseases. Yeah, I was thinking of an additional word to that.

SPEAKER_06 44:39

Communicable.

SPEAKER_03 44:42

You say that again.

SPEAKER_06 44:43

Communicable.

SPEAKER_03 44:45

We'll just say to the white man disease, obviously. Because over the course of a lot of things, people think we slaughtered all these Native Americans. A lot of it was disease, unfortunately. I'm not saying we didn't do terrible things to Native Americans. I'm just kidding. Um a lot of it was disease because they just this is all new shit to them. Yeah. And they had no immunity to any of this. So what what do measles what are obviously we have different medication now? I see you're clicking already to answer my question. What back then, especially, if you can determine that, what did measles do to these people?

SPEAKER_06 45:30

So in 1847, there's no vaccines, there's no antibiotics. Correct. We're talking high fever, often 104 degrees or higher.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

And this is from measles. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 45:40

Coughing fit, um, red, watery, painful eyes, running nose, full body rash, oh shit, severe diarrhea, pneumonia. Why did I think this was like chicken pox? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 45:53

Because measles sound like chicken pox, I guess.

SPEAKER_06 45:56

We they can measles can also destroy the cornea, resulting in blindness. And encephalitis, which is brain swelling.

SPEAKER_03 46:05

Oh shit.

unknown 46:07

What?

SPEAKER_03 46:07

So the reason why measles are not much of a thing is because we have a vaccination. Vaccine, but there there are still cases. Oh, I'm I'm sure there are, obviously. But um, holy shit, control your destroy your corneas. I know, I didn't know that. I had no idea. That sounds like an exponentially worse version of chicken pox.

SPEAKER_06 46:33

As of November 18th, 2025.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 46:39

The CDC a couple days ago.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 46:43

The CDC reports 1700 confirmed measle cases in the US.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

For this calendar year? Yes. Holy shit. Wow. But we obviously have a lot different medicine than we did 180 years ago.

SPEAKER_06 47:00

We for sure did.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

For sure do.

SPEAKER_06 47:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:04

Okay. So I was just curious. Sorry. Oh, for sure. I I I I know of measles, obviously. Obviously. I never knew exactly what it did because honestly, in our lifetime, I'm not saying it's not a big thing.

SPEAKER_06 47:18

I feel like measles is like a multiple of measles, and I think that's what I thought chicken pox. Sure. I thought it was meat like bumps all over the bottom.

SPEAKER_03 47:27

I I get it. I had no idea, because again, medicine today, a lot different.

SPEAKER_06 47:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:34

Clearly, there's case 1700s, you said. Um, but most of us, you know, obviously, we get the vaccinations and so on, whatever, and and we have modern modern medicine today. I had no idea it would do all that shit. That's fucking crazy. Okay, could could you imagine getting that though? In the 18 1847 is where we're right.

SPEAKER_06 47:56

Okay, so measle epidemic of 1847. Okay. Um, a wagon train brought in this disease.

SPEAKER_03 48:04

So, how do you think they got the?

SPEAKER_06 48:06

I'm you're fine, you're fine, you're fine.

SPEAKER_03 48:09

Ask your question. How do you think they got that? Like, because they're on the road. How was it like how is it spread? Yeah, because they're on the road. They obviously started in independence or whatever the other one that the Sagers did and came on their way. How how would they contract? Like, how do you contract the measles? Yeah, is it purely uh spreading to another person? Can it manifest into a person's body, I guess?

SPEAKER_06 48:43

It sir, it evolved from a cattle virus, really?

SPEAKER_03 48:50

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_06 48:51

This it jumped from animals to humans around the sixth century BCE.

SPEAKER_03 48:56

Oh shit, it's been around for fucking 2600 years. Holy shit. Okay. Wow. So could they have contracted that from their cattle oxen on the way to Oregon?

SPEAKER_06 49:11

That's what I would assume. But get this, it can only persist in populations of 250,000 plus people because it needs a constant supply of new unimmune hosts.

SPEAKER_04 49:26

That's wild.

SPEAKER_06 49:27

So, how many Cayuse natives are there if it has to have that many populations?

SPEAKER_03 49:33

Okay, I understand that question. Science people, please email us. I understand that question. However, if they're bringing it into these Caiuse people, though, they could have spread to the Cayuse people, they didn't need that much. How did the people who brought it in get it? That's wild. It must have been from their cattle then, had to been, right? But either way, that's that's crazy to think about. That okay.

The Whitman Massacre

SPEAKER_06 49:58

Listen to this. Yeah, the first detailed account of measles comes from the 10th century Persian physician Razez. I'm so sorry. That's all right. He distinguished measles from smallpox. I'm thinking chicken pox, not smallpox.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Smallpox, yeah. Okay. Wow. So it was obviously a variation, not a variation, but uh uh difference, obviously. Yeah, okay. That's so fucking wild. Sorry, sorry. No, that's okay.

SPEAKER_06 50:28

Didn't mean it as a real measles along with its infection of cholera, because that's also a thing, remember the last episode.

SPEAKER_03 50:36

Every time, and I I might have mentioned this last one. Every time I hear cholera, I just think of the it's either a book or a movie, Love in the Time of Cholera.

SPEAKER_06 50:44

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_03 50:46

So why can't get get that out of my brain?

SPEAKER_06 50:49

I mean, this these two deadly infections or illnesses, whatever, yeah, are so deadly without immunity. So yeah. So in this area, measles spread among the Cause Indians who had no prior exposure to it. Of course not. The result was catastrophic. Yep. The Cayus family fell ill, um, and half or more of the Caillus children died in a matter of weeks.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_06 51:16

So Dr. Whitman cared for both the Cayus and the white patients, but while many of the mission's white children, including the Sagers, recovered from the measles, the Cayus.

SPEAKER_03 51:28

So they're like, what the fuck, dude? You're giving them good medication and must not?

SPEAKER_06 51:33

Exactly. So the tragic outfit outcome fed a suspicion among the Cayus that Whitman, the medicine man, might be deliberately poisoning them or using supernatural means against them.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

So do they have any explanation as to why the white man?

SPEAKER_06 51:50

I think it was just a little bit of racism, probably, even that early. I I I want to say there's nothing that I have read that said said he is purposefully working on the white man versus the Cayus.

SPEAKER_04 52:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 52:08

It just happened to be he's working more on with the white man than the Cayus. So I think there's some prejudice there.

SPEAKER_03 52:17

I don't know. I'd rather just call it prejudice than racism because I I don't either way. Anyways.

SPEAKER_06 52:22

Okay, prejudice. There probably was some prejudice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but I don't know for sure. That's okay. Yeah. So in their worldview, it was inconceivable that Whitman's medicine would heal white children but fail Cayus children unless there was malice or witchcraft at play. Witchcraft. The environment at the mission grew really tense and fearful.

SPEAKER_00 52:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 52:48

Narcissa Whiteman, while nursing sick children, wrote of hearing wailing from the Cayus camps as one child after another was buried.

SPEAKER_04 52:59

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 53:00

Some Cayus men confronted Marcus Whitman about the deaths, and rumors circulated that Whitman had was giving tainted medicine to the natives. By late November 1847, a faction of the Cayus, grieving and convinced that expelling or killing Whitman was the only way to stop the sickness, oh boy, resolved to act. Now, do you remember that mixed native kid I had mentioned earlier, Joe Lewis, who um fled the Whitmans? Yes, he allegedly added a little bit more fuel to the fire by telling the Cayus that Whitman had intentionally was intentionally killing them to free the land for settlers. So now we're talking about Hirosang. Or straight-up lies. We don't know.

SPEAKER_03 53:52

That's kind of a dick move, Joe Lewis.

SPEAKER_06 53:55

Um that's a dick move, Joe Lewis.

SPEAKER_03 54:02

That could be a title.

SPEAKER_06 54:03

Um that's a dick move, Joe Lewis.

SPEAKER_03 54:06

Okay, let me explain what I mean. I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm not saying he's right, but he has no fucking idea. Am I wrong?

SPEAKER_06 54:19

No. He probably made that shit up.

SPEAKER_03 54:22

He's the one who wanted to run away.

SPEAKER_06 54:24

Also, this wine is so good.

SPEAKER_03 54:26

So good. And it's so gone.

SPEAKER_06 54:29

I brought him Modello as a backup.

SPEAKER_03 54:32

I I know.

SPEAKER_06 54:33

Yeah, as far as I know, Joe Lewis knew nothing.

SPEAKER_03 54:38

He just is like, I don't want to be with the Whitmans. I'm gonna fuck them up here by saying this to these uh Cayus that I know. Okay, continue.

SPEAKER_06 54:51

So on the afternoon of November 29th, yeah, 1847, the tension that had been simmering for months at the Whitman mission finally exploded into a fight. Violence.

SPEAKER_03 55:04

Yeah.

Captivity And Ransom

SPEAKER_06 55:04

Yeah. A group of Cayus warriors arrived under what appeared to be peaceful intentions. Well, the you can't infiltrate if you don't. If you're not in a Trojan horse first. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:18

It's their Trojan horse.

SPEAKER_06 55:20

So several asked Dr. Marcus Witness Whitman for medicine, um, something that they had done many times during the measles epidemic, seeping through their tribe. Seeping. Once inside the home, yeah, everything changed.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 55:35

As Marcus bent over one of the quote unquote ill men, the warrior suddenly attacked with tomahawks and guns.

SPEAKER_03 55:44

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 55:45

Dr. Whitman was struck in the head.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_06 55:48

It was a fatal blow.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:50

Before he even had time to react. Sure. Narcissa Whitman, hearing the commotion, tried to reach him, but she was shot, wounded, and then beaten until she also died.

SPEAKER_03 56:02

Good lord.

SPEAKER_06 56:03

Their deaths marked the beginning of a coordinated assault on the entire mission community.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

Well, and it they're fucked because they were the people running the shit. So it's like, who do you go to next? And now they're gonna attack other people within the mission because they think they're all in cahoots against the Cayuza? Cayus. Cayuse.

SPEAKER_06 56:28

So, yes, over the next day and a half, the attackers moved from building to building, killing nearly every adult male on the grounds.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

Oh fuck.

SPEAKER_06 56:37

Panic swept through the mission as settlers barricaded doors, hidden cellars, or attempted desperate escapes into the open fields. In total, 14 people were killed during the massacre. Oh boy. Including the Whitmans and several of the immigrants who had been living or working at the mission. Now among the victims.

SPEAKER_03 57:00

Emigrants?

SPEAKER_06 57:02

Yes. Among the victims. Yeah. The two eldest Sager boys.

SPEAKER_03 57:06

Oh no. Really? I mean, there were men, so yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 57:10

They survived the Oregon Trail only to die here. John Sager was 16. Oh fuck. He was reportedly shot as he fled, then hacked to death as he tried to crawl away. How awful.

SPEAKER_01 57:25

How brutal.

SPEAKER_06 57:26

Frank Sager was 14. He survived the first day, but was discovered on the second and killed. He was potentially hiding or trying to reach his injured mother, Whitman. Not sure.

SPEAKER_03 57:39

Wow. That's sad.

SPEAKER_06 57:41

Another youth, a teenage boy the Whitmans had adopted, was murdered as well. Most of the mission laborers, many of them seasoned frontiersmen or hire hired settlers, were also killed during the assault.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 57:55

One man did manage to break away on horseback and ride to ride for help toward Fort Walla Walla.

SPEAKER_00 58:02

Bing bang.

SPEAKER_06 58:03

But while trying to escape his pursuers, he drowned in a river.

SPEAKER_03 58:07

Oh fuck.

SPEAKER_06 58:08

So he became the 14th victim, counted after the fact.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

I mean, he Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Semantics.

SPEAKER_06 58:16

So in the aftermath of the massacre, and this is historically called the Whitman Mission Massacre.

SPEAKER_03 58:23

Oh, is that what it's referred to? Okay. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 58:25

The Cayus held about 50 survivors captive, mostly women and children who had been spared. The Cayuse did not initially harm the women and smaller children.

SPEAKER_03 58:35

Not initially.

SPEAKER_06 58:36

The four Sager girls, Catherine, who was 12, Elizabeth 10, Matilda 8, and Henrietta, the baby, who is now three, survived the assault, though they witnessed a whole lot of unspeakable acts. I'm sure. Narcissa died in front of them.

SPEAKER_00 58:58

Oh fuck.

SPEAKER_06 58:59

The girls, along with other children, were kept as prisoners for the next month.

unknown 59:04

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 59:05

They huddled in the records of the mission through late November and into December 1847, unsure if they would be killed or spared.

SPEAKER_02 59:13

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 59:14

The conditions were dire, food was scarce, winter weather was setting in, and many of the children were sick with measles. Oh boy. Um, Louisa Sager, who is six, she had already been weakened by the epidemic, did die of measles during the captivity five days after the massacre started.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

Goddamn that's sad. Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 59:41

In the chaos of the attack, Louisa had been overlooked and left in an exposed area. One later account suggests that she died from neglect and illness before ever anyone realized that she was actually that ill.

SPEAKER_04 59:53

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 59:55

So their surviving sisters now lost another sibling. Oh but During this hostage period, the Sager girls clung to each other.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:04

Sure, yeah. That's all they had.

Aftermath And The Cayuse War

SPEAKER_06 1:00:06

Elizabeth Sager at 10 later gave an eyewitness account of those weeks. She described how she and others hid in a straw sack at night to keep out of the cold wind, digging a little hollow and covering it with a blanket to form a makeshift shelter.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:22

Good lord.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:23

She also recalled witnessing acts of brutality during captivity. At one point, she saw a Cayus leader execute two of the captive men in front of the survivors.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

Wow, what a dick.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:34

For the children, every day and night were filled with fear. Yep. Some Cayus advocating killing all the Americans to eliminate witnesses. Others hesitated, realizing that harming women and children would only bring harsher retribution from nearby settlers.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:50

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:51

Ultimately, as negotiations began, the captives became bargaining chips.

unknown 1:00:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:58

So news of the massacre took weeks to reach the nearest authorities because Pony Express hadn't happened yet. Nope. When word reached the Hudson Bay Company outpost at Fort Vancouver, which is right on the Washington border. Okay. Um, they are called HBC for short. These officials, through British subjects and not targets of the Cayus, took action to re-rescue the survivors.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:26

So Peter Ogden, a seasoned HBC fur trapper and trader, uh traveled to the Cayus and opened ransom negotiations.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:38

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:40

Despite this the violence, the Cayus chiefs were persuaded by Ogden's diplomacy and the offer of substantial goods.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

Oh, we'll give you a bunch of this shit. Give us those people.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:52

Yeah. So in late December 1847, after a month of captivity, terms were reached. The Hudson Bay Company paid a ransom of blankets, muskets, ammunition, tobacco, and other goods in exchange for the release of approximately 49 surviving pioneers. Wow. In early January of 1848, the Sager girls and the other um survivors were turned over to Ogden, who ferried them away to the safety of Fort Vancouver.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:24

Fort Vancouver. And so is this in Canada?

SPEAKER_06 1:02:28

This is no, no, no. This is um right on the border of Oregon in Washington State.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:34

Oh. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:36

Yes. So the Sagers had escaped death for a third time.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

Fucked up. Well, some of them did, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:44

In the massacre's wake, the four remaining remaining Sager orphans were effectively alone in the world once more. Uh-huh. By early 1848, they were transported to the Willamette Cap uh Valley in Oregon Territory, uh, which was a um up and becoming American settlement.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:02

Right.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:03

There the sisters were cared for by the community and eventually placed with foster families. Now the girls were not able to stay all together this time. Oh, boo. They were taken in by different households, though some of the younger ones later rejoined the old elder sisters. So they were split up for a little while and then they were able to recon Yeah, they got back together.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:23

Despite their traumatic childhood, each Sager girl went on to build a life in the Pacific Northwest. Okay. So Catherine Sager, the eldest sister, who was 13 at rescue, spent her teen years with Reverend William Roberts' family in Oregon City.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:41

At age 16, she lost part of her leg. She had a partial amputation, which was a lingering compet uh complication from when she had that wagon. Um in October 1851 at 16, uh, she married a Methodist minister, Clark Pringle.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:01

Okay. Pring Pringle?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:03

After marriage, Catherine took in her two youngest sisters, Elizabeth and Henrietta. Oh, good, to live with her for a while, approximately three years, give or take, not quite sure. Sure. She and her husband established a farm near Salem, Oregon, and had eight children. Eight.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:23

That's a lot of children.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:25

Seven plus one. Eight. Eight children.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Six plus two? Jesus. Five plus three? What why why why was that a thing?

The Sager Sisters’ Later Lives

SPEAKER_06 1:04:34

About ten years after arriving in Oregon, Catherine penned a detailed memoir of the family's journey and mission life called Across the Plains in 1844. That's the whole title. Across the Plains in 1844. Now I did read this book. Did you? No. I listened to this book on on um shoot, what did I listen to it on? I think it was just podcast. I think I downloaded a podcast that literally read the book, and it was an hour and a half. It was an hour and a half of my life. That's how long this book was.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:07

Did you play it at 1.5?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:09

I don't remember what speed I listened to it at. But it is a short account. Um easily readable.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:17

Yeah novels. Like it's not like a Stephen King novel.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:20

Yeah, and it was very novice writing.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:24

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:25

I'm just saying, like it's very simple, it's simple. It's very simple. It's fine. Okay, so she initially hoped to publish it to raise funds for an orphanage in honor of Narcissa Whitman. Oh, nice. Though she did not find a publisher then, Catherine's manuscript survived in her family.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:43

She did live to see 75 years passing away in 1910.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:47

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:48

And her first hand account was later recognized as one of the most authentic pioneer narratives about the Oregon trail.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:55

Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's 1910, she lived to Elizabeth.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:58

And of course, much of what we know about the Sagers came from her. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

Yeah, yeah. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:04

Then we have Elizabeth Sager, um, 10 years old at rescue. Yeah, she was fostered by a family in Oregon and grew up to marry William Fletcher Helm, a farmer, in 1855. All right. She settled in the Willamette Valley and became a mother of nine children.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

These numbers are giving you fits.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:26

Elizabeth was known for her sharp memory of the Whitman mission events. She gave interviews later in life recounting details of the massacre and her captivity.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:35

She lived a long life, passing away in Portland in 1925 at the age of 88.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:40

Holy shit. All right. Good for her.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:43

Matilda Sager was aid at rescue, was taken in by a family and came of age in Oregon and later, California.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:50

In her late teens, she married a minor and she had five.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:54

A young person?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:55

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:56

I was joking.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:59

Um, she had five children. Damn. After being widowed, she remarried Matthew Fultz, a farmer, and had three more children.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:08

Oh my God. She is fertile.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:11

Matilda eventually moved to California and even married a third time. I think they were all natural-causing deaths. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:18

Um, well, I don't know. Sounds like a series. Hopefully, she didn't have any more kids.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:23

She did outlive all of her husbands and spent her final years with one of her daughter's families.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:28

Oh, good for her.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:29

Matilda died in 1928, the age of 89, the last of the Sager survivors.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:34

Damn.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:35

In interviews decades after 1847, Matilda vividly recalled her mother's death and details of the of the trail, providing valuable historical testimony.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:46

When did Henrietta die?

SPEAKER_06 1:07:48

That's my next one. Henry, no, that's okay. Henrietta, Naomi Sager, the baby, about three years old at rescue, had probably the most tragic post-rescue life.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:58

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:59

Little Henrietta was placed with a family, the Keys, K-E-E-S, Keys, and spent three years with them. As a young teenager, she reunited with um Catherine's family on their farm. Oh, good. Remember, I said that Catherine kind of pulled in. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:16

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:17

In her late teens, Henrietta left to join their uncle, Solomon Sager, who ran a traveling entertainment troupe seeking a change of pace.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:27

Henrietta married twice, but both marriages were unhappy and brief. Okay. By her mid-twenties, her life unraveled.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:36

Oh no.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:36

In an accident, Henrietta was killed by a stray bullet during a shootout in which her violet second husband was the target.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:45

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:46

She died around 1870 at only 26 years old.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

That's sad.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:52

Yeah. Wow. Okay. Almost immediately, vigilante resolutions and a militia call swept through the Willameck Valley. The newly formed Oregon Provision Provisional Government declared war on the Cayus, launching the Cayus War, which was between 1848 and 1850.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:13

And it was a messy, sporadic conflict fueled by grief, rage, and cultural misunderstandings. Sure. For the Cayus, the epidemic deaths of their children, which they believed Whitman caused, was a matter of tribal justice.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:28

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:29

For settlers, the massacre seemed proof that the frontier was unsafe without federal intervention.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:35

So the U.S. government took notice. In 1848, partly triggered by the upheaval following the massacre, Congress created the Oregon Territory, formally bringing the region under American jurisdiction. Okay. Troops, judges, and administrators soon followed, weaving Oregon more tightly in weaving Oregon more tightly into the expansion of the United States. Sure. For decades, the massacre served as a rallying cry for American expansion, reinforcing the idea that settlers needed protection and native people needed managing.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:14

Oh, Jesus.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:15

The Sager children, survivors of both the Oregon Trail and the Whitman Massacre, became almost legendary in pioneer circles.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:23

Right, no doubt.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:24

In 1897, a grand 50th anniversary commemoration of the Whitman Massacre was held at the old mission site. Oh, wow. By then, Catherine Sager Pringle, Elizabeth Sager Helm, and Matilda Sager Delaney were elderly women. Sure. The last surviving Sager children they attended as guest of honor. Wow. A photograph of the day, which I will post. Okay. Shows the three sisters together, their lives having diverged greatly since 1847.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:56

Well, a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:58

But were were forever bonded by shared history. Sure. They helped dedicate a monument to the Whitmans and reflected on how, against all odds, they had carried on. That's crazy. And that is the Sager family, part two of the Oregon Trail.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:15

That is wild. I've never heard of any of that. The Cayus, Sager, doesn't matter. I am new to this, so that was that.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:23

I know. And that wasn't that a lot for one family to endure. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:27

But also, like parents losing oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:30

But also what happened with the Cayus?

Reflections, Legacy, And Closing

SPEAKER_03 1:11:32

Like they just wanted to save their children and and they blame the white man, like most people do these days, to problems. So it's fucking full full circle. Full circle. No, it's sad because like they didn't know, and whether that was neglect on Whitman's part or whatever, we don't know. We don't know. If racism prejudice, prejudice, what it does, whatever. Full lying. Yeah, we we don't know. So it if if it was that, fucking sad because he could have helped them, obviously. If it wasn't that, false blame, who knows? But no, I mean, we're all fucking humans. Let's help each other. Yeah. Doesn't need to be that way.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:17

Doesn't need to be that way.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:19

But well.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:21

I suppose.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:22

Alright, buffoons, that's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:24

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:36

Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also email us at History Buffoons Podcast at gmail.com. We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:50

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SPEAKER_03 1:12:55

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SPEAKER_06 1:12:59

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