The Whitman Massacre was a complex and tragic event. Some accounts suggest that the Whitman's were killed in retaliation for a measles epidemic that had swept through the Cayuse tribe, and which many believed was deliberately spread by the missionaries. Others suggest that the massacre was motivated by the Cayuse's resentment of the growing number of settlers arriving in their territory.
Whatever the cause, the massacre marked a turning point in the history of the American West, and it remains a controversial and emotional subject to this day.