Whitman Marcus
Whit·man
(wĭt′mən, hwĭt′-), Marcus 1802-1847. American frontier missionary and physician who with his wife Narcissa Prentiss (1808-1847) established a missionary post in the Oregon region (1836). The killing of the Whitmans and other members of their mission by Cayuse Indians in 1847 led to a period of military conflict between US forces and Native Americans in the Northwest.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.