Marcus Whitman was born on September 4, 1802 in Federal Hollow, New York. He attended Fairfield Medical College and became a physician. In 1836, Whitman married Narcissa Prentiss and they had one daughter, Alice Clarissa Whitman who died at the age of two. Narcissa Prentiss was born on March 14, 1808 in Prattsburgh, New York. She taught primary school before becoming a missionary with her husband. On May 25, 1836, the Whitmans joined another group of missionaries, traveled west, and established a mission at a Cayuse settlement called Waiilatpu. Whitman farmed and provided medical care to the local Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes and Prentiss set up a school for Native American children. The pair unsuccessfully attempted to Christianize the tribes. The Whitmans and the missionaries brought new infectious diseases to the region that the Native Americans lacked immunity to. Severe epidemics of these diseases killed half of the Cayuse adults and almost all of the Cayuse children. The Cayuse people rightfully blamed the Whitmans for the spread of the diseases and killed the pair on November 29, 1847. The Cayuse warriors also killed 12 other white settlers and held another 53 women and children captive before releasing them after a month. This conflict led to the Cayuse War that lasted from 1847 to 1855. A significant amount of Cayuse were killed in the war and they were left defeated. As a result of their defeat, the Cayuse ceded most of their tribal lands to the U.S. government and were moved onto reservations.