In the Land of the Setting Sun; or, Martyrs of Yesterday

In 1831, four Indians from Oregon set out to find the white race and bring back the "White Man's Book of Heaven." They are entertained in St. Louis by General Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition. After they return with gifts, but without their sought-after Bible, Dr. Marcus Whitman of New York learns about their visit and travels across the continent to establish a mission on the Walla Walla River, where he teaches Christianity, agriculture, reading and writing. Although the local war chief is interested in Christianity, Whitman's efforts at conversion are undermined by Joe Lewis, a Canadian half-breed, who says that Whitman and the other emigrants want to take the Indians' lands. In 1847, an emigrant train brings a measles epidemic. When Lewis convinces the Indians that Whitman is deliberately killing them with his medicine, they massacre Whitman and the other mission occupants, although the war chief stops Lewis' murder of the children. The resulting Cayuse Wars last for several years. After the war chief and three others surrender and are hanged, peace and prosperity are established.