In the life of Whitman by Myron Eells, there is a summary of the events which immediately followed, so well adapted to our purpose that we quote it here as resting upon the authority of Mr. Eells, whom we regard as a writer of undoubted candor and accuracy.
"When Doctor Whitman arrived at St. Louis he made his home at the house of Doctor Edward Hale, a dentist. In the same house was William Barrows, then a young school teacher, afterward a clergyman and author of Barrows' 'Oregon.'
"Reaching Cincinnati, he went to the house of Doctor Weed. Here, according to Professor Weed, he obtained a new suit of clothes, but whether he wore them all the time until he left the East or not is a question. Some writers speak of him as appearing in buckskins, or something akin to them, afterwards both at Washington and Boston. Some, as Dr. S. J. Parker, say he was not so dressed. It is just barely possible that both may be true—that he kept his buckskins and buffalo coat and occasionally wore them. It is quite certain that he did not throw them away, as according to accounts he wore his buckskins in returning to Oregon the next summer.
"The next visit on record was at Ithaca, New York, at the home of his old missionary friend and fellow traveler, Rev. Samuel Parker. Here, after the surprise of his arrival was over, he said to Mr. Parker: 'I have come on a very important errand. We must both go at once to Washington, or Oregon is lost, ceded to the English.' Mr. Parker, however, did not think the danger to be so great, and not for lack of interest in the subject, but because of other reasons, did not go. Doctor Whitman went alone, and reached Washington.
"The doctor, or his brother, had been a classmate of the Secretary of War, James M. Porter. Through him the doctor obtained an introduction to Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, with whom he talked about Oregon and the saving of it to the United States, but Mr. Webster received him very coolly, and told him it was too late, as far as he was concerned, for he had considered it, decided it, and turned it over to the President, who could sign Oregon away or refuse to do so. Accordingly Doctor Whitman went to President Tyler, and for some time they talked about Oregon. Even the Cabinet were called together, it is said, and an evening was spent on the subject. The objection was made that wagons could never be taken to Oregon and that consequently the country could never be peopled overland by emigrants, while the distance around Cape Horn was altogether too great to think of taking settlers to the country that way. In reply to this, Doctor Whitman told of the great value of the country and of his plans to lead an emigration through with their wagons the next summer. He stated that he had taken a wagon into Oregon six years before to Fort Boise, that others had taken one from Fort Hall to Walla Walla, and that with his present knowledge, having been over the route twice, he was sure he could take the emigrant wagons through to the Columbia. The President then said that he would wait, before carrying the negotiations any further, until he could hear whether Doctor Whitman should succeed, and if he should there would be no more thought of trading off Oregon. This satisfied the doctor.
DR. WHITMAN LOST IN A SNOW STORM, 1842
"He then went to New York to see Mr. Horace Greeley, who was known to be a friend of Oregon. He went there dressed in his rough clothes, much the same that he wore across the continent. When he knocked at the door a lady came, Mrs. Greeley or a daughter, who, on seeing such a rough-looking person, said to his inquiries for Mr. Greeley, 'Not at home.' Doctor Whitman started away. She went and told Mr. Greeley about him and Mr. Greeley, who was of much the same style and cared but little for appearances, looked out of the window, and seeing him going away, said to call him in. It was done, and they had a long talk about this Northwest Coast and its political relations.
"From New York Doctor Whitman went to Boston, where the officers of the American Board at first received him coldly, because he had left his station for the East without permission from them, on business so foreign to that which he had been sent to Oregon to accomplish. Afterwards, however, they treated him more cordially.