One of the American West's greatest hoaxes: New book reveals how the lie that missionary Marcus Whitman 'saved' Oregon from Great Britain in the 1800s with his famous ride across the country became part of history and endured for decades During the Second Great Awakening of the 1800s, many turned to Protestantism and other faiths. Missionaries went west to convert Native Americans In 1836, Protestant missionaries - Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, and Henry and Eliza Spalding - traveled from New York to the Pacific Northwest territories The Whitmans worked to convert the Cayuses; the Spaldings, the Nez Perces More missionaries came. But they didn't get along and sent scathing letters to the American Board, who funded them and decided to close Whitman's mission