Tiloukaikt

Who was Tiloukaikt?

Tiloukaikt was a Native American leader of the Cayuse tribe in the northwestern United States. He was involved in the Whitman Massacre and was a primary leader during the subsequent Cayuse War.

The Cayuse, and their neighbors the Nez Percé, identified the Walla Walla Valley of the Oregon territory as their primary homeland. When approached by Presbyterian missionary Marcus Whitman in 1835, Tiloukaikt and other Cayuse leaders consented to the establishment of a mission in the valley. Sometime later, Whitman and his wife Narcissa created the mission and school at Waiilatpu, in the Walla Walla Valley. A number of Cayuse children attended the school and were taught by Narcissa Whitman. The mission served as a way station for travelers along the Oregon Trail.

Early relations between the Cayuse and Nez Perce and the missionaries throughout the region were generally peaceful. However, tensions between Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries and the increasing number of white adventurers and settlers in the territory led to misunderstandings and disagreements.

The growing white population also brought disease to the Pacific northwest and its native peoples. Measles and scarlet fever broke out among both white and native populations. Whitman, a trained physician, treated both Indians and whites. However, due to the lack of immunity in the native population, more Indians than whites died. When the number of dead Cayuse children began to rise, some Cayuse became suspicious that Whitman was poisoning his patients rather than treating them. Contemporary accounts suggest that some white settlers encouraged the Cayuse in this belief.