Matilda Sager Delaney, born in 1839, was but an orphaned child when the Whitman Mission at Waiilatput was taken over on November 29, 1846, by Cayuse Indian warriors, furious at a measles epidemic brought upon their vulnerable tribe by settlers.

Many died in the attack, including Matilda’s brother Frank. Matilda was witness to that bloody day and was taken as a hostage among 50 until ransomed by the Hudson’s Bay Company. But her life of hardship had just begun. She returned after three marriages to the Whitman site to honor the 50th observance of the bloodshed at Wailatpu in 1897.

Susan Matley portrays her for Living History.