The third and final stop on the short tour was National Statuary Hall, the meeting place of the US House of Representatives from 1807 to 1857 and now home to part of a collection of 100 sculptures around the Capitol, two from each US state.

This is a bronze statue of Marcus Whitman, an American physician representing Washington State. In 1843, Whitman led the first large party of wagon trains along the Oregon Trail to the West, establishing it as a viable route for the immigrants who used the trail in the following decade. Settlers encroached on the Cayuse people near the Whitman mission. Following the deaths of all the Cayuse children and half their adults they killed the Whitmans and 12 other settlers, known as the Whitman (or Walla Walla) Massacre. Continuing warfare by settlers reduced the Cayuse numbers further and they eventually joined the Nez Perce tribe to survive.

My first ‘real’ bird! posted earlier: