In 1852, Walhalla was a bustling town of roughly 1200 people, a mixed population of Chippewa Indians, Frenchmen, and Metis. Felix and Marguerite Latraille were two residents who, along with their children, made their home in a simple log cabin. Felix, an employee of the United States government, was tasked with looking after the Indians in the area surrounding their vibrant town. Little did they know, their legacy would be remembered for generations, largely because their names became entangled with tragic deaths of missionaries attempting to bring the Protestant religion to this region.

The Martyrs story began that same year, in 1852, when a Baptist preacher named Elijah Terry purchased land near the Gingras Trading Post. He spent the summer falling timber and hauling logs from the woods to the site of the mission school and church he was constructing. In early autumn, Elijah Terry was ambushed by a group of hostile Sioux Indians, who peppered him with arrows and attacked him with hatchets. Shortly after, he was found dead and scalped by a Frenchman who heard the scuffle from the nearby woods. At the time, only Catholic cemeteries existed in Walhalla, so the Frenchman begged the Catholic priest to allow Terry to be buried in the Catholic cemetery. The priest agreed, but would only let Terry’s body rest along the fence, a place typically reserved for suicides.

The next attempt at bringing the Protestant religion happened the following year, in 1853. The Reverends Alonzo Barnard and David Spencer, along with their wives and children, settled in Walhalla. Once again, they were tasked with establishing a church and a mission school. Sadly, shortly after their arrival, Mrs. Barnard fell deathly ill with consumption. Out of desperation, Mr. Barnard took his beloved wife to Winnipeg, leaving their children in the hands of Marguerite Latraille. Mrs. Barnard perished out in the open plains of Manitoba on their way back to Walhalla. She was hastily buried in Winnipeg before Mr. Barnhard, devastated, returned to his children in Dakota Territory.

Almost a year after her death, David Spencer was faced with his own sad tale. The sun had set on another fall day in Walhalla. The sounds of crickets and frogs and the occasional owl echoed throughout the prairie. Cornelia Spencer was awakened by the fussing of her eight-month-old son. As she was trying to lull him back to sleep, she heard a tapping noise at the kitchen window. As soon as she opened the curtains to investigate, three gunshots tore through the glass, knocking her to her knees. The Reverend David Spencer scrambled from his bed and barricaded the front door. He held vigil for his wife for the next several hours, trying to comfort her before she died from her fatal wounds. After hearing the tragic news, neighbors came to help the Reverend, who was in shock and surrounded by his terrified daughters and hungry infant son, still covered in his mothers blood. Margueritte Latraille, famous for her kindness, nursed the baby and cared for the distraught girls while her husband, Felix, built a wooden coffin for Mrs. Spencer. Cornelia Spencer's death marked the second time, in just over two years, that a missionary had been murdered.

Thirty years later, on June 21, 1888, the citizens of Walhalla had a special ceremony for the re-burial of Elijah Terry, Sarah Barnard, and Cornelia Spencer, who became known as the Martyrs of Walhalla. Once again, Felix Latraille was involved, responsible for digging up their remains because he knew where they had been buried decades earlier. Their final resting place was the Presbyterian cemetery, where all martyrs are welcome.