sentences:  Following the Whitman Massacre in late 1847, the Provisional Legislature of Oregon authorized Joe Meek to travel east to Washington, DC, to ask for the creation of a federal territory with the start of the Cayuse War.On March 4, 1848, Meek set off with Ebbert accompanying him on the journey.The two arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 4 with Meek representing himself as an envoy from the Republic of Oregon.