The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

On January 7, Sarah and six others remained from the diminished snowshoe party: five women and two men, William Foster and William Eddy. Largely barefoot, they camped in a soon-to-be historic area where gold would be discovered a year later, sparking the California Gold Rush.

Back at Truckee Lake, conditions deteriorated; infants suffered, and the camp faced lice, bedbugs, and hunger. Meanwhile, delusion and paranoia set in among the snowshoe party, particularly William Foster. Varying accounts suggest Foster became violent; after observing Amanda McCutcheon, he privately suggested to Eddy that they kill her for food and then proposed killing Sarah and Mary Ann, who were not mothers. Eddy reportedly drew a knife and threatened Foster’s life if he continued with such proposals.

As they traveled, they encountered the dying bodies of Luis and Salvador, their former Miwok guides who had abandoned the snowshoe party in fear after the first act of cannibalism. Driven by desperation, the party butchered and consumed them. Later, they reached a Maidu village where they were offered food and warmth, all the while concealing that they carried the remains of Luis and Salvador, kin to the Maidu, in their backpacks.

After some recovery, the snowshoe party left the village with Maidu guides, aiming for Johnson’s Ranch. They managed to travel four more miles before stopping at another Maidu village, now on the edge of the Sacramento Valley. By January 17, exhaustion overtook them; Sarah and three others, including Mary Ann, Sarah Foster, and William Foster, could travel no further after crossing over 70 miles of granite, ice, and snow across the Sierra Nevada.

Back in late October, before the snowstorms hit, families whom Sarah had met crossing the Missouri River from St. Joseph had arrived at Johnson’s Ranch, including the Tuckers, the Ritchies, and the Starks. On the afternoon of January 17, Harriet Ritchie spotted two figures, a Maidu man and a white man, William Eddy, descending from Bear River. They brought Eddy inside, and he weakly revealed he was from the Donner Party, and there were six others, dying or dead, some miles up the trail. Harriet promptly notified the other families, who quickly mounted a rescue. By midnight, they located the snowshoe party, exhausted and lying in the mud but alive. They were taken to the Ritchie cabin at Bear River that night, January 18. Over the following days, weeks, and months, the women at Johnson’s Ranch dedicated themselves to nursing the snowshoe party survivors back to health.

The news that Sarah and her companions carried from the mountains about the Donner Party’s starving at the lake shocked those at Johnson’s Ranch. Unfortunately, Johnson’s Ranch lacked sufficient supplies for a rescue mission. William Eddy wrote about the dire situation at Truckee Lake to John Sutter, asking for aid.

As Sarah recovered at Johnson’s Ranch, her mother, Elizabeth Graves, alongside Margaret Reed, struggled to keep their children alive at the lake. In Elizabeth’s cabin, the only available food was hides. Elizabeth seized some of Margaret Reed’s hides, refusing to return them until Margaret compensated her for the cattle that Franklin had sold her when they were first snowbound in November. At the Murphy cabin, Levinah Murphy, devoid of any resources, watched as her 17-year-old son, John Landrum, died. He was the 14th male member of the Donner Party at Truckee Lake to perish.

On February 4, 14 men, including Reason Tucker, Colonel Matthew Ritchie, and a still emaciated William Eddy, set out from Johnson’s Ranch on a rescue mission. By February 9, they reached the snow line, but Eddy, too weak, turned back, unaware that his wife Eleanor and his one-year-old daughter Margaret were already dead. Since February 1, in addition to Margaret and Eleanor, Amanda McCutcheon’s infant had died, along with three others; the rate of death at the lake was accelerating.

On February 18, the first relief party arrived at the lake. Horrified by the sight of survivors, Reason Tucker and his men rushed to distribute food. At the Graves’ cabin, Elizabeth asked if Sarah, Jay, and Franklin had survived. Tucker, sparing her further pain, lied to her. Faced with many children and limited resources, the mothers had to make tough decisions about who would leave with the relief party. Many of the older children joined the first group.

On the morning of February 22, the first relief party left the lake for Johnson’s Ranch. As the relief party moved through the Sierras, some men moved ahead and spotted a second relief party, led by none other than James Reed, just a few miles up the trail.

Back in October, when James Reed and William McCutchen had initially failed to reach his family stranded in the mountains, he sought help at Sutter’s Fort. However, due to bad timing, most able-bodied American men had already headed south to fight against the Mexican forces resisting the occupation of California. Reed then went to the American-held Pueblo de San Jose, where he enlisted and petitioned for a large tract of land in the Santa Clara Valley. After participating in the Battle of Santa Clara, he rode to San Francisco to petition for the rescue of the Donner Party. Meanwhile, William McCutchen headed to Napa Valley to gather supplies for the rescue.

It was February 19 by the time Reed and McCutchen regrouped, forming the second relief party for the Donner Party. On February 27, the second relief party met Reason Tucker and the first relief party at Yuba Gap. Reed reunited with Margaret but knew he had to continue because his children Patty and Thomas were still at the camps. The second relief party pressed on eastward, making it to the lake in early March.

On March 3, the second relief party left the lake with 17 survivors. During their journey, Elizabeth Graves secretly buried her coins in the Sierra Nevada. On the night of March 5, amidst a storm, five-year-old Isaac Donner died, followed by Elizabeth Graves the next night.

By March 7, after the snow had stopped, Reed and McCutchen advanced ahead to retrieve supplies from a cache to send back food. Reed intended to bring his own children and Levinah Murphy’s son, Solomon Hook, forward, while Patrick Breen chose to remain with his family. The other survivors, including the Breens, Mary Donner, and Nancy Graves, waited in a snow-covered pit in the mountains, later known as Starved Camp. Meanwhile, the first relief party reached Johnson’s Ranch, where Sarah reunited with her siblings Billy, Lovina, and Eleanor.

Back at the lake, Charles Cady and Charles Stone, initially tasked with caring for the survivors, reconsidered their decision to stay. Although paid by Tamzene Donner to escort her three daughters to Johnson’s Ranch, they left the girls with Levinah Murphy at the Murphy cabin and departed. Three days later, they encountered the third relief party, led by William Eddy and William Foster, who were unknowingly searching for their deceased sons.

At Starved Camp, seven-year-old Mary Donner proposed cannibalism as a means of survival. Days later, Eddy and Foster, leading the third relief party, noticed a column of smoke and discovered the group in the pit where Elizabeth Graves had died and cannibalism had ensued, with Elizabeth’s daughter Nancy having consumed her mother’s flesh.

Confronted with this dire scene, the rescue party split: Eddy and Foster returned to the lake, while the rest guided Mary Donner, the Graves children, and the Breens to Johnson’s Ranch. At the Murphy cabin, Foster and Eddy found their sons dead. They decided that all who could travel should leave, with only George and Tamzene Donner, Louis Keseberg, and Levinah Murphy remaining at the lake. Eddy and Foster later rejoined the third relief party and returned to Johnson’s Ranch. William Eddy had lost his entire family. William Foster had to inform Sarah Foster of their only child’s death. Simon told his brother of their mother’s likely death, and Nancy Graves had to tell her siblings that their mother and brother were dead, and all their money was gone, leaving Sarah devastated as the now penniless eldest of seven, without her husband, parents, or resources.