In April 1846, a group of pioneers who came to be known as the Donner-Reed Party departed Springfield, Illinois, headed for the Mexican province of Alta California. Mindful of the severe cholera epidemics across the nation and the lingering consequences of the financial panic of 1837, they were also inspired to head west by America’s grand expansionist movement, Manifest Destiny.

The Donner Party’s collective dream, however, became a collective nightmare thanks to poor timing, terrible advice, and even worse weather. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the border between Nevada and California, the party soon ran out of food and ultimately resorted to feeding off the flesh of their dead companions and family members in order to survive. It's this aspect of the Donner Party story that makes it so grotesquely fascinating, and one of the most haunting to come out of the settlement of the American West.

1. THEIR DREAM WAS SPAWNED BY MANIFEST DESTINY.

The dramatic backdrop to the Donners' storied trek is the expansionist movement dubbed Manifest Destiny—the widely held belief that Anglo-Saxon citizens of the United States had been mandated by God Almighty to embark on a mission to spread its form of government and way of life across the entire continent, from sea to shining sea. As some of the first foot soldiers of the movement, the Donner Party revealed the foibles and follies of Manifest Destiny—the rather arrogant belief that the continent was meant for Anglo-Americans to possess since no other humans lived there. In truth, much of the land belonged to Mexico and all of it was populated by scores of Indian tribes.

2. ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIEFLY CONSIDERED GOING WITH THEM.

Abraham Lincoln around 1846. Wikimedia // Public Domain

While working as a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln continued his friendship with James Reed, one of the principal members of the Donner-Reed Party. They had first met many years before, when they were messmates in the Blackhawk War. When Reed’s businesses began to fail due to a national economic downturn, Lincoln counseled his friend, and just before the wagon caravan departed for the far West, Lincoln helped Reed through bankruptcy proceedings. Reed was able to stash away a considerable amount of cash that he later used to purchase land in California.

Many years after the Donner Party tragedy, one of Reed’s daughters revealed that Lincoln seriously considered joining the caravan but ultimately didn't go due to opposition from his wife. Instead, Lincoln entered the political arena.

3. THEY GOT SOME VERY BAD DIRECTIONS.

If not for some wrong turns, internal strife, and a series of winter storms the likes of which had never been seen before, the Donner Party would have been an unremarkably successful wagon train. That, of course, was not the case.

One of the chief culprits was Lansford Hastings, an early California land promoter who wrote a then-popular book entitled The Emigrant’s Guide to Oregon and California. Besides containing many inaccuracies, Hastings’s guide extolled the virtues of a shortcut, the Hastings Cutoff, that he claimed would save much time. Little did the emigrants know that Hastings had never taken the shortcut himself. They decided to take his advice only to find the route he suggested actually added more precious time to their journey, contributing to their inability to cross the Sierras before the heavy winter snows.

4. IT'S OFTEN SAID THAT NONE OF THE SURVIVORS KILLED A LIVING PERSON TO CANNIBALIZE THEIR BODY, BUT THERE WAS A NOTABLE EXCEPTION.

In mid-December, a small group set out from the snow-bound camps on crude snowshoes in hopes of making it over the pass to summon help. They later came to be known as the Forlorn Hope. Included in the group were two Miwok Indians, Luis and Salvador, who had been sent by early California pioneer John Sutter to help the trapped emigrants. The Miwoks brought badly needed supplies and helped provide important winter survival advice.

This party was the first forced to resort to cannibalism of the dead when all their supplies were gone. Eventually, when even the (dead) human sources of food dwindled, it was decided to kill the Miwoks. Both men were shot and their flesh consumed. The rest of the party rationalized that as Indians, the pair were not really humans.

5. THE CANNIBALISM ONLY STARTED WHEN EVERY AVAILABLE SOURCE OF PROTEIN WAS GONE AND BOTH STARVATION AND HYPOTHERMIA BECAME RAMPANT.

Stumps of trees cut by the Donner Party in Summit Valley, California Wikimedia // Public Domain

Once the party was trapped on the east side of the High Sierras, they killed and ate all the horses and oxen. They boiled the hides to make a gelatinous concoction and picked all the marrow from the animal bones. They gobbled up any mice they could catch in their makeshift cabins. Then, one by one, they killed all their pet dogs and ate them. Finally, desperate and delirious, they chewed on pine bark and pine cones. As a last resort, while watching their children and others die, they turned to the dead bodies buried in the snowdrifts.

6. FOUR SEPARATE RELIEF PARTIES RESCUED THE SURVIVORS AT THE TWO DONNER PARTY CAMPS.

It took the four relief parties more than two months to rescue the survivors. When members of the First Relief reached the camps it was said they saw no signs of human activity until a lone woman, gaunt from starvation, emerged from a hole in the snow. When they approached her, the woman asked, “Are you men from California or do you come from heaven?”

In the end, 41 people died and 46 survived. Five perished before reaching the Sierras, 35 died at the camps or attempting to cross the mountains, and one died just after reaching the valley at the foot of the western slope. Many of the survivors lost toes to frostbite and suffered chronic physical and psychological disorders.

7. MORE DONNER PARTY MEN DIED THAN WOMEN.

James and Margaret Reed. Wikimedia // Public Domain

Males succumbed at a higher rate than females and also died sooner. The principal reason was that the mothers in the caravan made every effort to keep their families alive, while the younger single men who exerted more energy had no family unit and died early on. Overall, the death toll was highest among the very young and the elderly. Older children and teens fared better than adults. All the Donner adults—brothers George and Jacob and their wives—perished, but several of their offspring survived. Two entire families—the Reeds and the Breens—also survived, and the Reeds were the only ones in the entire party who never ate human flesh.

8. THE DONNER PARTY STORY ALMOST IMMEDIATELY PASSED FROM TRUTH TO LEGEND.

Even before the last survivor was rescued from the snowy Sierras, myths about the Donner ordeal were created, and exaggerated newspaper accounts distorted the truth. These scurrilous stories went unchecked and unchallenged for many years. Wild tales abounded that told of emigrants feasting on human flesh out of pleasure instead of survival. In fact, the party’s acts of survival cannibalism helped convince much of the public that the so-called "civilizers" themselves became savages.

Michael Wallis is the author of The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny. He is also the best-selling author of Route 66 and Billy the Kid, and has won numerous honors and awards. He is a popular public speaker and a highly acclaimed voice actor. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.