Why Did These American Settlers Eat Each Other?

this video is kindly sponsored by morning brew the free daily newsletter find out more later in the video hey 42 here by the mid-19th century america was caught in the grip of pioneer fever spreading her star-spangled wings across the land gobbling up new territories and laying claim to new regions brothers george and jacob donna found themselves swept up in this allure of untouched far away lands so along with their families they upped sticks and set off on the 2 500 mile journey from springfield illinois to california in search of the prosperity and wealth that the american west promised the donors were joined by the reed family headed by james reid who'd recently declared bankruptcy and hoped to change his fortunes in california as an interesting side note reid was good friends with a certain mr abraham lincoln it's thought that lincoln himself seriously considered joining greed on the long journey to the west but instead opted to stay behind in the hope of carving out a career in politics which apparently went quite well in spite of his recent money troubles james reid and his family arrived at the start of the journey in a specially built wagon in what could be considered a hyper early pilot for mtv's pimp my ride this custom double decker wagon came complete with shock absorbing seats bunk beds and a cooking stove before morning brew i used to spend my morning scrolling through various social media aimlessly looking for something to stimulate my sleepy neurons but i often find myself looking at the same monotonous news as the day before now with morning brew i can be up to date with all the latest business tech and finance news in just 5 minutes morning brew is just the perfect way to start your day there's no dense and tedious articles just relevant informative updates written in a refreshing and witty narrative the newsletter is delivered daily from monday through to sunday meaning i'm reading new content day to day just recently on morning brew i learned that el salvador plans to make bitcoin legal tender within the country which would be the first nation to formally adopt cryptocurrency as part of its economy very interesting so if you're interested in business tech or finance like i am then there's really no reason not to subscribe to morning brew it's completely free and takes less than 15 seconds and to make it even easier you can just click the link in the description below to subscribe today anyone wanting to travel to california knew that reaching the sierra nevada before winter was vitally important if you wanted to make it through the mountain range and into the promised land arrive too late and the mountains would be impossible to traverse although the donners and reeds were setting off a little late in the season they'd still given themselves plenty of time to reach their destination just so long as nothing went wrong along the way spoiler alert everything totally went wrong the first 250 miles of the journey passed by with relative ease and the pioneers arrived in independence missouri the launch pad of the oregon trail on schedule after taking a few days to stock up on supplies and mentally prepare themselves for the epic journey ahead the two families pushed on west where they joined up with a larger train of some 50 wagons so far things were going swimmingly and both the donners and reeds could have been forgiven for thinking this wagoning halfway across a continent business was just a walk in the park but then one by one things started to go wrong unusually high water levels in the big blue river in what is today part of kansas but was then simply unorganized territory forced the group to build rafts and float their wagons across it it was about this time that the epic journey claimed its first victim not that shoddy raftsmanship had anything to do with it james reed's mother died of a long-standing illness still as fair as omens went it was a fairly crappy one whilst these setbacks were unfortunate it was james reed's choice of reading material that really set the group on their path towards infamy you see he'd had his nose in a book called the emigrant's guide to oregon and california written by a mountaineer by the name of lansford hastings hastings was widely regarded as the man in the know when it came to the oregon trail he saw himself as a kind of founding father of california and he encouraged as many people as possible to make the journey there in his book hastings mapped out a shortcut which he claimed would shave off a good 400 miles from the journey james reid was quite taken by the idea of lopping a big chunk of miles off the arduous journey ahead believing that taking the so-called hastings cutoff could see the group arrive in california a whole month early even when an experienced mountaineer named james climan warned him that he would do better to stick to the known route reed's faith in hastings shortcut was unwavering to say that faith was misplaced would be a bit of an understatement you see despite literally writing the book on it lansford hastings had never actually taken his own shortcut sure he'd had a bit of a scout around and hiked a few bits and pieces but from there it seems he made the rather interesting decision to assume the rest of the shortcut hundreds of miles of unforgiving american wilderness was probably fine what could possibly go wrong when james reid proposed a shortcut to the rest of the group plenty of the wagoners felt that sticking to the tried and tested route was probably their best bet but a fair few quite fancied the idea of arriving in california a bit earlier than planned so the group was split into two those that elected to take the traditional trail and those that decided to brave the hastings cutoff you've probably heard the saying he who dares wins but as we're about to find out sometimes he who dares not only loses he also ends up getting turned into sausages by his family and friends but i'm getting ahead of myself the group that chose the traditional trail went on to arrive in california unscathed if this video was about them it would probably end around this point thanks for watching and you would probably be considering unsubscribing right about now the group that chose reed's proposed shortcut however had a much more exciting experience in store for them the group who chose the hastings cutoff are known today as the donna party that might sound like the kind of thing that happens when drunk people congregate in a kebab shop after a night out but the reality of the donna party was surprisingly enough even more terrifying the donner party were given an early boost when they were informed lansford hastings himself was waiting further along the trail to personally guide any immigrants who wish to take his proposed shortcut to california unfortunately by the time they arrived at fort bridger a key resupply point on the oregon trail where hastings was supposed to be waiting they discovered he'd already gone on ahead with another wagon train undeterred the group decided to continue on with their plan but when they reached the weber river in what is now utah they found a note left by hastings informing all wagon trains that an integral part of his shortcut the weber canyon was rather inconveniently utterly impassable hastings left directions for an alternate route but confidence in the shortcut was beginning to wane reed possibly starting to feel a little worried that he'd led the donner party into a bit of a pickle jumped on his horse and raced along the trail to catch up with hastings and ask him just what the hell was going on hastings a short read that everything would be just fine and that his new route would work out just as well as the last one would have done if mother nature hadn't pulled a fast one and plunked an impassable canyon smack in the middle of it reed returned to the group full of optimism but before long it became clear that surprise surprise the new route was much more difficult than hastings had actually promised in fact it was so grueling the pioneers were forced to cut down trees as they went to clear a path for the wagons progress was glacial and by the time they'd escaped the dense woodland and reached the great salt lake desert there was barely a month left of summer time was no longer on their side as is quite typical of deserts the great salt lake desert was big and hot and generally quite keen on killing any humans stupid enough to enter it the donner party ran out of water within three days in the blistering heat whilst by nights the temperature dropped to freezing to make matters even worse moisture hidden beneath the salt crust would rise during the day turning the ground into a kind of salt-flavored glue pulling the wagons on this became so difficult that many of the oxen decided they'd had enough of life on the trail and made a run for it during the night 36 oxen were lost in total and four wagons were abandoned the desert turned out to be twice as long as hastings had told them what the pioneers thought would take two days had taken five and by the time they reached the other side they no longer had enough food and water to reach california the group was forced to spend the next week recovering beneath nearby pilot peak whilst two of their number rode ahead in search of provisions over a month after they set off on the shortcut they finally rejoined the traditional route the cutoff had added 125 particularly grueling miles to the donna party's journey and just when it appeared things couldn't get any worse snow began to fall earlier than expected in the sierra nevada mountains and the group was faced with the frightening possibility that they may be forced to spend winter in the great outdoors at the mercy of the elements but hey at least the snow meant they no longer had to worry about those depleted water supplies tensions within the group were understandably high and a fight broke out between james reed and another member who reed ultimately ended up stabbing to death the party was outraged and many called for reed to be hanged to be fair i imagine they'd all been waiting for an excuse to hang him a long time before he added murder to his repertoire of bad decisions but still it didn't help fortunately for reid his wife convinced the party to spare his life and instead he was banished from the group and forced to ride off to complete the journey alone which in hindsight was probably more of a reward than a punishment the bedraggled wagon train reached a truckee river on the 16th of october where they were joined by two native american guides who offered to help them find their way through the mountains for the first time in months there was a raised sense of optimism not that it lasted long because george donna's wagon axle was damaged not long afterwards forcing him and 22 others to stay behind and fix it the rest of the party only managed a further six miles before they too were forced to stop this time due to heavy snowfall by this time the donner party were the only wagon trains still on the trail and they finally had to admit defeat there was just no way they were going to make it to california before winter set in the group started to construct shelters in preparation for the months ahead hunting and fishing attempts were made but with little success and with their stores of provisions already dangerously low stomachs were starting to rumble in desperation a group of 17 people including the native american guides set out on makeshift snowshoes to try and find help this group would later come to be known as the full-on hope which gives you a clue that things weren't going to play out all that well for them in truth the forlorn hope were doomed from the beginning less than a week into their journey they ran out of food unaccustomed to the harsh conditions they became lost and disorientated some turned back and others grew delirious their leader a man named charles stanton began suffering from snow blindness realizing he couldn't go on any further he sat down lit his pipe and told the group he'd catch them up later he would never be seen alive again the remainder of fallorn hope pitched up a camp and lit a fire only for a blizzard to blow it out by this point their situation was critical the punishing conditions were taking a huge physical toll on the group and they hadn't eaten for days they were experiencing the kind of hunger that can do strange things to the mind nobody knows who first raised the idea of sacrificing one of the group to eat but it seems someone did because on christmas eve 1846 the members of fallorn hope began drawing lots a man called patrick dolan drew the literal short straw but to his very great relief his friends couldn't bring themselves to butcher him like a pig they were hungry but not that hungry at least not yet as it happened dolan died the very next day without any help from his friends as did another member of the group the surviving members of fallorn hope managed to resist the pull of fresh meat for around about a day before finally tucking into the grimaced christmas dinner on record right after little chef after witnessing the pioneers chowing down on human flesh and hearing rumors that they too might soon find themselves on the menu the two native american guides decided it was probably a good idea that they got as far away from this snowy hellscape as possible unfortunately being the only members of the group who still hadn't eaten they didn't make it far before collapsing in the snow when they were later found exhausted nearby they were shot taken back to the camp and consumed on the 12th of january what was left of the forlorn hope party finally made it to the other side of the mountain range where they were helped by a village of miwok native americans the very same tribe that the two murdered guides had belonged to presumably the group chose to keep this little detail quiet as they enjoyed the life-saving hospitality of their new friends the seven remaining survivors of fallorn hope began the process of rallying rescue parties for the survivors back at the lake but the harsh winter meant they wouldn't be able to reach them for at least another month back on the other side of the mountain range the remaining donna party had also exhausted their food supplies cattle horses and even pet dogs had all been consumed the remaining animal bones had been boiled in a macabre gruel that had little nutritional value things had gotten so bad they resorted to eating tree bark pine cones mice and leather as far as diets go it wasn't great and soon enough people started to succumb to starvation as each member of the group passed away they were solemnly buried deep beneath the snow but much as it had been with forlorn hope the survivors simply couldn't stop thinking about all that meat conveniently stored in an all-natural deep freeze just a few meters away eventually the inevitable happened one of the pioneers patrick breen began keeping a diary as events descended into the realm of nightmares he is one of the more famous excerpts mrs murphy said here yesterday that she thought she would commence on milt and eat him i don't think that she has done so yet it is distressing patrick breen didn't know it at the time but the first rescue party would arrive just two days after he wrote this diary entry when the first rescuers arrived at the camp they found it in disarray and believed it to be empty until skeletal apparitions began emerging from the shadows in all it would take four rescue parties three months to evacuate the donner party when the final rescuers arrived at the camp they found only one survivor remaining louis kesselberg it's said that kesemberg was found surrounded by kettles filled with blood half-eaten human bodies and body parts boiling in pans when asked why free oxen legs remained untouched he explains that he found the castle meat too dry and that human flesh was much sweeter the rescue party accused kesemberg of murdering tamzon donner wife of george who'd appeared relatively healthy when last seen by the previous relief effort kesemberg resolutely denied her murder but admitted to cannibalizing the body in order to survive much was made of kesaberg's taste for human flesh in the aftermath of the incident he was vilified in the press and in spite of protesting his innocence he became something of an evil poster boy for the whole grotesque affair it's highly likely that much of what was reported about him was sensationalized but for the rest of his life he struggled to shake off the image of deranged cannibal eventually dying homeless and penniless many years later of the 87 members of the donner party that set off from missouri only 46 made it to california both george donna and his brother jacob died at the foot of the mountain pass just 200 miles from their destination james reed would go on to carve out a successful living in california as a real estate developer and prospector in spite of the horrific events of the journey his daughter virginia seemed unfazed by the whole affair encouraging family back home to join her in the west just so long as they never take no cut-offs and hurry along as fast as they can sound advice i say over the following few years the events of the donna party and fears over the outcome of the mexican-american war saw a steep decline in people wishing to travel along the oregon trail it was going to take something a bit special to reignite people's enthusiasm for life in the west as it happens that's something special was right around the corner a little thing called the gold rush and when choosing between gold and the small possibility of having to eat your friends there is only ever going to be one winner thanks for watching check out my new podcast random interesting facts available on youtube spotify apple podcast and anywhere else you get your podcasts link in the description below thanks

Channel: Thoughty2

Views: 941,367

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Id: 5LiI863jLHE

Length: 22min 6sec (1326 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 11 2021