13. The Donner Party, a group of pioneers stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the Winter of 1846-47, repeatedly resorted to cannibalism to survive
The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who, in May 1846, formed a wagon train to journey from Independence, Missouri, to California. Unable to breach the pass due to earlier than expected snows, heavy snowfall at Truckee Lake, known today as Donner Lake, stranded the group in the mountains to face the winter. Struggling for food, with ox-hide bones boiled for soup and mice captured for meat, the party began to deteriorate rapidly. Eventually, the pioneers were forced to eat the very ox-hide roofs protecting them from the snows. In an act of desperation, a group of 17, known as the “Forlorn Hope” and including men, women, and children, attempted to cross the mountain pass, carrying six-days of rations each in the hope of reaching Bear Valley. Without food and lost, Patrick Dolan proposed one member of the group should volunteer themselves to feed the others. Ironically, Dolan himself died soon after whereupon he was butchered for meat.
Opposed to the cannibalism, although eventually relenting and eating Dolan’s flesh, Eddy Graves forewarned two Mexican members of the party that the others planned to murder them. Luis and Salvador tried to flee but were found days later near death, whereupon William Foster shot and butchered the unfortunate pair. Encountering a Miwok encampment, with their assistance the remaining six pioneers, after 33 brutal days, eventually reached a small farming community in Sacramento Valley. A rescue party was launched to rescue the rest of the group back at Truckee Lake, arriving in mid-February. Just 48 of the original 87 members of the Donner Party survived to reach California, none of which likely did so without resorting to the cannibalism of those who did not.