Redigerer Donnerfølget (avsnitt)

== Redning ==

=== Reed gjør forsøk på en redningsaksjon ===
James F. Reed kom seg ut av Sierra Nevada til [[Rancho Johnson]] seint i oktober 1846. Han var i trygghet og hentet seg inn i Sutter's Fort, men bekymret seg mer og mer for familien og vennene. Han ba oberst [[John C. Frémont]] samle folk som kunne ta seg over passet og hjelpe de som var fanget der. Til gjengjeld lovet Reed å bli med i Frémonts styrker og sloss i [[Den meksikansk-amerikanske krigen|den mexicansk-amerikanske krigen]].{{sfn|Johnson|1996|p=193}} McCutchen, som ikke hadde vært i stand til å vende tilbake med Stanton, og noen fra Harlan-Young-følget slo seg sammen med ham. Harlan-Young-vogntoget hadde ankommet Sutter's Fort 8. oktober, det siste som kom seg over Sierra Nevada den sesongen.{{sfn|Rehart|2000|p=133}} Redningsgruppen, som bestod av omkring 30 hester og tolv menn, hadde med seg mat og håpet å finne Donnerfølget på vestsiden av fjellet, et sted langs [[Bear River (Great Salt Lake)|Bear River]] nedenfor den bratte oppstigningen til [[Emigrant Gap]]. De regnet med å finne dem sultende, men i live. Da redningsgruppen kom til elvedalen fant de et nybyggerpar, emigranter som hadde kommet bort fra følget sitt, og som sultet.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=95-100}}{{sfn|McGlashan|1918|p=122-123}}

To gaider som hadde vært med redningsgruppen deserterte og tok med seg noen hester, men redningsgruppen fortsatte lengre opp dalen til Yuba Bottoms, de siste par kilometrene til fots. Reed og McCutchen stod der og så opp på Emigrant Gap, bare 19 kilometer fra toppen, kanskje den samme dagen som Breenfamilien prøvde en siste gang å komme seg over passet fra øst. De vendte nedslåtte tilbake til Sutter's Fort.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=101-104}}

=== Første redningsaksjon ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Medlemmer av Donnerfølget som ble reddet i den første redningsaksjonen
!Navn
!Alder
|-
|Elitha Donner
|14
|-
|Leanna Donner
|12
|-
|George Donner, Jr.
|9
|-
|William Hook*
|12
|-
|Margret Reed
|32
|-
|Virginia Reed
|12
|-
|James Reed, Jr.
|6
|-
|Edward Breen
|13
|-
|Simon Breen
|8
|-
|William Graves
|17
|-
|Eleanor Graves
|14
|-
|Lovina Graves
|12
|-
|Mary Murphy
|14
|-
|William Murphy
|10
|-
|Naomi Pike
|2
|-
|Philippine Keseberg
|23
|-
|Ada Keseberg*
|3
|-
|Doris Wolfinger
|20
|-
|John Denton*
|28
|-
|Noah James
|20
|-
|Eliza Williams
|31
|-
| colspan="2" |* døde på veien{{sfn|Johnson|1996|p=294-298}}
|}

Mange av de som kunne ha vært med på en redningsaksjon var opptatt med å kjempe i den mexicansk-amerikanske krigen. Samferdselen i området var vanskeliggjort gjennom blokkerte veier, og det var generell varemangel. Kun tre menn meldte seg da det ble søkt om frivillige til å redde Donnerfølget. Reed måtte bli i [[San Jose]] til februar på grunn av regionale opprør og generell forvirring. Han tilbrakte tiden med å snakke med bekjente og andre nybyggere. Innbyggerne i San Jose reagerte med å opprette en underskriftskampanje for å overbevise [[United States Navy|den amerikanske marinen]] om å hjelpe dem som var fanget ved Truckee Lake. To lokale aviser meldte at medlemmer i trugefølget hadde tydd til kannibalisme, og det førte til mer sympati med dem som fremdeles var igjen i fjellene. Innbyggerne i [[San Francisco|Yerba Buena]] (det som seinere skulle bli San Francisco), mange av dem var nyinnflyttede migranter, samlet inn 1 300 dollar (tilsvarende 36 100 dollar i 2020) og jobbet med å bygge to leire som skulle være til hjelp for et mulig redningslag.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=150-159}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=180-181}}

4. februar satte et redningslag bestående av blant annet William Eddy ut fra [[Sacramentodalen]]. De ble forsinket på grunn av regn og en flomstor elv. Eddy ble i Bear Valley, mens de andre fortsatte gjennom snø og dårlig vær over passet mot Truckee Lake. De opprettet [[Depot|matdepoter]] på veien, så de skulle slippe å ta med alt. Tre i gruppen vendte tilbake, mens sju fortsatte.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=176-189}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=166-167}}

De sju kom seg over Frémontpasset (nå Donnerpasset) den 18. februar. Da de nærmet seg stedet der hyttene etter Eddys forklaring skulle være, begynte de å rope. Mrs. Murphy kom til syne, stirret på dem, og spurte: "Kommer dere fra California, eller fra himmelen?"{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=191}} Redningsmannskapet delte ut små mengder mat, i frykt for at for mye mat ville være dødelig for de sultende. Alle hyttene var nedsnødde. Takene av gjennomvåte oksehuder hadde begynt å råtne, og lukta var overveldende. Tretten i leiren var døde, likene hadde blitt begravd midlertidig i snøen nær hyttetakene. Noen av migrantene virket følelsesmessig ustabile. Tre av redningsmannskapene reiste videre til Donnerfamilien og tok med seg fire barn og tre voksne tilbake. Leanna Donner hadde særlig vanskelig for å gå opp den bratte bakken fra Alder Creek til Truckee Lake, og skreiv seinere "den smerten og vanskelighetene jeg holdt ut den dagen er ubeskrivelig."{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=173}} George Donners arm var så angrepet av [[koldbrann]] at han ikke kunne røre seg. Tjuetre av migrantene ble valgt ut til å reise til California med redningslaget, da ble tjueen igjen i hyttene ved Truckee Lake og tolv ved Alder Creek.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=190-196}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=170}}
[[Fil:Donner tree stumps2.jpg|miniatyr|Trestubber ved Alder Creek, trærne ble hugget av medlemmer av Donnerfølget. Fotografert i 1866. Snøen lå i høyde med stubbene.<ref>{{Kilde artikkel|tittel=Location of the Donner Family Camp|publikasjon=California Historical Society Quarterly|dato=Mars 1945|forfattere=Weddell, P. M.|bind=24|hefte=1|sider=73-76}}</ref>]]
Redningsmannskapet lot være å fortelle hvordan det hadde gått med trugefølget. De sa bare til migrantene at de ikke kom tilbake på grunn av frostskader.{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=171}} Patty og Tommy Reed ble snart for svake til å komme seg over snøfonnene, og ingen hadde krefter til å bære dem. Margret Reed valgte å bli med de to eldste barna sine til Bear Valley, og måtte holde ut å se de to svakeste bli tatt med tilbake til Truckee Lake uten noen av foreldrene. Hun fikk redningsmannen Aquilla Glover til å sverge på sin ære som [[Frimureri|frimurer]] at han ville komme tilbake for å hente de to yngste. Patty Reed sa: "Vel, mor, hvis du aldri skulle se meg igjen, gjør så godt du kan."{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=198}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=174}} Da barna kom tilbake til Truckee Lake nektet Breenfamilien å la dem komme inn i hytta si, og slapp dem bare motvillig inn da Glover la igjen mer mat. Redningsfølget oppdaget til sin skuffelse at det første depotet  hadde blitt forstyrret av dyr, hvilket betød at de måtte holde ut fire dager uten mat. Etter å ha hatt vanskeligheter med turen over passet gikk John Denton i [[koma]] og døde. Ada Keseberg døde snart etter. Moren hennes var utrøstelig, og nektet å gi slipp på datterens lik. Etter å ha reist videre flere dager gjennom vanskelig terreng ble redningsgruppen mer og mer bekymret for at barna ikke ville klare seg. Noen av dem åt hjorteskinnsfrynsene fra buksene til en av redningsmennene og skolissene til en annen, til redningsmannskapets overraskelse. På vei ned fra fjellet kom det andre redningslaget dem i møte, der var blant annet James Reed med. Da hun hørte stemmen hans sank Margret Reed overveldet sammen i snøen.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=197-203}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=178}}

Etter at migrantene hadde kommet trygt fram til Bear Valley brøt William Hook, Jacob Donners stesønn, seg inn i et matlager, og åt så mye at han tok sin død av det. De øvrige fortsatte til Sutter's Fort, der Virginia Reed skrev "det føltes virkelig som om jeg hadde tatt steget inn i paradis". Hun opplevde med overraskelse at en av de unge mennene fridde til henne, selv om hun bare var tolv år og i ferd med å komme seg fra alvorlig sult.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=204-206}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=187}} Hun avviste ham.{{sfn|McGlashen|1918|p=239}}

=== Andre redningsaksjon ===

{| class="wikitable infobox" style="text-align: center; font-size: 95%; margin: 0 0 0.5em 1em;;"
|+ Medlemmer av Donnerfølget som ble reddet i den andre redningsaksjonen
|-
! scope="col" | Navn
! scope="col" | Alder
|-
| Isaac Donner* || 5
|-
| Patty Reed || 9
|-
| Thomas Reed || 4
|-
| Patrick Breen† || 51
|-
| Margaret Breen† || 40
|-
| John Breen† || 14
|-
| Patrick Breen, Jr.† || 9
|-
| James Breen† || 5
|-
| Peter Breen† || 3
|-
| Isabella Breen† || 1
|-
| Elizabeth Graves* || 45
|-
| Nancy Graves† || 9
|-
| Jonathan Graves† || 7
|-
| Franklin Ward Graves, Jr.* || 5
|-
| Elizabeth Graves† || 1
|-
| Mary Donner† || 7
|-
| Solomon Hook || 15
|-
| colspan="2" | * døde på veien <br /> † returnerte med John Stark{{sfn|Johnson|1996|p=294-298}}
|}

Omtrent på den tiden da den første redningsaksjonen var under planlegging, opplevde nybyggeren [[George C. Yount]] skremmende drømmer om en gruppe sultende nybyggere i dyp snø. Sannsynligvis hadde han hørt om problemene til Donnerfølget. Yount, [[Mariano Gaudalupe Vallejo]] og andre samlet så inn fem hundre dollar for å utstyre en ny redningsaksjon.<ref>{{Kilde artikkel|tittel=The Chronicles of George C. Yount: California Pioneer of 1826|publikasjon=California Historical Society Quarterly|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25177691.pdf|dato=April 1923|forfattere=Camp, Charles L. og Yount, George C.|bind=2|hefte=1|sider=63-64}}</ref>

1. mars ankom den andre redningsgruppen Truckee Lake. Denne gruppen bestod av erfarne [[Mountain Men|villmarksfolk]], den mest kjente var [[John Turner (pelsjeger)|John Turner]],{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=209}}{{sfn|McGlashen|1918|p=161}} som var med Reed og McCutchen tilbake. Reed ble gjenforent med datteren Patty og sønnen Tommy. De inspiserte Breenhytta, og fant at beboerne hadde det relativt greit; mens Murphyhytta, ifølge forfatteren George Stewart, "overgikk grensene for det som kan beskrives og nesten grensene for det man kan forestille seg". Levinah Murphy var ansvarlig for sin åtte år gamle sønn Simon og de to unge barna til William Eddy og Foster. Det hadde gått dårlig med henne mentalt og hun hadde blitt nesten blind. Barna var sløve og hadde ikke blitt vasket på dagevis. Lewis Keseberg hadde flyttet inn i hytta og kunne knapt røre seg på grunn av et skadd bein.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=211-212}}

{{uoversatt-start}}

No one at Truckee Lake had died during the interim between the departure of the first and the arrival of the second relief party. Patrick Breen documented a disturbing visit in the last week of February from Mrs. Murphy, who said her family was considering eating Milt Elliott. Reed and McCutchen found Elliott's mutilated body.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=213-214}} The Alder Creek camp fared no better. The first two members of the relief party to reach it saw Trudeau carrying a human leg. When they made their presence known, he threw it into a hole in the snow that contained the mostly dismembered body of Jacob Donner. Inside the tent, Elizabeth Donner refused to eat, although her children were being nourished by their father's organs.{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=191}} The rescuers discovered three other bodies had already been consumed. In the other tent, Tamsen Donner was well, but George was very ill because the infection had reached his shoulder.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=215-219}}

[[Fil:Donner Lake and snow sheds2.tif|alt=Svart-hvitt-foto av landskap: Utsikt over Truckee Lake fra Donnerpasset, tatt i 1868. Fjellandskap, overbygde togtunneler, skog og innsjø.|venstre|miniatyr|200x200pk|Utsikt over Truckee Lake fra Donnerpasset, tatt i 1868 da jernbanen [[Central Pacific Railroad]] ble ferdigstilt.]]
The second relief evacuated 17 migrants from Truckee Lake, only three of whom were adults. Both the Breen and Graves families prepared to go. Only five people remained at Truckee Lake: Keseberg, Mrs. Murphy and her son Simon, and the young Eddy and Foster children. Tamsen Donner elected to stay with her ailing husband after Reed informed her that a third relief party would arrive soon. Mrs. Donner kept her daughters Eliza, Georgia, and Frances with her.{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=195}}

The walk back to Bear Valley was very slow. At one point, Reed sent two, men ahead to retrieve the first cache of food, expecting the third relief, a small party led by Selim E. Woodworth, to come at any moment. A violent blizzard arose after they scaled the pass. Five-year-old Isaac Donner froze to death, and Reed nearly died. Mary Donner's feet were badly burned because they were so frostbitten that she did not realize she was sleeping with them in the fire. When the storm passed, the Breen and Graves families were too apathetic and exhausted to get up and move, not having eaten for days. The relief party had no choice but to leave without them.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=220-230}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=199-203}} The site where the Breens and Graves had been left became known as 'Starved Camp'.{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=200}} Margaret Breen reportedly took the initiative to try to keep the members of the camp alive after the others departed down the mountain. Soon however, Elizabeth Graves and her son Franklin perished before the next rescue party could reach them, and the party resorted to eating flesh off the dead bodies in order to survive.{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=200-213}}

Three members of the relief party stayed to help those remaining at the camps; Charles Stone at Truckee Lake, Charles Cady and Nicholas Clark at Alder Creek. While Clark was out hunting, Stone traveled to Alder Creek and made plans with Cady to return to California. According to Stewart, Tamsen Donner arranged for them to take her daughters Eliza, Georgia, and Frances with them, perhaps for $500 cash. Stone and Cady took the three girls to Truckee Lake, but left them at a cabin with Keseberg and Levinah Murphy when they started for Bear Valley. Cady recalled later, that after two days on the trail they noted and passed Starved Camp, but they did not stop to help in any way. They overtook Reed and the others within days.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=231-236}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=207-208}} Several days later at the Alder Creek camp, Clark and Trudeau agreed to leave for California together. When they reached Truckee Lake and discovered the Donner girls still there they returned to Alder Creek to inform Tamsen Donner.{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=216-217}}

William Foster and William Eddy, survivors of the snowshoe party, started from Bear Valley to intercept Reed, taking with them a man named John Stark. After a day, they met Reed helping his children struggle on toward Bear Valley, all frostbitten and bleeding but alive. Desperate to rescue their own children, Foster and Eddy persuaded four men, with pleading and money, to go to Truckee Lake with them. During their journey they found the eleven survivors at Starved Camp, huddled around a fire that had sunk into a pit. The relief party split, with Foster, Eddy, and two others headed toward Truckee Lake. Two of the rescuers, hoping to save some of the survivors, each took a child and headed back to Bear Valley. John Stark refused to leave the others. He picked up two children and all the provisions and assisted the remaining Breens and Graves to safety, sometimes advancing the children down the trail piece-meal, putting them down and then going back to carry the other debilitated children.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=237-246}}{{sfn|King|1992|p=92-93}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=214-215}}

=== Tredje redningsaksjon ===
{| class="wikitable infobox" style="text-align: center; font-size: 95%; margin: 0 0 0.5em 1em;;"
|+Medlemmer av Donnerfølget som ble reddet i den tredje redningsaksjonen
! scope="col" |Navn
! scope="col" |Alder
|-
|Eliza Donner*
|3
|-
|Georgia Donner
|4
|-
|Frances Donner
|6
|-
|Simon Murphy
|8
|-
|Jean Baptiste Trudeau
|16{{sfn|Johnson|1996|p=294-298}}
|}
Foster and Eddy finally arrived at Truckee Lake on March 14, where they found their children dead. Keseberg told Eddy that he had eaten the remains of Eddy's son; Eddy swore to murder Keseberg if they ever met in California.{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=217-218}} George Donner and one of Jacob Donner's children were still alive at Alder Creek. Tamsen Donner had just arrived at the Murphy cabin to see to her daughters. She could have walked out alone but chose to return to her husband, even though she was informed that no other relief party was likely to be coming soon. Foster and Eddy and the rest of the third relief left with the Donner girls, young Simon Murphy, Trudeau, and Clark. Levinah Murphy was too weak to leave and Keseberg refused.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=247-252}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=219}}

Two more relief parties were mustered to evacuate any adults who might still be alive. Both turned back before getting to Bear Valley, and no further attempts were made. On April 10, almost a month since the third relief had left Truckee Lake, the ''[[alcalde]]'' near Sutter's Fort organized a salvage party to recover what they could of the Donners' belongings. These would be sold, with part of the proceeds used to support the orphaned Donner children. The salvage party found the Alder Creek tents empty except for the body of George Donner, who had died only days earlier. On their way back to Truckee Lake, they found Lewis Keseberg alive. According to him, Mrs. Murphy had died a week after the departure of the third relief. Some weeks later, Tamsen Donner had arrived at his cabin on her way over the pass, soaked and visibly upset. Keseberg said he put a blanket around her and told her to start out in the morning, but she died during the night. The salvage party were suspicious of Keseberg's story, and found a pot full of human flesh in the cabin along with George Donner's pistols, jewelry, and $250 in gold. They threatened to lynch Keseberg, who confessed that he had cached $273 of the Donners' money, at Tamsen's suggestion, so that it could one day benefit her children.{{sfn|Stewart|1988|p=258-265}}{{sfn|Rarick|2008|p=222-226}}

=== Etterspill ===
<blockquote>A more revolting or appalling spectacle I never witnessed. The remains here, by order of Gen. Kearny collected and buried under the superintendence of Major Swords. They were interred in a pit which had been dug in the centre of one of the cabins for a ''cache''. These melancholy duties to the dead being performed, the cabins, by order of Major Swords, were fired, and with every thing surrounded them connected with this horrid and melancholy tragedy, were consumed. The body of George Donner was found at his camp, about eight or ten miles distant, wrapped in a sheet. He was buried by a party of men detailed for that purpose.</blockquote>Member of General Stephen W. Kearny's company, June 22, 1847

News of the Donner Party's fate was spread eastward by Samuel Brannan, an elder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a journalist, who ran into the salvage party as they came down from the pass with Keseberg. Accounts of the ordeal first reached New York City in July 1847. Reporting on the event across the U.S. was heavily influenced by the national enthusiasm for westward migration. In some papers, news of the tragedy was buried in small paragraphs, despite the contemporary tendency to sensationalize stories. Several newspapers, including those in California, wrote about the cannibalism in graphic exaggerated detail. In some print accounts, the members of the Donner Party were depicted as heroes and California a paradise worthy of significant sacrifices.

Emigration to the West decreased over the following years, but it is likely that the drop in numbers was caused more by fears over the outcome of the ongoing Mexican–American War than by the cautionary tale of the Donner Party. In 1846, an estimated 1,500 people migrated to California. In 1847, the number dropped to 450 and then to 400 in 1848. The California Gold Rush spurred a sharp increase, however, and 25,000 people went west in 1849. Most of the overland migration followed the Carson River, but a few forty-niners used the same route as the Donner Party and recorded descriptions about the site.

In late June 1847, members of the Mormon Battalion under General Stephen Kearny buried the human remains, and partially burned two of the cabins. The few who ventured over the pass in the next few years found bones, other artifacts, and the cabin used by the Reed and Graves families. In 1891, a cache of money was found buried by the lake. It had probably been stored by Mrs. Graves, who hastily hid it when she left with the second relief so she could return for it later.

Lansford Hastings received death threats. A migrant who crossed before the Donner Party confronted him about the difficulties they had encountered, reporting: "Of course he could say nothing but that he was very sorry, and that he meant well".

=== Overlevende ===
Of the 87 people who entered the Wasatch Mountains, 48 survived. Only the Reed and Breen families remained intact. The children of Jacob Donner, George Donner, and Franklin Graves were orphaned. William Eddy was alone; most of the Murphy family had died. Only three mules reached California; the remaining animals perished. Most of the Donner Party members' possessions were discarded.<blockquote>I have not wrote to you half the trouble we have had but I have wrote enough to let you know that you don't know what trouble is. But thank God we have all got through and the only family that did not eat human flesh. We have left everything but I don't care for that. We have got through with our lives but Don't let this letter dishearten anybody. Never take no cutoffs and hurry along as fast as you can.</blockquote>A few of the widowed women remarried within months; brides were scarce in California. The Reeds settled in San Jose and two of the Donner children lived with them. Reed fared well in the California Gold Rush and became prosperous. Virginia wrote an extensive letter to her cousin in Illinois about "our troubles getting to California", with editorial oversight from her father. Journalist Edwin Bryant carried it back in June 1847, and it was printed in its entirety in the ''Illinois Journal'' on December 16, 1847, with some editorial alterations.

Virginia converted to Catholicism, fulfilling a promise she had made to herself while observing Patrick Breen pray in his cabin. The Murphy survivors lived in Marysville, California. The Breens made their way to San Juan Bautista, California, where they operated an inn. They became the anonymous subjects of J. Ross Browne's story about his severe discomfort upon learning that he was staying with alleged cannibals, printed in ''Harper's Magazine'' in 1862. Many of the survivors encountered similar reactions.

George and Tamsen Donner's children were taken in by an older couple near Sutter's Fort. Eliza was three years old during the winter of 1846–1847, the youngest of the Donner children. She published an account of the Donner Party in 1911, based on printed accounts and those of her sisters. The Breens' youngest daughter Isabella was a one-year-old during the winter of 1846–1847 and the last survivor of the Donner Party. She died in 1935.<blockquote>I will now give you some good and friendly advice. Stay at home,—you are in a good place, where, if sick, you are not in danger of starving to death.</blockquote>The Graves children lived varied lives. Mary Graves married early, but her first husband was murdered. She cooked his killer's food while he was in prison to ensure the condemned man did not starve before his hanging. One of Mary's grandchildren noted she was very serious; Graves once said, "I wish I could cry but I cannot. If I could forget the tragedy, perhaps I would know how to cry again." Mary's brother William had several different occupations, a diverse lifestyle, and his nieces thought he was "eccentric and irascible". He died in 1907 and was buried in Calistoga.

Nancy Graves was nine years old during the winter of 1846–1847. She refused to acknowledge her involvement even when contacted by historians interested in recording the most accurate versions of the episode. Nancy reportedly was unable to recover from her role in the cannibalism of her brother and mother.

Eddy remarried and started a family in California. He attempted to follow through on his promise to murder Lewis Keseberg but was dissuaded by James Reed and Edwin Bryant. A year later, Eddy recalled his experiences to J. Quinn Thornton, who wrote the earliest account of the episode, also using Reed's memories of his involvement. Eddy died in Petaluma, California on December 24, 1859.

Keseberg brought a defamation suit against several members of the relief party who accused him of murdering Tamsen Donner. The court awarded him $1 in damages, but also made him pay court costs. An 1847 story printed in the ''California Star'' described Keseberg's actions in ghoulish terms and his near-lynching by the salvage party. It reported that he preferred eating human flesh over the cattle and horses that had become exposed in the spring thaw. Historian Charles McGlashan amassed enough material to indict Keseberg for the murder of Tamsen Donner, but after interviewing him he concluded no murder occurred. Eliza Donner Houghton also believed Keseberg to be innocent.

As Keseberg grew older, he did not venture outside, for he had become a pariah and was often threatened. He told McGlashan, "I often think that the Almighty has singled me out, among all the men on the face of the earth, in order to see how much hardship, suffering, and misery a human being can bear!"