wagon train tragedies

Such accidents could cause the loss of life and most or all of valuable supplies. A note left by Hastings had assured the party that they would be able to cross the desert in just two days, but the journey took five. My squad had to ride up to Cottonwood, and down to the station below, where they waited for the next coach going the other way, and returned by it to their post at Oilmans. Though they occasionally attacked small bodies of troops, the Indians directed their main efforts against the trains of freight wagons and the comparatively defenseless stage stations. The soldiers had with them as guides several famous frontiersmen, Kit Carson, Uncle Dick Wootton, Joaquin Leroux, and Tom Tobin. The three bodies, including that of Isaac Donner, had been cannibalized. Sure, there are a lot of ways to go on the trail, but no one wants to be remembered like that (and he definitely wasn't the only one). The wagon train reached Independence, Missouri about three weeks later, where they re-supplied. Another memorable raid was made all along the 200 miles between Julesburg, Colorado, and Liberty Farm, at the head of the Little Blue River in Nebraska, in August 1864. George P. Belden, well known in those days as The White Chief, thus describes the disagreeable duties: Troops were stationed in small squads at every station, about ten miles apart, and they rode from station to station on the top of all coaches, holding their guns ever ready for action. The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner-Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. While becoming so desperate as to eat tree bark seems like the worst part of the trail, there was one instance where it became worse for one wagon train party in the 1840s. Infuriated by the teamsters treatment of the oxen, James Reed ordered the man to stop and when he wouldnt, Reed grabbed his knife and stabbed the teamster in the stomach, killing him. They traveled on with the wagon train and ended up in the care of missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. While at Fort Laramie, Reed had been warned against attempting the route by an old friend from Illinois who had just completed the west-to-east journey through Hastings Cutoff, but the group chose to press ahead. The Oregon Trail was one of the primary routes for American settlers heading from the Eastern States out to the Wild West. In numbers engaged, it attained the magnitude of war but was carried on in guerilla fashion. Never for a moment could they feel secure; every trip promised to be their last, and many a time, the coach dashed up to a station only to find it in ruins and surrounded by dead. Food was a huge concern, and that makes Fort Laramie nicknamed "Camp Sacrifice" that much more tragic. Here they came to a halt when they found a note from Hastings advising them not to follow him down Weber Canyon as it was virtually impassible, but rather to take another trail through the Salt Basin. Surviving the Oregon Trail was just the beginning for some people just ask Lewis Keseberg. Of the eight dead, seven had been cannibalized. Historian Aaron Smith (via Deseret News) notes that the later settlers left, the more susceptible to cholera they would be, mostly because you were following in the footsteps of people who were essentially pooping out cholera as they went. The group made good progress all the way to Fort Laramie (in what is now southeastern Wyoming), covering roughly 650 miles (1,050 km) in six weeks. Many of their animals, including Sutters mules, had wandered off into the storms and their bodies were lost under the snow. When they finally reached the end of the grueling desert five days later on September 4th, the emigrants rested near the base of Pilot Peak for several days. Ever feel like you have the worst luck on the planet? Even as they started ferrying wagons across, they found they couldn't keep up dozens of wagons were lined up waiting for their turn to cross. Here they fought their assailants all day, six of the men being wounded, and all their stock was driven off. The rest of the pioneers stayed at what would become known as Starved Camp.. Extra foodstuffs, and one account even talked about the 20,000-odd pounds of bacon left behind. As they turned for a third charge, the surviving Indians were seen escaping to a deep ravine, which, although only one or two hundred paces off, had not previously been noticed. I hope that this does not impede what has been a tradition and legacy to the town of Canton and a historical memory of times lost. During a months harrowing, often overwhelming hardships from cold, storms, deep snow, and inadequate food, they struggled on. On the Trail - Asa McCully's 1853 Wagon Train. He was tracked to Denver, Colorado, and hanged with very little ceremony. Mail coaches, freight caravans, ranches, and parties putting up hay were attacked simultaneously. There are many examples of bungling, bad decisions and charlatans who conned the settlers, but the tragedy that befell the Donner Party in 1846 outranks them all. There were 1,100 people in those two companies alone (via WyoHistory), and they didn't set out until August. In 1972, the Kerala Government called it the Wagon Tragedy. When he sees an opportuni Don Brooke is desperate for money for his pregnant wife Bonnie, whose condition is too delicate for the long trip without more medical care so he seeks a bank loan. On the Trail - The Westward Movement. With the train desperately needing fresh meat, Cooper Smith, along with Barnaby, sets off . The group now numbered 74 people in twenty wagons and for the first week made good progress at 10-12 miles per day. Settlers would keep as much as they could on their overloaded wagons in hopes of trading once they reached the fort, but that wasn't always possible. The 22 people with the Donners were about six miles behind at Alder Creek. They were heading for California, not Oregon (via Online Nevada), when they set off in 1846, and about half met their grisly end in the Sierra Nevada mountains. A few days later their last few cattle were slaughtered for food and party began eating boiled hides, twigs, bones and bark. In the Spring of 1865, the Plains tribes again became very troublesome and raided the stage line almost from end to end. The Donner Party is One of the Most Disturbing Stories from the Oregon Trail. Whether it's better to eat or be eaten is a discussion for another time, but the tragic footnote is that the entire thing could have been avoided. However, the Mexican War had drawn away the able-bodied men, forcing any further rescue attempts to wait. The caravan camped for five days 50 miles from the summit, resting their oxen for the final push. As the rest of the party continued to what is now known as Donners Lake, snow began to fall. A Division Agent named Flowers was on the box with him, and half a dozen well-armed passengers were inside. The wagon train comprised 18 to 30 wagons pulled by ox and mule teams, plus several hundred cattle and a number of blooded horses the men were driving to California's Central Valley. Jim Bridger and partner Louis Vasquez certainly could have handed over the note, sending the Donner Party down the safer route and presumably preventing all the cannibalism nonsense. The river crossing was massively dangerous, and according to WyoHistory, it was made safer but more expensive by the Mormon ferries that were set up in 1847. Two rescuers, Jean-Baptiste Trudeau and Nicholas Clark were left behind to care for the Donners, but soon abandon them to catch up with the relief party. They were attacked on September 9, 1860, and 11 died in the two-day confrontation. The researchers themselves clarified, however, that the absence of archaeological evidence did not rule out the possibility that cannibalism had occurred, especially given the extensive contemporary accounts by members of the rescue parties and the survivors themselves. The fertile farmlands of central California drew a steady stream of settlers in the 1840s, and in the spring of 1846 several families from Springfield, Illinois, joined the westward migration. Taking a vote among the party members, the group decided to try the new trail rather than backtracking to Fort Bridger. This occurrence took all desire for further peace talk from him, and the fight was on. He swore he only ate and never killed, writing, "A man, before he judges me, should be placed in a similar situation.". The wagon train encountered riders urging emigrants on the road to travel down to Fort Bridger and take a shortcut called the "Hastings . According to Peter D. Olch, being run over by wagon wheels was the most frequent cause of injury or death. Don Brooke is desperate for money for his pregnant wife Bonnie, whose condition is too delicate for the long trip without more medical care so he seeks a bank loan. According to The Plains Across, Fort Laramie became a major trading post. This horrific incident came to be called the Jalian Wallabagh of the South. As the elevation increased, the rain turned to snow and twelve miles from the summit the pair could go no further. Two survivors were 10-year-old Ann Campbell Giles and 12-year-old Maximilian Parker. The settlers of California organized a relief party which left Fort Sutter (Sacramento) on January 31, 1847. Roadtrippers says Blue Mound, Kansas, was the site of the first accidental gun death on the trail, and it happened to the ill-named John Shotwell. It took two months and four relief parties to rescue the entire surviving Donner Party. While on a scout with his troop from Fort Union, New Mexico, Bell came upon White Wolf and an equal number of Apache. The Hide Hunters. Clyman advised Reed not to take the Hastings Route, stating that the road was barely passable on foot and would be impossible with wagons; also warning him of the great desert and the Sierra Nevadas. Everything was made ready for a charge when Major Greer suddenly decided to talk with the Indians before commencing to fight. There were two coaches loaded with mail and nine men, the leaders being Lem Flowers, a division agent, and the conductor named Brown. Only two of the ten men survived, including William Eddy and William Foster, but all five women lived through the journey. The dead of those awful years lies numberless and nameless in their unknown, scattered graves. The Government offered $5000 for his capture, dead or alive, but death finally came to him in the form of malarial fever. There were no supply stations, carts broke down better than they rolled, Salt Lake City officials had no idea who was coming, and travelers weren't prepared for doing the work of hunters, pioneers, and oxen all at the same time. Five of the emigrants died before reaching the mountain camps, 34 at the camps or on the mountains while attempting to cross, and one just after reaching the settlements. They reached the Humboldt River on September 26th. He was last seen sitting under a large sagebrush, completely exhausted, unable to walk, worn out, and was left there to die. Burials often were done right in the middle of the trail, where wagons could roll over and animals trample it down in order to erase the scent so wolves could not pick up the scent. When it was obvious a person wouldnt last the day, the train would often hold up moving in order to wait for the end. That young man was 23-year-old Levi Sheets, riding along with his grandfather, . Wagon Train is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957-1962), and then on ABC (1962-1965). 27 Sep. 1964.

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