57 pages • 1 hour read
Daniel James BrownThe Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Daniel James Brown (The Author)
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses starvation, cannibalism, and death.
Daniel James Brown is an American author known for his narrative nonfiction that reconstructs historical events and their human implications. Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, Brown attended both the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA, studying English. He worked as a writing instructor at both San Jose State and Stanford University and as a technical writer and editor.
Brown’s approach to writing is characterized by his dedication to placing historical events within a context that resonates with contemporary audiences, a technique evident in The Indifferent Stars Above. In this book, he tells the story of the Donner Party through the lens of Sarah Graves, a young woman caught in one of the most tragic pioneer journeys in American history. Brown enriches the narrative of Sarah and the Donner Party by integrating modern scientific insights like psychology, physiology, survival, and meteorology, thus connecting the past with present understandings of human endurance and disaster response. This method brings history to life while providing readers with a nuanced view of the 1800s, shedding light on the economics of pioneering, the physical and psychological toll of such journeys, and the dynamics of community and leadership under stress.
The authenticity of The Indifferent Stars Above is enhanced by his methodical and immersive research process; Brown retraced the path taken by the Donner Party, enhancing his understanding and depiction of the physical and emotional landscapes they traversed. He states:
To understand Sarah’s story, and to tell it well, I knew I needed to go where she had gone, to be where she had been at the time of year when she was there. I needed to go east and then follow Sarah west from where she began to where she ended (6).
This hands-on approach demonstrates his commitment to authenticity, which is further enriched by his personal connection to the story: Brown’s great-uncle, George Washington Tucker, was part of the same westward journey as Sarah Graves, traveling alongside her at one point. The Tucker and Graves families met and became acquainted on the west bank of the Missouri River before their paths diverged.
Sarah Graves
Sarah Graves serves as the central protagonist and primary lens through which Brown examines the narrative of the Donner Party in The Indifferent Stars Above. As the eldest daughter of the Graves family, she embarked on the journey west with her family and new husband, Jay. Described as generous and warm, Sarah is narratively positioned as a symbol of survival and endurance amid one of America’s most tragic pioneer stories.
Brown captures the depth of Sarah’s character through her intimate marriage with Jay. He writes of their bond, “She had been deeply in love with a young man who played the violin […] it was neither an economic arrangement, nor purely a practical matter. Her heart was cleaved to the young man’s heart” (10). Sarah and Jay’s relationship introduces a personal dimension to the historical event, rendering the ordeal of the Donner Party human despite the subsequent horrors they faced.
This love and lightheartedness stand in contrast to the moments of extreme despair and hardship Sarah faced. As she navigated the Sierra Nevada summit as part of the snowshoe party, she and her sister, Mary Ann, sat by their dying father. Brown writes, “He said that their mother’s life and the lives of their brothers and sisters depended on making it through the mountains to get help. […] He told them his body must be used for food and that they too must eat human flesh” (168). The choice Sarah and her sister faced, to either follow their father’s wishes to survive or succumb to the same fate he did, reveals the emotional and ethical challenges Sarah endured. Soon after, Sarah suffered another devastating loss, that of her husband, Jay. In a letter to her cousin, Sarah recounted the heartbreak:
We traveled six days without finding any relief. On the night of 6 January, my husband gave out and could not reach camp. I stayed with him without fire. I had a blanket and wrapped him in. I sat down beside him and he died about midnight as near as I could tell (252).
By focusing on Sarah’s life and using her own words to add depth to her story, the narrative humanizes the Donner Party’s story.
Sarah’s life after surviving the Donner Party is a further testament to her resilience. Left to care for her younger siblings, Sarah faced the daunting task of rebuilding her life in California, a challenge compounded by significant emotional and financial burdens. Sarah’s life in California involved a series of struggles and new beginnings; the Graves family still owed debts, and Sarah had limited assets available for settlement. She moved multiple times, first to San Jose and then to Napa Valley, where she became a schoolteacher. Sarah married William Dill Ritchie in October 1848 and had two sons. However, her life was upturned once again when Ritchie was executed for theft, leaving her a widow once more. Sarah remarried Samuel Spires, a melon farmer, with whom she had four children. Sarah eventually settled in Corralitos, where she lived until her death at age 46 in 1871. Her life story, from surviving the Donner Party to forging a new life multiple times, encapsulates resilience and adaptation.
James Reed
James Fraizer Reed was a central figure of the Donner Party. A 45-year-old businessman from Springfield, Illinois, Reed helped organize the ill-fated expedition, bringing along his wife Margaret, their children and stepchildren, and a retinue of hired help, including a cook, personal servant, and several teamsters to manage his livestock. Described as affluent and self-important, Reed viewed himself as a natural leader. His perceived leadership and wealth afforded him the status of decision-maker within the group; as Brown writes, “Reed was relatively affluent and, according to many who were with him that Spring, rather full of himself” (28). According to Brown’s depiction of the ordeal, these traits, including his disposition of self-importance, played a significant role in shaping the dynamics of the party and contributed to the difficulties they faced.
Reed’s judgment was both consequential and, at times, disastrous. Ignoring advice from James Clyman, who cautioned him against the Hastings Cutoff, Reed chose to lead the group through this “shortcut” anyway. Reed’s insistence on following Hastings’s advice significantly delayed the group, contributing to their eventual entrapment in the Sierra Nevada by early snowfall. Reed’s misplaced optimism about this route was evident; Brown notes that Reed convinced the rest of the party that “a difficult but passable route lay through the gap at the crest of the mountains […] He had already named the new pass Reed’s Gap” (89).
However, Reed’s influence waned following a conflict where he murdered fellow traveler John Snyder, leading to his banishment from the group. Despite his exile, Reed came back to rescue his family and other members of the Donner Party when they were stranded at the lake. He and William McCutchen attempted to bring the party supplies from Sutter’s Fort, though their initial efforts were thwarted by impassable snow. However, Reed tried again in March, ultimately organizing a crucial rescue effort and leading the second relief party.
After the ordeal, Reed continued to assert his vision in California, where he acquired considerable wealth and influence through real estate and mining ventures. His legacy in the region, particularly around San Jose, is significant; he owned the land that would eventually become San Jose State University. His daughters Virginia and Patty Reed continue to shape the local narrative and memory of the Donner Party. Reed’s actions and decisions during the expedition reflect the complexities of ambition, controversy, and survival. Despite the catastrophic outcomes of his decisions, Reed never ceased to view himself as a capable leader, a perspective evident in his reflections, where he attributed the group’s misfortunes to poor management by others. He asserted, “Our misfortunes were the result of bad management. Had I remained with the company, I would have had the whole of them over the mountains before the snow would have caught them” (269).
Lansford Hastings
Lansford Hastings was an influential yet controversial figure in mid-19th century American history, primarily known for his role in promoting westward migration to California. He authored The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California in 1845, a guidebook that significantly impacted the migration patterns of American settlers. Hastings’s guide advocated for the expansion into Alta California, then a thinly populated Mexican territory, framing it as an alluring frontier ripe for American expansion. This ambition aligned with the manifest destiny ideology of the era, which posited that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent. Hastings was not just an author; he was an ambitious strategist with a dynamic personality whose actions were driven by a deep-seated belief in American exceptionalism and expansionism. In collaboration with John Sutter of the Sacramento Valley, Hastings schemed to divert settlers to California rather than Oregon, aiming to strengthen American presence, diminish Mexican control, and populate Sutter’s nascent settlement, Suttersville. As Brown writes, “Hastings had been bending Sutter’s ear, telling him that thousands of American immigrants, perhaps 20,000 or more, were on their way to California, largely as a result of his book” (22).
Hastings’s guide also infamously proposed the Hastings Cutoff, promising a quicker route to California by diverting from the established Oregon Trail. Despite never having traveled the path himself, he touted it as the superior choice; Brown suggests that this decision was motivated by personal ambition, writing, “[T]he shortcut offered an opportunity to steal his reputation as a trailblazer, his potential leadership role in California free from Mexican control, and now his immediate financial interests as well” (24). Hastings’s ambitious nature often led him to overpromise, culminating in tragic consequences for groups like the ill-fated Donner Party. This party, following Hastings’s unverified route, endured severe hardships that significantly extended their travel time, illustrating the dangerous impact of his overzealous ambitions.
According to Brown, Hastings’s charisma, strategic thinking, and reckless ambition significantly influenced events, culminating in the tragedy of the Donner Party and leaving a legacy of tragic misguidance. Even after the devastating outcomes of his guidance, Hastings’s ambitious spirit remained unbroken, as he later attempted to establish a Confederate colony in Brazil, another pursuit of grandiose schemes. Hastings ultimately died on a boat traveling from Brazil, his pattern of grand visions and grave miscalculations having continued unabated until his death.
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