FREE ESSAY ON THE DONNER PARTY

THE DONNER PARTY

Winter of Entrapment
A New Look At The Donner Party
Joseph A. King
King, Joseph. Winter of Entrapment: A New Look at the Donner Party.
P.D Meany Publishers, 1992
Winter of Entrapment tells the story of the Donner Party in a way that it has never been
told before. Unlike many other books written on this story of hardships, cannibalism, and
survival, it is written mostly in regards to the experiences of the Breen's, a large
family that was part of the Donner Party. The author of this book, Joseph A. King, wanted
to write the story as accurately as possible without bias or fictitious legends. Many of
the books written previously on the events of the Donner Party have been heavily biased
and had unreliable sources. Many people associated with the Donner Party have been
harshly judged in articles and books, of which were largely based on testimonies of "one
survivor who had a reputation for boasting and lying." The book begins with a history of
the Breen family and their journey from Ireland to Canada, and eventually to
Independence, Missouri. From there they decided it best to move their family to
California, for what reasons have not or cannot be verified--only speculated. Winter of
Entrapment then goes on to tell the ordeals of the journey from Missouri to California in
great detail. 
The journey began on April 5, 1846 in Missouri. The story of the Donner Party has many
geographic locations, including: Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Utah, Nevada, and finally
California. The bulk of the story took place in the Sierra Nevada, where the Donner Party
was trapped with little food and supplies. The Breen family, along with the Graves
children and Mary Donner were rescued on March 12, 1847. Relief parties rescued other
members of the Donner Party before that date, but the Breen family was not yet capable of
surviving the last leg of the journey at that time. 
Winter of Entrapment tells the story of the Donner Party in chronological order. A few
times in the book, King will forewarn to indicate what happens next, but will wait to
tell the incident in its entirety until it fits into the story in chronological order.
For example, when James Reed is banished from the Donner Party for murdering John Snyder,
King went on to say, "Reed's wife and four children remained with the company. Reed
caught up with the Donners, where his teamsters, Walter Herron joined him. They went on
to reach the California settlements, and that story will be told in its place." 
To assist illuminate the story of the Donner Party, many illustrations have been used in
this book. There are maps of specific locations the Donner Party traveled through,
photocopies of journal entries, illustrations and pictures of many of the key players in
the Donner Party. Also, there are recent photographs of where the Donner Party camped in
the Sierra Nevada. 
The thesis of Winter of Entrapment was difficult to determine for the reason that it
tells a story of the Donner Party as it happened through chronological order using as
much fact as possible. It is obvious though that King was trying to indicate the bravery
and commitment the Breen family had to endure to survive. Using Patrick Breen's diary and
interviews, King tells the story of the Breens involvement with the Donner Party. In
almost all other books written of the Donner Party the Breens, mostly Patrick and
Margaret, were regarded unkindly as is suggested by William Eddy, one of the members of
the search party. He stated that when he found the campsite where the Breens were located
what he saw "was shocking indeed. And yet Patrick Brinn [sic] and his wife seemed not in
any degree to realize the extent of their peril, or that they were in peril at all." Eddy
went on to say that they were found sunning themselves with the bodies of two of the
Donner's children and Mrs. Graves. He said that the child of Graves "was a helpless and
innocent lamb among the wolves of the wilderness." And the child was seen sitting next to
her "mangled" mother. King went on to disprove the statements Eddy made by pointing out
that the bodies were above the Breens and their company because the fire had melted the
snow around them, and states, "The picture of the infant Graves baby fondling the body of
its mutilated mother clearly has the mark of pulp fiction…the picture ignores the
fact that the Breens, allegedly sunning themselves and ignoring the infants and older
children about them, had managed to nurture nine children in that pit for many
days—with food, prayer, and the comforts of human touch." King wanted to enlighten
readers of the sacrifice and morality of Patrick and Margaret Breen. He states that one
author "had little patience with any evidence pointing to the heroism of the Breens and
other ethnics in the Donner Party…" King believed many of previous accounts of the
Donner Party were biased. I believe he did an excellent job of disproving what was
formerly said regarding the Breens. 
The author tries very hard in this book not to be biased, since he is so often referring
to the biased and racist's points of view of other authors. However, I do believe that in
some ways King does tend to be a bit biased, thus influencing the book's subject matters.
Many times in the book King comments on the difficult decisions Patrick and Margaret
Breed had to face. "Breen's words also reveal the moral dilemma in which he and his wife
were placed, although Breen does not philosophize about it. The terrible question! What
to do when giving to others would mean starvation and death for one's own children? The
Breens seem to have struck something of a balance. They sometimes refused but they often
gave." King constantly is making the Breens seem almost saintly. He wrote of how the
Breens took in Mrs. Reed and four of her children, and how "neither Mrs. Breen nor her
children would have survived were it not for the sustenance, both physical and spiritual,
that the Breens gave to them."
Unlike other stories about the Donner Party that I have heard, Winter of Entrapment tells
the story mostly from the Breens point of view. Often times the key players are the
Donners and the Reeds. Before I read this book, I had never heard of Patrick and Margaret
Reed. But to be fair, I had very little prior knowledge of the Donner Party. The book
does a great justice by disproving many theories about the Donner Party and many of their
members. It does this in a clear, comprehensible fashion with many references and sources
throughout the book. This book gave me a very deep understanding of the suffering and
horrific ordeals the Donner Party faced. It demonstrated the bravery, the quick thinking,
and heroism of many of the members. I enjoyed this book and would readily recommend it to
anyone wanting to learn more about the Donner Party and its involvement with the history
of California.