The remains were, by an order of General Kearney,
collected and buried under the superintendence of Major Swords. They
were interred in a pit which had been dug in the center 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 everything
surrounding 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."
To carefully lay out her husband's body, and tenderly enfold it in a
winding-sheet, was the last act of devotion to her husband which was
performed by Tamsen Donner.
With varying incidents and episodes, the immigrants all reached Sutter's
Fort. One very attractive young lady received a proposal of marriage
while doing her best to manage the rebellious mule on which she was
riding. The would-be lover pleaded his case well, considering the
adverse circumstances, but the young lady gave not her consent.
Twenty-six, and possibly twenty-eight, out of the forty-eight survivors,
are living to-day. Noah James is believed to be alive, and John Baptiste
was living only a short time since, at Ukiah, Mendocino County,
California.
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