This section is devoted to those who where captured by Indians during the Indian Wars and survived to tell their stories. Though these stories are absolutely fascinating, I think it is important that we view these stories within the context of history. Pioneers from other lands came to explore and settle in the New World, but they were also intruders. The “Indians” (whom we now more appropriately call Native Americans) defended themselves and entertained warfare according to their culture. The pioneers believed that they were brought to the New World by God and tried to subdue the land and it’s people. These stories are a very sobering reminder of those difficult days and the struggle for survival that endured by all parties involved.
Mary Rowlandson -
Ann Hastings –
Mary Smith – An Affecting Narrative of the Captivity and Suffering of Mrs. Mary Smith (1815)
Olive and Mary Oatman – The Captivity of the Oatman Girls among the Apache and Mohave Indians
Mary Jemison – A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison
Hannah Bradley – who was captured in 1697 and again in 1703
Fanny Wiggins Kelley – Narrative of my captivity among the Sioux Indians.: By Fanny Kelly. With a brief account of General Sully’s Indian expedition in 1864, bearing upon events occurring in my captivity
Minnie Buce Carrigan – Captured by the Indians: Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in Minnesota (1903)
Rachel Parker Plummer – Rachael Plummer’s Narrative of Twenty One Months Servitude as a Prisoner Among the Commanchee Indians
Resources:
Woman Captives & Indian Narratives
Anna Eliza Bleeker - First Novelist of Indian Captivity Story
