Captured by the Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870 by Frederick Drimmer (ed)
Requirements: ePUB Reader | 1.7 MB | Version: Retail
Overview: As the title states, this book contains 15 separate accounts of encounters with Indians in America and pre-America. Technically, two of the stories were of persons who weren’t actually captured; they were present at massacres and suffered greatly, but they were able to escape prior to being captured.
The majority of the accounts involve the Iroquois Federation and other Indians in the Northeast. A few of the stories happen elsewhere and with different tribes or bands of Indians. These are first-hand eye-witness accounts of unbelievable extreme cruelty of the most unimaginable type perpetrated by the Indians on a variety of white people, including the people telling the stories who were able to eventually escape. [BTW: Whites were not the only victims; the Indians did the same things to their Indian enemies – which included just about every other tribe not their own.] Accounts of murder, indiscriminate slaughter, enslavement, decapitation, dismemberment, slow burning alive and cannibalism are all told with incredible and painful graphic detail. The periods of captivity ranged from days, weeks, months to multiple years.
These incidents take place over a 120 year period in a variety of locals with a variety of Indians and whites under a variety of circumstances and with a variety of victims (captives). However, they are remarkably consistent on the whole.
Notwithstanding what I just said, this is not a one-sided book; it is very even-handed. Most every captive (if not all) also relate the reasons (excuses) that the Indians had for perpetrating these most-evil of acts – including encroachment by the whites on the Indians’ lands and way-of-life – as well as brutality perpetrated by the whites. And, except for a two or three stories, all of these events take place in the pre-Manifest Destiny and pre westward expansion era of American History – a time when Indian genocide was really practiced to full effect.
The captives also relate acts of kindness, intelligence and thoughtfulness by the Indians. Included are many instances of adoption of white men, women and children by the Indians of those they had captured (and even tortured prior to adoption). Ironically, even though the captives saw and witnessed unimaginable horrors perpetrated by the Indians, the captives also seemed to know why they occurred; or, at least, the captives seemed to understand the Indians’ rational for doing what they did.
Finally, the reader also indirectly learns about Indian culture, customs and traditions – not just the killing part. This aspect of the book is educational and very interesting. One thing the reader leans, without question: Revenge and Vengeance are the highest values of the Indian culture – at least at that time.
Frightening, Shocking. Disturbing.
Genre: Non-Fiction | Biographical | American Indians
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