Customer Reviews

A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West, 1830-1885

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Let me recommend this quite readable and appropriately titled book to anyone who desires to become acquainted with some real, documented, quantified, substantive research about the history of trans-Mississippi Indian captivities, while simultaneously getting a much-needed injection of hardcore historical reality to counter the plethora of romantic, sentimental, and "politically correct" nonsense that burdens the shelves of contemporary bookstores.

With hardly any exceptions (aside from the extraordinary case of Cynthia Ann Parker, and perhaps a handful of others), it appears that being captured by Indians (especially if you were a female who had either approached or attained the age of puberty, and you were not otherwise too old or ugly!) amounted to a truly grim ordeal -- literally "a fate worse than death". And, most captives, who were apparently abused day and night (beaten, raped, starved, and tortured) and treated like dirty slaves, were more than eager to return to "civilization" when they had an opportunity. It all makes you suspect that the all too common notions of being taken captive and learning to cherish the wild and free life among the "noble savages" are, for the most part, romantic illusions, and that characters (such as the Caucasian woman who lived with the Souix as an adopted member of the tribe in "Dances With Wolves" -- by the way, a movie I really enjoyed) bear little resemblance to the harsh reality.

Beyond all that, the research presented in this book by the Michnos brings to light the sheer scope and scale of the Indian captivity problem that once prevailed out West. Apparently, many hundreds, and even thousands, of settlers either directly experienced or lived in fear of such an eventuality.

I'm not surprised that A Fate Worse Than Death by Gregory and Susan Michno has fallen between the cracks in terms of being publicized. We live in such a "PC" world that any book that contradicts the "noble savage" theory, even if based on fact, is largely ignored. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but admiration for native Americans. I have studied Custer and the LBH Battle most of my adult life and have a significant library on the subject. As a culture living in the wilderness under sometimes harsh circumstances and as fighters the American indian is unsurpassed.

A Fate Worse Than Death examines real cases of captivity of whites by indians. It is unvarnished and may even shock. The brutality of frontier life is displayed for anyone who wants to look.

Gregory Michno's The Mystery of E Troop is unsurpassed. I suspect A Fate Worse Than Death will be equally regarded.

The things which made us "American" were not legacies of Anglo-Saxon folk moots or the Gothic forests of Northern Europe according to the great historian, Frederick Jackson Turner. To understand America and its unique character, you had to first understand "the meeting place between savagery and civilization," the frontier.

Gregory and Susan Michno's excellent book, A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH: INDIAN CAPTIVITIES IN THE WEST, 1830-1885, resurrects the literature of that long forgotten frontier. And, it restores the dark edge generations of politically correct teachers and bland social scientists have obscured.

No abstract theories here. These are thoroughly researched accounts from real men, women and children who were captured by Indians. This is the flesh, blood and terror of the frontier experience. Get a copy while you still can.

This type of publication, which relies heavily on personal accounts of events is a double-edged sword to be sure. While the book accurately reproduces a number of the accounts of individuals kidnapped by Indians, the accounts themselves are almost never historically accurate and are colored by different motivations for writing them. For example, Nancy Morton (Plum Creek Massacre) wrote numerous versions of her capture and captivity, all slightly different (I own two versions myself and have seen others). In some, she's kind to the Indians, in others they're nothing more than "bloodthirsty savages." In all, she was writing primarily to receive compensation from the government for her family's losses; the more you lose the more you receive, thus a built-in motive for making things sound worse than they were. This is one story I've researched off and on for 30 years and am little closer to finding the "truth" than when I began. A more topical handling of the subject matter, such as the Michnos have done, shouldn't be expected to be the bottom line in research. It's interesting reading, but not deep research.
Make no mistake: The Indians could be quite brutal and cruel at times, but they also showed a great deal of compassion as well. Their history is not one of an either/or situation. All original sources must be weighed, along with the reasons they exist.
Wayne L. Youngblood

A very interesting book with lots of great stories. It's hard to imagine anything worse than how these woman and children felt after first seeing some of their loved ones tortured and killed before they were put through the harsh life their had to endure. Usually a life of forced labor, rape and themselves tortured. The Indian society sometimes used young captives both white and other enemy tribe members to make up for losses incurred by their own tribe. These captives seemed to adapt in some cases pretty well to their new life, some not wanting to return to their previous lives. To put things in the proper perspective you have to remember that Indian villages that were attacked by whites also would suffer terrible suffering and deaths of their woman and children since they would be in the midst of the combat.

l really enjoyed this collection of stories, all written with considerable historical accuracy and detail based on letters and oral statements of the time. This book also has a couple of interesting charts comparing each person's length of captivity.
It sure make clear to me the brutality and suffering that surrounded these captures as well as the struggles and dangers of simple everyday life for these people. Amazing!

The Michnos' book puts to the lie the myth of the Noble Red Man. Many of the tribes were steeped in war, violence, torture, rape and murder from time immemorial. Obviously, before Europens entered the Americas, native violence was directed at other enemy tribes but these territorial practices were quickly diverted toward the European invaders.

It is arguable that before the Indians acquired horses, directly or indirectly, from Europeans violence may have been at a lesser level of intensity because raiding parties had to go by foot. In a similar way, the acquisition of firearms no doubt enhanced tribal lethality. At the same time, the white settlers also owned firearms but with an important difference. Most of the settlers were farmers and simply couldn't remain armed and vigilant at all times. Hostile Indians recognized this and took full advantage of this weakness. Typically they'd carefully scout out vulnerable homesteads; wait until the inhabitants were working, scattered and/or unarmed and strike suddenly. Unlike typical 'Cowboys and Indian' fare, pioneers [and cowboys] invariably got the worst of it. Many settlers suffered capture and death for every Indian killed.

Questions arise concerning the treatment of female captives. According to the numerous narratives given--and despite Victorian scruples at the time--most women described gang rape, multiple rapes, serial rapes, and rapes by the warrior who made her his 'wife.' Horrifically, and in a way resembling serial, sexual psychopaths of the present day, captured women were frequently tortured before, during and following the act of rape. Many were deliberately killed during this interval. To me this suggests that the motive wasn't simple sexual gratification but was perceived by the raiders as only another form of pleasurable torture.

Make no mistake about it, many of the Indians--men, women and children--thoroughly enjoyed torturing human beings be they white, Mexican, black or Indian. Nowadays this seems almost impossible. I'll postulate, however, that there is something malign in most of us that must be trained out of us when children. In many native american societies cruelty in children wasn't discouraged. It must have been encouraged. A soft-hearted Comanche, for example, would probably have been regarded as a sissy.

Still, from our societal point of view, it is difficult to understand Indian women watching their menfolk rape captive women with equanimity. Reading between the lines of some of these tales, it is fairly obvious that Indian women both on the warpath and back in camp, must have observed the sexual abuse of female captives many times. This doesn't mean that they were relaxed about it, though. In fact, some of the fearful acts that Indian women performed on captives, may have been partly motivated by sexual jealousy.

I've tried to determine whether male captives were subjected to homosexual rape but find no reference to it. This may be partly because very few adult males were kept alive as captives. Most were immediately killed at their homes or farms or tortured to death shortly thereafter. Still there are a few examples of adult male captives but none mention homosexual rape. Does this mean that it didn't happen or because men, even more than women, were unlikely to admit to this kind of torture and submission?

In this age of multiculturalism, it is difficult to find a book about the American frontier that sticks to the facts of the 19th century. Unlike their fellow historians, Gregory and Susan Michno, authors of A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West, 1830-1885, do not attempt to gloss over the brutalities the settlers faced. While taking their no-hold-barred approach, they debunk many of the interpretations recently introduced by historians with an agenda.

The book is presented in a logical and coherent manner with chapters dedicated to Revolutionary Texas, Republican Texas, wagon trains and travelers, pre-Civil War Texas, the Minnesota Uprising, the Civil War years, the Central Plains, Reconstruction Texas, and the years of the last captives. Within each chapter, there are numerous accounts that relate the experiences of those who were enslaved, tortured, raped, mutilated, and or killed by their captors. If a history book will ever get tears to form in your eyes, this is it.

Despite the horrific treatment of the captives, including numerous accounts of despicable murders of babies, the book is not anti-Indian by any means; the authors simply present the reality of the moccasins and boots on the ground at the time. In fact, much of the condemnation--if you can get by the atrocities of the Indians--is reserved for the practices of the United States government and white society in general. For example, the bullets that were lodged into the settlers came from the government-ran agencies, and the lack of protection for the former Confederate state of Texas compared to that of the former Union state of Kansas.

There has not been a book published, in recent memory, that deserves the space reserved on your bookshelf more than this one.

The title of this review -"...restoring truth in history" says it all. This is the third book of the Michno's that I have read and it is an in-depth scholarly work. The stories are captivating but are not for the faint of heart. If you wish to read something that is hard hitting well researched historical truth then this is the book for you. If you wish to read something that is politically correct or sugar coated, then stay away. Admittedly I was one of those who studied history and fell into the dogma of the whiteman on the frontier as savage. No more am I of that opinion. The Michno's show very clearly as to why the native americans were known as savages. I've asked myself if I had survived and witnessed such atrocities (mentioned in this book) upon my wife and daughter what my reaction would have been. Read the book and answer this question for yourself.

Gregory and Susan Michno by publishing "A Fate Worse Than Death" Indian Captives in The West 1830-1885 have broken new ground toward constructing a more realistic paradigm for a greater understanding of the complex forces involved during that tragic era we know as the plains Indian wars. These tragic stories must have been in the air from the 1850s and into the early 20th century. Stories that time has forgotten for the most part. Stories that should have not have been forgotten; now restored thanks to the efforts of the Michnos. An important collection of first source history that opens new questions and will lead to new evaluations if given the consideration that these tragic events rightly deserve.