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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Indian Captive,
By Richard Welch (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Indian Captive (Hardcover)
It was September 20, 1825, when seven year-old Matthew Brayton, with his older brother, William, started in search of some of their father's stray cattle near their home in northwestern Ohio. They traveled two or three miles, but could find none of the cattle. The boys met a neighbor, William Hart, who was in search of his own strays. Matthew, who was by this time very tired, was sent a short distance to another neighbor, a Mr. Baker, where he was told to remain until the two searchers returned for him. William and Mr. Hart continued to search for the lost cattle while young Matthew was left to fend for himself and find his own way to Mr. Baker's place by what was then a narrow and ill-defined path. When the search for the missing cattle was finished, William went to the Baker's, but discovered that Matthew had never arrived, nor had he gone home. This began an adventure of captivity that lasted for more than three decades.In late August 1859, thirty-four years after Matthew's disappearance, word was received by the Brayton family that a former Indian captive, fresh from being released, had placed a notice in a newspaper asking for information regarding his parents and siblings. The released captive said he had been told that he was stolen from his family near Cleveland, Ohio by a band of unidentified Canadian Indians in revenge for some unknown wrong, then sold to a tribe in Michigan. He then listed a series of trades that eventually took him to the Snakes with whom he remained for much of his captivity. The freed captive tells of traveling with his band of Snakes to Utah, then crossing the mountains into the San Francisco Bay area. He visited the settlement of Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, and tells about a raging battle involving his band of Snakes against diggers and Mexican traders in which one hundred fifty individuals were killed. He tells of scalping and burning alive captured enemy warriors, and of a battle in which he was nearly killed. He tells of later traveling north where they were joined by bands of Utes, Flatheads, and Cree, then traveling even farther north, crossing the mountains, and finally uniting in about 1843 with a tribe he called the "Copperheads." Contemporary newspaper accounts say the "Copperheads" lived about three hundred miles from the North Pacific Ocean, and two thousand two hundred miles from St. Paul, Minnesota -- suggesting that they lived somewhere in the vicinity of eastern Alaska or southeastern Yukon, possibly in Russian territory. The captive says that his tribe traded at "Russian forts," but moved east to be near a Hudson's Bay Company post after nearly starving to death in about 1850. He was eventually adopted into the tribe where he married and started a family in 1851. The released captive then relates his attempts to find his natural family and eventually being identified as Matthew Brayton. The story ends where he is welcomed back into his family in Ohio. This makes a good story, but is it true? Very little of his story can be confirmed in contemporary records. We have only Matthew's narrative and his details are sometimes sparse and confused. How much of Matthew's narrative is true and how much is blatant fabrication or embellishment by an overly enthusiastic newspaper reporter, who might have been the ghost writer, is open to question. Certainly, Matthew's sense of geography was weak at best, and the distances he claims his tribe traveled stagger the imagination. From Ohio to San Francisco; back to Salt Lake City and Oregon; from there to northwestern Canada and beyond; annual journeys to St. Paul, Minnesota by way of Winnipeg; from the Colville River on Alaska's North Slope to Ohio and, ultimately, New York State. These all represent tremendous distances that are almost impossible to comprehend. And Matthew says he did it on foot or horseback and frequently through sometimes hostile Indian territory. The details of his life among his captors, although fascinating and historically important, are sometimes frustratingly brief. Some of the specific events cannot be confirmed through contemporary records. Even the name of the tribe with whom he lived and married is questionable. There was no tribe in Canada or the United States called the "Copperheads," and personal names in other tribes where copper was used do not fit the linguistic patterns for names used in the narrative. It's possible the name "Copperheads" was a "catch-all" name for several tribes, including the Kutchin, Tanana, and Han in Alaska, and a western band of Cree in northern Alberta, but this is yet to be confirmed. Some cynics said that the released captive was a fake, that he only wanted charity. To his credit, Matthew never asked for money, but said continually that he only wanted to find his family. The story of this released captive was published in 1860, reprinted in 1896, and now reprinted by Ye Galleon Press. Unfortunately, none of these publications contain information about the Brayton family, or what happened to the released captive after his return to his natural family. Those details will be left for another day. Nevertheless, this is an interesting account of one person's captivity. It is left to the reader to decide whether the person found in 1859 was the seven year-old boy lost to his family in 1825. I think he was.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic in 19th Century Captivity Literature,
By Richard Welch (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Indian Captive (Hardcover)
It was September 20, 1825, when seven year-old Matthew Brayton, with his older brother, William, started in search of some of their father's stray cattle near their home in northwestern Ohio. They traveled two or three miles, but could find none of the cattle. The boys met a neighbor, William Hart, who was in search of his own strays.Matthew, who was by this time very tired, was sent a short distance to another neighbor, a Mr. Baker, where he was told to remain until the two searchers returned for him. William and Mr. Hart continued to search for the lost cattle while young Matthew was left to fend for himself and find his own way to Mr. Baker's place by what was then a narrow and ill-defined path. When the search for the missing cattle was finished, William went to the Baker's, but discovered that Matthew had never arrived, nor had he gone home. This began an adventure of captivity that lasted for more than three decades. In late August 1859, thirty-four years after Matthew's disappearance, word was received by the Brayton family that a former Indian captive, fresh from being released, had placed a notice in a Cleveland newspaper asking for information regarding his parents and siblings. The released captive said he had been told that he was stolen from his family near Cleveland by a band of unidentified Canadian Indians in revenge for some unknown wrong, then sold to a tribe in Michigan. He then listed a series of trades that eventually took him to the Snakes with whom he remained for much of his captivity. The freed captive tells of traveling with his band of Snakes to Utah, then crossing the mountains into the San Francisco Bay area. He visited the settlement of Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, and tells about a raging battle involving his band of Snakes against diggers and Mexican traders in which one hundred fifty individuals were killed. He tells of scalping and burning alive captured enemy warriors, and of a battle in which he was nearly killed. He tells of later traveling north where they were joined by bands of Utes, Flatheads, and Cree, then traveling even farther north, crossing the mountains, and finally uniting in about 1843 with a tribe he called the "Copperheads." Contemporary newspaper accounts say the "Copperheads" lived about three hundred miles from the North Pacific Ocean, and two thousand two hundred miles from St. Paul, Minnesota -- suggesting that they lived somewhere in the vicinity of southeastern Yukon, southwestern Northwest Territories, or northern British Columbia, although one article says they lived in Russian territory. The captive says that his tribe traded at "Russian forts," but moved east to be near a Hudson's Bay Company post after nearly starving to death in about 1850. He was eventually adopted into the tribe where he married and started a family in 1851. The released captive then relates his attempts to find his natural family in 1859 and eventually being identified as Matthew Brayton. The story ends where he is welcomed back into his family in Ohio. This makes a good story, but is it true? Very little of his story can be confirmed in contemporary records. We have only Matthew's narrative, and his details are sometimes sparse and confused. How much of Matthew's narrative is true and how much is blatant fabrication or embellishment by an overly enthusiastic newspaper reporter, who might have been the ghost writer, is open to question. Certainly, Matthew's sense of geography was weak at best, and the distances he claims he traveled stagger the imagination. From Ohio to San Francisco; back to Salt Lake City and Oregon; from there to northwestern Canada and beyond; annual journeys to St. Paul, Minnesota by way of Winnipeg; from the Colville River on Alaska's North Slope to Ohio and, ultimately, New York State. These all represent tremendous distances that are almost impossible to comprehend. And Matthew says he did it on foot or horseback and frequently through sometimes hostile Indian territory. The details of his life among his captors, although fascinating and historically important, are sometimes frustratingly brief. Some of the specific events cannot be confirmed through contemporary records. Even the name of the tribe with whom he lived and married is questionable. There was no tribe in Canada or the United States called the "Copperheads," and personal names in other tribes where copper was used do not fit the linguistic patterns for names used in the narrative. The tribe appearing closest to his "Copperheads" are the Yellowknives of the Northwest Territories of Canada, but the language is wrong and the number of tribal members was much too small to fit his 2,000 travelers on the trading trips to St. Paul. It's possible the "Copperheads" were a western band of Cree, but this is yet to be confirmed. Some cynics said that the released captive was a fake, that he only wanted charity. To his credit, Matthew never asked for money, but said continually that he only wanted to find his family. The story of this released captive was published in 1860, reprinted in 1896, and now reprinted by Ye Galleon Press. Unfortunately, none of these publications contain information about the Brayton family, or what happened to the released captive after his return to his natural family. Those details must be left for another day. Nevertheless, this is an interesting account of one person's captivity. It is left to the reader to decide whether the person found in 1859 was the seven year-old boy lost to his family in 1825. I think he was.
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