Customer Reviews

Women's Indian Captivity Narratives (Penguin Classics)

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This collection is brilliantly put together, with very informative introductions by the editor that explain each story's historical and personal context. The stories themselves are pure women's voices from different eras of american history and incredibly valuable. they're also just great reads... one woman taken captive as a teenager becomes an active member of her new native american community and tells the fascinating story of her life in an interview at the age of 80. I'd say based on the other customer review, that its not for kids(!) who are going to be thrown off by the early american grammer, but for people seriously interested in womens role in early america and for an unfiltered look at a contemporary white settler perspective on white and native american relationships in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Although I am in no particular agreement with the Editor's perspective, this particular anthology of tales is fascinating. Surely fear of capture and/or destruction by American-Natives was a peril that most settlers on the frontiers of the Americas had to deal with. Men were more likely to be killed immediately or tortured to death shortly thereafter. Women and children were also sometimes killed in horrific fashions but some of these, because they had assimilation potential, survived, so many of our captive stories come from these people.

In a very real sense, we are dealing with a collision between two very different cultures. Many of the early accounts in this book are related to 'White Man' issues such as the French-English War, and later the War for American Independence. In both cases the various protagonists sought--and got--Indian allies who were turned loose against largely helpless frontier families. I'm sure the philosophy was that if troops had to be drawn off to protect the frontier, there were fewer regular troops to fight against your regulars. Therefore both the French and English freqently enlisted Indian allies.

The problem was that Native traditions and practices were very different from European. Torture and mutilation were customary and, to the Indians, 'another day at the office.' To European settlers, however, this style of warfare was both horrific and illogical. The fact, as so many captives relate, that there was a terrible arbitrariness to Indian practices made them all the more weird. One woman recounts a practice that seemed to make little sense then or now. If a Native family had lost a family member, perhaps in combat, they would try to purchase a white captive. The fate of the captive depended entirely on mood and whim. If the loss of the family member was recent and emotions raw, the purchased captive would be subjected to death in the most torturous manner possible--the Indians would later boast of the originality of their slow tortures and the dying captive's agonies. On the other hand, if the emotions were less raw, the captive would be adopted as a sister or brother and given all the love and privileges of a close relative. No middle ground.

Some of the first stories are more difficult to read because of archaic English, interspersed with abundant religious declarations. The story I found most interesting was that of Mary Jemison, who told her tale as an old woman. She had been captured as a child and her family murdered. She was sold off to a family who had sustained a recent loss. Fortunately for her, she was adopted rather than tortured to death. Over time, she completely aculturated to the point that she hid in the woods rather than be 'rescued' by white relatives. She was married to two Indian men, both of whom she greatly respected. One died after only two years but one supposedly lived to age 103. Mary's description of this second husband and of his exploits give voice to her aculturation. Her fading memory is reinvigorated by the fact that this man must have told his warlike tales over and over and over during his life. He had devoted himself to war and destruction of the Cherokee peoples. He gloried in combat and torturing people to death and apparently sent many people--white and Indian--to their deaths in the most horrific manners possible. Mary seems quite proud to have been the husband of such a man. She never admits to having attended a celebration in which people were tortured to death but it's a fair bet that she did.

Mary, like most women, was concerned about her children. She had three sons, one of whom killed--at different times--the two others. The third himself was killed by two drunken Indians. Mary believed that alcohol would result in the utter destruction of the Red Man.

Another story is interesting but definitely odd. That is the story of Sarah Wakefield who, along with two of her children, was taken captive by the Santee Sioux during their Minnesota revolt of 1862. Much of her story is vacillating, as she goes back and forth to defend Dakota generosity while berating others as murderers and beasts. She claims to have been saved many times by one paricular Lakota with whom [she claims] to have made a false marriage with her [sex is the word we would now use] to protect her from others. Nevertheless she seems to have been later incapable of saving this man from the gallows. As a matter of fact she says that her hystrionics in court may actually have made things worse!!! She endlessly tries to defend herself from apparent accusations [heard throughout the States] that she collaborated with the Sioux.

But then she turns around and openly tells us that, to save herself and her children, she told them that she would help them kill other white prisoners!!! She justifies this by saying she has a nervous, cowardly nature which, I dare say, was true. I'm in definite disagreement with the editor who implies that the woman was an early radical egalanitarian because of her defense of the Indians. I think she was entirely of a different mold.

I really recommend this book. It is well researced. Fascinating stories of captivities. Many whites had harrowing experiences, not for the faint of heart.

I don't really know women very well, so this book helped me understand them a little better. This book certainly shows how much women have always been prime carriers, or vehicles, or mediums, for religion and morality.

The Indians treated their white female and child captives well for a number of reasons, one of them being ransom. They could be incredibly cruel to their Indian enemies, however.

The next to last narrative, the one by Sarah Wakefield, was exceptionally painful to read. She was so whiny, and the narrative was so disjointed and incoherent it was hard to follow. It also included a couple typos, which was shocking to me since Penguin books almost never have any.

This isn't actually a book you would want to read if you were not required to. These stories are interesting but not a book for a rainy day. Purchase this book only if you are interested in Indian narratives. I had a miserable time reading this- then again it could have been because the book was assigned. The grammar in some of the stories are hard to follow.