Captives among the Indians

In Short

Four firsthand accounts from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries document European captives held by Indigenous nations in North America. James Smith lives four years as an adopted Delaware family member, Jesuit Father Bressani survives severe Iroquois torture, Mary Rowlandson suffers forced marches through Massachusetts during King Philip’s War, and Mercy Harbison escapes through the wilderness with her infant after a bloody frontier raid. Edited by Horace Kephart, this collection has endured because it provides unvarnished, eye-witness testimonies revealing both the brutally violent conflicts and the intimate everyday realities of North American frontier life.

The Story

The narrative begins with eighteen-year-old James Smith, who is captured by an Indian force in Pennsylvania in 1755 while helping build a wagon road. Taken to a Caughnewaga town, he undergoes a formal ritual where he is washed in a river to cleanse his white blood, adorned in traditional garments, and formally adopted into the tribe to replace a fallen warrior. Over four years, Smith adapts to their lifestyle, participating in winter hunts, gathering nuts during seasonal famines, and learning to hunt beaver on the ice. He observes their council meetings, political debates regarding French and British conflicts, and social pastimes like lacrosse-style ball games. Through shared hardship and equal distribution of food, Smith discovers a genuine bond with his captors, particularly the wise elder Tecaughretanego, before eventually escaping back to white settlement.

The scene shifts dramatically to 1644 with Father Bressani, a Italian Jesuit missionary captured by the Iroquois. His narrative details severe, systematic violence, including beatings, sleep deprivation, and burns inflicted with firebrands, red-hot stones, and hot coals. Stripped naked and forced onto elevated scaffolds, he is subjected to the whims of captors and children alike. Despite intense physical suffering, he maintains his missionary drive, secretly baptizing a tortured Huron captive using a trick with drinking water before watching the man get executed.

In 1676, Mary Rowlandson’s home in Massachusetts is attacked during King Philip’s War. Dragged into captivity while nursing a wounded six-year-old daughter, she endures a harrowing series of relocations or "removes." Her child dies in her arms nine days later and is buried on a wilderness hill. Rowlandson survives by trading needlework—sewing shirts and caps for King Philip and other captors—in exchange for morsels of horsemeat, peas, or ground-nuts. She contends with starvation, heavy rains, and emotional anguish over her dispersed children until ransom negotiations led by Mr. John Hoar secure her release.

Finally, in 1792, Mercy Harbison is dragged from her Pennsylvania home at dawn with her children. After witnessing the murder of her children on the trail, she remains closely guarded by two warriors following General St. Clair's defeat. While her guard sleeps, she flees into the woods with her infant child at her breast, navigating the wilderness to reach safety in Pittsburgh.

How It Unfolds

Adopted into the tribe Smith undergoes a ceremonial washing and adornment with ribbons, beads, and painted feathers, where a chief officially welcomes him as flesh and bone of the Caughnewaga nation. He is given traditional weapons and tobacco, entering an equal community life.

Surviving the winter famine Deep snows reduce Smith's hunting camp to severe hunger, forcing squaws and boys to dig under the snow for hickory nuts. When game is brought in, it is divided strictly and equally among everyone, teaching Smith the tribe's communal ethics.

Enduring the scaffold Father Bressani is placed on an open scaffold for days, where Iroquois captors and youths subject him to physical blows, hair-plucking, and severe burns with hot ashes and firebrands.

A secret baptism While severely injured, Father Bressani approaches a dying Huron prisoner, speaks to him in his native tongue, and uses a flask of drinking water to administer last rites before the Huron is killed.

Tragedy in the wilderness Rowlandson sits on her knees for days holding her dying six-year-old child until the infant passes away in a wigwam, after which her captors bury the body on a nearby hill without her present.

Trading for survival Rowlandson uses her sewing skills to craft clothing for King Philip and other tribal members, earning coins, horsemeat, and small portions of food to sustain her strength through multiple forced marches.

Escape with an infant While her native guard sleeps on the trail, Harbison quietly slips away into the woods carrying her small child at her breast, managing to navigate through the wilderness to safety.

The People

James Smith Smith seeks to survive his sudden abduction while cutting frontier roads. Initially suspicious of his captors, his reluctance fades as he experiences their genuine equality; he changes from an anxious white captive into a fully integrated hunter and respectful companion to his adopted family.

Tecaughretanego An elder Delaware leader and mentor to Smith who seeks to maintain traditional tribal life while resisting involvement in European conflicts. Bedridden by illness at times, he demonstrates deep faith in the Great Spirit, offering spiritual guidance and wisdom during famines.

Father Bressani A Catholic missionary who seeks to convert native populations and endure his physical suffering for his faith. Facing unspeakable torture, his commitment never falters; he remains spiritually focused, risking further abuse to administer baptism to fellow captives.

Mary Rowlandson A Puritan mother who desires to protect her family and return home to her husband. Harassed by starvation, loss, and difficult captors, her firm Christian faith and practical skills as a seamstress allow her to navigate forced wilderness removals and secure her freedom.

Mercy Harbison A frontier mother who wants to save her surviving infant after her home is overrun. Facing immediate threats of death from her guards, she uses her wits and timing to execute a brave wilderness escape.

In Its Own Voice

"By the ceremony which was performed this day every drop of white blood was washed out of your veins; you are taken into the Caughnewaga nation, and initiated into a warlike tribe..."

A Delaware chief speaks these words to James Smith following his ritual washing and adoption into the community.

"On this they flocked together, and assembled in some large cabin. There the remnant of dress which had been given me was torn off, leaving me naked."

Father Bressani details the brutal preparation for night-time torture sessions conducted by his Iroquois captors.

"There I left that child in the wilderness, and must commit it and myself also in this wilderness condition to Him who is above all."

Mary Rowlandson reflects on her grief after being forced to leave her six-year-old daughter's fresh grave behind on a hill.

What It's Really About

The collection explores the frailties and resilience of human nature when stripped of civilization's comforts. It poses fundamental questions about cultural identity, spiritual endurance, and human adaptability. At its core, the text presents a startling contrast between two worlds: the extreme violence of frontier warfare and the deep, communal bonds formed within native societies. While Bressani, Rowlandson, and Harbison depict Indigenous captors as merciless adversaries in times of war, Smith's account reveals their internal capacity for generosity, democratic council, and absolute fairness in sharing resources. The narratives collectively examine how faith—whether Puritan, Catholic, or Native American reliance on the Great Spirit—serves as the primary anchor for individuals facing starvation, captivity, and death.

Why Read It Today

This collection offers an unmediated, primary-source window into the early American frontier, appealing to readers of history, biography, and survival literature. Reading these accounts feels stark and unvarnished, free from modern romanticism or retrospective smoothing. The prose directly confronts the reader with the harsh, cold realities of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wilderness existence, where survival was a daily struggle decided by food stores, weather, and physical endurance.

Readers must navigate period difficulties, including archaic eighteenth-century spelling conventions, historical terms, and the explicit religious and racial biases typical of early colonial writers. Rowlandson's text is steeped in rigid Puritan theology, while Bressani writes from a perspective of intensely graphic Catholic martyrdom. Yet, these friction points make the book valuable. What remains with the reader is the surprising humanity found in unexpected places—such as Smith's genuine affection for his Delaware brother—and the absolute, undeniable tenacity of the human spirit when pushed to its absolute physical limits.