Attack on Deerfield

Old Fray [sic] House, Deerfield, Mass., built in 1698, copyright 1904.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

On February 29, 1704, between two and three hundred French soldiers and their Native American allies raided the tiny frontier settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts. The assault was a tiny skirmish in Queen Anne's War—a broader conflict between France and England. As a precaution, the townsfolk had sheltered in the town's palisade but they were surprised by the mid-winter attack and Deerfield quickly fell to the invaders. Fifty-six English men, women, and children were killed and over one hundred residents began a forced march through heavy snows to Canada.

Deerfield's minister, Rev. John Williams, his wife and five children, were among the captives. Although twenty one of the prisoners died along the way, including Mrs. Williams, the minister survived the trip. After over a year as a prisoner of war, he and sixty other captives returned to Massachusetts. William memorialized his Canadian experience in The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion. First printed in 1707, the book was reprinted again and again.

Several young Deerfield captives never returned to their families. Instead, they joined either Native American or French society. Although four Williams children were redeemed, one child, Eunice Williams, remained in Canada. Eunice took the Mohawk name A'ongote, which means "She (was) taken and placed (as a member of their tribe)." In early 1713 she married a Native American man.

Captivity Narratives

The Captivity of Mrs. Rowlandson, wood engraving [detail].
From Harper's Weekly, 1857.
Prints and Photographs Division

Reverened William's testimonial was neither the first nor the last popular account of a captivity experience. Frequently bestsellers, captivity narratives were among the first American books published and the genre profoundly influenced the nation's literary imagination.

Mary White Rowlandson's widely read treatise The Soveraignty and Goodness of God, Together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson was published in Massachusetts and London in 1682. Held hostage by Native Americans for eleven weeks, she was ransomed for £20. Rowlandson's effort was followed by similar works depicting women as hapless victims of mysterious savages.

In 1823, James E. Seaver's A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison challenged the traditional narrative. Seaver related the true story of Mary Jemison. In 1758, Jemison was carried off by the raiding party of French soldiers and Shawnee who killed her parents. Adopted by a Seneca family, she refused to return to "civilization." Eventually, Jemison married a Seneca warrior and became one of the largest tribal landowners.

In 1713, Queen Anne's War ended when Great Britain, France, and Spain settled the War of the Spanish Succession of which it was a part. England gained North America assets including Newfoundland and French Acadia (renamed Nova Scotia). France and England did not do battle in America again until the 1754 conflict we call the French and Indian War. All of these wars were colonial counterparts of widespread European conflicts.

Use American Memory to learn more about these topics:

• Read Captured by the Indians: Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in Minnesota by Minnie Buce Carrigan. On August 18, 1862, when Carrigan was only seven years old, her parents and two of her siblings were killed during a Sioux uprising. She was taken captive with a brother and sister and spent ten weeks among the Sioux before the U.S. army compelled the return of all captives. Several other survivors relate their experiences in a final section of the book. Carrigan's story is one of many first-person accounts of frontier life contained in Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910.
• Explore stories of captivity contained American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940. "The Navajos" mentions the kidnapping of a small Navajo girl by Americans in New Mexico. In " Harry Buffington Cody," Cody relates the story of his childhood adoption by Chief Red Cloud, his life as a roving cowboy, and his subsequent show business career with his famous cousin Buffalo Bill.
• Listen to two very different songs focusing on captivity. "The Fair Captive", a romantic Anglo-American ballad from California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties, tells of a captive so assimilated to her tribe that returning to her birth family breaks her heart. "Na'gthewaan Song," a captive song from the collection Omaha Indian Music, expresses an Omaha warrior's feelings about war and death. In the Omaha traditional, captive songs, also referred to as death songs, were composed and sung by warriors about to face death as captives of their enemies. To hear both of these songs click below, or search the collections on captivity.

  "The Fair Captive"
  Warde Ford, performer, Raiford, Florida, June 3, 1939.
  California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties
  
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  "Na'gthewaan Song"
  Gilbert Morris, (Kaxe'giun) (Flying Crow) performer, Omaha Reservation, Thurston County, NE, January 16, 1896.
  Omaha Indian Music
  
  Real Audio Format
  
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• Read about George Washington's role in the French and Indian War. Learn how French resentment over the loss of American territory to Britain led France to side with the colonies during the American Revolution. Search the Today in History Archive on French and Indian War.