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Among the many upheavals in North America caused by the French and Indian War was a commonplace practice that affected the lives of thousands of men, women, and children: being taken captive by rival forces.
In Setting All the Captives Free, Ian Steele presents, from a mountain of data, the differences rather than generalities as well as how these differences show the variety of circumstances that affected captives’ experiences.
MQUP sat down with the author for a brief Q&A about his book.
What can be learned by putting captives at the centre of a study of the cultural and military war for Allegheny country in the middle of the eighteenth century?
Taking a captive was a choice that ended a warrior’s participation in a raid, siege or battle – he then personally had to take his captive back to his home community. Taking a scalp did not similarly end the quest for more. (…) Raids on individual farms were the center of the war. The war in this region began and ended with the raids. Over time an empty no-man’s-land developed, as did the posting of garrisons that could pursue raiders and their captives. Captors went farther, took more risks, and found food less abundant. Pursuers were very vulnerable to ambush.
What were the reasons for taking captives and hostages?
Indians took captives as a martial accomplishment of the first order. In this region most of the captured were incorporated into native communities. This was not primarily to build numbers or replace the dead, though both of these purposes were accomplished. Indians were generally not interested in taking white captives before 1753, but became very interested once war was commenced.
Unlike European and colonial soldiers, who took prisoners for reciprocal exchange, Delaware, Shawnee, and Mingo war parties took most of their prisoners to be incorporated into their own communities – why?
Since these communities showed no interest in incorporating white captives before war came, a predominant concern to build numbers seems unlikely. The warrior ethic called for the taking of captives as superior to taking scalps. In this region there was no trade in captives as servants or slaves, and the incorporation of captives was a confident assertion of cultural superiority. It was also thought that the presence of numerous captives would thwart plans to attack Indian villages, and would eventually build links with enemies.
Can you describe the process of this incorporation? How well did Indian acculturation – the process of becoming a “white Indian” – work?
Acculturation worked best for those taken when under 7. They forgot most of their earlier experiences and became thoroughly Indian. Those captured between 7 and 15 were more likely to become and remain bicultural, and some would later serve as brokers between cultures. The process of acculturation was feared by whites, whose sayings included “It is easy to turn a white man into an Indian, but impossible to turn an Indian into a white man.”
What compelled captives to tell their stories?
Captives were not taken for their literary abilities. Only 25, little more than 1 in a hundred, have left what seem to be their own surviving accounts or legal depositions. Undoubtedly many told of their adventures in an essentially-oral culture, around kitchen tables, army campfires, or in pubs. These stories must have been worth many drinks and some meals.
Captive narratives would eventually become iconic in American literature – how do you explain their popularity?
They are, of course, very American in setting. They were popular in the era of dispossessing Indians, for they seemed to be “justification by suffering.” Eventually they became so popular for so long that they have to be regarded and analysed as foundational wherever American literature is studied or taught.
Perhaps the captivity narrative has both affected and reflected the emergence of “freedom” as a dominant American value?
Read an excerpt from this book
To learn more about Setting All the Captives Free, or to order online, click here.
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