The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America

A walk through the shady streets of Old Deerfield, Massachusetts, presents many fine views -- the stately old homes, the colonial doorways, the lonely Union Army sentinel atop the town's sandstone monument, and Frank Boyden's splendid prep school, Deerfield Academy. A stroller then comes to the stone markers that recall moments of terror and bravery. On February 29, 1704, the tiny settlement at Deerfield was attacked by the French and the Indians. Many inhabitants, and not a few attackers, met their deaths from musket, tomahawk, blade, and fire. Eunice Williams, 7, daughter of the settlement's minister, was one of the 112 captives seized by the raiding party. They were taken in an eight-week forced march through the snow across Vermont and south Quebec. Only 92 reached Canada; Eunice's mother was one of those killed along the way. In Canada, many of the Deerfield children were placed with French Canadian families. They were ultimately ransomed ("redeemed") by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and returned home a few years later. Eunice, however, was one of those given to the Kahnawake Indians in a village not far from Montreal. The French could not peremptorily order the tribe to return her, so talks were delayed. When at least she sat face to face with a delegate from New England, in 1713, she refused to return to Massachusetts, for she had become a member of the tribe, been baptized a Catholic at the Kahnawake mission, and married. Her name was now Marguerite. It was the lifetime work of her father and brother Stephen to seek her return to New England. Despite his prayers and exertions on her behalf, Eunice's father was never reconciled that his daughter had become an Indian and a Catholic. Stephen was in time accomodated to her decision, her marriage, and her honored station among the Kahnawake as the mother-in-law of a chief, and perhaps her conversion. Professor Demos's book helps us recall that in the eighteenth century, immense chasms of national loyalty, religion, and form of government divided New England from Canada. One was English, Puritan, and congregational; the other French, Catholic, and feudal. The settlers in both colonies regarded the Indians as "savages." Even the modern reader can feel the agonies involved when Eunice crossed these great cultural divides. Demos's scholarship is extraordinary. The primary source materials on the massacre, the exchanges, Eunice's life in Canada, and the efforts of her relatives to retrieve her -- the documents, the letters, the diaries -- would probably fit on the top of a desk. Yet from these spare materials, Demos has fleshed out an amazing human story. His use of the sociological and ethnographic materials on the Canadian tribes -- some relying on the Jesuit Relations -- is masterful. Eunice's story ends with a notation in a Canadian parish register in 1785 -- Father Ducharme buried Marguerite, the mother-in-law of the chief Annasetegen. Demos then movingly portrays her d

I enjoyed this book because I thought that Demos presented new theories about this well-known incident in Colonial history (at least to those of us who lived near Deerfield). He also does an excellent job showing all points of view (English, French, Indian) of not only the February 1704 attack on Deerfield but also the march into Canada, the subsequent redeemption of most of the captives, and, of course, why Eunice Williams chooses not to return to the English colonies and her birth family. I also thought that Demos did an great job of laying the foundation for the attack, describing the very different philosophies & policies of the French and the English (in England, France, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Quebec) towards the Indians as well as the Indians' philosophies & policies towards the English and French. It is a tale of an "experiment" (to "help" the Indians become Christian) that resulted in a clash of cultures (English, French, and Indian), religions, societies, etc. that was doomed from conception because it never occurred to the English that the Indians might be perfectly content with their lives and their own religion and thus not welcome the English intrusion. The larger, political story woven into the personal tragedy of the Williams family shows how events thousands of miles away and often intitally having nothing to do with the victims effects ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Although Eunice Williams left no written word explaining why she chose not to return to her birth family, Demos' theories seem highly likely. He also does a nice job illustrating the Williams family's puzzlement and hurt over Eunice's "rejection" of them as well as her adopted family's concerns and fears for their newest (but not least loved) member. I liked the book because Demos treats each point of view with respect, no one side is made out to be a monster (there is no reality, only perception applies here), and tells the sad tale of an early New England family without becoming maudlin or sentimental. I highly recommend this book. If you are looking for a story about this event and family that is written in the novel form, try "Boy Captive of Old Deerfield". I do not recall the publication date on it, but be warned that it is a book written for a different generation.

Brings the history of an obscure event to the reader in a way that makes one want to learn more. The study of history can suffer from failure to integrate events into the full matrix of their time, hence can be dull. This book, in contrast, helps us to see the individuals involved as fully human and integrated into their times and the assumptions of their cultures. This is a very poignant story which allows (of necessity) the reader to read between the lines to understand the motivations of Eunice and her family. Why did Eunice choose to stay in Canada rather than return to her family? Was it because she now feared for her soul (having been converted to Catholicism)if she returned; because she found the Indian way of life more emotionally sustaining than that of her Puritan family; or because she was angry that her father had remarried? This book gives the reader some understanding of the difficulties that arise when two very different cultures collide--even when there is some degree of good will in either side. In the hands of the right people, this could be a great movie!

The Unredeemed Captive is an outstanding chronicle of life in Puritan New England, the surprisingly fluid interface between native and immigrant peoples, and the fixity of early 18th religious beliefs in English and French North America. John Demos is scrupulous but not tedious. He manages to convey his sympathies for the affected parties without producing a melodrama. The book is a story of the abduction and adoption of American settlers by Iroquois people, with elaborate and surprising repercussions. Despite this potentially explosive subject matter, Demos chooses an even-handed approach, with fascinating vignettes on the Puritan belief system, the French-Iroquois alliance, the Iroquois family structure, and the troubles of native peoples who sought alliance with English settlers. I think Demos struck the right balance to capture the interest of non-historians and yet create a richly-documented source. This is a superb piece of American historical writing