The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier

I love this book. I had already read it 3 times via IBooks on my phone. So I finally realized that I needed to buy a hard cover copy of this book. Thankfully Amazon had one. The seller shipped it fast and packaged the book superbly to ensure it was not damaged. If you like true stories about our nation’s history then this book will be a must have for you.

About a month ago I read "News of the World", a book with a rather popular following. I thought the book was okay but was otherwise not terribly impressed. However, I was intrigued by the subject of white children being captured by Native Americans and then being reluctant or even hostile to the opportunity to return to their white families. In her end note the author suggested that if the reader were interested in the psychology of captive children then they should read Scott Zesch's "The Captured". Sounded like good advice and Amazon made another sale from yours truly. Now that I've read "Captured" I am rating it 3 stars which by no means indicates that I thought this was a less than satisfactory book. In fact it is a very good book but it failed to deliver what I had hoped to learn from it.The book begins as a search by the author into the experience of his great uncle who was in fact a child captured by the Comanche Indians. Because there is very little in the way of written records of the experiences for most of these children the author had to resort to extrapolating his uncle's ordeal from the lives of other children from the same area and for which there was more available in the manner of documentation. The author is able to use the stories of about half a dozen boys and two girls in order to give the reader an idea of what these kids went through and how their "Indianization" occurred. Now this would have been useful except, through no fault of the author, the sample body of children is too small and for the most part they are from the same immigrant German community of the Texas Panhandle. The German community was reputed to be hardworking and no nonsense. Their children were not coddled and were expected to pull their weight in the family. The Germans were also said to be rather cold and undemonstrative. A child taken from an environment like that might easily have preferred life in an Indian tribe where children were never punished, were doted upon, and were taught things a white child might have found to be fun and adventurous. So was the refusal to return to their families really the result of some sort of mind control practiced by the Indians or was this simply a reaction to a harsh ethnic culture? The author is unable to say but the effects of their captivity did seem to last into their return and into adulthood.As I was reading this, and especially as the lives of the boys was described, I couldn't help but think the psychology involved was a combination of that of the Lost Boys of "Peter Pan" fame and the boys in "Lord of the Flies". Captured boys were very soon instructed on those skills needed for them to become Indian warriors. While some of this instruction was rigorous and even painful the rest would have been great fun for a young boy. Being taught about horses and how to ride them; learning how to build a bow and arrows and how to shoot them, how to survive in the wilderness, etc. After acquiring the necessary skills these white Indians actually participated in raids on other whites and either witnessed or actually took part in some of the rather extreme violence. The reader should be warned that some of the described actions by whites and Indians are very violent and extreme. Further, males did absolutely no work in the camp. All labor in the camp was the domain of the women and that is why having only two girls in this book is unfortunate. It is also unfortunate that the captivity of these girls was no where near as long as that of the boys. The stories of the girls might have been different had they reached maturity while with the Indians and that might have resulted in different outcomes. Nevertheless, while the book really didn't reach any definitive determination for the cause of "Indianization" it was definitely an interesting book and the lives reported were worth reading about. (less)

Although this book is a well researched and documented true story, it is impossible to put down! It’s a fascinating story and heartbreaking as well.

I was drawn to the facts were as accurate an accounting as the author could get. It was fascinating to read and kept me completely enthralled!

It is an interesting side to read how the Indian captives felt once they were returned to their families and how involved the government was in this entire Indian situation.

A very good book and enjoyed reading about the 1800's and true history. My late husbands parents lived in the area the story took place and this made it much more enjoyable for me. My late husbands mother and step father are buried in Squaw Creek Cemetery which the land was giving to his step fathers family, early German settlers by the Indians. Would recommend this book for anyone who loves History. Squaw Creek Cemetery - Hilltop, Gillespie County, Texas It's called the Nixon Cemetery which was my late husbands step dad's family. You can look up the area on Google by that title.Directions: from Hilltop take RR 648 NW 6.2 miles; then south on Squaw Creek Rd. .5 miles; then west on Nixon Cemetery Rd. approx. .7 milesMarker #: 5171010117Year Dedicated: 1992Size, type: 27" x 42"Last reported condition: No reportSquaw Creek Cemetery - On their way west from Arkansas to California about 1856, the family of Francis Marion Nixon and his wife, Catherine Elliot, was forced to detour south from the North Texas Plains to this area to obtain water and forage for their livestock. After first camping on a hill near the Mason/Gillespie County line, thereafter referred to as Nixon Point, they settled in this section of Gillespie County during the 1860s. The Nixon's son, Andrew Jackson Nixon, and his wife, Lurana Wooten, built their home in this vicinity and with their fourteen children formed the nucleus of the community of Squaw Creek. Marriages by their descendants added the names Baethge, Ratto, Strackbein, Mund, Faught, and Gibson to the extended Nixon family line. The Squaw Creek Cemetery grounds were a part of a 110-acre conveyance from A. J. Nixon to his brother-in-law, Henry Strackbeing, in 1872. The first recorded interment is that of Elizabeth Gibson in 1873. The first legal mention of the cemetery occurs in a deed executed by Adolph Strackbein in 1914. Of the approximately 60 interments here, most are members of the extended Nixon family. The burials include those of American Civil War and World War I veterans.

I did not enjoy reading this book. First of all, the title is somewhat misleading: "The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier". Thus I thought this book would be about captives and their experiences while living with the Indians. There is little of that here. Most of the book is about all sorts of related topics. A lot is written about who went searching for a particular captive, when, where, and the troubles they had. All this is covered in detail.The other problem with this book is the scattered writing style. The author frequently jumps from one topic to another, goes back and forth in time, writes about one captive then suddenly changes to another. Furthermore, there are some passages that read like fiction, and it's not always clear what is factual and what is not.If you are interested in reading about the experiences that captives had while living with Native Americans, then I can recommend "Captured by the Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870" by Frederick Drimmer and especially "The Falcon" by John Tanner.

brilliant book good service fast delivery

Exactly as described and promptly delivered.

Excellent, I have not read it as,it was for my husband who is,very interested in that subject, and can't leave it alone,

A very engaging book and well written. Plenty of detail. Easily read.