Accounts of Early Captivity in Early America: A Comparison

As explorers and settlers were forging ahead on their quest for knowledge and colonization, they encountered many different native peoples. Their interactions with the natives ranged from uneventful and educational to intimidating and terrible, becoming more of the latter as contact became more frequent. The relationships of the settlers and explorers became more strained, leading frequently to instances of violence. These episodes often led to the captivity and imprisonment of the explorers and settlers of America. These hostages often wrote about their experiences in journals for personal use and then later into published accounts.

The accounts of captivity, horrendous acts of torture, and subsequent reintegration into society became a popular literary genre by the late seventeenth century. Previously, these stories of abduction were only parts of larger literary works, such as John Smith’s The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles and Cabeza de Vaca’s The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca. However, the Puritans began to publish these stories as stand-alone books (Clark and Vaughan 2-3). The accounts of the early explorers and subsequent settlers of the New World allowed others to get a glimpse into the lives of the Native Americans and contain many similarities; however these narratives also contain key differences.

The initial tales of captivity and slavery start with the explorers, such as Cabeza de Vaca and John Smith, who encountered the Native Americans early, be-fore English and European contact with the settlers would become more common-place. In these early descriptions of the New World and captivity of these explorers and settlers, treatment of the captives was similar in most experiences; while not always the kindest masters and sometimes cruel, the Indians did not often exhibit outrageously malicious acts of torture. This most likely stems from the fact that, in this time period, the interactions were less of an outright war, but more isolated as explorers and settlers started their travels across the New World. In fact, the Indians still often treated their prisoners kindly, making sure they food and shelter. Also, the view of the captives themselves was less antagonistic towards the Native Americans because they had yet to suffer years of attacks, deaths and abductions. Overall, the earliest captive narratives provide a relatively fair view of the life of the Native Americans because their writer’s were more interested in learning about their captors; they are filled with descriptions of the areas, the customs, and both fair and bad treatment by the Indians.

The differences in the early explorers’ narratives mostly stem from the viewpoints of the authors. In John Smith’s narrative, he encountered more instances of harsh treatment and was about to be put to death but was saved by intervention of Pocahontas (Smith 37). He viewed his situation more fatalistically than Cabeza de Vaca, who always looked towards his captivity as a learning experience and always had hope that he would escape captivity (de Vaca 10-20).

As time progressed, Puritan and Indian interaction became more frequent, leading to an animosity towards the Native Americans not seen in previously. This antagonistic view of the Native Americans had an effect on the writings of the Puri-tan captives; these narratives, such as Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, focus more on the mistreatments, tortures and suffering of the captives (Clark and Vaughan 18). These narratives concentrate on cruel treatment the captives, friends, and families received and downplay incidents of kindness from the Indians towards their captives. The Puritans’ also displayed more spiritual overtones; throughout these narratives God is referred to frequently, as is the concept that captivity was divine retribution for their sins, with the Indians as, “His principal rod of chastisement,” (Clark and Vaughan 9), not just for the individual but for the whole community. The Puritans considered their release part of God’s mercy. These stories contain a mix of observations relating to the New England terrain, trials and sufferings, underlain with a spiritual message concerning piety to provide a moral lesson to the readers (Clark and Vaughan 24).

Differences in the Puritan narratives are few; most follow the same formula of religion and suffering. The most notable difference would be style of the narrative, depending on the author of the story. Women tended to focus more on the emotional aspect and more so the sufferings of their families. Men’s accounts were less emotional and focused on observations of the Indian culture and the sur-rounding terrain. When the account of captivity was written by the captor, as opposed to dictated to another, it contained more details and less generalizations. Another author-based difference was whether the captive was clerical, being a preacher or the family of a preacher – these accounts focus even more strongly on the religious and moral aspect of the captivity (Clark and Vaughan 22).

When comparing the early explorers with the Puritans accounts of captivities, there are not that many similarities, due to the very different circumstances of their situations. However, both Puritans and early explorers displayed an admiration for the Indians, in their ability to be able to provide food out what they considered inedible and handle a multitude of climates.

There are more differences between the early explorers and the Puritans narratives than there are similarities. The Puritans portrayed the Indians in a much more negative fashion than the early explorers because they were subjected to Indian attacks frequently, living in constant fear. The narratives of the early explorers provided a fairer view of the Indians and their customs. Religion also was a significant difference between the accounts of the explorers and the Puritans; Puritans focused more strongly on God’s part of their captivity in their narratives.

The narratives of early explorers and settlers provided for an interesting look at the interactions between settlers and the native peoples of the New World. Although one-sided and often portraying the Native Americans in an almost entirely negative way, they allow readers to understand life in captivity. These narratives, through their similarities and differences, also allow the reader to see the progression of the initial interactions with the Indians to those later recorded by the Puritans.

Works Cited

Clark, Edward W. , and Alden T. Vaughan, ed. Puritans Among the Indians: Accounts of Captivity and Redemption, 1676-1724. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1981. eBook.

de Vaca, Cabeza. "The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca." American Literature before the Civil War. Create edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Row-landson." American Literature before the Civil War. Create edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011, 80-83.

Smith, John. "The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles.” American Literature before the Civil War. Create edition, McGraw-Hill, 2011.