Post by Matthew S. Schweitzer on Dec 12, 2003 10:21:37 GMT -5
The recently published "History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life Among the Indians" is an excellent source of information on not only the history and lifeways of the Ohio Indians, but also gives unique insight into the earliest white settlers of the Ohio Country.
Here is the blurb I wrote about this narrative on Amazon:
"This is the story of Jonathan Alder, who was captured by Indians at the age of nine from his home in western Virginia in 1782. He was adopted and lived among the Mingos for 13 years along the Mad River in Ohio. Alder became a respected hunter and warrior and gives a vivid and detailed account of his life among them. He gives a fascinating retelling of his life in a late 18th century Indian village, in an age when white settlers were beginning to push north of the Ohio River from Kentucky and West Virginia in the years after the Revolutionary War and how that increased conflict between the two groups for possession of the Ohio Country led, eventually, to the loss of Indian lands. After the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, Alder leaves the Indians to live in Pleasant Valley, near what is today Columbus, OH, though continuing to live as an Indian. Around 1805, he is persuaded by a friend to travel to Virginia and is reunited with his white family.
Alder's narrative is truly fascinating in all respects. He gives fully detailed accounts of his life among the Indians, from hunting and cooking, to relations with his Indian family which include a genuinely loving and kind mother and father, as well as an abusive sister who is resentful of the white boy and beats him for any infraction. Alder tells of his participation in several horse-stealing raids in Kentucky as well as his part in the Battle of Fort Recovery in 1794, . After Alder leaves the company of the Indians in 1795, he goes on to tell about his relations with the early white settlers in central Ohio and their often strained relations with the remaining Indian population. Although he is reunited with his white family in 1805, and subsequently drops his Indian dress and lives as a white settler, Alder, it seems, is never fully one of them. He views his neighbors through the eyes of one who lived a life far removed from their daily drudgery and often seems to reflect with nostalgia on his Indian days. One gets a sense of forelorn sadness and loneliness in his later years, as though he is the product of a lost time and place. His relationships with both his white and Indian family are intriguing, especially a poigniant encounter many years later with his Indian sister who abused him as a child."
Alder's narrative is interesting because it is one of the most complete captivity narratives to come out of the Revolutionary and Ohio War periods. It not only includes Alder's memories of his days living as an Indian, but also his reflections and reminisces on the first settlers in Ohio who came and lived on land that, up until that point, had been Indian land. Alder seems to fit in well with the whites and eventually re-enters white society, but he observes them through the eyes of an Indian and this makes for fascinating reading. He recounts, from an Indian perspective, the battles of Fort Recovery and the disaster at Fallen Timbers. He also gives a sense of the awkward relationship between the whites and their Indian neighbors in the years following Wayne's Treaty. Alder's brief adventure during the War of 1812 is also quite amusing and shows the fear and boredom of the Ohio militiamen at a time when the future of Ohio's American settlements was in danger.
The history of the narrative itself is interesting as the original manuscript written by Alder himself was loaned to Henry Howe, the famous Ohio historian, who seemingly lost it as no one knows what became of it. The current version of the narrative, the one that has been recorded in several variations, was written by Alder's son Henry and this is the version presented here. No one knows for sure how the son's recollections differed from Alder's original, but it seems to be regarded as highly accurate by historians.
Here is the blurb I wrote about this narrative on Amazon:
"This is the story of Jonathan Alder, who was captured by Indians at the age of nine from his home in western Virginia in 1782. He was adopted and lived among the Mingos for 13 years along the Mad River in Ohio. Alder became a respected hunter and warrior and gives a vivid and detailed account of his life among them. He gives a fascinating retelling of his life in a late 18th century Indian village, in an age when white settlers were beginning to push north of the Ohio River from Kentucky and West Virginia in the years after the Revolutionary War and how that increased conflict between the two groups for possession of the Ohio Country led, eventually, to the loss of Indian lands. After the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, Alder leaves the Indians to live in Pleasant Valley, near what is today Columbus, OH, though continuing to live as an Indian. Around 1805, he is persuaded by a friend to travel to Virginia and is reunited with his white family.
Alder's narrative is truly fascinating in all respects. He gives fully detailed accounts of his life among the Indians, from hunting and cooking, to relations with his Indian family which include a genuinely loving and kind mother and father, as well as an abusive sister who is resentful of the white boy and beats him for any infraction. Alder tells of his participation in several horse-stealing raids in Kentucky as well as his part in the Battle of Fort Recovery in 1794, . After Alder leaves the company of the Indians in 1795, he goes on to tell about his relations with the early white settlers in central Ohio and their often strained relations with the remaining Indian population. Although he is reunited with his white family in 1805, and subsequently drops his Indian dress and lives as a white settler, Alder, it seems, is never fully one of them. He views his neighbors through the eyes of one who lived a life far removed from their daily drudgery and often seems to reflect with nostalgia on his Indian days. One gets a sense of forelorn sadness and loneliness in his later years, as though he is the product of a lost time and place. His relationships with both his white and Indian family are intriguing, especially a poigniant encounter many years later with his Indian sister who abused him as a child."
Alder's narrative is interesting because it is one of the most complete captivity narratives to come out of the Revolutionary and Ohio War periods. It not only includes Alder's memories of his days living as an Indian, but also his reflections and reminisces on the first settlers in Ohio who came and lived on land that, up until that point, had been Indian land. Alder seems to fit in well with the whites and eventually re-enters white society, but he observes them through the eyes of an Indian and this makes for fascinating reading. He recounts, from an Indian perspective, the battles of Fort Recovery and the disaster at Fallen Timbers. He also gives a sense of the awkward relationship between the whites and their Indian neighbors in the years following Wayne's Treaty. Alder's brief adventure during the War of 1812 is also quite amusing and shows the fear and boredom of the Ohio militiamen at a time when the future of Ohio's American settlements was in danger.
The history of the narrative itself is interesting as the original manuscript written by Alder himself was loaned to Henry Howe, the famous Ohio historian, who seemingly lost it as no one knows what became of it. The current version of the narrative, the one that has been recorded in several variations, was written by Alder's son Henry and this is the version presented here. No one knows for sure how the son's recollections differed from Alder's original, but it seems to be regarded as highly accurate by historians.