Setting all the captives free : capture, adjustment, and recollection in Allegheny country / Ian K. Steele.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steele, Ian K. (Ian Kenneth), 1937-

Series:

McGill-Queen's native and northern series ; 71.

McGill-Queen's native and northern series ; 71

McGill-Queen's Indigenous and Northern Studies ; 71

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--Wars--1750-1815--Prisoners and prisons.

Indians of North America.

United States--History--French and Indian War, 1754-1763--Prisoners and prisons.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (705 p.)

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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. Most previous studies of captivity in early America are content to generalize from a small selection of sources, often centuries apart. 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. The product of a herculean effort to identify and analyze the captives taken on the Allegheny frontier during the era of the French and Indian War, Setting All the Captives Free is the most complete study of this topic. Steele explores genuine, doctored, and fictitious accounts in an innovative challenge to many prevailing assumptions and arguments, revealing that Indians demonstrated humanity and compassion by continuing to take numerous captives when their opponents took none, by adopting and converting captives into kin during the war, and by returning captives even though doing so was a humiliating act that betrayed their societies' values. A fascinating and comprehensive work by an acclaimed scholar, Setting All the Captives Free takes the study of the French and Indian War in America to an exciting new level.

Contents:

Part 1 : Captured in "Peacetime". Taken along Warriors' Paths

Taking Traders, 1745-54

Colonial Soldiers Take Captives, 1754

Part 2 : Captured in War. Taken in Raids, 1754-59

Taken in Sieges and Surrenders, 1756-58

Taken in Battles, 1755-59

Indian War with Traders and Soldiers, 1763-65

Indian War with White Settlers, 1763-6

Part 3 : Captivity, Conversion, and Escape. Trails into Captivity

Allegheny White Indians

Escaped

The Bereft

Part 4 : Setting all the Captives Free. Diplomacy of Gift Exchange, 1756-62

Redeemed and Exchanged, 1745-62

Forced Return of Captives

Imperial Moment, 1765

Part 5 : Afterwards and Afterwods. Restoring and Revising Identities

Captivating Accounts, 1755-1826

Conclusion

Tables

Abbreviations

Appendix: Named Captives Taken on the Allegheny Frontier.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed December 6, 2013).

ISBN:

9780773589902

0773589902

9780773589896

0773589899

OCLC:

865475162