John Greenleaf Whittier

Name: The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695
Author: John Greenleaf Whittier

The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

Summary

“The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695”, is a work by John Greenleaf Whittier. It explores elements such as garrison, Isaac and Indians.

Quotes from The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695 (John Greenleaf Whittier)

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ Deep in the heart of the forest, under the shelter of a ridge of land heavily timbered, a great fire of logs and brushwood was burning; and around it the Indians sat, eating their moose-meat and smoking their pipes.
The poor fugitives, starving, weary, and chilled by the cold spring blasts, gazed down upon the ample fire, and the savory meats which the squaws were cooking by it, but felt no temptation to purchase warmth and food by surrendering themselves to captivity. Death in the forest seemed preferable. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ Canada, the land of Papist priests and bloody Indians, was the especial terror of the New England settlers, and the anathema maranatha 4 of Puritan pulpits. Thither the Indians usually hurried their captives, where they compelled them to work in their villages or sold them to the French planters. Escape from thence through a deep wilderness, and across lakes, and mountains, and almost impassable rivers, without food or guide, is regarded as an impossibility. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ As a matter of course, under circumstances of perpetual alarm and frequent peril, the duty of cultivating their fields, and gathering their harvests, and working at their mechanical avocations, was dangerous and difficult to the settlers. One instance will serve as an illustration. At the garrison-house of Thomas Dustin, the husband of the far-famed Mary Dustin [who, while a captive of the Indians, and maddened by the murder of her infant child, killed and scalped, wit the assistance of a young boy, the entire band of her captors, ten in number] , the business of brick-making was carried on. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ The soldiers of the garrison gave the poor fellows a kindly welcome. Joseph, who was scarcely alive, lay for a long time sick in the fort; but Isaac soon regained his strength, and set out for his home in Haverhill, which he had the good fortune to arrive at in safety.
Amidst the stirring excitements of the present day, when every thrill of the electric wire conveys a new subject for thought or action to a generation as eager as the ancient Athenians for some new thing, simple legends of the past like that which we have transcribed have undoubtedly lost in a great degree their interest. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ Many private houses were strengthened and fortified. We remember one familiar to our boyhood,—a venerable old building of wood, with brick between the weather-boards and ceiling, with a massive balustrade over the door, constructed of oak timber and plank, with holes through the latter for firing upon assailants. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ In times of unusual peril the settlers generally resorted at night to the fortified houses, taking thither their flocks and herds and such household valuables as were most likely to strike the fancy or minister to the comfort or vanity of the heathen marauders. False alarms were frequent. The smoke of a distant fire, the bark of a dog in the deep woods, a stump or bush, taking in the uncertain light of stars and moon the appearance of a man, were sufficient to spread alarm through the entire settlement and to cause the armed men of the garrison to pass whole nights in sleepless watching. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ After a hard and painful journey they arrived at the lake, and were placed in an Indian family, consisting of a man and squaw and two or three children. Here they soon acquired a sufficient knowledge of the Indian tongue to enable them to learn from the conversation carried on in their presence that it was designed to take them to Canada in the spring. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

John Greenleaf Whittier, The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

“ Hopeful and rejoicing, he turned back to his young companion, told him what he had seen, and, after chafing his limbs awhile, got him upon his feet. Sometimes supporting him, and at others carrying him on his back, the heroic boy staggered towards the clearing. ”

John Greenleaf Whittier

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Quotes from The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695 (John Greenleaf Whittier)

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