Shawnee Captive: The Story of Mary Draper Ingles

by Mary Rodd Furbee

In 1745, Mary Draper moved with her parents to Draper's Meadow in the Shenandoah Valley. Here they hoped to finally have rich farmland and the freedom to worship freely - far from the greedy landlords of their native Ireland and the partisan rules of Quaker Pennsylvania. Mary and her family were industrious and strong, quickly learning skills to survive on the frontier.

In 1750, at the age of seventeen, Mary Draper married twenty-year old Will Ingles, the first wedding of two white settlers in the region. As more Europeans moved into the area, tension between the settlers and the Native Americans increased. Raids and killings by both sides became common.

One day while the men were at harvest, a band of Shawnee warriors stormed Draper's Meadow, killing some settlers and burning the settlement to the ground.

Taken captive were Mary, pregnant with her third child, her two young sons, and her injured sister-in-law. Through intuition and courage Mary impressed her kidnappers almost immediately. The captives were marched 800 miles over mountains to a Shawnee village on the Ohio River, presumably to spend the rest of their lives among the Shawnee tribe. But Mary vowed to escape and return to her husband and her people.

The story of this remarkable woman's harrowing and courageous trip home places Mary Ingles at the pinnacle of American frontier heroes.

In Shawnee Captive, author Mary Furbee has used meticulous research to compile the most accurate and complete account of this incredible tale, including letters and writings by Mary's son, John Ingles. Furbee traces Mary's parents to their native Ireland and then to Quaker Pennsylvania. In 1745, the prospect of religious freedom and rich farmland brought Mary's family to Draper's Meadow in the Shenandoah Valley.

The story of this remarkable woman's harrowing trip home-fending off animals, starvation, frostbite and worse-places Mary at the pinnacle of American frontier heroes.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

Reviews

[Stacy Brunner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at the New River Gorge visitor's center. I read Follow the River a long time ago. As my family is from Virginia/West Virginia and I grew up in southern Ohio, the setting of the story appeals to me. The telling of life on the frontier and the settlers' desire to move west is well explained - I think that is a difficult part of our history to understand. Why on earth would the settlers attempt to move into lands that were so dangerous?

The author has thoroughly researched a story that has been told many times since it was first recorded. There is much opportunity to embellish a story this old to make it more interesting. But Mary Rodd Furbee does an excellent job weaving the culture of the settlers and the natives with the narrative. And while there is violence in this book, it is presented with the right amount of cultural context and emotion.

Additionally, I appreciate the bibliography and additional readings. This would be a great book for middle school students to use for studying local history.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not fully read this, but skimmed through it after reading Follow the River. I wanted some sense of how close that fictional story stayed to the reported facts of Mary Ingles' experience.

From what I gathered, the bones of the story were pretty close. This biography tells far more of Mary Draper's early life, but the facts of her abduction were related very similarly, with plenty of additional resource cited. There was more emphasis here on the idea that the Shawnee did not attack unprovoked, as well as the acknowledgement that Mary's experience made her extraordinarily skittish for quite some time.

In the end, Mary Ingles is a fascinating woman, and her experience says a lot about relations between the encroaching colonists and the defensive Indigenous tribes.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through research on Ancestry.com I discovered Mary Draper Ingles is my 5th great grandmother! I had never heard her story before. Obviously I became intrigued and was surprised to find she is the subject of several books & even a movie! I hope at least a little of her bravery and pioneer spirit has been passed down to me and to my kids and grandkids. I know her story will.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book about early American settlers and the dangers they faced. I was especially interested because the "action" took place in areas where both my husband and my parents grew up.

[Josh Daugherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy read. From what I can tell it’s historically accurate but it’s written in an east to read story format. There’s a long bibliography at the end. If you’re from Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, or Kentucky you’ll recognize many of the landmarks and that adds to the interest.

[Anna Pineapple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not to detailed.

[Amy Beth McPherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing true story. More people should know about Mary Draper Ingles. A quick read just an hour to an hour and a half. Well researched. It would be nice if there were a map included.

[Laraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a pretty teen book but I wanted to read it. We had been to Big Bone Lick and the Shawnee, I believe, were the Indians there. Took a special, adventurous person to live and survive there.

[Janeen Miklos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good story about a real woman.