The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion

by John Williams

When a party of French and Indians attacked Deerfield, Mass., in 1704, 49 people were killed, including Reverend Williams's wife and two of their children. Williams's life was spared but he was taken captive. This is the story of the massacre and William's eventual release in his own words.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1707

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Clergyman and author, was born in Roxbury, Mass., the fifth child and second son of Deacon Samuel and Theoda (Park) Williams and a grandson of Robert Williams who was admitted freeman of Roxbury in 1638. John was prepared in the Roxbury Latin School and graduated B.A. from Harvard College in 1683. For two years he taught school in Dorchester. He prophesied as a candidate in the frontier settlement of Deerfield and when some time later a church was gathered there, he was formally ordained its first pastor, Oct. 17, 1688. In the meantime, on July 21, 1687, he had married Eunice, daughter of the Rev. Eleazar Mather of Northampton and grand-daughter of Richard Mather.
Almost from the beginning of Williams' ministry, Deerfield was in peril of French and Indian attack. Like many of his colleagues, Williams believed the border wars to be occasioned by God's dissatisfaction with his spiritually apathetic people; nevertheless, he met danger courageously and exhorted his people to stand their ground. When Queen Anne's War began, he urged Governor Dudley to strengthen the Deerfield fortifications, but the warning was too late. Before daybreak, Feb 29, 1703/4, a party of French and Indians sacked the town, killed many inhabitants, including Williams' two youngest children, and carried the rest into captivity. Williams' wife, weakened by recent childbirth and unable to withstand the hardships, was murdered by the savages. Williams was well treated, although he was separated from his children and suffered exposure, hunger, and grief. The captives were detained at Fort Chambly, where the Indians, seconded by Jesuit priests, spared no effort to convert them to the Catholic faith. Williams counteracted their exertions among his fellows so effectively that the priests sent him to Chateauviche, where he remained more than two years. Finally Governor Dudley effected his release and Williams returned to Boston, Nov. 21, 1706.
During the following winter he preached in churches of boston and vicinity and prepared, with Cotton Mather's help, "The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion" (1707), a book which won wide approval as a testimony of Congregational fortitude against "Popish Poisons." Despite continued Indian depredations and more lucrative offers, he returned to his post in January 1707, where "his Presence...conduced much to the rebuilding of the Place" On Sept. 16, 1707, he married Abigail (Allen) Bissell of Windsor, Conn. He served as chaplain in the expedition of 1711 against Port Royal and, with John Stoddard, as commissioner to Canada (1713-14) for the return of English prisoners; he regularly attended the yearly meetings of clergymen in Boston and in 1728 preached the convention sermon, Deploring the religious indifference of his age, he strove to restore the pristine spiritual enthusiasm of Massachusetts with sermons devoted to the principle "That it's a high Privilege to be descended from godly ancestors; and 'tis the important Duty of such...to exalt the God of their Fathers (A Serious Word To The Posterity of Holy Men, 1729, p.2), He died at Deerfield, survived by his second wife, their five children, and six children of his first marriage.

Reviews

[Paul McNamee · Rating 3 out of 5]

15-20% attack on Deerfield & forced march to Canada. 80% Temptation of Rev Williams. Much much soul sin hand wringing as nearly everyone in New France attempts to convert Williams to the sin of Popery. What I found most interesting is how obvious the French were heavily dependent on their Native allies. They could not make orders or demands. They negotiated on behalf of the English prisoners as much as the English did, but deferred to the natives and their Jesuit priest 'masters.'

[p roper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. Because it is so many years removed from the experiences in the book, it is sometimes challenging to relate to the attitudes of the people. I love history and learning about real people but the more I learn, the more I am glad I do live now.

[Avis Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a somewhat modernized version of the story which dispensed with the language difficulties. In 1707, the Reverend Williams published an account of an awful experience in which the entire town of Deerfield was kidnapped by the Indians, who then marched their captives to the French in Canada, killing an occasional person too weak to keep up. The French were paying the Indians for American captives at this point in time, encouraging the Indians to run a kidnapping machine. The French then spent a couple of years trying to convert everybody to Catholicism before finally redeeming some of them for cash back to the Americans.

Two of Williams's young children were murdered by the Indians in Deerfield. His wife, Eunice Mather, a cousin to Cotton Mather, was too weak from recent childbirth to be able to keep up when forced to by the Indians, and when she collapsed into a stream, she was hacked to death by the Indians. One of Williams's sons was beaten repeatedly by a Frenchman to try to force him to become Catholic. Williams was never able to free one of his daughters, who spent the rest of her life living with the Indians, even though he made repeated attempts to redeem her.

[Steve Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one of my "scholarly" reads. An amazing tale from early American history. The true story of Reverend John Williams' capture by Indians and his eventual return over a year later. In 1704, about 300 French soldiers and Indians sacked the town of Deerfield, Ma. killing men, women, and children. His 6 year old son and a new born infant were among those slaughtered. The survivors were marched over 300 miles away to Canada where they spent 8 weeks captive among the Indians before being turned over to the French. Along the way his wife and many others died or were killed by the Indians.

Many stories from this time period survive. It was quite common to keep a journal or, as in this case, to write "narratives" of personal experiences.

What I found fascinating in Williams' tale was not the treatment he received from the Indians, but the treatment received by the French. He spent only eight weeks among the Indians and thought he had been resued with the French Priests took them to their village. But Williams and his townspeople are Puritans. The Catholic priests attempt to force conversion to Catholicism. They separate families, deprive food, indoctrinate, and apply physical punishment in their attempts to convert. Some do, by Williams holds strong till the end. Everyone is always hopeful they will be traded for French prisoners held by the English.

Sadly, one of his very young daughters was left with a Mohawk family that used her to replace one of their children that had died. The French would not allow her to leave. She grew up as a Mohawk Indian.

[Arno Noack · Rating 3 out of 5]

the schizoid rantings of a chauvinistic bourgeois religious whacko completely out of touch with the realities of life around him and no hindsight into the real cause and effect connections that set into play the chain of events that are his life. a good look into the mind of a closed minded racist member of the colonial elite in the 1700's but nothing he says is even half reliable, and his ignorance is almost painful.

an important primary source for history so we can see the true ugly face and blatant hypocrisy of the white settler colonial experiment from its inception.

[Christine Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t." The account given on being kidnapped with your entire community, transported hundreds of miles on foot, held hostage for the better part of two years, then just let go to return home is just too ridiculous to not be true. But the good reverend still manages to make an absolute mess of this story, turning this amazing tale into mundane Puritan drivel. It's mind-boggling that anyone could be this bad at storytelling.

[Juris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never read much of the captivity novel genre, I found this to be an interesting view of early American History, but Williams comes off as a bit unreliable. I am not saying this did not happen, and it was interesting to see how strong his Puritan faith was. Though that is what might have altered his perception.
A good book, just a little different than I expected.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good look into native American life in the northeast, told from a captive's perspective. Moose, groundnuts and cranberries were the best of foods. And once the small band was said to have killed 5 moose at once and smoked / dried all the meat in 3 days.