The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier

by Scott Zesch

Winner of the TCU-Texas Book Award for Best Book on Texas

On New Year's Day in 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by an Apache raiding party. Traded to Comaches, he thrived in the rough, nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe's fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years in a cave, all but forgotten by his family.

That is, until Scott Zesch stumbled over his own great-great-great uncle's grave. Determined to understand how such a "good boy" could have become Indianized so completely, Zesch travels across the west, digging through archives, speaking with Comanche elders, and tracking eight other child captives from the region with hauntingly similar experiences.

With a historian's rigor and a novelist's eye, Zesch's The Captured paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier, offering a rare account of captivity.

"A carefully written, well-researched contribution to Western history -- and to a promising new genre: the anthropology of the stolen." - Kirkus Reviews

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, American History, Native American, Westerns, Audiobook

384 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5★
Fascinating well balanced account of how just a few months with native Americans could so drastically alter childrens lives forever. The author’s many times great uncle was an Indian captive and like many of the others taken did not wish to return to his family. Why? The stories profiled attempt to answer that question. Once rescued and returned many of the captives spoke well of their treatment and lifestyle and disparagingly of the army when recounting their experience to relatives and friends throughout the years. Others could not reconcile themselves to a life in white society, much like many native peoples still living on reservation lands today. Are there gruesome horror stories? You bet. Just unbelievable what some individuals were able to endure. In my soft, too much of everything world it still amazes me that as a country we emerged from such rugged stock.

Highly recommended for those interested in this subject matter or opposing POVs to questionable one-sided historical renderings. This story pertains to rural Texas and the Comanche and surrounding tribes in particular. It was a good follow up read to the excellent Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History which recounts the last days of the great tribe and their chief Quanah Parker, himself the son of a Comanche chief and white captive Cynthia Parker. Her father would spend eight years trying to find her and was the inspiration behind the John Ford movie The Searchers. Unlike Natalie Wood’s character in the movie, Cynthia is counted among The Captured who did not want to be found.

1/30/17 Update: I just finished reading News of the World which is an excellent fictional story weaving many the facts recounted in Scott Zesch's book. Highly recommend.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the title fool you, this is not just a single story. There are numerous stories about abduction on the western frontier in The Captured, and most of them are written with all the enticement of a newspaper headline w/photo.

WHITE BOY CAPTURED BY ENGINES!!!


Okay, that was a little too sensationalistic...not to mention racist.

However, there is a load of action and gruesome imagery in The Captured, as many of the abductions were the result of raids during which there were casualties on both sides, the white frontiersmen usually getting the worst of it.

The ones who most often survived these violent encounters were surprisingly the young children. They would be abducted and then raised within the tribe. Occasionally they were recovered soon after, sometimes they were never seen again, and every once in a while an abductee would be recovered many years later.

It's interesting how many of the children, who'd spent up to a year or more with their adopted tribe, would not want to return to their birth families. It becomes a recurring theme within the book. And tragically, those that did return often had great difficulties reintegrating into white society.

Scott Zesch does an admirable job pumping enough energy into these old stories to bring them back to life. There are other creative nonfiction writers out there with more talent at their craft, but Zesch's impetus for writing the book was his search for the truth behind his own relative's abduction, a narrative he weaves intriguingly through out The Captured, and it is apparent in his writing that the story has great personal value to him.

[Debbie W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
1. a GR friend recommended it; and,
2. December 2025 is my "W, X, Y, and Z Authors" Month!

Praises:
1. even though author Scott Zesch's great-uncle, Adolf Korn, was abducted as a youngster by Native Americans, Zesch generously focuses on several other child captives living in the Texas frontier during the mid-1800s; and,
2. using numerous documents and interviews, Zesch portrays an intriguing narrative about various children and their actual experiences, including their abductions, their lives as "white Indians" in native society, their return to white society, and how they fared into adulthood until their eventual deaths. Some of their stories blew me away!

Niggles: I can't think of any.

Overall Thoughts:
Earlier this year, I listened to the audiobook titled The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin, which focused solely on the capture of young Olive Oatman by Native Americans during the mid-1800s. Although it was interesting to learn about this young woman, I found the narrative to be a little on the "dry" side, compared to this particular microhistory - I was riveted throughout!

[David Eppenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

About a month ago I read "News of the World", a book with a rather popular following. I thought the book was okay but was otherwise not terribly impressed. However, I was intrigued by the subject of white children being captured by Native Americans and then being reluctant or even hostile to the opportunity to return to their white families. In her end note the author suggested that if the reader were interested in the psychology of captive children then they should read Scott Zesch's "The Captured". Sounded like good advice and Amazon made another sale from yours truly. Now that I've read "Captured" I am rating it 3 stars which by no means indicates that I thought this was a less than satisfactory book. In fact it is a very good book but it failed to deliver what I had hoped to learn from it.

The book begins as a search by the author into the experience of his great uncle who was in fact a child captured by the Comanche Indians. Because there is very little in the way of written records of the experiences for most of these children the author had to resort to extrapolating his uncle's ordeal from the lives of other children from the same area and for which there was more available in the manner of documentation. The author is able to use the stories of about half a dozen boys and two girls in order to give the reader an idea of what these kids went through and how their "Indianization" occurred. Now this would have been useful except, through no fault of the author, the sample body of children is too small and for the most part they are from the same immigrant German community of the Texas Panhandle. The German community was reputed to be hardworking and no nonsense. Their children were not coddled and were expected to pull their weight in the family. The Germans were also said to be rather cold and undemonstrative. A child taken from an environment like that might easily have preferred life in an Indian tribe where children were never punished, were doted upon, and were taught things a white child might have found to be fun and adventurous. So was the refusal to return to their families really the result of some sort of mind control practiced by the Indians or was this simply a reaction to a harsh ethnic culture? The author is unable to say but the effects of their captivity did seem to last into their return and into adulthood.

As I was reading this, and especially as the lives of the boys was described, I couldn't help but think the psychology involved was a combination of that of the Lost Boys of "Peter Pan" fame and the boys in "Lord of the Flies". Captured boys were very soon instructed on those skills needed for them to become Indian warriors. While some of this instruction was rigorous and even painful the rest would have been great fun for a young boy. Being taught about horses and how to ride them; learning how to build a bow and arrows and how to shoot them, how to survive in the wilderness, etc. After acquiring the necessary skills these white Indians actually participated in raids on other whites and either witnessed or actually took part in some of the rather extreme violence. The reader should be warned that some of the described actions by whites and Indians are very violent and extreme. Further, males did absolutely no work in the camp. All labor in the camp was the domain of the women and that is why having only two girls in this book is unfortunate. It is also unfortunate that the captivity of these girls was no where near as long as that of the boys. The stories of the girls might have been different had they reached maturity while with the Indians and that might have resulted in different outcomes. Nevertheless, while the book really didn't reach any definitive determination for the cause of "Indianization" it was definitely an interesting book and the lives reported were worth reading about.

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was equal parts eye opening, terrifying, informative, and truly sad. As well-researched as is possible, the book oozes of the author's passion for and dedication to uncovering the truth about his great uncle's capture. This results in a long, storied history that details life in the Texas wild country, raids, politics, Indian relations, and the kidnapping and return of many captive children. I could feel the author's deep desire to understand why his uncle and many other captives struggled to assimilate back to society, some eventually returning to to their tribes and others living as best they could, displaced and unhappy.

As a reader I felt a deep sadness surrounding this entire history. As someone said in the book, there was always enough land for everyone to use and the Indians never understood the Americans policy of land ownership. There was so much we could have learned from them...from each other, I suppose. This is an important historical account that will lead me to other books on this subject. I will never stop being amazed at just how wild the West really was...and it was not very long ago at all. 3.5 stars

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This non-fiction reads like a history book. It's clear writing and thorough research. But it is so fact-filled in the who, what, where, how, & why that the scope of people (numbers alone) in far flung spheres of location (huge expanses of the American Plains to Southern fringes of Texas) becomes a dry and difficult read.

Most of the prime and most documented to voiced experience cases were in the period 1840-80, with the most highlighted in most detail for 5 or 6 cases during and in the decade after the American Civil War. One of these was for the author's grandmother's grandmother's brother. Whose eventual grave (in age, not in youth)was stuck in the far corner of a white American settler cemetery. Not with any other family as he had ended as a hermit in a cave.

Clearly it was a narrow range of age that were captured/kidnapped and lived to either return to settler life, or return to American Indian tribal adulthood. That age was between 8 to 14 years upon capture. Both boys and girls after that age usually were killed outright by the Indians, as too untrustworthy for adoption, or just too hard to physically control. Under 7 or 8 they were also usually killed outright because of the difficulty in fast and long journey movement that was intrinsic to their strategy. That middle age worked for new tribal members and for hostage fees in exchange (profit)both.

Large tracts of the book concern the Indian tribal and White Germanic (spoke German, not English) settlers' different meetings for compromise and treaty pow-wow. Most of the time neither side had any idea who the other side's authority covered in the first place (usually it was just 1 faction of a single tribe) nor did they ever understand each others' languages.

What is so interesting to me is that in my Cognitive Psychology background, the question of a child's memory and assimilation to language/ culture was a core question. And it seems that this book illustrates how a period of more than 14 months, usually GUARANTEED that the human child (both sexes)would never concede to the return to the American Settler lifestyle, but would either return to tribal life or completely segregate. Most of them returned to Comanche sect or Apache tribal faction living in the full sense, even after their exchange or return to settler life.

Emotionally this is also a difficult book to read, because the children were trained in a way, well harsh is saying it mildly. Much detail is given to this and to tribal clothing and tee-pee lodging. But also in the process of being traded back or "rescued" they also had to say good-bye in heart rending fashion from a Comanche Mother. (Possibly the only Mother they remember in a couple of cases.) In one such case, the adopted daughter was the only tent "child" of that widowed Mother. And in another case the losing Indian Mother raged and knifed others and herself.

From the language avenue, it was shocking that most children taken away longer than 6 to 12 months at ages of 8 to 12- STILL could not voice any English or German upon return. They could understand parts but could never reply in whole words, not until a long "re-learning" period. Their original language replaced very quickly.

This area of abduction highlighted in this book did not encompass just Texas. The 3 Plains Indians groups took many all the way North- all the way to Colorado, most in Oklahoma.

The photographs were fabulous in this hard cover. Not only of the prime Indian chiefs, pouncing warrior groups in dress, leaders of searching parties, kidnappers of fame, owners, go-betweens who traded kids back, and also cave pictures of a particular place a returnee chose to live in neither society.

What comes across so huge, is that neither side had any perception of "eyes", nor context, nor words, or worldviews for what the opposite group was suggesting or demanding or offering. And also that if you were a child who cried visibly or often, you would not be adoptable and would not survive long on the returning to Indian village trek.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Zechs’s great-great-great-uncle, Adolph Korn, was captured by Indians in 1870. From family stories, Zesch learned that his relative had difficulties readjusting to a farming life once he returned. He decided to find out more about his Uncle Adolph’s life. Since it had been so long and only a small amount of information specific to his uncle was available, he expanded his research to similar situations. This book describes the capture, captivity, release, and ultimate outcomes for nine such individuals, ranging in age from eight to fourteen at the time of their abduction. Most were held by Apaches or Comanches. All were from the Texas hill country and most were German immigrants.

The former captives spoke highly of their Indian families, and the vast majority did not want to leave them. This occurred at the time of the last Indian Wars, just before the native people were forced onto reservations and required to change their culture. Be prepared for descriptions of brutality. Also be prepared for the racism of the time, which is obvious from the newspaper quotes.

Some former captives adjusted well to their return, and others yearned to return to the untamed nomadic life on the plains. Almost all lost their native German or English language and were fluent in their Indian dialect. I did not find it surprising that these young people would adapt to a new life relatively quickly, since these were their formative years and they had no way of knowing if they would ever see their birth families again. They were taken far away, and it would be almost impossible for them to find their way back alone through harsh territory. It is reflective of the resilience of youth.

This book is a well-researched history. It is thoroughly documented in footnotes, some of which supplement the text and are interesting reading. The author, in his Afterward, outlines his research techniques and assumptions in deciding among the different versions and accounts of what transpired. It reminds me that each generation experiences a gradual decline in those that can recall it from experience. In the 1920s and 1930s, it was a gradual fading of memories of life on the frontier. This book does an excellent job of compiling and preserving a subset of these memories. I found it extremely educational and engrossing.

[TXGAL1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting telling of Texas children abducted from their frontier homes by raiding and murdering Indians during the latter part of the 19th century.

Loved the honest portrayal of the captives thoughts on life with their "adoptive" families and existence on the frontier. Well done!

[Anthony Whitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book and an interesting read. The author's narrative flows in an easy reading manner that will keep the readers attention from beginning to end. Zesch is from the area of the abductions and does a thorough job of describing the sometimes brutal attacks on the settlers from that time period. His knowledge of the Texas Hill Country and kinship with his pioneer ancestors add a unique personal perspective to his story. The final work is well worth the read and sheds light on the tragic results that occur when competing cultures collide. The transformation of some of the Indian captives may surprise those that are unaware of the appeal of the free roaming style of living followed by Native Americans.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories of six boys and two girls who were kidnapped (in separate incidents) by Indians (Comanche and Apache) from their homes in the hill country of Texas during the 1860's. The events surrounding their capture are shocking and disturbing because of their brutality. Yet, on the other hand, the lives these children led after being assimilated into their new families and tribes were exciting, adventuresome, and fulfilling to such a degree that they all suffered greatly upon being forced back into the white man's culture.

Probably the most distressing story was that of Temple Friend who was kidnapped at the age of 8 (in the most horrific Indian attack I have ever read) and returned to his family at age 13. After spending nearly all of his memorable life with the Comanches, Temple simply could not or would not make the transition, and after being "home" for only two years he slowly just died at the age of 15.

This was truly a good book. I loved every minute that I spent reading it. The only problem I had with it was that it didn't really tell the whole story -- but only because it could not be told without a lot of literary license, which would have turned this book into historical fiction. So much of what these captives and their captors could have told us has never been recorded, and those people who knew them are all dead now too. Nevertheless, the author did a fantastic job of putting together the pieces and creating a coherent and memorable story.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read that was well written. Could have been a bit shorter.

[Chance Carden · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Captured explores and examines the stories of white settlers abducted by Plains Indians on the American frontier during the mid to late 1800s. His search for information about his relative, Adolph Korn, revealed how common a practice raiding and kidnapping was for the Plains Indians, and others who had similar fates to Korn. In response, Zesch compiled these stories together in an attempt to shed light and understanding on a topic that is often viewed through a single perspective.

To begin with, Zesch makes it clear that the settlers were in Native territory. Despite US government treaties, threats, and compromises, Native groups were continually searching for ways to reclaim what had been theirs, and a primary method of doing that was through raids.

Zesch explains a handful of these raids in vivid and grisly detail. Some accounts are so horrific, I hesitate to mention them here, though Zesch was meticulous in painting as accurate a picture as possible, and leaves nothing to the imagination. His goal in doing so was not to portray the Natives as savage or rabid (though that’s no doubt what most Americans believed at the time). The focus, rather, was to illustrate how Natives handled war and sought revenge, as well was proving manhood.

While many were killed on these raids, Zesch focused on those taken by the Natives and incorporated into tribal life. In most of these cases, this occurred to children, as they are easier to mold and influence. Additionally, for those who for whatever reason returned to white society, most found it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to ever fully reclaim their biological family and culture.

Zesch explains how each had grown to resent white society and what it had and was continuing to do their Native family. In fact, many had come to fully understand the horrific raids against them and their families, and felt little to no resentment over them. There was also a lot of explanation about horrendous crimes the United States committed against these groups, further providing a different narrative than what so many are accustomed to.

This novel helps to bridge understanding for why Plains Indians carried out these acts, as well as provide a deeper comparison of white and indigenous cultures.

Significant quotes:
Senator to Natives about whites: “If you oppose them, war must come. They are many, and you are few. You may kill some of them; but others will come and take their place.” Page 66

“Raids were as much apart of their culture as hunting buffalo... taking an enemy’s property, children, or hide was not only daring, but also honorable.” Pages 66-67

“The strong affection they developed for their Native American families and friends somehow enabled them to look past the horror they’d witnessed in those first days—and even find a way to justify it.” Page 87

“There would be no real peace until one group or the other was annihilated, or at least broken in spirit.” Page 89

Page 133-134 Despising their own people.

Page 171-172 Massacre while negotiations were taking place

Page 264-265 Hollywood

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading News of the World and The Son this year, I was intrigued by the real-life accounts of kids who were kidnapped and adopted by the Comanche, Apache, and other Southern Plains tribes in the late 1800s. The real stories were every bit as sensational as the fictionalized accounts, and I could definitely see where the authors of those novels drew on historical accounts.

My take-away:
Both sides were pretty brutal, but the Native tribes got screwed the hardest in the long-run.
Being a Native American kid was a lot better than being a German-American frontier kid, so it's not a huge mystery why the abductees adapted so quickly and didn't want to return to their actual families.
The after-effects of returning to white society were heartbreaking for most of the abductees.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott Zesch is a relative of Adolf Korn, a well-known Indian captive of the 1870s. Korn's captivity and the subsequent efforts to bring him back to his family excited much comment at the time. What is less well-known is that Korn never adjusted to white life after being an Indian. He became a hermit, living in a cave above the Llano River. The Captured is Zech's effort to make sense of great-uncle Adolph's experiences. Zesch compares the stories of many Texan child-captives, detailing Indian raids, parents' efforts to recover their children, frontier warfare, and captives' lives after their return home.
Zesch's work is fascinating and essential for anyone trying to write about Indian captives on the Texas frontier. If there are two topics that could be explored more fully it would be the role of the Kickapoo in ransoming captives and the Parker family as a group both divided & united by captivity.

[Cam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooooo good! On New Year's Day in 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by an Apache raiding party. Traded to Comaches, he thrived in the rough, nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe's fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years in a cave, all but forgotten by his family.

That is, until Scott Zesch stumbled over his own great-great-great uncle's grave. Determined to understand how such a "good boy" could have become Indianized so completely, Zesch travels across the west, digging through archives, speaking with Comanche elders, and tracking eight other child captives from the region with hauntingly similar experiences. With a historians rigor and a novelists eye, Zesch's The Captured paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier, offering a rare account of captivity.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story - but unfortunately a lot of it is speculation because there is just a lack of 1st hand accounts from the people involved. It gets three stars though because it got pretty boring after the captives were all returned to their families. I skimmed the last 25% of the book.

[Kavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Adolph Korn had the makings of an American tragedy. A German-American farmboy Adolph was kidnapped on New Year’s Day 1870, and taken to live among the Comanche’s. For the next three years he lived amid the Native Americans in their last few full years of freedom, before he was returned uncomfortably to his family. Korn’s post captivity years were ones of struggle and disappointment. He never fully assimilated back into society, and ended his days living in a cave purposefully separated from civilization.

Adolph’s distant relative author Scott Zesch was curious about what happened to him during his time with the Comanches & decided to research his life. Recognizing that a lack of documents & artifacts limits his ability to fully know Adolph, Zesch explored the story of other captives or as Zesch refers to them Indian Whites as a means of exploring what the captives experienced. Zesch’s approach is to survey the lives of the captives before, during, and after captivity as a means of determining how their lives were and were not changed. His results are both surprising and unsettling.

In particular, Zesch focuses on the disparity between life in the German-American Texas communities, and the more easy going and adventurous lifestyle of Comanches and Apaches. He argues that once a child had lived more than a year with Native Americans they demonstrated little desire to return. Family ties and memories, he argued, were obliterated by the excitement and freedom of Native American life. Much of the post-captivity actions he argues were slanted by the fact many of the captives believed themselves Comanches and had little desire to return to a life of hard work and little reward.

Most intriguingly Zesch considers why supposedly ‘good’ children were so readily and often utterly willing to engage in raiding, and horse stealing. More painfully he also shows the death throws of the Comanches plains lifestyle, and how even when the captives yearned to return they recognized that the life they had loved was gone forever. Indeed, Adolph Korn’s cave looked out on the lands the Comanches once ruled, lands that were by his later years empty. The free living life of the Comanches ended and Korn was left staring at the empty visage of what once was and would never be again.

This is a very provocative book and one that does not necessarily offer easy answers. However it is compulsively readable. And it will leave you more understanding of why so many of the captives maintained a lifelong fondness for the tribes that kidnapped them and for the life they so briefly glimpsed before it was signed away forever.

[Patricia Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Captured is a true story about white children being captured and “Indianized.” It was mystifying as to how little time it took for them to reject their own white race and choose to live with their captors. In at least one instance – Harman Lehmann – the Indian raiding party passed by his old home. Herman was urged to go in and see his mother. He refused.

Anthropologists differ in their beliefs in the making of a white Indian. Some believe early age of abduction contributes to children becoming converts. Several examples prove this to be not necessarily true. Some believe it to be Stockholm Syndrome, where hostages come to identify with their captors as an irrational but natural way of coping and staying alive. It seems that Indianization remains a neglected topic of scholarly research.

Generally, Indians were very considerate of their captives. White youth were accepted into the families and taught the Indian ways within a tribal community, such as roping, riding, and herding horses, along with chores, but they were also allowed time for games and roughhousing. Conversely, white children had a very harsh existence with hard farm work and isolation. It was not unusual for a meager 12x10 log cabin to be an hour away from its nearest neighbor.

Recovered children usually had traumatic readjustments. It took them far longer to relearn the white man’s ways than it did for them to become “Indianized”. Young men struggled to fit in with their white families; many could not, and returned to the reservations. They did not fit fully in either world.

This historical story was very well told, and I enjoyed it very much, but it saddens me to think that most were unhappy, never quite adjusting to their life back in their white communities in – what they felt was – captivity. Most marriages failed, although these former captives managed to hold the affection and admiration of their children. Most, however, died broken men.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before participating in a book discussion on Pauline Jiles's News of the World--still the most memorable book I've read this year--a friend suggested I read Captured as background into what the young woman being returned "home" in Jiles's book must have felt. So I did--it's a fascinating look at several captives, taken in Texas and then returned to their families. What their lives were like with the Indians and how they adjusted--or mostly didn't--to life back with their "real" families. For the most part they really missed their Indian lives and families, and this book gives us a glimpse into why that was the case. Well-researched, compelling, filled with a wealth of interesting characters, a look at what life with the Indians was like. In some ways it's a brighter look at kidnap victims during their captivity, but a darker look at what happens when they're finally "free."

[Mallory Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. Listened to the audiobook.

Fascinating story, not just about the author's great uncle but eight other child captives in the late 1800s. Each was adopted into their respective Apache or Comanche tribes, and when found, the majority of them wanted to stay with their new Native American families. For those children that were forcibly returned to their original families, most never really assimilated back into white society.

The author mentions that one of the captives, Herman Lehmann, wrote a memoir, so I plan to read that. I also want to better understand the general history of the Comanches and the Apaches.

[Donna Everhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, so good!

I found out about this book because of Margot Mifflin who wrote THE BLUE TATTOO: The Life of Olive Oatman, and she referenced Zesch's work, saying (in more or less words) he had done the most extensive research on captivity.

I think the main things that stuck out to me and I commented while reading was that male Native Americans did not work - not in the way other cultures do. They were quite flabbergasted, and dismayed (that's one way to put it) about how the "white man" worked so hard against nature. Now Native American women - they did work. The male NAs would hunt, and where the buffalo dropped is where it stayed until the women went out there, cut the hide off, tanned it, and cut the meat off the bones, dried it, etc. They moved the camps. They cooked. If the men decided it was time to pack up and leave, the women did the packing.

The male Native American was expected to become a great warrior, and to be useful to his tribal family by becoming skilled at horse riding, shooting (guns and arrows), hunting, acquire horses, and . . . scalps. They disdained work - the kind of work done by other cultures.

The ideal age for a white child (or Mexican) to be captured was between the ages of seven and fourteen. This was because any younger was thought to be problematic, and the same for an older child. There would be too much crying, or in the case of the older child, they might not assimilate. Those were the ages that would be adopted into the the captor's tribe and treated as if they were a blood relation.

Native Americans captured children from other cultures to replace their own lost people, to gain more warriors, and to build up the tribe's population. They did not see the issue with taking what had been taken from them. (sort of an eye for an eye type of justice. They killed this great warrior so we will take this child, and turn him into a great warrior, or, they killed my sister, so we will take this young girl and make her a member of our family, etc.)

One of the biggest puzzles may have been solved about why capture children did not want to go back to their white families - Native Americans doted on the captive children, even while they were often considered the slaves of their captors. They spent time with them, taught them, rarely punished them - unless they tried to escape, for instance.

I could go on and on - I learned so much, and found Scott Zesch's way of writing to be entertaining, yet educational. This book was started by him because of an uncle of his, Adolph Korn, who had been a captive, and the chance finding of his grave ignited a bunch of questions about his ancestor. I loved the pictures that were included, and wished there had been more to share.

Highly recommend for those who enjoy this kind of history!

[Lisa Reads & Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched and written. Zesch compiled the story of several captives and examined them as a group, comparing and contrasting details from their families to their capture, experiences during captivity, and their life after they were returned to their family. Details of peace treaties, clashes of cultures, and how the American government treated the Indians were described objectively. I appreciate the work going into the book. I feel I've learned quite a bit from it.

[John Allgood · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book looks at the lives of children captured by the Comanche and Apaches in Texas during the 1860s-70s. Most of these children rapidly assimilated into their captors lives and even when returned to their original families never were the same. A tragic story about the clash between two cultures. While interesting, I found it a bit repetitive at times.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Some fascinating stories but I think the book could have been shorter. Also, some awful and graphic scenes - it seems the more I learn about history the more I see man’s sinful nature on display, and it’s hard to tell who is the good guy.

[Jan Mc · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fascinating compilation of accounts of children who were taken by Native Americans in mid-nineteenth-century Texas. The author researched the story of his own Great-great-granduncle, Adolph Korn, and found similar abductions and redemptions. The similarity of the lives of these children is really absorbing, and the author does a terrific job of organizing and telling their tales.

I've been to many of the locations in the book. Highly recommended for those interested in Texas history.

Grover Gardner does a fine job with narration of the audiobook.

Similar books:
--Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians
--The Captivity of the Oatman Girls: The History of the Young Sisters Who Were Abducted by Native Americans in the 1850s
--Three Years Among the Comanches
--My Life as an Indian: The Story of a Red Woman and a White Man in the Lodges of the Blackfeet

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected this book to be mostly a comparison of the cultures of the Native Americans and the white settlers. What I got was much less pleasant. Violence is a throbbing vein that permeates history. We are abundantly lucky to be living in this era when we do not have to fear for our lives on a constant basis. The stories told in this book are shockingly bloody and gruesome. The tension between the settlers and the natives was so wishy-washy that it would have been impossible to know where you stood at any point in time, making life incredibly stressful.

Hearing the accounts in this book is harrowing and maddening. Time has been sympathetic to Native Americans, painting them as noble people attuned to the earth with a way of life regrettably lost to time. However, if I were a settler living in Texas during the 1800s hearing numerous accounts of ambushes, slaughters (mostly of women and young children), and brutalities against settlers by natives, there is no way I would have been sympathetic to their plight or would have hesitated to fight back at their approach. The violence against young children especially makes my blood run cold. As a mother, I know I would have done everything in my power to protect my kids even at the risk of my own life.

The end of this book is less scholarly than the rest. It explains what happened to the captives in their later lives but relied heavily on conjecture to wrap up the loose ends. I think some explanation about Stockholm Syndrome would have been appropriate. However, this is overall an emotional and engaging read.

[D.A. Vega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone interested in Texas history and the conflicts between Texans and the Indigenous tribes of the Southwest should read Scott Zesch's The Captured. Zesch, a descendent of Adolph Korn, pursues the life story of Korn and other children captured by the Apache and Comanche in the nineteenth century. Korn and others lived and thrived among the the Comanche people. This book is a thrilling piece of history that explores the lives of children taken from their families to live in new societies, becoming wild, free, and fearless.

[Maryann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating topic. Very readable.

[Renae Hinchey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few months ago, I read “News of the World,” the story of a young white girl captured in the hill country of Texas by Native Indians in the late 1860’s and then resisting her return to her family. This piqued my interest on the subject of settler’s children being captured by Indians (Comanches and Apaches) and not wanting to go back to their white families, so I took the author’s recommendation to read Scott Zesch’s “The Captured.”

Zesch’s book is so well researched on the kidnapping of settler’s young children during the period of 1860-70’s in the hill country of Texas. The author was drawn to write this true story because he had little knowledge of his great uncle’s (Adolph Korn) experiences while captured by Indians, as well as his difficult adjustment back into the “civilized” society of the the white man.

Zesch does a wonderful job in showing both sides of the story. This is a tragic time in American history. As German immigrants moved into Indian territory taking Indian land and buffalo hunters killing most of the buffalo for the sale of the hides, the Indian’s lost their home and food supply. To survive, the Indian’s attacked the settlers homes taking cattle and horses, as well as capturing young children between the ages of 7 to 14 to replenish their numbers due to the mortality rate.

Zesch researched 8 young white children who were captured and eventually returned to their families. These children, both boys and girls, conformed to tribal life so quickly and completely that they never were able to adjust to their Anglo/German families upon their return and throughout their lives, with some returning to live with the Indians years later. All of those captured said they were treated well while captured and were adopted into Indian families. Due to a treaty between the U.S. government and the Indians, those captured had to be returned even if they did not want to leave their Indian families.

This book brings the question of why these children preferred the Indian way of life. Perhaps it was the freedom that they had, from learning to ride horses and hunting to making bows and arrows and learning how to use them. This was very different from their lives as children of rigid and poverty stricken German immigrants where they were made to work hard on the farms all day with no time for fun or games. The Indians led a more care free life of freedom with hunting, riding horseback, games, dancing, singing, stories, etc.

This was a very engaging read about time in American history. My only criticism is that rather than stick to the story of each of the 8 captured he writes about, he continues to bring them up at different times in their lives throughout the book, making it difficult to follow at times. Besides that, I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about that time period.

[SheLove2Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

As hard as this book is to read at times, remembering that all of it actually happened somehow only makes it worse on both sides. I have extreme sympathy for the Indigenous people who had their whole world upended, thousands of years of culture stolen. I also have sympathy for the European/American families affected, yet at the same time you just want to say "What did you think would happen when you moved onto their land?"