A Puritan’s Captivity

On February 10^th, 1676, fifteen thousand Native Americans, led by King Philip, attacked the colony of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Like in many other hostile situations, this event was the result of a war known as the King Philip’s war, declared between the English Colonists and Native Americans. This event had significant impact on the cultural and political relationship between the Colonists and the Native Americans, and as a result many colonists were killed and taken captive by the assailants on that cold February day. Mary White Rowlandson, along with her children and few relatives, was one of the many captured during this invasion.

Although born in Somerset, England, Rowlandson grew up in the community of Lancaster, Massachusetts and came from one of the founding families. She was the wife of a Puritan Minister, Joseph Rowlandson, and took her Puritan spiritual life sincerely. She recounts her encounter as a captured prisoner in her autobiography in twenty parts known as “twenty removes” chronicling her experience and migration with the Native Americans. She perceives the Native Americans as heathens and savages and fails to see their humane side (Rowlandson, 61-62). Her Puritan values led her to believe that the Native Indians only meant to do harm, and the few kind gestures she received from the Indians were the acts of God protecting her from evil. In the book So dreadfull a judgment: Puritan responses to King Philip's War it states that “the hardships she suffered were common to the whole party, Indian and Captives alike” (Slotkin and Folsom 306). She could only see the suffering of her own Puritan people, and did not consider the negative effects of the war on the Native Indians because she presumed the heathens were the one to instigate the evil.

Mary Rowlandson’s narrative outlines the Puritan attitude during the King Philip’s war. The Puritan colonists succumbed to their faith and allowed their beliefs to dictate their perspective. To Mary White Rowlandson, the Indians who were responsible for her capture were always savage and brutish creatures, and she could not see past that misconception. Rowlandson failed to understand the Native Indians were also the victims of the war as they were also trying to survive during a conflict.

Works Cited:

“King Philip's War”. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. August 30, 2009.

“Rowlandson, Mary White (1637–1710).” Encyclopedia Americana. 2009. Grolier Online. August 30, 2009.

Rowlandson. Mary White. The Account of Mary Rowlandson and Other Indian Captivity Narratives. Ed.

Horace Kephart. Dover Publication, 2005.

So Dreadful a Judgment: Puritan Responses to King Philip's War, 1676-77. Ed. Richard Slotkin and James K. Folsom. Wesleyan Univ. Pr, 1979.