''The Captivity of Benjamin Gilbert and His Family, 1780–83'' is a

captivity narrative Captivity narratives are typically personal accounts of people who have been captured by an enemy, generally a enemy with a foreign culture. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans taken ...

by William Walton relating the experiences of a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

family of settlers near Mauch Chunk in present-day

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania Jim Thorpe (known as East and West Mauch Chunk until 1954) is a borough in and the county seat of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is historically known as the burial site of Native Ameri ...

. The story was originally published in 1784, and has since been republished numerous times under varying titles.

The narrative

In 1780, the Gilbert family was settled near what was then the frontier between encroaching colonists and Native Americans. In a minor action in the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

a war party from the British base at

Fort Niagara Fort Niagara, also known as Old Fort Niagara, is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great L ...

, under the overall command of Colonel John Butler, swept through the area. The attack was probably in retaliation for the destruction of native towns by the

Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign) was a United States military campaign under the command of General John Sullivan (general), John Sullivan duri ...

the previous year. The war party consisted of eleven people: * Rowland Monteur - Mohawk, first captain. * John Monteur - Mohawk, second in command, who was also styled captain. Roland and John were the sons of

Catherine Montour Catharine Montour, also known as Queen Catharine (died after 1791), was a prominent Iroquois leader living in ''Queanettquaga,'' a Seneca village of ''Sheaquaga'', informally called Catharine's Town, in western New York. She has often been confuse ...

, called ''French Catherine''. * Samuel Harris, John Huston, and his son John Huston, jr.,— Cayugas. * John Fox -

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

The other five were unidentified

Senecas The Seneca ( ; ) are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois Leag ...

. The war party took the Gilbert family and some neighbors captive, fifteen people in all: * Benjamin Gilbert, aged 69. * Elizabeth, Benjamin's wife, 55. * Joseph Gilbert, Benjamin's son, 41. * Jesse Gilbert, Benjamin's son, 19. * Sarah Gilbert, Jesse's wife, 19. * Rebecca Gilbert, Benjamin's daughter, 16. * Abner Gilbert, Benjamin's son, 14. * Elizabeth Gilbert, Benjamin's daughter, 12. * Thomas Peart, Elizabeth Gilbert's son by a prior marriage, 23. * Benjamin Gilbert, a son of John Gilbert of Philadelphia, 11. * Andrew Harrigar, a hired worker, 26. * Abigail Dodson, a neighbor, 14 * Benjamin Peart, Elizabeth Gilbert's son by a prior marriage, 27. * Elizabeth Peart, Benjamin Peart's wife, 20. * Elizabeth Peart, Benjamin Peart's daughter, about nine months old. The group made the trek from Pennsylvania to Fort Niagara on foot and horseback, a journey of about a month. Although threatened with death several times the captives were generally well treated. Harrigar managed to escape en route. On reaching Niagara, Benjamin and Elizabeth Gilbert, and Jesse and Sarah Gilbert were released through the intervention of John Butler and

Guy Johnson Guy Johnson ( – 5 March 1788) was a British Indian Department officer, judge and politician. He served on the side of the British during the American Revolutionary War, having migrated to the Province of New York as a young man and worked ...

, and sent by boat to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Benjamin died on the way, but the other three safely reached their destination. The remaining captives were adopted by Indian families and spent time in Niagara and Buffalo Creek. The last were freed in 1782.

References

External links

Text of 1813 edition of ''NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY AND SUFFERINGS OF BENJAMIN GILBERT AND FAMILY''
American captivity narratives Books about the American Revolution People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution People of New York (state) in the American Revolution {{DEFAULTSORT:Captivity of Benjamin Gilbert