The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695

John Greenleaf WhittierProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
17K words
Chapters
2

Tags

English Originals War and Military FictionForeign Literature Historical ReappraisalWar CaptivesColonial ConflictFrontier WarfareSurvival AdventureHumanity TestComing of AgeHistorical NarrativeThrilling TalesEarly North America

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Boy Captives: An Incident of the Indian War of 1695 by John Greenleaf WhittierAuthor: Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892,Language: English, Class: F001: United States local history: New England, Release Date: Apr 1, 1997

Editor's review

Whittier's The Boy Captives is based on the true 1695 capture of two boys during an Indian war in New England, a short work at the intersection of early American local history and narrative literature. Its value lies not in grand battle scenes but in a first-person voice that conveys the emotional swings of a frontier family through raid, captivity, separation, and return, while preserving late-17th-century New England's collective memory of war, captivity, and ethnic conflict. Whittier, a 19th-century poet, writes with a clear moral sense and sentimental tone; the narrative is concise and brief, making it a good introductory text for understanding the American colonial frontier narrative tradition. Read it as documentary literature rather than modern historical research, and distinguish the event itself from the author's emotional embellishment. Best read in one sitting in a quiet setting, then reflected on against the background of New England colonial history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read once for the sequence of events, then return to notice how the author's tone judges the captives and the Indians.
  2. Read alongside an overview of New England colonial history to place the story in the context of around 1695.
  3. Note passages about family, faith, and return as clues to understanding 19th-century American historical memory.
  4. The English original is short; read it in two or three sessions, writing a two- or three-sentence summary after each.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2

FAQ

Is this book historical research or literature? It is closer to narrative literature based on true events. Whittier wrote from the 1695 captivity incident in the New England Indian war, but the narrative carries a 19th-century poet's sentiment and moral judgment. It should not be used directly as a modern historical work; read it as documentary literature.
How much historical background do I need before reading? No extensive detail is necessary—just know that in the late 17th century New England colonists and Indian groups clashed frequently and frontier settlers were often raided and captured. For deeper study afterward, consult local histories of New England from that period.
How difficult is the English, and what level is it suitable for? The original is 19th-century English with longer sentences and period vocabulary, but it is short and tightly plotted. Readers with intermediate or higher English reading ability willing to look up a few words can try it; read through first, then read closely.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

John Greenleaf Whittier Author · American · 1807–1892

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American poet and abolitionist, a Quaker, and one of the nineteenth-century "Fireside Poets," born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He devoted himself early to the anti-slavery cause, edited several abolitionist newspapers, and gave voice to the movement in verse collected in volumes such as the Anti-Slavery Poems. His poetry ranges widely: the narrative poem Snow-Bound depicts New England country life and family memory in plain, homely language, while other works include nature poems, subjective and reminiscent pieces, religious poems, and legendary narrative poems such as The Tent on the Beach. His writing is simple and warm in feeling, marked by strong local color and moral concern. The library holds 44 of his works. Public information is limited, so this note gives only the main points of his life and writing.