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

captivity narrative Captivity narratives are usually stories of people captured by enemies whom they consider uncivilized, or whose beliefs and customs they oppose. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans ta ...

by William Walton relating the experiences of a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

family of settlers near

Mauch Chunk Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is historically known as the burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe is ...

in present-day

Carbon County, Pennsylvania Carbon County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,749. The county is also part of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and Northeastern Pennsylvania. ...

. 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 was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

a war party from the British base at

Fort Niagara 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 Lakes. The fort is on the river's e ...

, 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 Genocide) was a United States military campaign during the American Revolutionary War, lasting from June to October 1779 ...

the previous year. The war party consisted of eleven people: * Rowland Monteur -

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

, 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 confused ...

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

Cayugas The Cayuga ( Cayuga: Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, "People of the Great Swamp") are one of the five original constituents of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), a confederacy of Native Americans in New York. The Cayuga homeland lies in the Finger Lakes regio ...

. * John Fox -

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

The other five were unidentified

Senecas The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") 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 w ...

. 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 ( 1740 – 5 March 1788) was an Irish military officer and diplomat. He served on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War, having migrated to the Province of New York as a young man and worked with his uncle, Sir Wi ...

, and sent by boat to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. 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 {{US-mil-hist-book-stub