![]() The most famous of these, Cynthia Ann Parker, married the Comanche chief Peta Nocona and became the mother of Quanah Parker, last war chief of the tribe. White girls captured before the age of puberty usually became assimilated and married chiefs or warriors. Among the most formidable "White Indians" were Clinton and Jeff Smith, Herman Lehmann, Adolph Korn, Rudolph Fischer, and Kiowa Dutch. Some youths became fierce warriors who raided the settlements. Many of these youngsters enjoyed the wild, free life of the American Indians and became so completely assimilated that they resisted attempts to redeem them. Children who arrived safely at the American Indian village, however, usually were adopted as replacements for deceased relatives and thereafter treated as true sons or daughters. Some women, though subservient to their captors, were treated with unexpected respect.Īmerican Indian raiders killed captive children who lagged behind during pursuits. ![]() Abuse of captive women, however, was by no means universal. The experiences of Rachel Plummer and Sarah Ann Horn dramatically illustrate the horrors of female captivity among the Plains Indians. Their ordeals frequently led to early deaths, before or after redemption. Captive White women in Texas, as in much of the territory west of the Mississippi River, were usually compelled to serve their captors as concubines and menials (the roles of most American Indian women). Mature males who were taken prisoner were considered to have forfeited their lives. Survival frequently depended upon the whim of the captor and the fortitude displayed by the captive. The life of a captive was fraught with perils and hardships. During the succeeding half century after Indian warfare broke out with Whites in the 1830s, many settlers underwent American Indian captivity. Though these conquistadors used their skills as medicine men to escape from captivity, during the next three centuries numerous Spanish and Mexican captives remained many years in the camps of Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, and Wichita raiders. The earliest European captives in Texas were Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, survivors of the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528. When warfare developed between Europeans and American Indians, White captives were taken for the same reasons and, in addition, to hold for ransom or to use to gain bargaining power with an allied European government or colony. ![]() Centuries before White men came to these shores, captives were taken from neighboring tribes to replenish losses suffered in warfare or to obtain victims to torture in retaliation. The practice of captive-taking among North American Indians goes back to prehistoric times.
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