America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation Paperback by Kenneth C. Davis
Authors: Kenneth C. Davis
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who was chopt into the head with a Hatchet, and stripped naked, and yet was crawling up and down. It is a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood, some here, some there, like a company of Sheep torn by Wolves. All of them stript naked by a company of hell-Hounds, roaring, singing, ranting and insulting, as if they would have torn our very hearts out; yet the Lord by his Almighty power preserved a number of us from death, for there were twenty-four of us taken alive and carried captive.
I had often before this said, that if the Indians should come, I should chuse rather to be killed by them than be taken alive, but when it came to the tryal my mind changed; their glittering weapons so daunted my spirit that I chose rather to go along with those (as I may say) ravenous Beasts, than that moment to end my dayes; and that I may the better declare what Happened to me during that grievous Captivity.37
Like hundreds of other New Englanders before her—and later Hannah Dustin—Mary Rowlandson survived her captivity. But her six-year-old daughter, Sarah, died in Mary’s arms from her wounds, a fate shared by most of her other neighbors taken captive. For three months, Rowlandson was held among the Indians—warriors, women, and children all moving together. As they traversed western and cen-
| 77 \
America’s Hidden Hi Ç ory tral Massachusetts and fought the Anglo-American colonists, she witnessed the celebration of a great Indian victory and was also among the first Europeans to see a “war dance.”
Shortly after her daughter’s death, Rowlandson was taken to a rendezvous of more than two thousand Indians, where she learned that her other children were nearby. Ten-year-old Mary was being held by a warrior who had purchased her for the price of a gun and would not allow Rowlandson to see the child. Then she found eleven-year-old Joseph, who had been taken to another village but was permitted to visit his mother. And she ultimately encountered Philip, who shared a meal with her. In May, over the objections of Philip, who did not actually control her fate, Rowlandson was ransomed and reunited with her husband in Boston; their two children were also eventually released. With encouragement from Increase Mather, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, Mary Rowlandson’s account of her experiences, appeared in print six years later, in 1682. One of the earliest books written by a woman in America, it was among the country’s first best sellers. 38
Rowlandson’s extraordinarily successful memoir, like Cotton Mather’s versions of Hannah Dustin’s exploits in the late 1690s, was a prime example of popular Puritan propaganda that underscored the virtues of a brave woman standing up to “satanic savagery.” Along with Hannah Dustin, Rowlandson gave New England an essential foundation myth upon which Puritan pride would be built. This was in sharp contrast to the legacy of Anne Hutchinson. Not long after her trial, Puritan Boston decreed a prohibition against Roman Catholics, Quakers, and other sects such as Anabaptists. All were banned under pain of death. Anne Hutchinson’s youngest sister, who had become a Quaker, was thrashed with a whip for her “blasphemy.” Another of | 78 \
Hannah’s Escape
Anne Hutchinson’s followers who joined the Quakers, Mary Dyer, and who also defiantly returned to Boston, was arrested, stripped in public, and severely lashed. When Dyer returned to Boston a second time with two Quaker men, all three were convicted of blasphemy and the two men were hanged. Told to leave Boston, Mary Dyer refused.
On June 1, 1660, she too was executed.
Anne Hutchinson, Mary Rowlandson, Hannah Dustin—each woman’s story carried its own moral for the people of New England.
The Puritan fathers believed that the banishment of Anne Hutchinson—along with the execution of Quakers and the banning of Catholics in Massachusetts—would end dissent and bring God’s blessings on the colony.
I had often before this said, that if the Indians should come, I should chuse rather to be killed by them than be taken alive, but when it came to the tryal my mind changed; their glittering weapons so daunted my spirit that I chose rather to go along with those (as I may say) ravenous Beasts, than that moment to end my dayes; and that I may the better declare what Happened to me during that grievous Captivity.37
Like hundreds of other New Englanders before her—and later Hannah Dustin—Mary Rowlandson survived her captivity. But her six-year-old daughter, Sarah, died in Mary’s arms from her wounds, a fate shared by most of her other neighbors taken captive. For three months, Rowlandson was held among the Indians—warriors, women, and children all moving together. As they traversed western and cen-
| 77 \
America’s Hidden Hi Ç ory tral Massachusetts and fought the Anglo-American colonists, she witnessed the celebration of a great Indian victory and was also among the first Europeans to see a “war dance.”
Shortly after her daughter’s death, Rowlandson was taken to a rendezvous of more than two thousand Indians, where she learned that her other children were nearby. Ten-year-old Mary was being held by a warrior who had purchased her for the price of a gun and would not allow Rowlandson to see the child. Then she found eleven-year-old Joseph, who had been taken to another village but was permitted to visit his mother. And she ultimately encountered Philip, who shared a meal with her. In May, over the objections of Philip, who did not actually control her fate, Rowlandson was ransomed and reunited with her husband in Boston; their two children were also eventually released. With encouragement from Increase Mather, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, Mary Rowlandson’s account of her experiences, appeared in print six years later, in 1682. One of the earliest books written by a woman in America, it was among the country’s first best sellers. 38
Rowlandson’s extraordinarily successful memoir, like Cotton Mather’s versions of Hannah Dustin’s exploits in the late 1690s, was a prime example of popular Puritan propaganda that underscored the virtues of a brave woman standing up to “satanic savagery.” Along with Hannah Dustin, Rowlandson gave New England an essential foundation myth upon which Puritan pride would be built. This was in sharp contrast to the legacy of Anne Hutchinson. Not long after her trial, Puritan Boston decreed a prohibition against Roman Catholics, Quakers, and other sects such as Anabaptists. All were banned under pain of death. Anne Hutchinson’s youngest sister, who had become a Quaker, was thrashed with a whip for her “blasphemy.” Another of | 78 \
Hannah’s Escape
Anne Hutchinson’s followers who joined the Quakers, Mary Dyer, and who also defiantly returned to Boston, was arrested, stripped in public, and severely lashed. When Dyer returned to Boston a second time with two Quaker men, all three were convicted of blasphemy and the two men were hanged. Told to leave Boston, Mary Dyer refused.
On June 1, 1660, she too was executed.
Anne Hutchinson, Mary Rowlandson, Hannah Dustin—each woman’s story carried its own moral for the people of New England.
The Puritan fathers believed that the banishment of Anne Hutchinson—along with the execution of Quakers and the banning of Catholics in Massachusetts—would end dissent and bring God’s blessings on the colony.
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