The Captivity of Jonathan Alder (1773-1849)
and his life with the Indians
As before observed, it was the habit of the Shawnees to visit each other of evenings, to relate their hunting excursions and warlike exploits On such occasions they frequently remained until a late hour, and during the recital of these stories and adventures, young Alder often fell asleep where he was sitting. In this situation, his high tempered Indian sister would halloo at him to arouse and get up, frequently striking him almost as soon as she uttered her orders. Of course he jumped up suddenly, well knowing if he failed to do so, his sister Sally would strike him with a stick across the head and shoulders. Upon the whole. he had but little peace while he lived with her. In fact, he became much disheartened under the severe treatment he was receiving. He says: "One day about two years after I went to live with Sally, one of the neighbor boys came to pay me a kind of visit. We were at this time scattered in the country, for the purpose of hunting. The boy was there most of the day. Sometime in the afternoon he asked me to walk around in the woods with him. I told him I dared not do so, if I did, Sally would whip me. He looked surprised and said, 'He hoped not.' I said, she would not let me go out of her sight. 'Well' said he, 'If she does, I will tell your mother. Let us go and see what she will do. and if she whips you I will tell the old woman.' I then told him how she treated me. We started off and wandered some three or four hundred yards from the camp. It was not long until I heard her calling me, and I answered, but she kept on calling until we got to camp. When she saw us coming she started to meet us with a large switch in her hand, and when she came up, caught hold of me, saying 'She would teach me how to stray off again.' She gave me the severest whipping I ever had - indeed she almost killed me! The Indian boy stood by amazed, but did not interfere or say one word in my behalf, but as soon as the whipping was over left for home. As he had promised he went over and told my mother how badly I was treated. The next morning very early, I was overjoyed to see my old mother coming and determined to tell her all, before Sally, not knowing that the Indian boy had told her about the manner in which I had been used. My old mother came in and made herself quite easy, and after some little chat told me I might go out, and play. In about two or three hours, she called me to the camp. When I came, I saw from the appearance of Sally, she had been crying. My mother came and kissed me, saying, 'You poor brave boy, I did not know how you were treated. You should have told your old mother, and she would have taken care of you. You shall now go home and stay with your old father and mother, and if you ever go away again, I will see you are treated well!' She picked up my bundle of clothes, which had been packed ready, and we started without speaking to Sally who sat with her head between her hands, crying all the time as if something terrible had happened. To say I was glad to get home, but poorly expressed my feelings. After we got home, mother made further apology for neglecting me so long. She said she did not know that I had been so badly used or she would have taken me away long before."
Young Alder continued to reside with his Indian mother and father during that fall and the following winters during which time only one incident worthy of special notice occurred. He says, "The Indians have some very singular notions about signs and often dream of things they believe are about to come to pass, of both good and evil. They always have some plan of escaping the evil or of possessing themselves of the good. These plans are either discovered while awake or in dreams. The flight of birds, the skin of fish, the entrails of game, and a thousand other things are used to interpret their dreams and tell them what to do. It was about the middle of winter, and we were camped about one hundred and fifty yards from the banks of Mad River. One night I was awakened about midnight by my father and told to get up because he had dreamed a very bad dream about me. He said he had dreamed that I was out in the woods, and a white bear got after me, and that after a long chase, it had overtaken and torn me to pieces. He said he feared something very bad was going to happen to me, if not prevented in some way, and he could not tell what the trouble would be but it would be very bad, and something must be done to prevent it. He requested me to take off my clothing, wrap a blanket around me, put on my moccasins, go down to the river, jump in and dive three times. This I thought would be rather a cold bath, but I made no objections, got ready and started, and when I reached the river, sat down, and shivered on the bank, a minute or so, dreading the operation, arose, stripped off my moccasins and blanket, ,jumped into the river and went under three times as quickly as I could. I then came up out of the water, drew on my moccasins, wrapped the blanket around me and started on a full run for the tent. This performance, to be effectual, had to be done alone, no one being present, and it took considerable resolution, for one of my age, to do as I had been requested. In my absence my father had built a big fire for me to warm by, and my mother had a clean suit of clothes hung around the fire warming for me to put on. She had also made the bed, and had blankets warming to wrap me in. As soon as I was dressed, she spread a warm blanket on the bed for me to lay on, and another over me. This performance lasted altogether, about one hour. I soon fell into a sound sleep and do not know that I ever slept better in my life. It is sufficient to say, no evil ever befell me, nor was I ever chased by a white bear.
Bathing is undoubtedly a healthy practice. My Indian father made it a rule to bathe summer and winter regularly, and he was decidedly a healthy man. One winter he kept a hole cut in the ice where he went regularly to bathe. I asked him one day to let me go with him to bathe. He took me along, and when we got to the place, opened the hole, stripped me and taking my hand, led me into the water up to my neck. He then lifted me up and helped me dress. I started on a run for the camp, and that was the last time I ever accompanied him to bathe in the winter."
In the spring he was placed with his Indian sister Mary, and her husband, the Chief, John Lewis, to live. It appears they were about as much too indulgent as Sally was severe and tyrannical. They had no children, and hence were very kind to him. Under any circumstances he would have fared better than with Sally. Of Mary, and John Lewis, he says, "He was a chief of great renown - wise in council, always having a great deal of company in his camp. As they frequently sat up late at night, I very often fell asleep just where I would be sitting or lying, and when I would wake up, find myself snugly put to bed, not knowing how I got there. At times I awoke while they were putting me in bed, and at such times heard them remark, 'Poor fellow, we have set up too long for him, and he has gone to sleep on the cold ground.' They handled me as tenderly as a mother would her own infant to prevent it from awakening. They warmed my blankets and spread them over me, tucking the edges close around my body to keep me warm. In fact they never seemed to weary in their kindness toward me, and it seemed a great pleasure to them to treat me kindly. The least accident or pain or suffering, on my part, was a source of regret and self-accusation on their part. They would say, 'It would not have happened had we been more careful, we will never allow it to happen again.' Then they would commence applying remedies for my bruised skin, cut finger or pain in my stomach, with as much care as if they expected the injury to be fatal! My bitter experiences and treatment with my sister Sally, made me love Mary and her husband, and try to please them in all things. Their acts of kindness are among my pleasantest memories.
I was now becoming fully naturalized to Indian habits and could have enjoyed myself very well, but was greatly afflicted with fever and ague. We were living principally along the Maumee and Mad River bottoms and on the head waters of the Scioto. The Indian name of the latter river was Scinutu, and being very hard to pronounce, the whites cut it short and called it Scioto. I continued to live with John Lewis and his wife until I was about thirteen years of age, at which time my Indian father came and took me home. To say I was sorry to leave the Chief, and Mary would but feebly express my feelings, yet I was glad to return home, for my Indian parents were as kind to me as they could be and I loved them as a child loves its own father and mother. My father said it was now time for me to begin to make something of myself and as he desired to make a hunter of me, it was time to begin, for I was no longer a squaw, and should be a brave man and a good hunter, as he was old, and he and my mother would have to depend principally on my efforts as a hunter for sustenance. He said I would not have to work any more in the patches and cornfield, but my only employment would be to hunt. As he was a chief, he drew from the British, a bag of powder and a keg of shot or rather musket balls every year. He had plenty of ammunition and gave me an old British musket and told me there was plenty of ammunition, to go and kill any live game I might see, no difference what. He gave me a good powder horn and shot pouch, and filled them with powder and balls, and started me out early one spring morning. At first I practiced shooting turtles. They crawled up on the rocks in the Maumee river to sun themselves. I learned to aim just under them, and with a musket ball, have sent them flying several feet in the air. I shot birds of all kinds, squirrels, coon, groundhogs, and sometimes I would get among the pigeons, and come home loaded with them, for which I received a great amount of praise from my father and mother. Indeed my mother used to boast to the other Indians, when visiting them, that I was a great hunter. Of course I felt very much flattered and encouraged, and each day tried to exceed the previous one. It was not long until I brought home a large fine turkey. That seemed to decide the whole matter with my father. He actually decided I was a hunter and a grand Council was held at his wigwam that evening, to settle the question of my becoming a good hunter. Before the summer was over, I killed a fine young buck, and the question of being a good hunter had to be settled again. It was determined I was not only going to be a good hunter, but was one already. My old father helped me bring in the deer meat, when a kind of feast was made, and the relatives and friends were all invited to partake of my venison, which was cooked and served up in the very best style. My mother, in particular, never seemed happier than when boasting of my exploits - what I had done or could do. In her eyes I was a great hero. Indeed all the company bestowed upon me praise and flattery. My sister Sally seemed very much downcast over the ill-treatment she had given me, and was silent, but all the rest spoke encouragingly. Of coarse, I could not feeling good, so I made it a point to treat Sally kindly, which at first made her seem very angry, but by-and-by she got over it, and praised and flattered me as much as the others. My sister Mary kissed and hugged me at least one hundred times. Hannah was not demonstrative, but none the less sincere in her flattering remarks. Between my father, John Lewis, Isaac Zane, and Sally's husband, it was sometimes a tussle to determine between whose knees I should sit and repeat my great deed of killing the buck! I really think I told the story fifty times that evening. The party broke up at a late hour, and I slept soundly over my laurels. No boy ever prized them higher than I did. I learned to handle my gun well, in fact, I never met with an accident. The next spring my father gave me a good rifle, and my business then was to be continuously in the woods in search of deer which was one of the staples. It became a very common thing for me to call on my father to help me bring in my game, a duty which he always performed with great pleasure. During the fall of that year, I killed several bears. I had a good opportunity to practice, as there was plenty of ammunition, and I had a good gun. In fact, everything was favorable for me to become a good hunter. Few boys my age had such opportunities, and in process of time I stood second to no Indian boy as hunter. My father was getting old and my success having been so much beyond his expectations, he in a short time, gave up the chase, and from that time forth, I was the hope and support of the old people. My father frequently talked to me about my success, and always remarked, that it was very lucky for him and my mother that I was not exchanged at the time we made the effort. He said 'The great Spirit had interfered, as his only son had been taken from him and had sent me to fill his place; that he had no doubt the Great Spirit intended I should remain with him and my old mother the rest of their life; that I would be their main support in their declining days, which were rapidly approaching.� My health was remarkably good at the time and I was gaining flesh and growing very fast, and began to feel that I was of some importance - almost a man, with a family on my hands. Save what we got from the British, I had to furnish all the necessities of life for myself and the two old people. We had many difficulties to encounter, and among others the whites came from time to time to make war on us. The attacks gave us a great amount of trouble; sometimes a number of Indians would be killed and sometimes the whites would be driven back with loss. A number of these little invasions were headed, as I afterwards learned by Simon Kenton. We were frequently compelled to run from him and his soldiers, and where often reduced to great distress, from the burning of our towns and the destruction of our winter provisions."
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