Edited by Ashley Barill
No sooner were we out of the House1, but my Brother in Law (being before wounded, in defending the house, in or near the throat) fell down dead, whereat the Indians scornfully shouted, and hallowed, and were presently upon him, stripping off his cloths, the bulletts flying thick, one went through my side, and the same (as would seem) through the bowels and hand of my dear Child in my arms. One of my elder Sisters2 Children, named William3, had then his Leg broken, which the Indians perceiving, they knocke him on [his] head. Thus were we butchered by those merciless Heathen4, standing amazed, with the blood running down to our heels. My eldest Sister being yet in the House, and seeing those wofull sights, the Infidels5 haling Mothers one way, and Children another, and some wallowing in their blood: and her elder Son telling her that her Son William was dead, and myself was wounded, she said, “And Lord, let me dy with them,” which was no sooner said, but she was struck with a Bullet, and fell down dead over the threshold. I hope she is reaping the fruit of her good labours, being faithfull to the service of God in her place. In her younger years she lay under much trouble upon spiritual accounts, till it pleased God to make that precious Scripture take hold of her heart, 2 Cor. 12.9. And he said unto me, my Grace is sufficient for thee (2 Corinthians 12.9)6. More than twenty years after, I have heard her tell how sweet and comfortable that place was to her, But to return: The Indians laid hold of us, pulling me on[e] way, and the Children another, and said, Come go along with us; I told them they would kill me: they answered, If I were willing to go along with them, they would not hurt me.
“It is a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood, some here, and some there, like a company of Sheep torn by Wolves.”
Oh the dolefull [doleful]7 sight that now was to behold at this House! Come, behold the works of the Lord, what disssolations [desolations] he has made in the Earth. Of thirty seven pesons who were in this one House, none escaped either present death, or a bitter captivity, save only one, who might say as he, Job 1.15. And I only am escaped alone to tell the News” (Job 1.15)8. There were twelve killed, some shot, some stab’d with their Spears, some knock’d down with their Hatchets. When we are in prosperity, Oh the little that we think of such dreadfull sights, and to see our dear Friends, and Relations9 ly bleeding out their heart-blood upon the ground. There was one who was chopt into the head with a Hatchet, and stript naked, and yet was crawling up and down. It is a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood, some here, and 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 out10.; 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 choose rather to be killed by them than taken alive, but when it came to the tryal [trial] 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, I shall particularly speak of the severall removes we had up and down the Wilderness.
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Works Cited
Brundage, William Fitzhugh. “This Conversation About American Torture is 400 Years Old.” aeon.co, https://aeon.co/essays/the-conversation-about-american-torture-is-400-years-old. Accessed October 29, 2020.
Ellis, George W.; Morris, John E, and ProQuest (Firm). King Philip’s War. Digital Scanning, Scituate, Mass, 2001. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/viu/detail.action?docID=3151969. Accessed October 29, 2020.
OED Online, Oxford Univerity Press, September 2020. Accessed October 28 2020.
Rowlandson, Mary White. The Soveraignty & Goodness of God. E-Book, Internet Archive, 1682. https://archive.org/details/soveraigntygoodn00rowl/page/n11/mode/2up. Accessed October 28 2020.
Capitalization, punctutation, italicized words and spelling have been retained from the 1682 edition of Rowlandson’s narrative to preserve the accuracy of the account by the author. ↩
Mrs. Elizabeth Kerley was Rowlandson’s older sister – Ellis p.173. ↩
William, 17, and his little brother Joseph, 7, were killed along with their mother during the attack – Ellis p. 173. ↩
A term to describe someone of the “unenlightened” faiths, not of the Christian, Jewish, or Muslim faiths – OED ↩
This term is described as “One who does not believe in (what the speaker holds to be) the true religion; an ‘unbeliever’.” – OED ↩
This verse comes from the story of Paul in the bible when God saw that Paul was going to become prideful of the revelations God had given him, God gave Paul a “thorn” in his flesh and subjected him to specific sufferings in order to show that His grace was sufficient enough. ↩
This term could have been used to describe someone ‘crafty’ or ‘malicious’, but in this context, it appears to mean “[f]ull of or attended with dole or grief; sorrowful” – OED. ↩
This passage comes from the story of Job in the bible and how his servants were attacked by the Sabeans, how they only left one servant alive to tell Job. ↩
This is a term most likely used for relatives. ↩
It is unclear whether there is evidence of Indigenous people participating in this kind of torture. Rowlandson’s fear of her heart being torn out could have simply been an exaggeration, as William Fitzhugh Brundage points out that “[w]herever Indians along the eastern seaboard of North America practised torture, they did so according to conventions as coherent as any that regulated it in Europe. Europeans generally failed to understand this.” –Brundage. ↩