The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier

I was pleasantly surprised at how good this book is. Author Zesch has turned out what should become a minor classic of Texas and Western history.

"Captured" is about the experiences of nine White children captured by Comanches and Apaches from 1865 to 1871. The children lived among the Indians for up to 12 years. Several of them were members of the large German-speaking community which settled in the Texas Hill Country west of San Antonio.

As the author wryly notes the only career path for Comanche men was "warrior" and the author details many of the brutal battles between Comanche and Texan. There are massacres and atrocities and gore galore here, but also a bit of humor and humanity. White children captives were often treated kindly and adopted into the tribe. Despite being eyewitnesses to the murder of their families, several of the male captives profiled by Zesch came to prefer the wild and free life of a Comanche warrior to that of a Texas sodbuster. Most notably, Herman Lehmann was one of the last few Comanche holdouts to surrender to the Whites in 1878 and he was a willing and enthusiastic participant in many battles against White soldiers and raids on White communities. Zesch also details the inability of the freed captives to readjust to life as Whites. Most became alienated drifters and a few later rejoined the defeated Comanches on reservations in Oklahoma. Many also lived to ripe old ages.

There are many volumes of stories about Whites being taken captive by and living among the Indians. This is the best I have read. The author delves into reasons why so many White captives came to prefer living among Indians rather than returning to their own culture.

Smallchief

I usually like to "put in my two cents" with an Amazon review when there aren't any other reviews or when I disagree strongly with the other reviews. Why just "echo" what other people are saying, I figure? But, this book is so well-written and fascinatin' that I gotta write somethin'. This is one of those few books that you'll remember and think about for a long time to come.

I "read" this book using "Books on Tape" audio CD. (You can get this book on ONE Mp3 CD---very convenient to listen while you're in your car or waiting in line someplace)

I liked the book so much I just ordered my own hardcopy! Also, I ordered some of the "source books" mentioned in the narrative. Maybe I'll review those when I read 'em. As a result of reading this book, maybe sometime in the future I'll travel to "the hill country" of Texas and Fort Sill, Oklahoma to take a look see myself at where some of the events took place. This book is a "DaVinci Code" for people who love history and who appreciate a good story! Enjoy! Email:boland7214@aol.

Read "Crazy Horse" by Marshall, "Battle of Little Bighorn" by Philbrick and bumped into this one solely by accident-and loved it. Excellent read by an excellent writer. Dense material which author handles masterfully. Really gives the a reader some idea just how hardy these old settlers were-these people had an iron constitution that is barely recognizable today. Unexpected insight into "Stockholm Syndrome" and the rapid radicalization that can occur under "ideal" circumstances. Reminds me of a modern example, the 9/11 hijackers and their rapid radicalization as detailed in "The Perfect Soldiers"-also a great read.

Computers, flash drives, and Internet download capability permit today's authors amazing ease and accuracy in their writing. Still, it requires a writer to do months and sometimes years of research then sit before a keyboard and peck out twenty-six little letters of an alphabet into words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters and volumes that warrant a reader to occasion his or her valuable past time. Scott Zesch has done a remarkable job here with America's past. Anyone who reads The Captured cannot help but become connected to the captives in this book. Scott not only tells a riveting story, he does it with style in what might be called that ambiguous category known as creative non-fiction---truth which evolves as an expression that explores all possibilities, a release of imagination in a world that argues what realities really were.

This is a must read for every Western Historian, Writer, and serious reader, especially Texans. Highly recommended. Wayne Bethard, pharmacist, medical historian, author of Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs-Frontier Medicine in America.

The author manages to work some humor into this wonderful account of Indian captives on the Texas Frontier. Indians were noted for their generosity and this sometimes worked against them, even when they could have used the income. Zesch relates the story of one captive who wrote his life story many years later, but ended up giving away copies to almost everyone instead of making some money, which he sorely needed. There's a lot of sadness in this book, too. Many of the captives lived the remainder of their lives never quite living fully in either the white man or the Indian's world.

The author managed to squeeze in a little insight as to the behavior of captives such as adopting their ways and becoming "Indianized". However, this is a dull read and heavily footnoted. It would have been good for him to include more background on the tribes that kidnapped and terrorized the early settlers. Good descriptions of Indian attacks and their brutal behavior toward the adults.

A few years back, Scott Zesch was doing family history when he ran across a grave of a long-lost ancestor named Adolf Korn. Scott eventually learned that Adolf had been a captive of the Comanche Indians for several years as a boy. After being "rescued," he was always strange, and ended up living his life as a hermit in a cave.

Zesch expanded his research, and the result was "The Captured," a fascinating book about children captured by the Comanches, their experiences, and what became of them in later years. Zesch discovered that children younger than puberty tended to assimilate almost immediately; they forgot their native language (English or German) and even lost their attachment to their mothers. Zesch examines this heartbreaking psychology through his research into the lives of the individuals, which he relates in vivid detail.

"The Captured" is a thoughtful book that both sweeps you up in human drama and leaves you with a lot of things to think about.

Reviewer: Elizabeth Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis and Clark"

Great find! Many people have borrowed my copy of this book, and everyone has reviewed it favorably.

Two things really stood out:

1. This book is a must for anyone who has ever been immersed in a foreign culture. It is interesting to see that even under these circumstances, people returning home have great difficulties adjusting.

2. The settlers who attempted to bring their German homeland (through agriculture and permanent settlements) to the frontier brought a lot of hardship to their families. The Indians didn't have to live as hand to mouth, didn't starve, and didn't work as hard as they did. The fact that the settlers tried to plant their hamlets in the middle of the Texas frontier (rather than adjusting appropriately for the circumstances) seems absurd and hardly German pragmatic. Small wonder that the abducted children resented their birth families and typically didn't want to go home.

As a practicing genealogist I've known the difficulty and frustration Scott Zesch experienced in seeking information about his ancestor, Adolph Korn, who was abducted by an Indian raiding party in 1870 on the Texas frontier.

Finding information can be difficult even when those we seek led less dramatic lives. Adolph Korn not only survived but delighted in the rough, nomadic life of his Comanche captors. For three years he fought alongside them against settlers, buffalo hunters, soldiers and other enemies that threatened their lifestyle. And, when forced to return to his parents, he was unable to fit into white society and became an eccentric who spent his final years as a near recluse.

There have been captivity narrative books before including some by former captives. Zesch went beyond many of these in his quest, interviewing surviving relatives, digging into dusty archives and meeting with Comanche elders to gain a better understanding of tribal ways. He does not romanticize about the hardships of life on the frontier or that of the Native Americans.

While Zesch found scanty records to piece together his third great-uncle's life he did uncover a wealth of detail about other captives from the same area of Texas. What many readers will find surprising is that the majority of captives - even some who witnessed the brutal murder and rape of family and friends - came to sympathize with their captors and a few even went back to live out their lives with them.

This guy is a great writer. There is no boring history here. The style of his writing draws you in and you learn so much about a time that really hasn't been written about much. Loved it. I checked it out from the libary, but I'm purchasing one for my personal library.