The Unredeemed Captive
Bridging the Colonial Wilderness Barrier
John Sousa
History 131W
Linda Meditz
October 10, 2007
From the perspective of a twenty-one year old college student in the twenty first century, it is hard to relate to the colonist's of the 16 and 1700's. Crossing the frontier was a necessary task for these colonists to begin new lives in New England. The only way to tap into this same theme is through placing one's self in the wilderness, both physically and mentally, and peering out to the other side. As a class we were able to accomplish this by visiting the Buttolph-Williams House of Old Wethersfield and look upon this house through the cover of trees, just as these earlier settlers and Native Americans had done. The story of Eunice Williams is a wonderful example of the reciprocal theme of embracing the wilderness, by personal choice alone. In The Unredeemed Captive by John Demos, we hear the story of the raid upon Deerfield in 1704 and the significance of not only the torturous trek these captives endured, but the willingness for one child, Eunice Williams, to attach herself to these Native Americans captures and to embrace life in the wilderness. The wilderness' is very often perceived as a dark, unpredictable, untamed environment. The main goal of the early English settlers was to tame' the wilderness, to leave any remnants of home, any shelter associated with home, and start anew. These early English settlers were not outdoorsmen' by nature. The wilderness became a place of fear, the unknown. Back in England, homes, communities, places of worship, were all built to create that separation from the wilderness. Structures were barriers to the wilderness and evidence of how the English had become a civilized people. These ideas bled through to the colonial settlers. They had left all these physical barriers against the wilderness, and were forced to cope with life on the other side. To the Indians, the dark, unpredictable and untamed
John Sousa
History 131W
Linda Meditz
October 10, 2007
From the perspective of a twenty-one year old college student in the twenty first century, it is hard to relate to the colonist's of the 16 and 1700's. Crossing the frontier was a necessary task for these colonists to begin new lives in New England. The only way to tap into this same theme is through placing one's self in the wilderness, both physically and mentally, and peering out to the other side. As a class we were able to accomplish this by visiting the Buttolph-Williams House of Old Wethersfield and look upon this house through the cover of trees, just as these earlier settlers and Native Americans had done. The story of Eunice Williams is a wonderful example of the reciprocal theme of embracing the wilderness, by personal choice alone. In The Unredeemed Captive by John Demos, we hear the story of the raid upon Deerfield in 1704 and the significance of not only the torturous trek these captives endured, but the willingness for one child, Eunice Williams, to attach herself to these Native Americans captures and to embrace life in the wilderness. The wilderness' is very often perceived as a dark, unpredictable, untamed environment. The main goal of the early English settlers was to tame' the wilderness, to leave any remnants of home, any shelter associated with home, and start anew. These early English settlers were not outdoorsmen' by nature. The wilderness became a place of fear, the unknown. Back in England, homes, communities, places of worship, were all built to create that separation from the wilderness. Structures were barriers to the wilderness and evidence of how the English had become a civilized people. These ideas bled through to the colonial settlers. They had left all these physical barriers against the wilderness, and were forced to cope with life on the other side. To the Indians, the dark, unpredictable and untamed