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

4.5 | 1,765 ratings

Price: 1.99

Last update: 06-12-2024

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On New Year's Day in 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by an Apache raiding party. Traded to Comaches, he thrived in the rough, nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe's fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years in a cave, all but forgotten by his family.

That is, until Scott Zesch stumbled over his own great-great-great uncle's grave. Determined to understand how such a "good boy" could have become Indianized so completely, Zesch travels across the west, digging through archives, speaking with Comanche elders, and tracking eight other child captives from the region with hauntingly similar experiences. With a historians rigor and a novelists eye, Zesch's The Captured paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier, offering a rare account of captivity.

"A carefully written, well-researched contribution to Western history -- and to a promising new genre: the anthropology of the stolen." - Kirkus Reviews

lopowell

A very good read

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2017

Scott Zesch does a very good job of telling the story of children who were captured by Indians on the Texas frontier during the 1870s. He has a very comfortable writing style and I was drawn into his story telling from the beginning. His book is well documented and the research is evident, but does not get in the way of the narrative. Zesch' journey is driven by two factors, his search for information about his ancestor, Adolph Korn, who was captured by the Apaches and later traded to the Comanches. And his quest to discover why, almost without exception, the captives who were later "rescued" and returned to their families, were never really able to adjust to their former life among their white families and community. Both of these motivations give Zesch's story A compelling invitation to travel with him as he seeks his answers. I throughly enjoyed the trip.

Sue Repasky

Solid history but also a great yarn

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2017

This fascinating chapter from Texas history tells the story of children who were captured by Comanche and Apache Indians in the years mainly following the Civil War. The book often reads like a memoir but is actually an extremely well-researched history of the captives. Most of these children witnessed the brutal killing of other, older whites (in some cases their own mothers, who were sometimes raped and tortured before their deaths), yet went on to feel like family members to their captors. Many did not wish to return to their white families when saved and had a hard time adjusting back into the rigid ways of the whites. This book is a superb history of their travails, but also a great read. I highly recommend it.

Paula

Very good book, rich in Indian history

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2019

Good book about the abduction of White children by the different Indian tribes. It seems the children that were rescued less than a year with the Indian, were able to adjust back to the ways of their families. The ones who spent more than a year with the Indian had a very hard time adjusting back to the white ways and some went back to the Indian tribe to live. The ones who were Indianized were never able to fully grasp the white way of life again and always lived a lot of their life the Indian way, in a white world, which at times caused conflict. The Indians adopted the children into their tribe and taught them the ways of the tribe and due to the different lifestyle of the Indians some didn't want to go back as the way of a farmer's child was work hard from Sun up to sundown and the Indian boys got to hunt, fish, rice and break horses, foam the prairie, etc. After being rescued, against their will, some would go back k to live with the Indians or at least go back and visit regularly. This was a really good book and a different perspective of the captured children, told.by the children, that I found really interesting. A really great historical read.

Western Fan

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

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2011

This is a well written, historical account of white children captured by Indians in the mid-1880s and what happended to them. Most of the captured in the book eventually were returned to the white community after spending many months in captivity. It is very interesting to read how they were assemilated into Indian culture and about their attempts to return to their former lives in the white community. The story line is tied to major events taking place in the United States relative to westward expansion and illustrates the issues the Indians and whites faced. I live in the area where much of the action takes place in Texas Hill Country, and I grew up in Southwestern Oklahoma where many other key events are recorded in the book. I found the book very enlightning and also entertaining something written as a historical account. Well done! I am now finishing the book: Empire of the Summer Moon, which expands on the theme of The Captured and focuses on one captured white who became the mother of the famous Comanche warrior: Quanah Parker. This book is also highly recommended to those who have an interest in Native Americans of the Southwest and their history.

Gloria E.

The Captured by Scott Zesch

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2013

"A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier." Zesch tells the story of several persons who were abducted by the Indians (Native Americans). In the 1800s, many children, most of them white children, were taken by the Plains Indians and adopted into the tribes. When attempts to rescue them came, many resisted. They preferred the Indian way of life and found it very difficult in returning to the world from which they had been taken. Many remained loyal to their Indian family; Many continuously attempted to return to them. The book is interesting and informative but I must say that toward the end, it became a tedious read.

John Berry

The Shame of Not Knowing Native American History

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2012

The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier
I just happened to notice this book when it was recommended by Amazon as something I might like. In this case they couldn't have been more correct. I have read several perspectives on the American Indian and each an every book I have read left me feeling a little lacking in knowledge. To that extent, this book left me feeling the same way. However, Scott Zesch did an excellent job of explaining why there is so little written history of the American Indian. Even with his own family, very little knowledge had been passed down from the previous generation. In his search to learn more, perhaps he learned why his family didn't have more knowledge. It wasn't because they were not interested, it just wasn't talked about. I found this book fascinating and a very good read. The author did an excellent job with his research and told the story very well. It is interesting to read how quickly the captive assimilated into the tribe and how the American Indian had learned which age groups were most suitable to assimilation. This book is truly enjoyable and I do recommend the read.

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

About this item

Top reviews from the United States

Best Sellers in

Every Move You Make: THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER. A new gripping psychological thriller for 2024 from the Sunday Times and mult

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