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

By Scott Zesch

Book Overview

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 paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier, offering a rare account ofcaptivity.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312317875
• ISBN13: 9780312317874
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.3" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Indian Kidnappings of Whites

The people who were kidnapped have an interesting story of American Indian family and tribe life. How these children survived, thrived and were returned to their families. Very interesting follow up about their lives after rescue. How these incidents permanently changed their lives.

Great read. Very well-written and researched documentary on the 19th century Indian depredations ac

Very well-written and researched documentary on the 19th century Indian depredations on the Texas Plains. Highly recommended.

Non Native assimilation

It says a lot that most, if not all whites, who were captured by North American Indians, came to like the lifestyle and resented being re-captured.

Riveting - manages to be fascinating, funny, & sad

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.