True tale of survival from the western frontier

Woodtroll

Woodtroll

Joined
Oct 15, 2001
Messages
193
Folks,

I'm a long time member/lurker but infrequent poster here, but the book threads that have been up recently made me think of a story and a book recommendation that y'all may enjoy.

Along with several other folks, Mary Draper Ingles was captured by the Shawnee Indians in 1755. The site was Draper's Meadow, the first settlement west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the current site of Virginia Tech (yes, THE Virginia Tech:() in Blacksburg, VA. Carried by the Indians along the New and Kanawha rivers to and then down the Ohio River, Mary made her escape with another female captive and returned 800 miles to her husband in the chill of late fall. What the two did to survive was remarkable- Draper's companion even tried to resort to cannibalism at one point. That they both DID survive is even more remarkable. This story is relatively well documented by several sources, considering the time period it occured in.

Here is a link to a short version of the story:
http://www.wvculture.org/history/notewv/ingles1.html

James Alexander Thom, who writes what I guess could be termed "historical fiction" and is well respected for the amount of research he puts into his writing, chose Mary's story as the basis of one of his books, Follow the River. Folks, I highly recommend this book for anyone who has a true survival-at-all-costs mentality. I also recommend it because I know this one is well researched, as Thom walked the entire route himself, and describes places that I easily recognize, since the beginning and end of the story takes place in the mountains of my home. You see, "us Easterners" were once truly the western frontier, "the far blue mountains", and there is a wealth of history here.

For y'all in the midwest, Thom also wrote a book called Long Knife, which is the story of George Rogers Clark, and vividly describes the march to take Vincennes a little later during the First War for Independence. That is another story of determination and survival worth reading!

I feel I seldom have much worthy of contributing here, but honestly think that some of you folks who appreciate history and reading will enjoy these stories.

Y'all take care!
Regan
 
Interesting story!

I take it that the "Second War for Independence" would refer to the one sometimes known as the "War of Northern Aggression"?:D

Thanks,

DancesWithKnives
 
Woodtroll - I think you have a lot more to contribute than you think you do. Great topical post on a subject that is of great interest to all of us in W&S. Don't hesitate to post again!
 
Woodtroll,

Thanks for the info, I cannot wait to read about the Ingles survival saga.

There is so much in US History that far surpasses the greatest stories of fiction our media has created in the past two decades.

And the rub is that most major motion pictures based on US historic tales of conflict and victory are huge successes: Patriot, Last of the Mohicans, Amistad, Gods and Generals, Gettysburg, Private Ryan, Ride with the Devil, Cold Mountain, etc.

But what do I know; I go to the movies twice per year. No Netflix at my house, either. Not out of protest; simply because there is rarely anything worth giving up two precious hours over.

To segue back to George Rogers Clark: I think the French and Indian war is a fascinating study, as it was men fighting over the potential for wilderness to become tamed land.

Also, the skirmishes were often quite small; most at the size of the modern line company and smaller. If one was a Battalion XO, he could teach his young officers and SNCO's a great deal with these examples.
 
Hey WoodTroll, thanks for the suggestions, I'm going to check these out.

If you're interested in this time period in our history and the "first wilderness" area you might enjoy books by Allan W.Eckert..."The Frontiersman" is a good one to start with, then some of the others proceed as the need & greed for land expands from the coastal areas. He also is know for extensive research that he weaves into great novels based on real facts and people but is much more interesting to read than pure documentation.
 
Thanks for the replies, friends. Stickman, I've read one of Eckert's books (The Wilderness War), but it's been a while. You've reminded me to look for others!

Y'all take care,
Regan
 
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