Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison

Molly senses that a journey is being planned but does not know where. Shagbark explains to Molly that the “real home of the Senecas” is at Genesee Town, “by the Great Falling Waters” (210), and that the Senecas are one of the Haudenosaunee nations. Shagbark tells Molly that the two strange men that have arrived are Red Bird’s sons, and they are planning to return to their families in Genesee Town. They have tried to convince their mother and sisters to go with them, but the women have refused. However, the two sisters are planning to go on the journey as far as Fort Duquesne to obtain supplies and bring them back to Seneca Town. Molly agrees to accompany them.

At Fort Duquesne, the group arrives at the Indian trading-house. Squirrel Woman and Shining Star tell Molly to take Blue Jay and wait outside the trading-house. Molly wanders toward the fort entrance, and her curiosity compels her to enter it. She is keenly aware of the ways she has changed since she was last at the fort, and she wonders if, in the same amount of time, the peaches have ripened on the peach tree.

Molly is interrupted by a kind English man who takes her inside, where she is doted on by wealthy white women. Molly is overcome with a desire to “stay with the white people and be a white girl for the rest of her life” (226), but Squirrel Woman and Shining Star find her and take her back to the canoe.

To Molly’s surprise, the sisters do not paddle back to Seneca Town. Instead, they meet with their brothers. Molly learns that the English couple searched for her after their encounter, and she realizes that the Indian sisters have decided to move to Genesee Town to avoid them. Molly dreads the difficult journey ahead. 

In late fall, Molly arrives at “the great Falling Waters” (235), and the beauty of the falls comforts her. The next day, the group of travelers arrive at Genesee Town. Earth Woman cares for Molly, who is exhausted and ill from the journey. In Earth Woman’s quiet lodge, Molly rests and is treated with various traditional medicines. She is feverish and confused. In her confusion, she clings to the hope of leaving the Indians and returning home.

Molly learns that several others have made the journey from Seneca Town to Genesee Town: Shagbark, Red Bird, Swift Water, and Little Turtle. One day, Earth Woman makes Molly a corn-husk doll that Molly imagines to be a white woman.

Finally, Molly leaves her bed. Outside, she meets Beaver Girl and watches her make a clay cooking pot. Molly wants to make a pot, too, but Earth Woman explains that it is a long, difficult process and she should first observe Beaver Girl. Earth Woman is satisfied to see that the challenge of making a cooking pot has distracted Molly from her grief.

Molly regains her strength and eventually moves to Red Bird’s lodge. One day, Molly accompanies Earth Woman, along with a group of children, into the forest to collect hickory nuts and medicinal plants. Molly enjoys listening to Earth Woman’s stories, and Earth Woman encourages her to learn from the forest.

Molly, left alone, reflects on the way the Senecas relate to plants and animals, compared to white people, who often see them as “enemies to be destroyed or conquered” (264). She begins to feel homesick and remembers a time when she and her sister encountered a deer in the forest.  To Molly’s surprise, a deer comes close to where she is sitting, pauses briefly, and disappears.

Molly encounters another type of animal inside the trunk of the tree; the group of Seneca children join her and identify the animals as bear cubs. The children boast about taking a cub captive and killing the mother bear, upsetting Molly. The mother bear appears, and the children scatter, except for Molly and Chipmunk, who hide behind the tree.

The bears flee, and when Earth Woman returns the children tell her about the encounter. The Indian children are sad to have lost their “pets,” but Molly is happy that the cubs escaped before being made captives.