John Demos' The Unredeemed Captive: The Story Behind the Book

The "Unredeemed" Captive," John William's account of Indian "kidnapping" was not an unusual story in itself. Wars and other conflicts of the sort often landed several colonists in the hands of Native Americans. However, the key characteristic that holds John William's particular account apart from others is its focus on Puritan faith and its clash with the captor's traditions. John Williams, or precisely Reverend John Williams, was an important figure in his town of Deerfield, Massachusetts. When his flesh and blood daughter Eunice was captured, the English colonies as a whole were disconcerted and prayed for her to be "redeemed." Webster's defines redeemed in this context as "to free from what distresses or harms" (Webster). This definition does not quite fit Eunice's position as it unfolds later. The aspect of distress or harm seem completely absent from her situation, yet the Puritans still demand redemption. In either case several attempts were made to retrieve Eunice Williams from the "clutches" of the Indians. Although, it soon became apparent to John Williams as well as other New Englanders that Eunice's feelings toward being redeemed were quite different then their own.

The records of the events which processed during this period are quite vague. Nonetheless an approximate account of the proceedings which unfolded can be pieced together to get a general synopsis of the story. The cause of all this turmoil seems to stem from a French "privateer" who had been imprisoned in the English colonies. French officials wished to liberate this itinerant privateer for his marvelous reputation of looting and pillaging the English. The French knew that this endeavor would not be one of great ease. They would need a valuable commodity to exchange for one who had caused such mayhem for the English. They decided to capture Reverend John Williams and offer him in exchange for their French partisan. This would be an arduous task, and to procure an easier method they enlisted the aid of the local Native Americans.