The soveraignty and goodness of God, together, with the
faithfulness of his promises displayed; being a narrative of the captivity and
restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
By
Mary Rowlandson
Transcription, correction, editorial commentary, and markup by faculty, librarians, and students at the University of Virginia,
notably, Rachel Retica
[TP]
THE Soveraignty &; Goodness
OF
GOD,
Together,
With the Faithfulness of His Promises
Displayed;
Being a
NARRATIVE
Of the Captivity and Restauration of
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.headnote
headnote Mary Rowlandson’s gripping account of her experience as a captive of native Americans was enormously popular in her own time and became widely influential as the paradigm for the “captivity narrative,” a genre that would have hundreds of examples over the next two centuries and would also help shape works like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. The book was originally printed in 1682, first in Massachusetts and then, quickly, in London as well, and was reprinted over and over again for the next century and more. For good reason. Rowlandson’s work taps into colonial fears about the indigenous population, Puritan conceptions of the relationship between the material world and the unseen world of the divine, and the perennial fears of all patriarchal cultures about women’s sexuality. Her experience is compelling and she writes vividly about it. Rowlandson was born Mary White in England in around 1637, and her family moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony when she was in her early teens. She married Joseph Rowlandson, a Puritan minister, in the 1650s, and they moved to Lancaster, in central Massachusetts, which was then essentially frontier territory for the English colonial settlers. In 1675, the native American leader Metacomet, head of the Wampanoag confederation of indigeneous peoples, led a series of attacks on English settlements. The conflict that followed for the next three years is remembered by English-speaking historians as “Prince Philip’s War,” because “Philip” was the name that the English settlers used for Metacomet. Metacomet’s forces attacked Lancaster on the morning of February 11, 1675, killing thirteen people, including Rowlandson’s sister and her sister’s children, as well as her brother-in-law. The natives took twenty-four English settlers prisoner, including Rowlandson and her three children. (Rowlandson’s husband Joseph was at this moment in Boston, trying to secure appropriations from the Massachusetts legislature to strengthen Lancashire’s defenses against the Wampanoag.) Rowlandson’s six-year-old daughter Sarah died of wounds suffered in the fight. Mary and her surviving children were held captive for eleven weeks, where they were moved progressively further away from the colonial settlements, into what is now the state of Vermont. She was eventually ransomed with funds raised by women in Boston. Joseph Rowlandson died in 1678, and Mary moved with her children to Boston. She remarried there, and published the first edition of her Narrative with the Cambridge, Massachusetts printer Samuel Greene. This version was entitled The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed, being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. It included a preface that was probably written by Increase Mather, the leading Puritan minister in the colonies at the time, and also the author of a narrative account of the war with Metacomet, A Brief History of the War with the Indians, in New-England, published in Boston in 1676. The first London edition of Rowlandson’s more personal account, printed in 1682, came out under the title A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The fact that this book was printed three times in a single year on both sides of the Atlantic attests to its significance among the settler-colonists of North America and those in England who were interested in their experience. It also, however, reminds us of the partial and one-sided nature of this account; it is largely because Rowlandson, as a high-ranking woman in the colonial heirarchy, had access to publication that her story was recorded in this way. The native peoples who allied against the colonists preserved their version of the conflict in oral accounts that were, at best, fragmented in the course of the progressive destruction of their culture over the next years and decades. We have much still to learn and understand about the often-violent encounters in this period between European settler-colonists and the indigenous peoples of the land that still typically goes--strangely, if you think about it for a moment--by the name "New England." - [JOB] Commended by her, to all that desires to
know the Lords doings to, and
dealings with Her.
Especially to her dear Children and Relations,
The second Addition Corrected and amended.
Written by Her own Hand for Her private Use, and now
made Publick at the earnest Desire of some Friends,
and for the benefit of the Afflicted.
Deut. 32.29 See now that I, even I am he, and there is no
God with me: I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal
neither is there any can deliver out of my hand.
CAMBRIDGE:
Printed by Samuel Green, 1682
OF
GOD,
Together,
With the Faithfulness of His Promises
Displayed;
Being a
NARRATIVE
Of the Captivity and Restauration of
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.headnote
headnote Mary Rowlandson’s gripping account of her experience as a captive of native Americans was enormously popular in her own time and became widely influential as the paradigm for the “captivity narrative,” a genre that would have hundreds of examples over the next two centuries and would also help shape works like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. The book was originally printed in 1682, first in Massachusetts and then, quickly, in London as well, and was reprinted over and over again for the next century and more. For good reason. Rowlandson’s work taps into colonial fears about the indigenous population, Puritan conceptions of the relationship between the material world and the unseen world of the divine, and the perennial fears of all patriarchal cultures about women’s sexuality. Her experience is compelling and she writes vividly about it. Rowlandson was born Mary White in England in around 1637, and her family moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony when she was in her early teens. She married Joseph Rowlandson, a Puritan minister, in the 1650s, and they moved to Lancaster, in central Massachusetts, which was then essentially frontier territory for the English colonial settlers. In 1675, the native American leader Metacomet, head of the Wampanoag confederation of indigeneous peoples, led a series of attacks on English settlements. The conflict that followed for the next three years is remembered by English-speaking historians as “Prince Philip’s War,” because “Philip” was the name that the English settlers used for Metacomet. Metacomet’s forces attacked Lancaster on the morning of February 11, 1675, killing thirteen people, including Rowlandson’s sister and her sister’s children, as well as her brother-in-law. The natives took twenty-four English settlers prisoner, including Rowlandson and her three children. (Rowlandson’s husband Joseph was at this moment in Boston, trying to secure appropriations from the Massachusetts legislature to strengthen Lancashire’s defenses against the Wampanoag.) Rowlandson’s six-year-old daughter Sarah died of wounds suffered in the fight. Mary and her surviving children were held captive for eleven weeks, where they were moved progressively further away from the colonial settlements, into what is now the state of Vermont. She was eventually ransomed with funds raised by women in Boston. Joseph Rowlandson died in 1678, and Mary moved with her children to Boston. She remarried there, and published the first edition of her Narrative with the Cambridge, Massachusetts printer Samuel Greene. This version was entitled The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed, being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. It included a preface that was probably written by Increase Mather, the leading Puritan minister in the colonies at the time, and also the author of a narrative account of the war with Metacomet, A Brief History of the War with the Indians, in New-England, published in Boston in 1676. The first London edition of Rowlandson’s more personal account, printed in 1682, came out under the title A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The fact that this book was printed three times in a single year on both sides of the Atlantic attests to its significance among the settler-colonists of North America and those in England who were interested in their experience. It also, however, reminds us of the partial and one-sided nature of this account; it is largely because Rowlandson, as a high-ranking woman in the colonial heirarchy, had access to publication that her story was recorded in this way. The native peoples who allied against the colonists preserved their version of the conflict in oral accounts that were, at best, fragmented in the course of the progressive destruction of their culture over the next years and decades. We have much still to learn and understand about the often-violent encounters in this period between European settler-colonists and the indigenous peoples of the land that still typically goes--strangely, if you think about it for a moment--by the name "New England." - [JOB] Commended by her, to all that desires to
know the Lords doings to, and
dealings with Her.
Especially to her dear Children and Relations,
The second Addition Corrected and amended.
Written by Her own Hand for Her private Use, and now
made Publick at the earnest Desire of some Friends,
and for the benefit of the Afflicted.
Deut. 32.29 See now that I, even I am he, and there is no
God with me: I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal
neither is there any can deliver out of my hand.
CAMBRIDGE:
Printed by Samuel Green, 1682
Footnotes
headnote Mary Rowlandson’s gripping account of her
experience as a captive of native Americans was enormously popular
in her own time and became widely influential as the paradigm for
the “captivity narrative,” a genre that would have hundreds of
examples over the next two centuries and would also help shape works
like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. The book
was originally printed in 1682, first in Massachusetts and then,
quickly, in London as well, and was reprinted over and over again
for the next century and more. For good reason. Rowlandson’s work
taps into colonial fears about the indigenous population, Puritan
conceptions of the relationship between the material world and the
unseen world of the divine, and the perennial fears of all
patriarchal cultures about women’s sexuality. Her experience is
compelling and she writes vividly about it.
Rowlandson was born Mary White in England in around 1637, and her
family moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony when she was in her
early teens. She married Joseph Rowlandson, a Puritan minister, in
the 1650s, and they moved to Lancaster, in central Massachusetts,
which was then essentially frontier territory for the English
colonial settlers. In 1675, the native American leader Metacomet,
head of the Wampanoag confederation of indigeneous peoples, led a
series of attacks on English settlements. The conflict that followed
for the next three years is remembered by English-speaking
historians as “Prince Philip’s War,” because “Philip” was the name
that the English settlers used for Metacomet. Metacomet’s forces
attacked Lancaster on the morning of February 11, 1675, killing
thirteen people, including Rowlandson’s sister and her sister’s
children, as well as her brother-in-law. The natives took
twenty-four English settlers prisoner, including Rowlandson and her
three children. (Rowlandson’s husband Joseph was at this moment in
Boston, trying to secure appropriations from the Massachusetts
legislature to strengthen Lancashire’s defenses against the
Wampanoag.) Rowlandson’s six-year-old daughter Sarah died of wounds
suffered in the fight. Mary and her surviving children were held
captive for eleven weeks, where they were moved progressively
further away from the colonial settlements, into what is now the
state of Vermont. She was eventually ransomed with funds raised by
women in Boston.
Joseph Rowlandson died in 1678, and Mary moved with her children to
Boston. She remarried there, and published the first edition of her
Narrative with the Cambridge,
Massachusetts printer Samuel Greene. This version was entitled The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, together with
the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed, being a Narrative of
the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. It
included a preface that was probably written by Increase Mather, the
leading Puritan minister in the colonies at the time, and also the
author of a narrative account of the war with Metacomet, A Brief History of the War with the Indians, in
New-England, published in Boston in 1676. The first London
edition of Rowlandson’s more personal account, printed in 1682, came
out under the title A True History of the
Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The fact
that this book was printed three times in a single year on both
sides of the Atlantic attests to its significance among the
settler-colonists of North America and those in England who were
interested in their experience. It also, however, reminds us of the
partial and one-sided nature of this account; it is largely because
Rowlandson, as a high-ranking woman in the colonial heirarchy, had
access to publication that her story was recorded in this way. The
native peoples who allied against the colonists preserved their
version of the conflict in oral accounts that were, at best,
fragmented in the course of the progressive destruction of their
culture over the next years and decades. We have much still to learn
and understand about the often-violent encounters in this period
between European settler-colonists and the indigenous peoples of the
land that still typically goes--strangely, if you think about it for
a moment--by the name "New England."
preface_
Increase Mather (1639-1723), a Puritan minister, is widely considered to be
the author of this preface. He was active in soliciting and collecting
accounts of what English-speakers referred to as “King Philip’s War,”
including his own “A Brief History of the Warr with the Indians in New
England.” Mather also collected essays on miracles and illustrations of
divine providence among New Englanders. It is likely that he encouraged
Rowlandson to publish this account of her experience.
Tuesday
Rowlandson followed the Julian calendar for her dates. In the Georgian
calendar, this would be February 1st, 1676. The same is true for the years
given throughout the narrative.
Narrhagansets Archeological evidence indicates that ancestors of
the Narragansett people lived along what is now the southern New England
coast for thousands of years. At their greatest extent, the tribe controlled
most of what is now Rhode Island. In “King Philip’s War,” as the
English-speakers termed it, the Narragansetts initially tried to stay
neutral. They entered the conflict after the English attacked a large
Narragansett and Wampanoag fortification in December of 1675. The war was
possibly one of the bloodiest in American history; the Narragansetts were
decimated, and the end of the war marked the end of most of their resistance
to English settlement in Southern New England.
Nipmug
The Nipmuc nation once controlled a large territory in central
Massachusetts. The town of Lancaster, where the Rowlandsons lived, was
located in the Nipmuc territory of “Nashaway.” In “King Philip’s war,” the
Nipmucs joined the Wampanoags and Narragansetts to combat the spreading
influence of English settlers. In 1676, in a series of raids that included
Lancaster, they forced the colonists to abandon the settlements on Nipmuc
land. The English tried to settle again in 1701, abandoned the area a second
time, and in a third attempt in 1713, formed a permanent settlement of what
is now Worcester County. Nipmucs continue to live in and around Worcester
today.
Thurseday Forces made up of Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Nipmuc
men attacked Lancaster on the morning of February 10th, 1676. They set fire
to the town’s bridge and many homes, including the Rowlandson’s. The
attackers secured food and supplies for the winter and took twenty-four
captives, including Rowlandson and her three children. Lancaster was mostly
abandoned after the raid.
known The English had been warned of plans to attack
Lancaster by James Quannapohit and Job Kattenanit, two Nipmuc men reportedly
converted to Christianity by Daniel Gookin. Even with this advance
information, the English did not garrison the town quickly or effectively
enough to counter the attack. Daniel Gookin went on to write an account of
his efforts to convert native peoples in his “An historical account of the
doings and sufferings of the Christian Indians in New England in the years
1675, 1676, 1677.”
Lepers
Luke 17:11-10.
vow See
Ecclesiastes 5:5-12.
Job See Job
9:12.
Sampson
See Judges 14:14.
Psalm_46 See Psalm 46:8-10.
Beats
beasts
Remove
Rowlandson tells her story in a series of removals, or “removes,”
that mark changes to her location as the raiding party traveled across
New England. Lisa Brooks, professor of English and American Studies at
Amherst College and the author of Our Beloved Kin: New
History of King Philip's War created an interactive map of
their movements as part of that project that is available here.
Rowlandson tells her story in a series of removals, or “removes,”
that mark changes to her location as the raiding party traveled across
New England. Lisa Brooks, professor of English and American Studies at
Amherst College and the author of Our Beloved Kin: New
History of King Philip's War created an interactive map of
their movements as part of that project that is available here.
Lancaster Rowlandson is referring to an attack on Lancaster
in August of 1675 that left seven colonists dead. The attack is thought
to have been led by the Nipmuc sachem Monoco, who the Anglo-Americans
referred to as “One-Eye’d John.”
Marlborough Suspicion for the Lancaster attack also fell on
the “Praying Indians” (Indians who had converted to Christianity and
allied with the colonists) of whom there was a large community in nearby
Marlborough. This was one of many “Christian Indian” communities in the
Bay Colony at the time. At the beginning of the war, their men were
recruited to fight for the colonists; already by this time, however,
fear that their true loyalties lay with the other side led Bay colony
officials to remove them from service and to form five “praying towns”
at a greater distance from English settlers. Later, fears that even
these plantations were too close to colonists’ homes resulted in a
further removal to Deer Island, where hundreds of the interned
inhabitants died in the harsh winter that followed.
Moseley Captain Moseley was an infamous military figure
who earned his fame by fighting pirates on the New England coast. In
August 1675, he arrived in Marlborough. Based on controversial evidence,
Moseley accused fifteen of the “Praying Indians” of the Lancaster
attack. He took the accused to Boston to parade them through the
streets, “pinioned and fastened with lines from neck to neck” as Daniel
Gookin wrote. Gookin thought that the affair marked "a foundation and
beginning of much trouble, that befell both the English and the Indians
afterward."
Wenimesset Menimiset was an important Nipmuc refuge and
gathering place along the Ware River. It had operated as a sanctuary for
councils since the beginning of the war, and marked the first “Indian
Town” that Rowlandson encountered. She was surprised at how many people
lived there.
Pepper Robert Pepper was captured on September 4th, 1675, when Captain Beers
and a group of 36 colonists were ambushed on their way to reinforce the
garrison in Northfield, Massachusetts. Beers and many of his soldiers
were killed in the conflict.
Philip Wampanoag leader Metacom, called “King Philip” by the English
settlers.
Job See
Job 16:2.
Quanopin Quanopin, or Quanopen, was a Narragansett leader.
He had three wives, one of whom, Weetamoo (or Weetamoe) was Metacom's
brother-in-law and herself a sachem of the Pocasset Wampanoag.
Rowlandson was sold to Quanopin by the Narragansett man who had first
captured her.
Saggamore Like “Sachem,” “Sagamore” is an anglicization of
the Indigenous term for a tribal leader. The word can be used to denote:
1. the leader of a regional tribe or 2. the leader of a confederation of
tribes.
Genesis See Genesis 42:36.
outragiousRowlandson means something like “full of
rage.”
Jehu
Like Jesus
Bacquaug Paquaug River, now called Miller's River. If it
refers to the river, “Paquaug” may translate to “clear water.” The word
may also refer to the town, Athol, near where the travelers were likely
to have crossed. Athol was originally called Pequiog or Pequoiag
(“cleared land”) by Nipmuc inhabitants.
Papooses Now generally regarded as an offensive term,
“papoose” is a borrowing from Algonquin to describe a young North
American indigenous child. In more recent use, it can also refer to
cloth baby carriers that wrap around the torso.
Squaws Now generally regarded as an offensive term, “squaw” refers to a North
American indigenous woman or wife. The term has a split history: as it
derives from the Mohawk language, adapted by French and Canadian
settlers, it was always offensive. As it derives from the Algonquin,
“squaw” was originally a neutral term that took on racist connotations
through its Anglo-American usage through the eighteenth century and
afterwards.
Lot In
the Old Testament, as Lot and his family fled their burning cities,
Lot’s wife looked back. They had been warned not to do so and she was
turned into a pillar of salt. In Luke 17:32, Jesus references the story:
“Remember Lot’s Wife!” The lesson of the tale is ambiguous, and has been
interpreted in different ways by various traditions.
Squaukheag The travelers were here moving through Sokoki
territory. The colonists referred to the southernmost Sokoki town as
Squaukheag. Colonists later named it “Northfield,” as it was the
northernmost “field” habitat that they settled. Rowlandson was happy to
see the signs of settlement; she notes with hope a “place where English
cattle had once been.”
Ground-nuts Groundnuts refers to the plant
Apios Americana, which is native to North America. Its tubers resemble
potatoes and the plant was a common source of starch for Indigenous
peoples.
Shock
A shock, or stook, is a pile of cut-grain (usually wheat, oats, or
barley) arranged in a conical stack to allow the stalks to dry before
threshing. Threshing is the process by which farmers loosen the edible
part of the grain from the husk and straw.
ConnecticotThe Connecticut River.
job See
Job 1:21.
Pease
Peas (archaic).
Sannup A borrowing from Massachusett, Sannup refers to a North American
indigenous husband or alternately to a man with authority under that of
a chief.
Naananto Better known as Canonchet, he was a Narragansett
sachem who, in 1675, signed a treaty with the colonists that his people
would remain neutral in Metacom’s War. In defiance of that signature, he
became a war leader as the Narragansetts joined the fight. Canonchet was
captured by the English on April 2, 1676 and killed the next day in a
public execution. News of his death was shared and celebrated throughout
the Bay Colony.
Pocket Rowlandson wore a pocket typical for a New England woman, which was
not part of her clothing but rather a small bag tied around her waist.
In it, she carried essentials: her Bible, needles and yarn, and at
times, morsels of food.
Nux
Translates to “Yes” in Narragansett.
pitty Job
19:21.
Judges
Judges 16:20.
Mohawks The Mohawk people were one of six nations that
formed the confederation of the Haudenosaunee people (often referred to
as the Iroquois Confederacy in Anglo-American or French Canadian terms).
The Mohawk were the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee: at their
peak, they controlled most of New York state, southern Ontario, and
eastern Quebec. In Metacom’s war, the Mohawk allied with the Bay Colony.
French The French in Canada were
Catholic. Rowlandson and her fellow Puritans despised them for this
reason.
Flux
Flux was a common term for dysentery, a highly contagious, and
potentially dangerous, infection of the intestines.
Pascataqua The Piscataqua River divides New Hampshire and
Maine. The name is a borrowing from Abenaki which refers both to the
river and the land around it. More specifically, the term may refer to
where the river branches into two or three channels: one theory of its
etymology divides the word into “peske” for branch and “tegwe” for a
river with a strong current.
Hezekiah Isaiah 38:3.
Psalm_51 Psalm 51:4.
Publican
The tax collector speaks these words in Luke 18:13.
Luke
Luke 15:21.
Line
hat is, laid in the rain.
nice_
Rowlandson uses an older definition of “nice” to mean overly exacting
or fastidious.
Wachuset Wachusett was a Nipmuc refuge and gathering
place. The name refers both to a stand-alone mountain (Wachusett
Mountain in Massachusetts) and the land around it, which is still an
important place in Nipmuc culture today. In the spring of 1676,
Quinnapin, Weetamo, and many other tribal leaders met for a council that
discussed, among other things, the possibilities of peacemaking.
Psalm_109 This line in fact comes from Psalm 109.
Samp A porridge made of corn.
Ruff The tough parts of the meat, or
the parts that would normally have been disposed, because they were
considered too hard to eat or inedible.
Sisters In other words, her sister’s child, Rowlandson's
niece.
he Quanopin, Rowlandson's “master” at this
point.
Pounds It is pretty much impossible to translate the
value of twenty pounds into modern money, but this would be a
substantial though not astronomical sum, the equivalent of perhaps tens
of thousands of dollars in twenty-first century purchasing power.
Kab
An ancient Hebrew measurement of about two liters.
Sudbury The battle of Sudbury took place on April 21st,
1676. It is now generally considered the last major victory for
Indigenous forces, who successfully raided the town of Sudbury and then
ambushed the colonists who came to help. Indigenous fortunes in battle
declined from there, a narrative Rowlandson herself reinforced: she
described the return of the indigenous fighters who, though they had
won, seemed strangely unhappy, like “Dogs. . . which have lost their
ears.”
powaw_
The term pow wow originated from the Algonquian “pau wau” for
“medicine man.” English settlers used the term to refer to meetings
of Indigenous medicine men or Indigenous gatherings of any kind,
which is how the word is still understood today.
Kettle Elizabeth Kettle, who had been captured in
Lancaster.
Hoar John Hoar was a
lawyer enlisted by Mr. Rowlandson to negotiate the return of his
wife.
Matchit "Matchit" translates to “bad.”
Daniel
Daniel 6:22.
kersey_
A coarse woolen cloth.
negotiations Metacom did not
agree with the strategy to trade captives as part of the negotiations
with the English settlers.
Fort_Fight
Rowlandson is referring to what is now called the “Great Swamp
Fight,” which occurred in December 1675 when colonists attacked a
large Narragansett and Wampanoag settlement in Rhode Island.
Narragansett forces joined the war effort after this attack. The battle itself which
was one of the bloodiest of the war and hugely destructive to both
sides.
Amos
Amos 3:6, 6:6-7, Psalm 118:23.
Agag
Agag is a title for a biblical king, and the quote comes from the
first book of Samuel 15:32.
Usher
There is likely a typographical error here, since "Ms." was not in
use in seventeenth-century English. So whether this reference is to
a man or a woman named Usher is uncertain.
Jeremiah
Jeremiah 31:16.
Solomon
Ecclesiastes 10:19.
Psalm_81
Psalm 81:16.
Husk
See Luke 15:11-32.
Psalm_119
Psalm 119:71.
vanity
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14.