1. Review: The Unredeemed Captive
The Unredeemed Captive, by John Demos, is a novel that describes the
hardships a family and their fellow townspeople endured during and after a
Colonial New England massacre. On February 29, 1704, in the town of Deerfield,
Massachusetts that a group of Puritan townspeople were massacred and captured.
A total of 48 people were killed, while about one hundred and twelve were
captured and became prisoners of a French and Indian war party. Among the
captured were Reverend John Williams, his wife, and their children, and going
back to Puritanism when released to Eunice whom stayed with the Indians her
whole life, the book shows many viewpoints from different individuals. The
Unredeemed Captive shows the path of abduction and adoption of American
settlers by Indians. The book starts in 1704. The Mohawk Indians are allied with
the French in Canada and attack Deerfield, a small village in Massachusetts.
Reverend John Williams, the minister from Deerfield, was the main target for
captivity because Boston held Jean-Baptiste Gayen; the Canadians returned.
Two of Williams children were murdered the night of the raid and the
minister along with his wife and other children were marched to Canada with the
rest of the Deerfield captives. The family was separated and they all realized that it
might have been the last time they would ever see each other again.The Reverend
was and renowned Puritan Minister and was deeply committed to his Puritan

2. beliefs and faith; it was this faith in God that kept him going through these difficult
times.
The Unredeemed Captive was a brilliant story with many historical facts. I
believe that Demo’s main purpose in writing this piece was to write a story. This
book, I believe is about finding your-self identity and where you belong through
different life experiences and situations.Indians assigned captives to a family, and
were considered members of the family almost soon after their captivity.
After some years Reverend Williams returned home, and began to focus on
reorganizing his original life and remarried Abigail Bissell, a widow from
Connecticut. All of his children that were still alive were redeemed except for his
daughter Eunice. Eunice, captured at the age of seven, matured and forgot all of
her English and was converted to Catholicism. Although her captors were
unwilling to release her, she did not want to leave her new family and returned. I
really liked this book and it really taught me a lot.