The Connecticut Courant Containing Account of the Famous Indian Captivity Narrative of Massy Herberson, 1792

Lot 21

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Nov 17, 2017 - Nov 18, 2017

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Lot Description

The Connecticut Courant. Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin, June 25, 1792. Vol. XXVII, No. 1431. 4 pp. 10.25 x 17 in.

Containing a lengthy, detailed account of the famous Indian captivity narrative of Massy Herberson, which covers an entire column of text (p.2). Herberson's deposition was taken in Pittsburgh less than a month earlier on May 28, 1792 and this report looks to predate all book appearances. The printed deposition details the events as Massy Herberson told them from the day she was taken by the Indians until her escape and subsequent refuge at "Carter's house." The account describes Herberson and her children being pulled from their beds and forced to go with the Indians across the Allegheny River.

Herberson at one point recounts being chosen by one of the Indian men as "his," as the deposition states, "the deponent went out of the house and hollowed to the people in the block-house; one of the Indians then ran up and stopped her mouth, another ran up with his tomahawk drawn, and a third ran and seized the tomahawk and called her his Squaw; this last Indian claimed her as his, and continued by her..."

Certainly the most harrowing parts of the deposition are the deaths of two of her young children (ages three and five), who were killed and scalped by the Indians at different times in the course of the ordeal. The deposition describes the first, "but a boy about three years old being unwilling to leave the house, they took it by the heels and dashed it against the house, then stabbed and scalped it..."

The deposition ends with Herberson's escape and a brief retelling of a conversation she remembered having with one of the Indians who spoke English quite well (suspected by Herberson to be George Felloway). The account details the Indian questioning Herberson about her knowledge of a certain prisoner in Pittsburgh, American campaigns against Indians, and a man named Thomas Girty. After Herberson denies knowledge of the prisoner and American campaigns, the Indian calls her a liar. He goes on to explain how the English have helped the Indians in the past by supplying them with ammunition and guns and would continue aiding them in war pursuits against the Americans.

Condition

Some brittleness at edges.
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