A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West, 1830-1885

Life was uncertain in the 19th century on America's western frontier. Settlers in this vast region faced many hardships. One of the greatest dangers, especially for women and children, was the threat of capture by Indians. Natives took thousands of prisoners. Some of the captives were assimilated, others died or were killed. Some were eventually rescued by force or through payment of ransom. But even those who returned to their communities bore the scars of their experiences for the rest of their lives-lives often shortened by the physical and mental abuse they had suffered. Gregory and Susan Michno spent years collecting, sorting and checking facts from scores of military and newspaper reports, family histories and interviews with people captured by Indians. This book, the result of that research, is the most extensive collection ever assembled of what it was like to be an Indian captive in the West. Covering captivities in virtually all regions of the West, with special emphasis on Texas, A Fate Worse Than Death is both a record of human brutality and a testament to the durability of the human spirit.