Eunice Demos 'The Unredeemed Captive'

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The Unredeemed Captive The Unredeemed Captive by John Demos was a story about Eunice Williams’ captivity and the tribulation that her relatives went through to have her home. Eunice was captured with her family, as well as over 100 town inhabitants in the Deerfield Massacre of 1704. Demos described the Deerfield raid, the captives’ trip to Canada and even went into a description of the captivity experience. Demos gave multiple reasons for the raid and why it was considered successful. He also described the Kahnawake Indian village where Eunice lived, the culture, and aspects of life. Demos attempted to describe how he thought Eunice’s life would have been like by relating life in the Kahnawake village. The Deerfield raid was noteworthy because it was the largest raid by the French and Indians. The Deerfield raid had the most captives taken than any other raid. The French started preparation for the raid in early 1703. Five different Native American tribes started to assembly in Montreal. This assembly caught the interest of a few Native Americans who traded with the English, and rumors of the raid started circulating. However, there started to be such a significant amount of rumors circulating that no one paid any attention. In Canada, the raid was under massive delay. The raid occurred in winter, when there was three foot of snow on the ground. The raiders would have to travel nearly 300 miles to get to Deerfield and return the same distance with newly found captives. On the night of the raid, the town was caught by surprise. The town watch had fallen asleep, and there was a major altercation. After some resistance, the captives were gathered and taken to Canada. Demos mentions The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion for de... ... middle of paper ... .... The most remarkable fact I found was the persistence of Williams with his trying to redeem Eunice. I made this connection with the realization of the fact that John and Stephen Williams were both ministers. Stephen didn’t lose faith until 1765, when Eunice’s husband passed away. When Stephen heard of the death of his brother in law, he thought Eunice would return home. The Kahnawake community had accepted Eunice as one of their own long before then. When her husband died, Eunice had a large support system behind her. Stephen eventually stopped writing Eunice; the last letter she received from him was dated 1761. Eunice wrote to Stephen in 1771, telling of her worry that she had not heard from him. In her letter to Stephen, Eunice told Stephen that her health was rapidly declining and she would not make another trip to visit; she would see him in the afterlife.

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