Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

Reading time: about 1.5 h
Length: 20,178 words · 62 pages
Structure: 20 chapters · 1 front-matter section
Language: English
Era: 17th Century

On 10 February 1676, Narragansett and Nipmuc forces allied with Metacom, known to the English as King Philip, attacked Lancaster, Massachusetts, burned Mary Rowlandson's house, and took her captive along with her wounded young daughter, who died in her arms days later. Over the eleven weeks that followed, Rowlandson was marched through the winter wilderness of New England, a journey she counts out in twenty separate "removes," before being ransomed for twenty pounds raised by a group of Boston women.

Published in 1682, six years after her release, it is widely credited as the first American captivity narrative, reading scripture into nearly every turn of an ordeal she frames throughout as a test of Puritan faith.

Bibliomancer restores the 1682 text exactly as Rowlandson wrote it.

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The text is free of copyright. This edition was prepared from an authoritative digitisation, processed by Bibliomancer under its own review protocol; every automated correction is recorded in its transformation log. Rights assessed for CA, EU, GB, US.

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