Taken!

Living in so many places over the years, Dave and I have learned that while we love to travel, we often find interesting things to explore nearby. And our recent move has been no exception. Whenever I mention to someone here that I am interested in history, they always say, “Well then, you’ve heard the story of Mary Draper Ingles.” And I had to confess I had not. I decided it was time to learn.

Mary Draper Ingles was a frontier woman who was kidnapped in a raid by the Shawnee. She was put to work mining salt near present-day Chillicothe, Ohio. Eventually, she and another woman escaped and made their way along the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers and eventually through the New River Valley. And in the autumn of that year, Mary made it home.

In this area, Mary’s indomitable spirit is legendary. However, there are only two sources of her adventure, and they differ. During that time, many people, including women and children, were taken hostage by Native tribes, and the story that comes down to us today may reflect the events of many frontier women who were taken.

Mary was born in Philadelphia in 1732 to George and Elenor Draper, who immigrated from County Donegal, Ireland, in 1729. When Mary was eight, the family moved to the frontier of western Virginia and settled along the James River in the Shenandoah Valley. By 1746, the family had established a settlement known as Draper’s Meadow. That land is currently the home of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg.

At the age of 18, Mary married William Ingles (1729-1782), and they had two sons: Thomas (1751) and George (1753). The family lived on the fringes of European settlement and was constantly threatened by attack, primarily by Native American tribes who aligned with the French during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). The war increased tensions between Native American tribes and the British colonists, and skirmishes and raids on frontier settlements grew commonplace.

Mary’s life took a dramatic turn for the worse in July 1755 when Shawnee warriors raided the settlement. Several people were slaughtered in the brutal attack, including Mary’s mother and her infant niece. Mary Ingles, her two sons, her sister-in-law, Bettie, and several others were taken. They began a long trek north to a village along the Ohio River near what is now Chillicothe, Ohio.

According to Mary’s son, who later wrote about it, the warriors made the prisoners run the gauntlet upon arriving in the village. Mary was one of the women who were not required to do this. Shortly afterward, she was separated from the others, and both of her sons were adopted into Shawnee families; her oldest son, Thomas, was taken to Detroit. Her other son, George, died shortly afterward. Henry Leonard, a neighbor, managed to escape, though no details of this have been found.

The 16 February 1756 issue of the New York Mercury details her escape. The article describes Mary sewing shirts to be traded at French trading posts and mentions she was a servant to the Natives, preparing food and stretching hides. Around October, she was taken to Big Bone Salt Lick to boil brine to make salt. While working there, Mary’s survival instincts began to sharpen, and she realized escape was her only hope of survival.

During her time in captivity, Mary befriended a European woman, possibly of Dutch or German descent. It is unknown which of them suggested escaping, but in mid-October, the two women asked permission to collect wild grapes and instead, set off retracing the path Mary had traveled when she was forced into captivity in July. They escaped wearing only their clothes and moccasins, having hidden blankets in the forest the day before. One version relates that Mary traded an old, dull tomahawk for a sharper one when they encountered French traders.

The women set out following the Ohio River, traveling at great speed to get as far away as possible before the men noticed their disappearance. Mary’s son, Thomas, met some of the Shawnees later in 1774 and learned the Natives assumed wild animals had attacked the two women and did not give chase.

After several days, the women found an abandoned cabin containing a supply of corn and an old horse. They loaded the corn onto the horse and continued along their way. They later lost the animal while crossing a large river. It is estimated that throughout their journey, the women crossed at least 145 creeks and rivers, a fantastic feat considering neither of them could swim. In more than one instance, they strapped logs together with grape vines.

When the corn ran out, they existed on walnuts, wild grapes, pawpaws, sassafras leaves, blackberries, roots, and frogs. As the weather grew colder, they began eating dead animals or stolen food. On one occasion, they were able to obtain deer meat abandoned by a hunter. Mary claimed they saw Natives hunting frequently but managed to avoid detection.

The women followed the Ohio, Kanawha, and New Rivers, averaging eleven to twenty-one miles per day and covering a distance of over 500 miles. They had little food, no weapons, and no means of protection. The journey was one of immense physical and emotional endurance. Their physical condition deteriorated the longer they traveled. They wore down their shoes and wore rags as the weeks wore on.

Soon, both were malnourished and weak. Reportedly, the Dutch woman grew increasingly desperate and unstable. According to Letitia Preston Floyd’s account, the other woman tried to kill Mary, who saved herself by promising money at the end of their journey. However, after the second attempt to kill her in late November, Mary got loose and ran. An article in The Mercury states that the “Dutch woman attempted to kill her in order to eat her.”

Mary hid in the forest until dark, then followed the riverbank, where she found a canoe. In desperation, she crossed the New River, near what is now Glen Lyn, Virginia. Four or five days after fleeing the other woman, Mary reached the home of Adam Harman, a family friend, on December 1, 1775, 42 days after escaping from Big Bone Lick. After Harmon took Mary to the fort at Dunkard’s Bottom, a search was conducted along the route, and the Dutch woman was located. From the fort, Mary joined a wagon party traveling to Winchester, Virginia.

Mary’s return to Draper’s Meadow was bittersweet. Though she was reunited with her husband, her young son, Thomas, remained with the Shawnee. Concern grew about their safety during the continued Shawnee raiding, and Mary convinced her husband to move to Robert Ewing’s fort near Montvale in Bedford County. Later, Mary’s brother-in-law, John, was killed, and her brother-in-law, Matthew, was captured.

Mary lived out the rest of her life in Virginia, where she and her husband, William, raised four more children. Her detailed descriptions of Lower Shawnee Town were passed along to Lieutenant-Governor Robert Dinwiddie, who organized an assault on the town. In 1756, her husband, who was then a lieutenant, took part in the Sandy Creek Expedition, which was aborted because of harsh weather and the lack of food.

Thomas Ingles, who was 4 when taken captive, was ransomed and returned to Virginia in 1768 at the age of 17. After living with the Shawnee for 13 years, he had become fully acculturated and spoke only the Shawnee language, creating a difficult period of adjustment upon his return. He underwent several years of “rehabilitation” and education under Dr. Thomas Walker at Castle Hill, Virginia. Thomas Ingles later served as a lieutenant in Lord Dunmore’s War (1773-1774) against the Shawnee.

Mary’s story spread throughout the frontier, and she became a symbol of resilience and endurance. Her tale has survived in various forms for generations, forging a place for her as a frontier legend.

Though Mary herself did not write an account of her ordeal, the story was documented by her son, John, born in 1766. At the age of 58, he wrote The Story of Mary Draper Ingles and Son Thomas Ingles based on the stories he heard growing up. Her tale is also told in historical works such as John P. Hale’s “Trans-Allegheny Pioneers” (1886), as well as in James Alexander Thom’s novel “Follow the River” (1981), which dramatized her journey and became a bestseller.

Mary Ingles died in 1815 at the age of 83, leaving behind a large family and a remarkable legacy of survival. This legacy serves as a testament to the strength and fortitude of early American settlers on the frontier.