Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians

Fanny Kelly (1845 - 1904)

"Narrative of my captivity among the Sioux Indians: with a brief account of General Sully's Indian expedition in 1864, bearing upon events occurring in my captivity"

"I was a member of a small company of emigrants, who were attacked by an overwhelming force of hostile Sioux, which resulted in the death of a large proportion of the party, in my own capture, and a horrible captivity of five months' duration. Of my thrilling adventures and experience during this season of terror and privation, I propose to give a plain, unvarnished narrative, hoping the reader will be more interested in facts concerning the habits, manners, and customs of the Indians, and their treatment of prisoners, than in theoretical speculations and fine-wrought sentences." (Summary from Introduction)

Genre(s): True Crime, Memoirs

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 00 - Dedication & Introductory TriciaG
00:02:55
Play 01 01 - Early History; Canada to Kansas; Death of My Father; My Marriage; 'Ho, For Idaho!' Crossing the Platte River; A Storm TriciaG
00:11:50
Play 02 02 - The Attack and the Capture TriciaG
00:13:39
Play 03 03 - My Husband's Escape; Burial of the Dead; Arrival of the Survivors at Deer Creek; An Ill-Timed Ball TriciaG
00:12:55
Play 04 04 - Beginning of My Captivity TriciaG
00:11:22
Play 05 05 - Plan for Little Mary's Escape; Tortures of Uncertainty; Unsuccessful Attempt to Escape TriciaG
00:04:38
Play 06 06 - Continuation of our March into the Wilderness; Suffering from Thirst and Weariness; Disappearance of my Fellow Prisoner; Loss of the Old Chief's Pipe and its Consequences to Me; A Scene of Terror TriciaG
00:19:29
Play 07 07 - Powder River; Another Attempt to Escape; Detection and Despair; A Quarrel; My Life Saved by 'Jumping Bear' TriciaG
00:14:51
Play 08 08 - The Storm; Arrival at the Indian Village; The Old Chief's Wife; Some Kindness Shown Me; Attend a Feast TriciaG
00:29:59
Play 09 09 - Preparations for Battle; An Indian Village on the Move; Scalp Dance; A Horrible Scene of Savage Exultation; Compelled to Join the Orgies; A Cause of Indian Hostility; Another Battle with the White Troops; Burial of an Indian Boy; A Hasty Retreat; Made to Act as Surgeon of the Wounded; Mauve Terre, or Bad Lands TriciaG
00:20:32
Play 10 10 - Mourning for the Slain; Threatened with Death at the Fiery Stake; Saved by a Speech from Ottawa; Starving Condition of the Indians TriciaG
00:08:38
Play 11 11 - Meet Another White Female Captive; Sad Story of Mary Boyeau; A Child Roasted and Its Brains Dashed Out; Murder of Mrs. Fletcher; Five Children Slaughtered; Fate of Their Mother TriciaG
00:11:19
Play 12 12 - First Intimation of My Little Mary's Fate; Despair and Delirium; A Shower of Grasshoppers; A Feast and a Fight; An Enraged Squaw; The Chief Wounded TriciaG
00:11:50
Play 13 13 - Arrival of 'Porcupine'; A Letter from Captain Marshall; Hopes of Rescue; Treachery of the Messenger; Egosegalonicha; The Tables Turned; Another Gleam of Hope; The Indian 'White Tipi'; Disappointed; A White Man Bound and Left to Starve; A Burial Incident TriciaG
00:09:43
Play 14 14 - Lost in the Indian Village; Black Bear's White Wife; A Small Tea Party; The White Boy-Captive, Charles Sylvester; The Sun Dance; A Conciliating Letter from General Sibley; A Puzzle of Human Bones; The Indian as an Artist; I Destroy a Picture and am Punished with Fire-Brands; A Sick Indian TriciaG
00:15:52
Play 15 15 - Preparing the Chi-Cha-Cha, or Killikinnick; Attack on Captain Fisk's Emigrant Train; Fourteen Whites Killed; A Big Haul of Whisky; A Drunken Debauch; I Write a Letter to Captain Fisk Under Dictation; Poisoned Indians; The Train Saved by My Clerical Strategy TriciaG
00:10:26
Play 16 16 - Scenes on Cannon Ball Prairie; Reflections TriciaG
00:07:30
Play 17 17 - A Prairie on Fire; Scenes of Terror TriciaG
00:06:27
Play 18 18 - Last Days with the Ogalalla Sioux; Massacre of a Party Returning from Idaho; A Woman's Scalp; A Scalp Dance; Suspicious Circumstance; Arrival of Blackfeet Indians; Negotiations for My Ransom; Treachery TriciaG
00:15:43
Play 19 19 - Indian Customs TriciaG
00:24:08
Play 20 20 - An Indian Tradition; Arrival at the Blackfeet Village; An Offer to Purchase Me Indignantly Rejected; A Yankton Attempts My Capture TriciaG
00:10:35
Play 21 21 - Appearance of Jumping Bear; I Prevail on Him to Carry a Letter to the Fort; A War Speech; Intended Treachery; Resume Our Journey to the Fort; Singular Meeting with a White Man; 'Has Richmond Fallen?'; Arrival at the Fort; I Am Free! TriciaG
00:18:11
Play 22 22 - Retrospection; A Border Trading Post; Garrison Hospitality; A Visit from the Commandant of Fort Rice; Arrival of My Husband; Affecting Scene TriciaG
00:08:25
Play 23 23 - Sad Fate of Little Mary TriciaG
00:06:24
Play 24 24 - What Occurred at Fort Laramie After My Capture; Efforts to Rescue; Lieutenant Brown Killed; Reward Offered; It Is the Means of Restoring Another White Woman and Child; Her Rescuers Hung for Former Murders; A Letter Announcing My Safe Arrival at Fort Sully TriciaG
00:06:34
Play 25 25 - Supper in Honor of Our Reunion; Departure from Fort Sully; Incidents by the Way; Arrival at Geneva; Mother and Child; A Happy Meeting TriciaG
00:14:42
Play 26 26 - Elizabeth Blackwell; Mormon Home; A Brutal Father; The Mother and Daughters Flee to the Mountains; Death of the Mother and Sisters from Exposure; Elizabeth Saved by an Indian; A White Woman Tortured; Rescued Children; The Boxx Family; Capture of Mrs. Blynn TriciaG
00:17:06
Play 27 27 - Move to Wyoming; False Friends; The Manuscript of My Narrative Taken by Another Party and Published; I Go to Washington TriciaG
00:07:01
Play 28 28 - General Sully's Expedition TriciaG
00:19:06
Play 29 29 - Poem to Mrs. Fannie Kelly; Certificate of Indian Chiefs; Certified Copies of My Correspondence with Captain Fisk; Statement of Lieutenant G. A. Hesselberg; Statement of Officers and Members of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry TriciaG
00:25:32