Humanities 1704,
12:30 T.-Th.
Anita Puckett
November 1996
1
Thom versus
Original Account
Revision
Follow the River, written by James Alexander
Thom, was based on the capture of Mary Draper Ingles by a group of Shawnee
Indians and the escape that followed her captivity. It was a somewhat accurate account of the
events that may have happened during her long journey to and from the Shawnee
village. These similarities are very
beneficial because it gives the reader a sense of the factual side of the
journey. Thus, the reader is able to
understand how hard a life the frontier people had to live. However, there are a few deviations that Thom
makes. These differences may be small,
but they have a major impact on the understanding of the factual account of
Mary's journey. In this paper, I will
attempt to describe some of the similarities and deviations between Follow the
River and the original accounts by John Hale and John Ingles, Sr. and describe
how this distorts the understanding of the true account.
After reading the original accounts of Mary
Ingles' escape, I found that Thom's version of the event is similar in many
ways to the actual account. Thom was
very accurate in his description of the actual massacre that occurred at
Draper's Meadow. In the account written
by John Ingles, Sr., he names the people that were either taken captive of
killed by the Indians. He writes that
his mother and her two children, Thomas and George, his Aunt Draper, and Henry
Leonard were taken prisoner by the Shawnees.
John Ingles also states in his narrative that Colonel Patton, Casper
Barger, his Grandmother
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Draper and child
were killed (8). In Follow the River,
Thom describes the same people either being killed or taken captive by the
Shawnee Indians.
Another similarity between the two accounts was
the escape of Mary's spouse William. In
the original account, William discovers the massacre and watches helplessly at
the edge of a field. After standing
there for a minute, William is noticed by two of the Indians. William runs for the woods and the Indians
follow him. While running through the
thick woods, William attempts to jump a fallen tree. He trips over the tree and falls to the
ground. The Indians did not notice that
William had fallen and continued down the valley. William rose to his feet and headed in the
opposite direction to try to get some help in chasing his family that had been
taken captive (8). In Follow the River,
the same chase is portrayed by Thom.
The most amazing factual similarity in Thom's
account was that of Mary giving birth on the trail. John Hale writes of this event in his
account. On the night of the third day out,
the course of nature was fulfilled and Mrs. Ingles, with only a curtain of
black darkness around her, gave birth to an infant daughter (28). This birth is written about in Follow the
River. This event is very beneficial to
the reader. It sets a picture of an
immortal woman in their mind. This then
helps the reader to believe some of the deviations that Thom made.
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Yet another
similarity that I found worthy of noting was the running of the gauntlet by the
prisoners at the Shawnee village. This
event was one that I had a hard time believing when I read Follow the
River. However, John Ingles, Sr. writes
that the prisoners of the Shawnee village did have to go through the Indian
custom. He states that the men, women,
and children that inhabited the village would form two rows and each one of
them would be armed with a stick. The
prisoners would then have to run between the two rows while taking the
punishment from the Indians. Ingles also
states that his mother was exempt from this act of torture (10). Thom also writes about this strange custom in
his account. This event also sets the
picture of a hard life in the reader's mind.
The last similarity that I will note involves
the actual escape of Mary and the Dutch woman.
In all three accounts, the two French men take Mary and the Dutch woman
down the Ohio River to the Big Bone Lick.
During their stay at the lick, they enjoyed more freedom than at the
Shawnee village. Also, there were not as
many Indians to track the two if they did try to escape. The two women took advantage of this and made
their escape one day while gathering nuts and berries for the men. Ingles, Thom, and Hale portray this event in
similar manners (Ingles 11, Thom 156, Hale 38).
There were a few minor details of the journey
that are similar between the accounts that may not have much bearing on the
understanding of the book, but are still worth noting. One of the details that Thom had in Follow
the River was the bell that the
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Dutch woman wore
around her neck. He wrote that shortly
after their escape from the lick, they came across a horse and decided to take
it along on their journey. During the
journey they lose the horse when they tried to cross the river on a make-shift
bridge and it fell through the logs.
However, before the horse was swept down the river, the Dutch woman took
the bell off of the horse and wore it around her neck for the duration of the
final miles (200). John Ingles, Sr.
writes of the same event in his account.
He notes the fact that the beast had a bell around its' neck when the
two women discovered it and then the strangeness of the fact that the Dutch
woman took the bell from the horse when they were obliged to leave it in the
drift (18). One final detail that may
seem hard to believe in Thom's account was the implorations by Mary to find the
Dutch woman after her rescue by Adam Harmon (374). One may think that this was not true because
of the many attempts of the Dutch woman to kill Mary. However, Ingles and Hale both write of the
request (Ingles 18, Hale 77).
There were also many differences in the two
accounts. The deviations that Thom makes
from the original account were done to make the book more interesting to the
reader. These deviations have a major
impact on the understanding of the factual events that occurred during Mary
Ingles' ordeal. The most noticeable
deviations that Thom makes involves the intimate feelings that Mary and Captain
Wildcat apparently have for one another.
Thom describes the feelings that Mary has for Captain Wildcat as feelings
of
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lust and
need. He even describes dreams that Mary
has of intimate encounters that she and Captain Wildcat would enjoy (119). These feelings were probably not true. Mary probably had no feelings for the chief
except for feelings of hate (Ingles 10).
This deviation makes Mary look like a very unfaithful person. In Thom's account, Mary
practically gives
up her husband for Captain Wildcat. She
seems to replace the love and affection that she had for William with the
growing love for Captain Wildcat.
Another deviation that Thom makes has to do
with Mary's two older children. In
Follow the River, the two boys stay in the same village as Mary. Thom describes that Mary is not allowed to
communicate with them very often, but that she occasionally sees them. In Hale's account, he writes that George was taken somewhere in
the interior and Thomas was taken to Detroit (33). Thom portrays the children as still being
with her so that when she leaves the village, she will seem emotionally sound. She was able to leave her two sons behind and
leave without much remorse.
Another deviation that I will mention is Indian
squaw in Follow the River. In both of
the original accounts the squaw is non-existent. I believe that Thom added this for the same
reason that he added the part about her two older children.
The deviations that Thom puts in his account of
Mary Draper Ingles' escape from the Shawnee village hinder the understanding of
the actual escape. Thom adds these
deviations to make certain characters seem to be superhuman. He accomplishes this very
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readily. With the many hardships that Mary and the
Dutch woman encountered on the journey home, they still managed to return to
civilization with no harm to themselves except for exhaustion.
While reading Follow the River, I did not pay
very much attention to these deviations and similarities. I was under the impression that most of the
events that Thom
described were
factual. After reading the actual
account, I noticed some major differences and similarities between the two
accounts. The similarities helped me to
appreciate the courage of the frontier people and especially Mary Ingles. The deviations had a major impact on the way
that I judged Mary and the other characters.
I am glad that I was able to enjoy the factual account of the truly
amazing story. Whether it is Thom's
version, or the actual account, I believe that everyone should be introduced to
Mary Draper Ingles.
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Works Cited
Thom, James
Alexander. Follow the River. New York:
Ballantine Books, 1981.
Steele, Roberta
Ingles and Andrew Lewis Ingles, eds.
Escape from Indian Captivity: The
Story of Mary
Draper Ingles and son Thomas Ingles.
Radford, VA, 1969.
Hale, John P.
Trans-Allegheny Pioneers. Charleston,
W.Va.: The Kanawha Valley
Publishing, Co.,
1931.
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