![]() ![]() Hammond is appalled at the number of abductions, and even more repelled to discover that some of the younger abductees have no desire to return to their previous lives. ![]() The narrative divides itself between Johnson’s search for his family and his family’s exposure to Indian life, and then divides again with the introduction of Samuel Hammond, a Quaker who, as a representative of the post–Civil War (and radically revamped) Office of Indian Affairs, is assigned the task of attempting to “civilize” the Comanche-Kiowa and turn a nomadic and warrior culture toward farming. The Indians brutalize the women, but the children-especially the Johnson’s ten-year-old son Jube-begin to adapt to life on the plains. ![]() One day while Johnson is away getting supplies (and, sadly, after a nasty spat with his wife), his wife and two children are abducted by Kiowa-Comanche along with an older neighbor and her grandchildren. ![]() Most of Johnson’s narrative has been passed down through oral history, but Jiles ( Stormy Weather, 2007, etc.) fills in the gaps more than adequately. A novel of the Old West, based on the true story of Britt Johnson, a freed slave whose wife and family were stolen by Indians but eventually recovered. ![]()
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