This first-hand narrative of the life of Matthew Brayton, a seven-and-a-half year old white child of a settler who was kidnapped and sold many times by Native Americans in the beginning of the 19th century, probably doesn't share all the gory details of his abuse when initially captured, but you can read between the lines.

Still, this first-hand account does shed much light on what it was really like to come under the charge of many different Indian tribes. Although Brayton's treatment was not entirely negative or positive, his frank and blunt story does much to dispel the romantic stories that have been perpetuated about young settlers' children who became Indian chattel. It does much to tell true history and dispel any deliberate or accidental revisions. In many cases the Indians treated Brayton well, but there can be no doubt that they stole from him and his family a life that would end up confused and stuck between two worlds.

Although Brayton did finally unite with many of his natural family, he never stopped identifying with Native Americans, and he was forced to leave an Indian wife and child behind. In fact, when the War of Rebellion or Civil War broke out, Brayton enlisted and served in an American Indian brigade.

Chet Dembeck