We Go As Captives

The Royalton Raid of October 1780 was the last Indian raid to occur in New England. With no warning a war party of 265 Canadian Mohawks and Abenakis, led by five British and French-Canadian soldiers, materialized from the forest at dawn, took 32 prisoners, and burned the town of Royalton. We Go As Captives, the first in-depth book written about the Royalton Raid, situates the event in the broader context of Vermont's role in the Revolutionary War and the complex relationships among the British and French in North America, various Indian nations seeking to maintain their sovereignty, and independent-minded residents trying to establish their identity within the emerging American republic.

The book revolves around the story of Zadock Steele, a Royalton captive who wrote about his harrowing experience as a prisoner of the Mohawks and the British. His detailed narrative is one of the best historical sources about the prisoner of war experience in British Canada. A riveting story of attack, capture, imprisonment, and escape, We Go As Captives provides fresh insight into the Royalton Raid, the Revolution on the northern frontier, and the motives and machinations of the European, Indian, and American players in this epic drama.

Praise for We Go As Captives

"The long-forgotten sufferings and triumph of Zadock Steele, taken prisoner by Indians on the Vermont frontier in 1780, have been rescued from oblivion in this powerful and startling book. Steele wrote his account nearly forty years after his dramatic escape but Neil Goodwin had the wit to see that there was more to the story, the energy to track it down, and the gift for narrative writing which makes We Go As Captives an important contribution to the literature of the American Revolution. The depth of Goodwin's research brings all these characters back to life-Steele and the other captives seized in the town of Royalton, the Caughnawaga Mokawks who carried them north, the lively British and French community of Montreal, and the wilderness itself. Behind it all lie the deeper sorrows of war. This is a book that deserves attention."

- Thomas Powers, Pulitzer-prize winning writer and author The Killing of Crazy Horse.

"The British and Indian raid on Royalton has often been noted in local histories but it has received relatively little attention from modern authors. We Go As Captives remedies that. Neil Goodwin's thoroughly researched and vivid account of the raid reconstruets the experiences of the Native and non-Native people involved and provides a rich portrayal of life in Revolutionary-era Vermont."

- Colin Calloway, Professor of History, Dartmouth, College, author of The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-7800, Dawnland Encounters. Indians and Europeans in Northern New England, and The American Revolution in Indian Country.

Paperback, 2010. $24.95.

Purchase the book from our online store, from Amazon.com, at our museum stores in Montpelier or Barre, or at select booksellers in Vermont.