(AMERICAN INDIANS.) James Smith. An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences . . . during his Captivity with the Indians. 162 pages. 12mo, ¼ calf over original printed boards, minimal wear, tastefully rebacked; inked number stamp on page [iii], minor foxing. Philadelphia: J. Grigg, 1831 Second separate edition. James Smith (1737-1813) was captured in 1755 by Delaware Indians during Braddock's expedition, and was adopted by Mohawks before escaping in 1759. His captivity was spent on the Muskingum River and on Lake Erie in present-day Ohio. This was one of the earliest English Midwestern captivities to be recorded in a published narrative. Smith later participated in the Black Boys Rebellion against the British, served as a colonel in the Revolution, and wrote "A Treatise on the Mode and Manner of Indian War" to help prepare the nation for the War of 1812. He was portrayed by John Wayne in the 1939 film Allegheny Uprising.
"One of the most historically valuable of captivities"--Vail 1216n. "One of the imperial books on the early Ohio valley"--Howes S606 ("b"). "Church was a patriot in the strictest sense of the word, his whole life being devoted to the service of his country. The whole period of his captivity was passed in Ohio, and his observations on the soil, timber, and waters relate entirely to that state"--Church 1287 (re the first edition, "one of the rarest works of Western history").
The narrative was first printed in a nearly unobtainable 1799 Kentucky edition, and then appeared only in periodical or compilation form until this second edition. Ayer, Indian Captivities 267; Hubach, Midwestern Travel Narratives, pages 15-16; Sabin 82764; Shaw & Shoemaker 9211; Vail 1216n. Only one of the first two editions traced at auction since 1966 (another second edition at a Swann sale, 26 October 1995, lot 345).