Escape From Slavery - History Blog

The early settlers of south-central Missouri have fascinating stories to tell. I have a book entitled Ozark Pioneers, by Bob Hinds, which is filled with the pioneers’ first-hand accounts or stories handed down from generation to generation. One of the first settlements was Hutton Valley just north of West Plains. Henry Smith, a descendant of the first settlers, told this fascinating story of his great-grandmother, Nancy Smith. Keep in mind, the details of this story are unverifiable. This was passed down through generations of the Smith family.

When Nancy and her husband were living in Tennessee, she and another woman and the woman’s baby were kidnapped by Indians. Soon the baby and the baby’s mother were killed. Nancy was taken north into Ohio where she served as a slave to the Indians for four long years.

In her fourth year, many more white captives were taken and many were burned at the stake. Nancy kept her eyes and ears open looking for ways to escape. She found a hollow log close to the Indian village and hoped that one day she could hide in it.

Her hopes became a reality on a horrific day when she realized she was to be burned at the stake along with others. In desperation, she plotted and waited. Finally an opportunity presented itself. The Indians had built a big fire in a sinkhole and were dancing around it. It was her turn to be burned. She watched carefully as the Chief worked his way closer and closer. She made her move and at just the right moment she shoved the Chief into the fire. The resulting commotion enabled her to slip away. Frantically she made her way to the hollow log and she managed to squeeze inside without being seen.

For three days she hid there. Several times she heard the Indians run across the log while searching for her. At one time an unsuspecting squirrel wiggled into the log. Betsy grabbed it, killed it, and had scrumptious, (gag) raw squirrel for her supper.

After three days she decided it might be safe to try to leave the log. Can you imagine her state of mind at this point? I’m sure she was terrified that she’d be recaptured and have to suffer the punishment for her horrendous act. She would have been hungry, weak, and quite likely very cramped and sore after being curled up inside that log.

Nancy didn’t have the luxury of choosing the ideal time of year to attempt to run away. If it had been summer or fall she would have been tortured by biting insects. Fall, winter, and spring in Ohio and even south as she traveled toward home would have presented her with many days and nights of freezing temperatures. After four years of slavery, what clothes would she have had?

Betsy made her way through forests and towns looking for her family. No Google Maps for her. Even a raggedy paper map and compass would have been a huge help. We know very little of how she survived but we do know it took her two years to find her family. And I’m sure that day wasn’t a happy one. When she found her husband she discovered he had remarried.

You can’t really blame the guy. Nancy had been gone for six long years. Her husband thought she was dead. Nevertheless, the second marriage was null. Wife number two left with her baby and returned to her parents’ home near Memphis. Nancy and her husband resumed their relationship and raised a large family in Hutton Valley, Missouri.

Often stories like this are deeply disturbing because of the portrayal of the brutality of Native Americans. How dare we continue to spread this image? But face it! All of world history is full of stories like this. There’s not one race, nationality, or tribe that has been immune to evil. All throughout history, groups of people have misunderstood other groups of people. This misunderstanding has frequently led to mistrust, mistreatment, fighting, killing, enslavement, torture. Every race and nationality has been victimized and every race and nationality has been guilty.

If we learn nothing else from history, hopefully, we learn this. Evil is bound up in the heart of man. All of us are born with the sin nature and all of us, in the right circumstances are capable of hatred and mistreatment of others. The only solution was provided by God Himself. He offers forgiveness and transformation. He offers to give us a new heart; to make a new creation out of the old.

And we can choose to accept or reject His plan.

“‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” (Romans 3:10‭-‬12)

“‘And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’” (Acts 4:12)