Monadnock Moment No. 187

Era 2: Colonization and Settlement - 1929 to 1945

Elizabeth Captive Johnson

In the 1750s Charlestown, New Hampshire was a wilderness outpost at the edge of frontier. The settlers there lived near the fort alongside the Connecticut River where they would seek refuge if Indians raided the settlement. James and Susannah Johnson were among these early settlers.

On the morning of August 30, 1754, the Johnson's were awakened by a war party of eleven Indians who entered their home near the fort. The eight people at the house, including James and Susannah Johnson and their three children aged two, four, and six years, were captured and quickly taken into the forest.

The Indians hurried their captives northward toward Canada where the French authorities, who were at war with England, offered a handsome reward for each English settler taken prisoner. Susannah, who was awaiting the birth of her fourth child, lost her shoe in the confusion and her foot and legs were soon bloody and sore. After eight miles of travel they stopped for the night.

The party arose before sunrise the next day and started north again. Within an hour, however, Susannah went into labor. At 10:00 o'clock that morning a daughter was born to the Johnson's upon a flat rock in the bed of a stream. The child was given the name Elizabeth Captive Johnson.

Many days later the group arrived at Crown Point, but their journey was far from over. Susannah was sold as a servant. Eighteen months later she was sent to England by ship and then back to New York. Mr. Johnson was confined to jail for three years before he was released. The entire family, including little Elizabeth Captive, was reunited at Charlestown on January 1, 1758, 3 ½ years after their ordeal began.