Susannah Willard (1729-1810) was born in Turkey Hills, now Lunenburg, Massachusetts. On both sides of her family, she came from prominent Massachusetts Puritan families. Among her siblings was a younger sister, Miriam, who will become important later. When Susannah was in her early teens, her father moved the family to what is now Charlestown, New Hampshire. At the age of twenty, Susannah married Captain James Johnson, an officer in the local militia. At the time her captivity began, Susannah had had Sylvanus, Little Susannah and Mary or Polly, and was heavily pregnant with Elizabeth. The little town was tense with rumors of a suspected war with France, which would bring raids by Natives, either the Mohawk or Abenaki. On August 29, 1754, the family was having a dinner to celebrate James' return from a hunting trip and news that any likely wars with local Natives or the French wouldn't occur before next Spring, in 1755. However, in the early morning hours of August 30, 1754, the Abenaki stormed the settlement, overran the enclosed stockade and captured the entire Johnson family and Susannah's sister Miriam Ward, along with two neighbors of theirs, Peter Labarree and Ebenezer Farnsworth. The Abenaki burnt the stockade and quickly marched their captives away. Near present-day Reading, Vermont, Susannah went into labor and gave birth to Elizabeth Captive Johnson. The Abenaki were considerate, providing her with a pair of moccasins and a stolen horse to ride. Later, as food became scarce on the march, the party killed and ate the horse, the Natives drinking a soup made from the bones so that Susannah and the children could have the meat.
As they arrived at the Abenaki village of St. Francis, the captives faces were decorated with vermillion paint and they were forced to run the gauntlet. Susannah was terrified, but she passed through the line with few light strokes only. She later wrote that she, her children and sister were treated decently and used her time in the Abenaki village to pick up a few words and phrases. One by one the captives were separated and taken to Montreal to be sold to the French as slaves. James Johnson went first, followed by Faarnsworth, Labarree, and later Miriam along with Susannah's two oldest girls Little Susannah and Polly. Only Susannah, her son Sylvanus and the baby Elizabeth were left at the Abenaki village. Later, Susannah and Elizabeth were also taken to Montreal and sold to a French family as slaves. Sylvanus was kept behind to be adopted into the tribe.
James Johnson was given two months parole to return home and try to raise a ransom for his family. He returned late and with insufficient money. He was accused of violating his parole. He, Susannah, Elizabeth, Little Susannah and Miriam were thrown in jail. Only Polly, who had been sent to live with an influential family, remained free. By now, the French and Indian War was on and the family lived in a series of jails from July 1755, through July, 1757, first a criminal prison and later a civil prison. The whole family came down with smallpox and survived, though Susannah gave birth to an unnamed child who died within a few hours and was buried under a church in Montreal. Meanwhile, Susannah busied herself petitioning the Governor of Quebec for their release.
Eventually, he agreed. Susannah, her daughters (except for Little Susannah) and her sister were placed on a ship bound for England. They got as far as Cork, Ireland, a common jumping off place for travelers coming to and from North America, where she arranged transport back to New York. From New York, they walked to Lancaster, Massachusetts, where they were reunited with James, who had been released by this time. The family returned to Charlestown, New Hampshire. As soon as his parole was up, James joined the militia forces heading to support the British attempts to capture Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga),and was killed there on July 8, 1758. Susannah concentrated her efforts on find Sylvanus, who was finally ransomed in October, 1758 for the sum of 500 livres, quite a bit in those days. Sylvanus was assimilated, remembered very little English. Though he eventually regained English and settled into family life, he retained some Abenaki ways for the rest of his life. Little Susannah rejoined the family in 1760, after the capture of Montreal. Even the two neighbor men, Peter Labarree and Ebenezer Farnsworth, managed to escape or were ransomed.
Susannah opened a small store to support her family. In 1762, she married John Hastings and had additional children by him. Of the fourteen children she had between James and John, only seven survived to adulthood. Not an uncommon tragedy in those days. Hastings died in 1804, leaving his wife a prosperous widow, well off enough to have her portrait painted in 1807, three years before she died. Almost forty years after her experience, Susannah felt comfortable enough writing about it. Using her letters, diary and memories of fellow captives including the two male neighbors, she dictated her memoirs to Charlestown lawyer, John Curtis Chamberlain. It was titled A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson and had pretty good sales. However, in 1807, after her second husband's death, Susannah decided to undertake a more detailed second edition, written entirely by herself and published under her own name. This edition became an instant best seller. She was working on a third, more expanded edition when she died in 1810. She was buried by James Johnson in Charlestown and a monument was erected over he grave in 1870.
In 1957, author Elizabeth George Spears wrote Calico Captive, based on Susannah's memoirs. The POV character there is not Susannah, but her younger sister Miriam, who seems to have most of the adventure, including turning down the advances of a swaggering young French officer in hopes of returning to her sweetheart back home, which she eventually does.
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