Nelson Lee was born in Brownsville, Jefferson County, New York, in 1807. He died in poverty in Hammond's Corners in New York, on December 21, 1870. In 1859 an account of his life was published by a group of editors "not quite in his own words". Like some other Indian captivity narratives of the 1800s, its "chief concern, was neither accuracy of sensation nor fidelity to the hard facts of frontier life, but rather the salability of pulp thrillers."[1] He tells us that he took part in various campaigns (his name does not appear on the relevant muster rolls) and had dramatic adventures (such as saving his life among the Comanches by the use of a particularly loud alarm watch).[2]

He also describes Comanche customs (agriculture and fixed, organized, towns) that had no relation to reality.[3]

His work is regarded as a hoax.[2] It has nevertheless been much-reprinted, used by serious anthropologists,[3] and appears in many collections of captivity narratives.[4]

References

  1. ^ Richard VanDerBeets, The Indian Captivity Narrative: An American Genre (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1984)
  2. ^ a b Walter Prescott Webb, "Introduction," in Nelson Lee, Three Years among the Comanches (new ed., Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957)
  3. ^ a b Melburn D. Thurman, "Nelson Lee and the Green Corn Dance: Data Selection Problems with Wallace and Hoebel's Study of the Comanches," Plains Anthropologist 27 (1982).
  4. ^ Handbook of Texas. Lee, Nelson (1807–1870). Richard Allen Burns, 1976. Updated: June 14, 2021
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