Mary Draper Ingles

Mary Ingles was born as Mary Draper in Philadelphia in 1732. Her parents were George & Elenor (Hardin) Draper who came from Donegal, Ireland in 1729. Her older brother, John was born in 1730. She was married to William Ingles, who was born in London in 1729, about 1750. Their children were Thomas, born about 1751, George, born in 1753, and Mary, Susan, and Rhoda, whose dates are uncertian. Their son John who was born in 1766 and died in 1836, left an account of the most interesting event in her life. This was her capture by the Indians in 1755, when she was twenty-three years old. On 30 July of that year, during the French and Indian War, she was captured by Shawnee warriors. She was brought to Big Bone Lick and compelled by the Indians to make salt. From here she managed to escape and return home. Mary Ingles died in 1815 at the age of 83.

Note: Mary's capture date is found in a list originally compiled by Col. Wm. Preston of the Augusta County militia during the French & Indian War. [The date of July 8, 1755 given in several histories and novels is incorrect.]

The Ingles Cabin

The Narrative of John Ingles Concerning His Mother, Mary Ingles

The following extracts appeared in Newspapers in Philadelphia in 1756.

PHILADELPHIA Jan 22 (1756). Extract of a letter from Augusta County in Virginia, December 20, 1755. "Two of the Women that were taken Prisoner from New-River, are come back, who say, they were 40 days in coming in, and they had lived all the Time on Grapes and Nuts."
PHILADELPHIA Feb. 12 (1756). By a Traveller who lately came from New-River, in Virginia, we learn, that two Women were return'd: who had been taken Prisoners the Beginning of last Summer by the Shawanese, and carried to one of their Towns, where there was a considerable Number of English Prisoners, who had been taken Captive from the Frontiers of Virginia. That when the Warriors arrived within half a Mile of their Towns, It is their Custom to whip those who have been so unfortunate as to fall in their Hands, all the remainder of the way till the get to Town, and that It was in this Manner our poor unhappy Neighbours from Virginia had been treated by them. That they afterwards used them as well as could be expected from Persons of their Savage Disposition. Thus they suffered some of the Men to go out a Hunting, and let them have three Charges of Ammunition, but would allow them no more, for fear of their returning back to the English.
PHILADELPHIA Feb. 26 (1756). In a Letter from Fort Cumberland, dated the fifteenth Instant, there is Advice, that two considerable Bodies of French Indians have been lately down there, and had picked up several of the Men belonging to the Fort; but that the Commanding Officer there had detached Parties immediately in Pursuit of them, which obliged them to retreat precipitately, and thereby prevented their getting among the Inhabitants. It is further added, that one Mrs. Inglis, who was taken Prisoner by the Shawanese when Col. Paton was killed, had made a wonderful Escape from the Lower Shanoe Town; and she was fourteen Days In the Woods on her Way home, was naked all the Time, and lived on Chestnuts, &c. The Particulars of what Discoveries she made while among them, was not come to Hand.
French and Indian War Notices Abstracted from Colonial Newspapers: Vol. 2: 1756-1757. ed. A. F. Lucier. (Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1999-2000).

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Mary Draper Ingles, 1732-1815

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