Herman Lehmann - Nine Years Among the Indians 1870-1879

In May 1870, Herman Lehmann and his brother Willie, aged 11 and 8 respectively, were kidnapped by Apache Indians and taken from their family farm in Texas. A few days later, in a brief battle with troops, Willie escaped and remarkably got home. Herman was to spend the next nine years away from his family living with the Apache and eventually the Comanche. 

Nine Years Among the Indians is Lehmann's famous memoir of his captivity and then life among the two tribes. Initially the Indians feared he would escape, and he was brutally assaulted and imprisoned. Soon however he became ingratiated into the tribe and began to learn how to live, hunt and fight among the Apache. His captors told Lehmann that his family had been killed, and this probably led Lehmann entering the tribe more easily. He seems to have become an accomplished fighter and horserider, and eventually as much a part of the tribe as anyone else - leading raids and fighting against the "whites". 

Lehmann's account demonstrates a remarkable memory, given it was written towards the end of his life. While most people today will probably read it for its eyewitness account of traditional camp life, the reader must also be wary. Writing for a "white" audience Lehmann seems to dwell on the brutality and violence of the Apache and the Commanche, and while expressing sympathy for the Indians he tends to celebrate the "civilising" affect of colonial society. This is, it should be said, particuarly noticeable in the introduction by one J. Marvin Hunter, whom produced the book from Lehmann's dictation. Hunter's introduction is full of racism and makes for uncomfortable reading.

Nonetheless there's a lot of interesting material, especially about life among the tribes, and the type of relationships between the Indians inside the tribe and with others. The internal disputes which led to Lehmann leaving the Apache and after many months alone, joining the Commanche are worth reading. But so are the account of the battle with the Texas Rangers (and the account of the same encounter from the other side). This, no doubt, inspired many a tale including similar events in Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon.

Despite its short length, there is plenty to engage in here, and the difficulties that Lehmann found when he did eventually return to his family are touching. There's an amusing account of how he disrupted a Methodist revival with his Indian dancing, leading to him being banned from religious services until he was brought back to "civilised" behaviour. Lehmann's conclusion no doubt plays to his audience, but at least retains an understanding of who he was, and the life he was never quite able to leave behind. He dedicates the work to his mother, "and to those noble brothers and sisters I owe all for my restoration, for if it had not been for them I would today be an Indian still." If you can get past the appallingly dated language there's a lot here.

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