Three Years Among the Comanches

First published in 1859 Nelson Lee's Three Years Among the Comanches is perhaps the most widely known story of all Indian captivity narratives. Lee was a Texan Ranger captured by marauding Indians in the 1850s and forced to live with them as a slave for three years before making his escape. His account includes detailed descriptions of life in a nomadic Comanche village his marriage to a young squaw buffalo hunts Comanche versus Apache conflicts Comanche mythology and gut-wrenching descriptions of the terrible fates of his fellow-captives who were tortured before him his life being spared only because of a silver alarm clock he possessed the loud workings of which mystified his superstitious captors.