Badass Women of Early America: Hannah Dustin

Sorry about the lack of post of Monday. I was gallivanting about with my family and completely spaced on what day it was. So you get to have your History post today (I should be hearing some cheering right now. Even a half-hearted clapping works). This will be the last of the Badass Women of Early America, though Badass Women may appear in the future.

Hannah Dustin was a Puritan woman living in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1697 when the town was attacked by the Abenaki tribe. She is one week past having given birth when the town is attacked and her child is killed by one of raiders. Hannah herself and her midwife are taken as captives and sold to an Indian family of 12.

She stays with them a little while and is then told she is going to have to run "The Gauntlet". The Gauntlet was a test of bravery for the Indians. They'd strip you down and make a corridor you had to run down, with people on either side armed with sticks. Then you ran down it and they hit you with said sticks. But for them, this wasn't a bad thing. It was a measure of your courage and once you did it you gained respect from them. Although if you failed, they sold you to the French (who were not Protestant. Quelle Horreur!)

Of course, as a Puritan woman, she saw this as a perverse torture by her captors and decided to escape, along with her midwife and a boy was also a captive of her family. In the dead of night, she rouses the others, and kills the family she's been sold to. She then proceeds to scalp them with a tomahawk and flees for her home.

Where, against the odds of what should happen in a Puritan community, she is welcomed back and revered. Even though she ended up killing ten Indians, six of whom were children. Because she was outside the realm of Puritans, the rules didn't apply. Plus at one point there was actually a bounty out for Indian scalps (although this had ended by the time Hannah returns). And she petitions for payment and receives 25 pounds.

Now, I realize that this means horrible things on both sides. She was kidnapped by Indians who killed her child and then sold her as a slave (Demerits to the Abenakis). But then she turned around and murdered 10 Indians, including six children, in their sleep (Demerits to Hannah Duston). Basically, no side is the good guy here.

But what makes Hannah badass is that she didn't just sit there and twiddle her thumbs waiting for her husband to find her and buy her back. She didn't like her situation so she decided to change it. Albeit, the method was a bit more radical than necessary, but she was in enemy territory and if someone saw them leaving, they'd be hunted and probably killed. Hannah took control of her destiny which is what makes her a strong woman.

Now for some fun facts. The picture at the beginning of this post is of one of two statues of Hannah Duston. This one is on the island where she was kept captive and has her with tomahawk in one hand, scalps in the other. It is the first statue of a woman in the US. It is 25 feet tall and made of granite.

The other is located in Haverhill. It is only 15 feet tall and made of bronze. That one features her simply with a tomahawk. And for a while in Haverhill, there was also a Hannah Dustin Elementary School. I wonder what version of the story they told the kids?

Hannah was believed to be buried in an unmarked grave for fear of Indian retaliation. And I don't blame them for that fear. If you want to read a slightly longer version of her story (with some chuckle worthy commentary although it has some swearing) you can read this person's

Badass Of The Week.