She would become a historical figure and remembered for her bravery and courage for spending weeks living among the Native American Indians. She not only lived among them but later she would be able to recount the time she spent with them through her writing.

Mary Rowlandson was born Mary White. She was the daughter of one of the town's founding fathers where she was born. The town, Lancaster, Massachusetts, was a typical frontier village of its day. She married John Rowlandson who was an ordained minister and they had three children.

On the morning of February 10, 1676, Mary Rowlandson's family was attacked in part of the efforts for King Phillip's War. What would become known as the bloodiest of the American Colonial History era, Lancaster was attacked by Nashaway Indians. She was forced into their camps and became a hostage where she had no other choice but to live among those who captured her.

She watched in horror as her friends and one of her children died before she was ever rejoined with her husband. A ransom was paid for her return and after weeks and long days of heartache, she was released.

Mary Rowlandson recounted her days with the Indians deciding that the Indians were "instruments of Satan" and felt strongly in her faith even though she faced hardships. She would go on to write about her experiences and her writing would in fact, set the tone for a new literature genre which would be considered the Indian Captivity Narrative.

Mary Rowlandson's book was dubbed A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. There isn't record of her death which has allowed for much speculation about the accuracy of the year when she died.