Why this book: Herman Lehmann’s story is briefly told in Empire of the Summer Moon and I was intrigued and wanted to know more.  I was pleased to find that he had told his own story, in this book, first published in 1927.

Summary in 3 sentences: Herman Lehman was captured as an 11 year old and spent the next 4 years living among the Apaches, eventually becoming a trusted member of the tribe. He then got in trouble with the Apaches, escaped and was taken in by the Comanches where he felt more at home, and stayed with them, fighting for their survival against the US Army and Rangers who were driving the Comanches onto a reservation. Finally he also submits to the reservation, and eventually chooses to repatriate himself to his original family and to white culture, though for the rest of his life he proudly retained his status as a member of the Comanche tribe.

My impressions:  Fascinating read – especially if you’re interested in the West, and true life stories of Indians and settlers, and how it was to live in that time.  It is short (97 pages) and powerful, like sitting at the knee of the old man Hermann Lehman telling of his youth as a boy captured by raiding Apaches, living with them for about 4 years, before escaping to live with the Comanches, participating as an Indian in the battles with the US Army, the Texas Rangers and other whites.  This book is him telling his amazing stories of survival, brutal killings and torture that he observed and participated in, and his eventual repatriation to white culture.  It provides great insights into the different cultures of Apaches and the Comanches, as well as insights into the antipathy between them and anglo settlers. 

Herman and his brother were captured when Herman was 11 years old and they were not treated well. A fluke opportunity allowed his brother to escape, but Hermann himself made a point of adapting in order to not be further tortured, and though he unsuccessfully attempted a couple of escapes (for which he was tortured again), he eventually became a trusted member of the tribe, in part by aggressively participating in raids against white settlers. He also began to see and take pride in himself as an Apache warrior and adopted and internalized their values and lifestyle.

The introductory page of this book is written by Mr l. Marvin Hunter in 1927 who it appears served as Lehmann’s ghost writer, and Hunter he says in this book, he is writing down the stories as Lehmann told them, and which he says are vouched for by living whites, and Native Americans who knew him then.  The book is also based in part on a book Indianology, published in the 1890s form which he Hunter claimed to have taken considerable amount of information on Lehmann’s captivity and life. 

Nine Years Among the Indians is composed of short chapters, each a vignette from Lehmann’s life, and which can be read as short stories almost independent of each other.  Reading this book feels like going to visit the old man Herman Lehmann and getting a good story or two with each visit.  It was perfect for me to take in the field on a NOLS expedition and read a chapter at a time with my headlamp at night before going to sleep in my sleeping bag. The chapters have titles that describe a specific vignette, such as: “”Fight with the Rangers,” or “I Make a Saddle,” or “Cannibalism of the Tonkaways,” or “I get shot in the leg,” or “Soldiers kill our women.”

Lehmann was forced to escape from the Apaches after killing an apache medicine man in revenge for the medicine man having killed  his Apache “father” or mentor in an internal brawl among the Apaches after an alcohol fueled argument and fight on one of the reservations.  Those in the tribe who were allies of the medicine man swore to kill Lehman, and Lehman had to run for his life.  Apparently for months, he was surviving alone – “as a hermit” he writes – and was pursued by Apaches seeking revenge for killing the medicine man.  Eventually he finds a camp of Comanches and convinces them to take him in, after which he earns their trust and becomes a member of that tribe.

Lehmann’s time with the Apaches and Comanches was during the window described in Empire of the Summer Moon in the 1870s, when the Comanches were trying to maintain their way of life and survive while being aggressively pursued by the US Army and the Texas Rangers.  Lehmann fought the whites who he had learned to hate, and became a committed Comanche.  He eventually connected with Quanah Parker who he greatly admired, and who eventually convinced Lehman to surrender and come to live on the reservation.

At which point Lehmann was unwillingly returned to his original white family. That is a fascinating part of the story – his resistance to reintegrating with his white family and culture.  Eventually his original family’s tolerance for his Indian ways and idiosyncrasies, and the love they showed him slowly won him over, and he decided to integrate with white society.  

That said, he still retained his status as a member of the Comanche tribe, and for the rest of his life, he was both white man, and Comanche.  He married a white woman and had children and the story in Nine Years among the Indians of his later years is a bit more peaceful than the bio of him I subsequently read in Wikipedia, which indicates his family life may not have been as peaceful and happy as his book would have us believe, and hints that he may never have renounced some of his Comanche ways that were not in synch with well-healed Anglo culture.  As in Memoirs of a White Crow Indian (my review here), at the end of his life, he went back to his Indian tribe -where he felt most at home. 

Fascinating and fun read – with great insights into life in that turbulent time.