The Reverend F. M. Buckelew started his life as one of a family of nine, born in 1852 in Union Parish, Louisiana. His father saw the opportunities out West and made travelled out into the wilds of Texas with his family to Cherokee County, Texas. As the author recounts, life there was hard, and before long his mother was dead along with one of his sisters; worse was to follow as he was captured by Lipan Indians at the age of fourteen. In his extraordinary tale he tells of his captivity among the Native Americans, recording their customs, way of life and eventual escape from their clutches.