Mary Campbell (later Mary Campbell Willford) was an American colonial settler who was known for her abduction by Native Americans during the French and Indian War and being the first white child to travel to the Western Reserve. Born in 1747 or 1748, Campbell was taken captive by the Lenape tribe at the age of ten in 1758. It is believed that she lived with the Lenape, possibly under the care of their chief, Netawatwees, in locations near Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Newcomerstown, eastern Ohio. Campbell's return to her family in Pennsylvania in 1764 was facilitated by British military pressure on the Native Americans. She was among a group of captives released to British forces and transported to Fort Pitt.
As an emblematic figure, her abduction and release shed light on the complicated dynamics and moral implications surrounding the colonization of Native American territories by Euro-American settlers.
Campbell was born in 1747 or 1748. According to oral tradition among her descendants, her family identified themselves as Scotch-Irish.
On May 21, 1758, at the age of ten, Campbell was abducted from a place in or near the town of Penn's Creek, probably the town of that name situated in Cumberland (now Snyder) County, Pennsylvania. Her captors were a band of Lenape, a Native American tribe also known as the Delaware. It is widely believed that during her captivity she stayed in the household of, or with the tribe of, a principal chief of the Lenape called Netawatwees, also known by his English name, Newcomer. According to local tradition, this Native American group brought her to a cliff cavity now known as Mary Campbell Cave near the Cuyahoga River in present-day Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. After a reportedly brief residence in the cave, she is said to have moved to a nearby Lenape village, which may have been along the southern bank of the Cuyahoga River not far from the cave, or else on the flat ground directly above the cave.
Several lines of family tradition, however, say that Campbell lived with the Lenape in a place called Newcomerstown which is further south in eastern Ohio. This tradition tends to confirm Campbell's association with Netawatwees, since Newcomerstown was named after its founder Netawatwees (Newcomer). If, as this suggests, Mary's association with the group headed by Netawatwees is accepted, then both the local tradition of Mary Campbell's stay near Cuyahoga Falls as well as the family traditions which place her in Newcomerstown are probably correct. What is historically known of Netawatwees indicates that he established his people near Cuyahoga Falls from late in 1758 or early 1759. This would correspond with a period early in Mary Campbell's captivity, since she was abducted in May 1758. It is also known that he later moved with his group to eastern Ohio and there founded Newcomerstown.
Some writers have suggested that Campbell may have been adopted by Netawatwees. The adoption into an Indian family, of captives taken in raids, was common practice among the Native Americans of that time period, and Campbell most probably was adopted into a Lenape family according to this custom. Nevertheless, although it seems certain she was a member of the tribal group which followed and moved with Netawatwees, it cannot be definitely established that she was adopted into his own household.
Campbell's return to her family in Pennsylvania in 1764 was a result of British military pressure on the Native Americans of southern Ohio by troops under Colonel Henry Bouquet. Over two days, August 5 and August 6, Bouquet's forces prevailed against Native American irregulars in the Battle of Bushy Run, a key battle that turned the tide of Pontiac's Rebellion. While armed conflict became rare after the battle, no formal peace had been made. Starting from Fort Niagara on August 6, 1764, Colonel John Bradstreet and 1,200 of his soldiers moved through northern Ohio on their way to Fort Detroit. Bradstreet concluded a peace treaty with a number of tribes on August 12, which would have prohibited an expedition by Bouquet to the south. General Thomas Gage rejected Bradstreet's treaty on the grounds that the Colonel had exceeded his authority in making it.
On October 1, 1764, Bouquet held meetings with Shawnee and Lenape leaders at Fort Pitt. The Indians tried to convince Bouquet that their numbers were great, and that he should not move into their territory because his army could not survive. Apparently the Indians were bluffing, because within a day or two, they had agreed to give up their white captives to Bouquet and his forces. On October 3, Bouquet and 1,500 soldiers departed Fort Pitt, arriving at a place called Tuscarawas on October 13. The next day, Bouquet met with leaders of Native American groups including those of the Lenape. The meetings lasted until October 20, when Bouquet issued an ultimatum and demanded the return of captives. Captives were turned over to Bouquet's forces at different times during and after these proceedings, Mary Campbell was among those who returned.
Campbell's name is included in a list of 60 former captives who were transferred by Captain Lewis Durry to Captain Charles Lewis for transportation to Fort Pitt. The list was made out on November 15, 1764, at a "Camp at Muskingum", presumably in present-day southeastern Ohio. Campbell would have been 16 or 17 years of age at this time, having spent about six-and-a-half years with the Lenape. The captives arrived at Fort Pitt on November 28, 1764.
Family tradition among some of Campbell's descendants indicates that she was, at least initially, unhappy at being separated from the Lenape. Although it is estimated that approximately half of the captives turned over to Bouquet attempted to return to their Native captors, a development which reportedly puzzled both the army and the communities to which the captives were being returned, it is not known whether Campbell was one of them.
In October 1764, the Pennsylvania Gazette carried an advertisement placed by Mary Campbell's family, which read in part:
...Mary Campbell, then in her 10th year, red haired, and much freckled. Her Father hearing that she is now at Albany, and being unable to go so far, begs that she may, by all good People, be helped on her way to him as he and her aged mother, are very desirous of seeing her.
This is the only known contemporary physical description of Campbell. It is not known which of several places called Albany are referred to. Sources give the date of this advertisement as October 11, 1764. If that is accurate, it is possible that Mary Campbell was in Albany, Ohio at the time; alternatively, it could refer to one of several places called Albany in Pennsylvania. The advertisement definitely implies that Mary Campbell had been turned over to Bouquet's forces before the date of its publication. A historical account of Bouquet's expedition lends credence to such a scenario by saying that Bouquet's November 15 report included persons returned from captivity up to that date. It has been claimed that one of Mary's brothers was with Bouquet's forces when she was returned. If so this would explain how Mary Campbell's father knew of her whereabouts upon placing the advertisement with the Pennsylvania Gazette.
Campbell married Joseph Willford in 1770 in Mt. Pleasant Township. Some sources place this in what was then York, but is now Adams County, Pennsylvania. The same sources have Mary and Joseph Willford continuing in York/Adams County from 1770 until they moved to Washington (now Greene) County, Pennsylvania. But tax rolls from Lack Township, situated in the Tuscarora Valley, Cumberland (now Juniata) County strongly suggest that they lived in this township from 1766 until at least 1782. A possible candidate for the place of their marriage is a town a few miles southeast of Mifflintown and adjacent to Lack Township which was later (from 1847) known as Mount Pleasant. Some time during or after 1782 they moved to Bald Ridge Farm, Dunkard Township, in present-day Greene County, Pennsylvania.