Chapters 1, 2 and 3 Summary

Mary Draper Ingles was pregnant with her third child when Shawnee Indians attacked the small village where she lived, taking several hostages and killing the rest. Based on historical accounts of Mary's kidnapping and her trek to return to her husband, Follow the River is filled with descriptions of the lands as they likely appeared in those days and the people who lived there. The book begins Sunday, July 8, 1755, with Mary and her family going about their normal Sunday afternoon chores. Mary is preparing to go to the nearby spring to do laundry. Her sister-in-law, Bettie Draper, is already there. Mary's sons, two-year-old Georgie and four-year-old Tommy, are picking berries in the woods with Mary's mother, Eleanor Draper. Mary's husband, Will, and brother, Johnny Draper, are about a mile from home working in the fields. Mary is uneasy that morning as...