Captive!
Local family ambushed. Parents and three children murdered. Four sisters kidnapped.
by Sharon Fendley
Such could have been the headlines of a North Georgia newspaper in
1874. The story would concern the family of John German who had previously
lived about two miles from Blue
Ridge, Georgia. 
How
did the four daughters of John German and Lydia Cox German find themselves
captives of the Cheyenne Indians, nomads who traversed the Great Plains
of the Middle West? The heartbreaking and yet remarkable, true story of
these four sisters is told in two excellent books. The first book, Girl
Captives of the Cheyennes, was published in 1927 and written by Grace
E. Meredith, niece of Catherine German, eldest of the captives. In 1998,
Arlene Feldmann Jauken shared the tragic tale again through her great-grandmother,
Sophia German Feldman, the second eldest captive. Jauken’s compelling
read, The
Moccasin Speaks, reveals information gleaned from both oral and
written histories of the people and times.
Life is about change. Life is also about survival and having hope in the face of adversity. The story of the four German sisters began with their family’s seemingly idyllic existence on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Pre-Civil War, the hard-working and frugal parents created a prosperous and pleasant existence for their children. Post-Civil War, John German returned home in ill health due to deprivation and hardship, to find that deserters and marauders ravaged the farm. Hearing reports from a friend about the healthful climate of Colorado, German determined to leave behind the deplorable economic conditions of the south and pursue a better way of life.
Traveling west today might mean a few hours of waiting to secure a plane
ticket and pack a few suitcases. Traveling west for the German family
meant laboring another five years to procure the provisions, oxen and
a wagon called a “prairie schooner” that would carry them for many months
over sometimes rough terrain and swollen streams. 
Not
only would they be forced to deal with wild animals and hostile inhabitants,
they must also deal with loneliness as they said goodbye to family and
friends they would probably never see again.
By April 10, 1870 the family was on their way. After stopping at Sparta, Tennessee for a few months to rest and earn more money for the trip, the Germans and their seven children journeyed on to Howell County, Missouri where friendly people persuaded them to settle. Trading his oxen and wagon for a homestead of 160 acres with a log cabin, John German attempted to farm the land once again. Finding themselves in malarial country, the family decided to move after only two and a half years toward the promise of Colorado once again.
John German’s plan was to cross Kansas to Colorado following the Union Pacific Railway and make camp each night at a station. But because water was said to be scarce he chose to follow the old stage route. He had heard reports about Indian raids and was a little uneasy, but was told that there had been no deeds of violence for several years. On September 10, 1874 the family met two men in a wagon going eastward. The men said the family could reach Fort Wallace, Kansas by the next day.
Determined to get an early start the next morning the family set up camp near a sandy creek bed. Sitting by the campfire, they enjoyed the peacefulness of the night sounds. Seventeen-year-old Catherine was later to sadly say, “The evening was one long to be remembered.” With father and older brother Stephen doing sentinel duty the others retired for the night.
The next
morning, the family broke camp. Stephen called to Catherine to take his
job of driving the cows because he wanted to see if he could get an antelope.
Moments later Catherine heard the most terrible yells. Stephen cried,
“Indians, Indians!” Catherine felt a great fear take possession of her.
After watching Stephen’s brutal murder Catherine was struck by an arrow
in her thigh. A large burly Indian jumped from his horse, pulled the arrow
out of Catherine’s leg and put her on his horse.
At the wagon Catherine saw her elder sister Jane lying dead. Sophia, her younger sister, told Catherine later that their father had been the first to fall, and when their mother ran to him she became the next victim. Although recalling the gruesome scene brought great mental anguish for years to come, Sophia was quoted later as saying, “First I watched the hatchet enter father’s head, then I watched it enter my mother’s head.” Catherine reported that both parents were scalped while yet alive.
Had it not been for her frailness and short hair Catherine might very well have never lived to tell her story. In the book, Girl Captives of the Cheyennes, she explains