Richard and Catharine Bard were taken by Delaware Indians on April 13, 1758 from their home in what is now Adams County, Pa. The following is selection of a ballad supposedly written by Richard shortly after his wife’s return. The full version of the ballad and the narrative can be found here.

‘Bove six score miles we now have marched,

Yet fifty doth remain,

Between us and the bloody place,

Where standeth Fort Duquesne.

 

At three rods distance from a run,

Encamped this night are we:

But when for drink they do me send

No more they see of me.

 

Alas! for me to go ‘tis hard,

Since with them is my wife,

Yet ‘tis the way that God ordained

For me to save my life.