Mary White's family were among the first settlers of Lancaster, Massachusetts, arriving in 1653. In 1656 Mary White married Joseph Rowlandson, Lancaster's first minister. In 1675, King Philip's War began to subject the settlements to Indian attacks. On February 20, 1676, Indians kidnapped Mary Rowlandson during an attack on Lancaster. She was held captive for eleven weeks and was eventually ransomed for twenty pounds. After Rowlandson's return, he recorded the account of his imprisonment as a short story. Rowlandson's account was published in 1682 under the title The Sovereignty and Goodness of GOD, Together, with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed and was republished that same year as A True History of the Captivity & Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (Dictionary of Literary Biography). In his graphic narrative, Rowlandson's overall goal is to portray the white settlers as a pious people, innocent victims of Indian brutality, while characterizing the Indians as malignant, godless creatures who revel in their demonic deeds. The events leading up to King Philip's War are crucial to understanding Rowlandson's overall goal in his narrative. In the early 17th century, Europeans and Indians were still at peace because European traders needed furs from Indians. By mid-century, a change in European fashion diminished the need for furs, although the need for Indian furs still existed and settlers' desire for Indian land was increasing. Other problems for the Indians emerged as more settlers arrived in the New World, such as the settlers' farm animals destroying Indian crops and large numbers of Indians dying due to the importation of European diseases. More from...... at the center of the article ......ennsylvania State University, Angela Vietto, Pennsylvania State University and Amy E. Winans, Susquehanna University. The Gale Group, 1999. 304-312. .Rowlandson, Mary. "An Account of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 6th ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2003. 308-340. Schultz, Eric and Tougias, Michael. King Philip's War. Woodstock: The Countryman Press, 1999.Woodard, Maureen L. FEMALE CAPTIVITY AND THE EXPLANATION OF RACE IN THREE EARLY AMERICAN TEXTS. Documents on language and literature, 0031-1294, 1 March 1996, vol. 32, Number 2.direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,url,uid&db=afh&an=9605214838>.