According to the Library of Congress record for Edwin Eastman, he was a "fictitious character invented by E. P. (Edward P.) Huylar, 1829-1888, purveyor of patent medicines, who also created the alternate identity, Clark Johnson, M.D."

According to Narratives of captivity among the Indians of North America : a list of books and manuscripts on this subject in the Edward E. Ayer Collection of the Newberry Library (1912), this book is a "fictitious story written to advertise Dr. Clark Johnson's Indian blood syrup".

Release date is 2008-11-05

Produced by Bryan Ness, Barbara Kosker and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from scans of public domain works at the
University of Michigan's Making of America collection.)

"Seven and Nine Years Among the Camanches and Apaches: An Autobiography" by Eastman is an autobiographical narrative written in the late 19th century. The book recounts the author’s harrowing experiences of captivity during his time with the Camanches and Apaches, detailing both personal trials and cultural observations. The narrative begins with Eastman’s transition from a farmer in Missouri to a victim of abduction by Native Americans, setting the stage for a vivid exploration of frontier life and conflict. At the start of the book, the author introduces the motivations for writing, emphasizing the often-ignored stories of those captured by Native Americans. He details his family’s move westward and the subsequent journey that leads to their ambush and his capture alongside his wife and brother. The tension escalates as the author recounts the harrowing attack by the Indians, the tragic loss of family members, and his ultimate captivity. Through this opening portion, the reader is immediately immersed in the emotional weight of survival, the complexities of human relationships under duress, and the gritty realities of life on the frontier. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Original publication data not identified