USA > Pennsylvania > Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855 > Part 20
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" I remained at headquarters till the treaty was concluded, and then returned to Fort Wayne. While at Fort Wayne, I received many letters from my brothers, urging me to resign. I had not seen them for ten years. Those letters held out the idea that they would make my fortune. That, (and a desire to return to the land of my early habits, and to see my brothers and sisters, who had grown from children to be men and women, and most of them married,) decided me to leave the service. I resigned my commis- sion and left Fort Wayne on the 20th of November, 1795, and passed the next winter in Lexington, Kentucky. About the Ist of March following, I rode through to Limestone, (Maysville.) I there
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got into a quartermaster's boat, and, in about three weeks, landed at Wheeling, Virginia. I spent a few days with the widow of my brother Samuel, who had died on the Christmas previous. I then purchased a horse, and reached home about the 20th of July. I went first to Captain William Gray's, my brother-in-law. My sis- ter, Mrs. Gray, came to the door, and, as I inquired for Mr. Gray, she put on rather an important look, and replied : ' I presume you will find him at the store,' and turned into the parlor. I was about turning on my heel, when I heard steps in the entry, and, turning round, I saw my sister Hannah. She immediately raised her hands and exclaimed : ' My brother Hugh !' and flew into my arms. This was not a little surprising, as when she saw me last she could not have been more than eight years old. She knew me by my resem- blance to my twin sister, Jane. I found my connections all living happily, and moving at the head of society. I passed a happy three or four months with them, when I became weary of an idle life, and began to look for my promised fortune ; but, up to this day, have never been able to find it. I remained out of business till the win- ter of 1798 and 1799, when I was appointed a captain in Adams' army, and, in less than two years, was disbanded. My brother William, who had been most urgent for me to resign, now requested me to assist him to improve some wild lands he owned on the Ma- honing river, about fifty miles from Pittsburgh. We commenced this settlement in the spring of 1802, and, that summer, built a grist- mill and a saw-mill. All our breadstuff had to be carried about thirty miles on horseback. Meat I procured with my rifle, deer being plenty, and I could kill them without much loss of time from other business.
" I married in 1805, and took my wife to our place in 1806, where Sarah and Preston were born. During the time we were there, we were happy, and had a plenty of such things as the coun- try afforded. All being on an equality, as regarded our resources, were not annoyed by the insolence of wealth. Still, I saw that my fortune could not be made there, and, in 1810, I returned, with my family, to Northumberland, and got along as well as I could, until 1812, when the war again called me into service ; since which time the Government has provided for me. I have rendered her some service, and, with my brother officers, have kept my shoulder
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to the wheel. This was no more than our duty to a country which supports us, and of which we are justly proud.
" Thus, I have given a sketch of my life, containing nothing un- usual or strange among those of my day and generation. But what a wonderful generation it has been-the most wonderful of any since the days of our Saviour !
" I have already stated that my brother James fell by the Indians, in 1778. It was in this manner : With ten or twelve others he went to help a neighbor harvest his wheat, about ten miles from the nearest station. On entering the field, they placed a sentinel at the most exposed point, and their arms convenient to their work. They had worked but a short time when the sentinel gave an alarm. They all ran to their arms, but it proved to be a false alarm. After reprimanding the sentinel for his unsoldierly conduct, they returned to their work; but they had not long been reaping when they heard the report of a rifle, and their sentinel was killed. Without noticing the conduct of others, my brother ran to his rifle, and as he stooped to pick it up, he received a shot which broke his arm. This caused him to fall forwards, and before he could recover, a stout Indian was upon him, tomahawked him, scalped him, and left him for dead. After the Indians left the field, my brother recovered and went to the house, where he found the rest of the reapers who had run from the field without their arms, and without making any attempt to de- fend or rescue him. They sent James to his parents, at Sunbury, forty miles from the spot where he received his wound, which was on Saturday. He lived till the Thursday following, retained his senses, and related what is stated above.
" James Brady was a remarkable man. Nature had done much for him. His person was fine. He lacked but a quarter of an inch of six feet, and his mind was as well finished as his person. I have ever placed him by the side of Jonathan, son of Saul, for beauty of person, and nobleness of soul, and like him, he fell by the hands of the Philistines.
" My father was killed on the 1 1th of April, 1779, not more than half a mile from his own house. He had left that morning at the head of a party of men, to move in a family that had wintered at their farm, about ten miles from my father's place. Having seen no sign of Indians, my father stopped at Wallis's Fort, and let the
15
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party go on with the family. He was the only person mounted, and intended, soon, to overtake the party, but unfortunately for him, his family, and the settlement, he overtook a man who had fallen behind, and remained with him till the Indians shot him dead. The man escaped by mounting my father's horse, after he had fallen. It is a remarkable fact, that this man, Peter Smith, was in the field where my brother was killed, and afterwards, his own family was mostly destroyed by Indians, and he again escaped. After the war he settled in the Genesee country, and became a wealthy man. Some men are born to luck.
[NOTE .- It is worthy of notice, that although General Brady fre- quently sought, he was never successful in finding, the spot where his father was interred. One of his surviving daughters, Mrs. Backus, wife of Major Backus, was providentially made acquainted with the spot, during a visit (1851) to the place of her grand- father's residence. An old revolutionary soldier,1 who was with the father of General Brady when he fell, and had known and marked the place of his interment, a short time before her visit, had, on his death bed, requested to be buried beside his old captain, and desig- nated the spot. His request was granted, and there lie together in the woods, the captain and the private of his company, in a place where the inhabitants of the neighborhood intend, it is said, to erect an appropriate monument .- George Duffield, D. D.]
"My brother John, in his fifteenth year, was in the battle of Brandywine, and was wounded. On the retreat he would have been captured had not his colonel, William Cooke, taken him up behind him.
" John had gone to the army with my father, in order to take home the horses ridden out, and was directed by my father to return. But John heard from Ensign Boyd that a battle was expected to be fought soon. He, therefore, remained to see the fun; and when my father took command of his company, on the morning of the battle, he found John in the ranks, with a big rifle by his side. My father was wounded in the battle, Ensign Boyd was killed, and John received a wound during the retreat.
" As one good turn deserves another, two of my brothers, many years after, married two of the colonel's daughters.
1 Henry Lebo.
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" Captain Samuel Brady entered the army as a volunteer when he was nineteen years of age, and joined General Washington at Boston. A year after, he was appointed a lieutenant, and returned home to recruit. He did not remain long. He belonged to Cap- tain John Doyle's company, Wayne's brigade, and was with him at the surprise of Paoli. In 1779, his regiment, the eighth Pennsyl- vania, was ordered to Pittsburgh. It was then commanded by Col- onel Brodhead. Soon after, my brother heard of his father's death ; and he waited, with impatience, for an opportunity to avenge it, on the Indians. Nor was the opportunity long delayed. The Indians had attacked a family and killed all in it, except a boy aged twelve, and his sister, ten. These were taken prisoners, and their father was absent from home at the time it occurred.
" The place was thirty miles east of Pittsburgh, and it so hap- pened Samuel was out in that direction, and, hearing of it, he started in pursuit, having with him a friendly Indian, very useful as a guide. The second evening of the pursuit the party stopped on the top of a high hill, and the Indian guide pointed with his wiping stick to the foot of the hill, and said, ' The Red Bank runs there.' The men sat down, while the captain consulted with the Indian about his future movements. Suddenly, the Indian sprang to his feet, and said he smelt fire; and soon after they saw the smoke curling above the trees, on the opposite side of the Red Bank.
" The Indian said, ' They will sleep by that fire to night.' 'And I will awake them in a voice of thunder in the morning,' replied the captain. The Indian also said, ' After they smoke and eat, and the sun has gone to sleep, they will give the scalp halloo.'
" With breathless impatience, the party watched the setting of the sun, and, as its light disappeared from the tops of the trees in the east, they heard seven distinct scalp halloos, with the usual whoop between each. After it was over, Cole, the Indian, observed, 'There are fourteen warriors, and they have five scalps and two prisoners.' The night being clear and the weather mild, the cap- tain remained in his position till near morning, when he forded the stream above the Indians and posted his men, to await the crack of his rifle as the signal of attack. As day broke an Indian rose up and stirred the fire. The signal was given. The Indian standing pitched into the fire. The attack continued, and resulted in eight
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of the warriors being deprived of the pleasure of ever again giving the scalp halloo. When the captain got to the fire he found the children much alarmed. After quieting their fears, the boy asked for the captain's tomahawk, and commenced cutting off the head of the Indian that fell in the fire, observing that this was the leader of the party, and the man that killed and scalped his mother. The boy was permitted to finish the job he had commenced.
" Three easy days' march brought the captain back to Pittsburgh. The father of the children was sent for to receive his lost ones. He showed much affection, on meeting his children, and thanked the captain for having restored them ; and then asked the captain what had become of his 'big basin.' It appeared the Indians had carried off, or destroyed, a big basin, from which Henry and his numerous family ate their sourkrout. The honest Dutchman thought there could be no impropriety in asking for it, of the man who had the best chance to know.
"In 1804, the writer met Henry (the boy) at a friend's house, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Henry had stopped, with a wagon, before the door, and had a barrel of cider for my friend, who, pointing to me, said, "This gentleman is a brother of Captain Brady, who took you from the Indians.' Henry was assisting to remove the cider, and he gave me a side look for a moment, and then con- tinued his work. I felt hurt at the coldness he showed towards the brother of a man who had risked his life to rescue him from death or bondage, and to avenge the murder of his family. My friend informed me that Henry owned the farm from which he was cap- tured, and was as rich as any farmer in the county. I thought, then, if his circumstances were as easy as his manners, he probably had at home, in the old family chest, as many dollars as would fill his father's big basin.
" At the request of his colonel, Captain Brady visited the San- dusky towns, at the head of four or five men, and lay concealed over ten days, so that he could see all their movements. It was a time for horse racing among the Indians, and men, women, children, and dogs were all in attendance. A gray horse was the winner until the evening of the second day, when they compelled him to carry two riders, (a new way to handicap,) when he was finally beaten. The Indians then retired from the field. That evening
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Captain Brady took two squaws prisoners, and started for home. On the second day of their journey they were overtaken by a fright- ful thunder storm, which destroyed their provisions, and destroyed most of their powder, having but three or four loads of good pow- der left in a priming horn. The stormy weather continued several days. After it cleared away, the captain, just before night, went ahead of his party, hoping to kill some game, as they were without provisions. The party was then traveling on an Indian trail. He had not gone far when he met a party of Indians returning from the settlements, with a woman and child, prisoners. The captain shot the leader of the party, rescued the woman, and endeavored to ob- tain the child, that was strapped to the back of the Indian he had shot. But he had not time to do so, as the Indians had ascertained that he was alone, and had returned to their leader. He was, there- fore, compelled to fall back, and he took the woman with him. His men, seeing the Indians, and supposing the captain was killed, made their way to the nearest fort, and let the squaw run away. The other squaw had escaped during the great thunder storm. The next day he met a party coming from Fort McIntosh, to bury him, his men having reported him killed. A few days after, he returned with a party to the battle ground, and found the dead Indian.
" In 1835, the writer met, at the town of Detroit, a son of the boy that was strapped to the back of the Indian. He informed me that after Wayne's treaty, his father was delivered up, at Pittsburgh, by the Indians. When the land west of the Ohio came into market, his father bought the lot on which the affair took place, and built his house, as near as he could ascertain, on the spot where the Indian fell, and lived there till eighteen months prior to our conversation, when he was killed by the falling of a tree. His name was Stupps, and he was a fine looking man. I remember his grandmother's name was Jane Stupps, and I have often heard my brother relate the above story.
" On the Beaver river is a place known as Brady's Bend, where he had a hard fight, and killed many of the enemy, with small loss on his own side. His enterprising disposition and his skill in stratagems, in which he equaled any Indian, enabled him to do more towards protecting the frontier than all his regiment besides. Indeed, he was looked upon by the whole country as their surest protector, and
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all the recompense he ever received was in a reward of $500, being offered by Governor McKean for his person, for having, in 1791, killed a party of Indians on Brady's run, thirty miles below Pitts- burgh. He surrendered himself for trial, and was honorably acquit- ted; he having proved, to the satisfaction of the court and jury, that those Indians had killed a family on the head of Wheeling creek, Ohio county, Virginia. That, on receiving notice of the murder, he suspected those Indians had come out of Pennsylvania. He, therefore, crossed the Ohio at the mouth of the Wheeling, and by steering west, came on the trail, and pursued it to where he attacked them.
" When General Wayne arrived at Pittsburgh, in 1792, he sent for Captain Brady, who lived in Ohio county, Virginia, and gave him command of all the spies then in the employ of the Government, amounting to sixty or seventy men. The captain so disposed of them that not a depredation was committed on the frontier. On the contrary, three or four times the Indians were surprised in their own country, thirty or forty miles in advance of the white settlements. His plan of carrying the war into the Indian country put a stop to all murders on that frontier. He continued in command of these rangers until the period of his death, which occurred on Christmas day, 1795, at his house, about two miles west of West Liberty, Vir- ginia. (in the thirty-ninth year of his age.) His disease was pleu- risy. He left a widow and two sons.
"Never was a man more devoted to his country, and few, very few, have rendered more important services, if we consider the nature of the service, and the part performed by him personally. He was five feet eleven and three fourths inches in heighth, with a perfect form. He was rather light ; his weight exceeding at no time, one hundred and sixty-eight pounds. As I have said before, there were six brothers, viz: Samuel, James, John, William P., Hugh, and Robert. There was but half an inch difference in our heights. John was six feet and an inch, and I was the shortest of them all. Is it not remarkable that I, who was considered the most feeble of al , should outlive all my brothers, after having been exposed to more dangers and vicissitudes than any, except Samuel? Is it not a proof that there is, from the beginning, 'a day appointed for man to die?' It is said, ' the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the
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strong, but safety is of the Lord.' That has ever been my belief."
Among the deaths this year, William McCandlish, senior, of Buf- falo. (Will dated 1 1th September. Children : Peter, John, George, Grizzelda, William, junior, Jennette, Alexander, and Martin. Mr. McCandlish lived on the place now owned and occupied by John Lesher, in Buffalo township.) William Greenlee, and in November, Mathias Trinkle, (of Union now.)
In 1783 the people generally returned to the Valley. Mr. Allen having died, Mr. McClenachan became sole elder of the Buffalo Cross-Roads church until his death, in June, 1784, when the con- gregation was without an elder until 1787, when Matthew Laird, who had been an elder in Big Spring, came to reside within the con- gregation .- Doctor Grier's Sermon.
1784.
JOE DISBURY-BEAR'S MILL (NOW HOFFA'S) ERECTED-FLOOD OF 1784- CAPTAIN LOWDON'S ROLL-DEATH OF COLONEL SAMUEL HUNTER.
OUNCIL of Censors, General James Potter, vice Samuel Hunter, deceased. Members of Assembly, elected in October, Frederick Antes, Daniel Montgomery, and Sam- uel Dale. Henry Spyker, Esquire, was a Representative for Berks county. Presiding Judge, John Buyers. Sheriff, Henry Antes. Lieutenant of the county, William Wilson, vice Samuel Hunter, deceased. Collector of Excise, Alexander Hunter, vice Wil- liam Wilson, resigned. County Commissioner, Walter Clark, qual- ified at November Term.
The celebrated thief, Joe Disbury, was tried. On his jury were Adam Grove, Michael Grove, William Clark and Adam Christ. His sentence was severe : That he should receive thirty-nine lashes, be- tween the hours of eight and nine to-morrow, stand in the pillory
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one hour, have his ears cut off and nailed to the post, that he be im- prisoned three months, and pay a fine of £30 to the President of the State, for the use of the Government. [See his history in Meginness. ]
George Herrold this year opened the " Herrold Tavern," on the river below Selinsgrove, and Captain Anthony Selin the first hotel in Selinsgrove. In September, John Bear, of Lancaster, bought the Hoffa Milis, (now) property of William Charters, and erected the first grist-mill there. The saw-mill he added in 1787 : and in 1790 he had four mills (grist, clover, oil and saw-mill) there.
Additional Residents in White Deer Township in 1784.
Allison, David; Ant, Jacob; Bennett, Justice; Bennett, Ephraim ; Bennett, Thaddeus ; Bentley, Green ; Brown, John; Brown, Joseph; Brown, widow, Elinor ; Buchanan, David ; Buchanan, James ; Bu- chanan, James, junior ; Buchanan, William ; Campbell, Alexander ; Carnahan, Robert; Creal, Michael; Daugherty, Daniel; Davis, Wil- liam ; Dodds, Andrew ; Dunlap, William ; Feager, widow ; Fisher, Paul ; Fisher, Paul, (single ;) Fisher, Henry ; Gillespie, Captain Charles ; Gilman, Philip; Gray, George ; Gray,1 Neigal, grist-mill, formerly Titzel's ; Heany, Hieronymus ; Heany, Frederick ; Heany, Philip; Huston, Samuel; Iddings. Samuel ; Iddings, Samuel, (single ;) Jordan, William ; Jordan, Andrew ; Judge, William ; Kerk- endale, Herman ; Landon, Nathaniel ; Lean, Abraham ; Lean, Han- nah; Low, widow; McComb, John; MeCracken, Mary; McLanahan, David; McLanahan, widow ; Moore, John ; Moore, John, junior ; Moore, George ; Morrison, Samuel ; Montgomery, Samuel ; Perry, Thomas; Plants, Jacob; Poak, widow, Mary; Potter, James, Es- quire ; Ramsey, John ; Rodman, widow, Martha ; Sheaffer, Nicho- las : Tenbrooke, John; Turner, Robert ; Vandyke, John ; Welsh, Nicholas; Welsh, Ludwig. (William Wilson, William Gray, and William Clark, assessors. )
In a memorial, on file at Harrisburg, signed by Robert Martin and John Franklin, they state " that on the 15th of March, 1784, the Sus- quehanna rose into a flood, exceeding all degrees ever before known ; that its rise was so sudden as to give no time to guard against its mischief; that it swept away about one hundred and fifty houses,
' Nelgal Gray was lieutenant colonel of twelfth Pennsylvania, Continental Line, appointed from Northampton county.
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with all the provision, house furniture, and farming tools and cattle of the owners, and gave but just opportunity for the inhabitants to fly for their lives ; that, by this dreadful calamity, one thousand per- sons are left destitute of provisions, clothing, and every means of life."
Muster-Roll of Captain John Lowdon's Company of Northumber- land County Volunteers who marched to Suppress the Riot at Wyoming, by Orders of the Supreme Executive Council, August 4, 1784.
Captain-Lowdon, John.
Lieutenant-Vancampen, Moses.
Ensign-Grove, Michael.
Sergeants-Snyder, Frederick; Vancampen, Garret.
Privates-Adams, John; Allen, John; Antes, William ; Arm- strong, Hamilton ; Armstrong, John ; Backinstow, John; Baker, William ; Boo, George ; Busher, John ; Calhoon, Matthew ; Camp- ble, Andrew ; Champ, John ; Clark, William; Clingman, Jacob ; Crawford, Edward ; Crawford, James ; Dering, Stophel ; Doyle, Samuel ; Drake, Samuel ; Emmons, Alexander ; Eply, Leonard ; Ewing, Jasper : Ewing, John; Fowler, Eshel ; Fowler, Nathan ; Gillespie, Charles ; Gibbons, Alexander ; Giles, Thomas ; Good- heart, Henry ; Goodman, Daniel ; Gettig, Stophel ; Grant, Thomas; Gregg, Andrew ; Gregg, John; Gregg, William ; Hamilton, Thomas ; Hammond, David ; Hammond, James ; Harris, John ; Harris, Sam- uel ; Hepburn, James ; Hessler, Michael ; Hilman, James ; Hunter, Alexander ; Jones, John ; Keel, John ; Keel, Philip ; Lamison, Ja- cob ; Lougan, David ; Ludwick, John ; Lyon, Benjamin ; Marshall, John ; Martin, Benjamin ; Martin, Thomas ; McCoy, Neale ; Mc- Kinney, Abraham ; Meads, Ely ; Moreland, Thomas ; Morrow, James ; Ogdon, John ; Pearson, George ; Rees, Thomas ; Robins, Zack ; Rope, Michael ; Rurer, Frederick ; Salomin, John ; Shaffer, Adam ; Shaffer, Henry ; Smith, Jacob; Steuart, William ; Stout, John ; Teterly, George ; Vanderslice, Henry ; Volin, Leonard ; Webb, William; Weitgur, John; Weitzel, Jacob ; Wheeler, John ; .
Wilkeson, Joseph ; Wilkeson, William ; Wilson, James ; Young, John.
One sergeant and twelve men, two days guarding the prisoners at Sunbury.
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I do hereby certify the above muster-roll to be just ; without fraud to the State of Pennsylvania, or any individual, according to my best knowledge.
JOHN LOWDON, Captain.
Mustered the above company as specified in the above roll.
W. WILSON, Lieutenant Northumberland County.
AUGUST 9, 1784.
Deaths.
April 10, Colonel Samuel Hunter died, aged fifty-two. His grave is near the site of Fort Augusta, which he so heroically defended. His will is dated the 29th of March, and proved the 21st of June. His wife's name was Susanna Scott, sister of Abraham Scott, formerly member from Lancaster. Colonel Hunter was from the county of Donegal, Ireland, and when he died had a mother and two brothers still living there. He left two daughters, Mary and Nancy, minors. 1. Mary, married Samuel Scott, who died before her, leaving children, Samuel H. Scott, Sarah, Susanna. Samuel Scott lived on what is now the Cake farm, and was drowned. He was a son of Abraham Scott, who lived on the island which he had purchased of Mungo Reed, the original owner. Abraham Scott died there in August, 1798, leaving a widow, Sarah, and children, Samuel, (above,) Mary, wife of General William Wilson, after- wards of Chillisquaque Mills, Susanna, and Sarah. Susanna mar- ried - Rose. Their daughter, Isabella, is the widow of Hon- orable Robert C. Grier, late Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 2. Nancy, married her cousin, Alexander Hunter, who died in June, 1810, leaving her also a widow, and children, Mary, Elizabeth, Nancy, and Samuel.
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