IJte Cnitif Drincicriil
BELLE FON TE, PA.
' The Largest, Cheapest anil Best Paper
ft' lit. lis It Kl> IN CKNTUK Col' NT V.
O R A TION,
IIY JOHN III.AMI I.INN,
AT Til K
l uvellliig of the Itruily Monument at
Miincy.
* PEOPLE or TIIE WEST BRANCH VALLEY:
—Tho mournful death of Captain John
Brady, which has flung its dark shado.v
down through the corridors of a centu
ry and brought us together to-day,
occurred on the 11th of April, 1779. I
will relate it in the language ot his
daughter, Mrs. Mary Gray (late widow
of Captain William Gray, of Sunbury,)
who was fifteen years of age at the time
of her father's death, and who had, even
to the last day of her life (December 13,
1850), a vivid recollection of the stirring
scenes of border life. She said: "My
father was riding along the public road
beyond Muncy creek, and about three
miles from Fort Brady,* and near Wolf
run, accompanied by Peter Smith on
foot, when the Indians tired and Cap
tion Brady fell without uttering a word,
being shot in the hack between hi*
shoulders with two halls. Smith escap.
* d by jumping ulmn my father's fright
ened horse. The Indians in their haste
slid not scalp him, nor plunder him of
his gold watch, some money, and hi*
commission which he carried in a green
hag suspended from hi* neck. Ihs
body was soon after brought to the Fort
and interred in the Muncy burying
ground, some four miles from the Fort
over Muncy creek." John Brady, son
of Captain Samuel and grandson of Cap
tain John Btady, said, as noted down by
Lyman C. Draper, Esq., (in 1845) he was
shot through the heart, only two rifles
discharged, and the sign* showed only
two Indians present. His watch, Ac.,
were not taken. Mr*. Gray's statement
gave my informant (Lyman C. Draper,
Ksq.,) the Impression that Captain
Brady was not killed out of revenge,
hut that a couple of Indian* who shot
were in too big a hurry to stop and rob
hi* body, |>erhaps afraid that other
whites were following near at hand.
The history of contemporary events,
however, coupled with the undisputed
incidents of his death—two Indians
and two shots fired into him—in my
judgment, point to a design in his
death, and enrol him with Warren,
Montgomery, M'-rcer, and other mar
tyrs to the principles of free govern
ment for which they laid down their
* lives upon the field of battle.
The invasion of Wyoming Valley,
which had taken place in July, 177H,
caused the depopulation ot the West
Branch Valley, known as the "gr.a!
lunaway," and as early as the Fall of
that year a decisive stroke at the Six
Nations in there own homes had been
determined upon, but postponed on
account of the lateness of the season.
All winter it was discussed by the camp
fires at Morristown. and with the open
ing spring of 1779, General Washington
wrote frr.m Middlehrook.t February 27,
1779, to President l'.eed, of Pennsylva
nia, for actual surveys of the waters of
the Susquehanna to assist him in form
ing a plan ot operations. Hi* prepara- j
tions to visit the heart of the Indian
dominion with stern vengence could
not he concealed, and the nt-w* was
carried by swift runners to the council
fires of the Iroquois. To divert such a
stroke from their homes, what would
those wily warriors do hut detach
scouting parties to heat up the settle
ments and ward off the blow lyr the
desolation of the West Branch Valley
on extreme right boundary of their
nation ? Their ablest leaders and those
well acquainted with the Valley would
be selected for the purpose. Among
these was John Montour,tf and what
greater blow could he deal to the Amcr
ican cause than to assassinate the prud
ent, the resolute and fearless leader,
who stood with drawn sword upon the
frontier of Pennsylvania to hurl back
the savage foe.
The circumstances of Captain Brady's
death, however, are not what this vast
assemblage has met to commemorate.
Many unknown mounds in thi* valley
wrapt tho silent clay of other of its de
fenders who fell by the rifle of the con
cealed savage. Nor is it to mark to the
latest t>o*terity the scene? of this bloody
tragedy, this granite cenotaph is made
to arise. "Cold a* the sod on which it
rests, still as the heavens above it," it is
to he forever eloquent of our undying
remembrance of the man and the sol
dier, and of our regard for him and
others who died to save our National
"For God's right* t-nwari.
Onrkere Mi|ht ihl bl4—
loriortoM #r ihrw right* ••rnred,
Ws thw* th* -I^l.''
Let u turn then to the record of the
man, the soldier and the officer. Cap
tain John Brady was born in what is
now the .State of Delaware, in 1733.
His father, Hugh Brady, was an emi
grant from the North of Ireland ; of
that godly Scotch-Irish anceatry who
read their Rihlea by the light of the
camp fire of Oliver Cromwell's army,
who were the first to cross the Boyne
and engage the hosts of chnrchly des
potism ; and who at the seige of* I/On
donderry slowly starved to death for
the rights of conscience.
_ • govs.—This was th-- residence of Cap! Bra-lr. tli
' sits of whlfh Is within lbs present Imrnugh of Money.
Fort Mure y sm sereral mil's north of It. "I w thlnk
fort ought to ha built near Ssmtiil Walll*', al-mt two
tnllee from Mtmry creeb, and hs,r dtm-M (to fobs
taiit out arcnrdlngly"—Colonel Hartley's letter, An*
to. 1775. Captain Walher's letter dated tort Money,
April I", 177, says ontb 240f Angnet we wer# order
a*l by Col. Hartley to loitM this fort. We Immediately
began an 4 finished It by tha IMh of Repleader, Sr. .-
Fetm'n Arc-hires, rot. pegs MO, oi. 7 p'*'- Ml.
Another letter 4eerfllie It aa being at the monlli of
Wallte' Run. Col. Welllier. In a letter of leerolr lit,
177, aft: "IGrt Mntwjr ha 4 been erer neted an 4 de
stroyed." A small Mock boom was built on Its site he
Robinson's company In Aprtl, 17S2.—Vnn t'ampen's
narratlre ami fh-no'a A rehires, rot. 12, 41®.
t Fennejrlrsnia Art hires, rot. 7, (sags 210.
rt Ueneral llugb Brady tol'l his nephew, the late
a Jasper K. Brady, 80,, emphatically, that It was John
* Montour sho killed hie father. "There were two
John Montour*—the Western one, who was on the st4e
of the Amei leans ami at that Ume with t'apt Samuel
Brady In tlie Senkushy eoontry, an 4 tha Raw Vorh
one (here atlu4e4 to), who was on the able of the
British. The latter lired nntll tSOD. awl dledim th#
Can ease rlrer, In LMngatnn ronnty, N. Y. f fem the
elfeeta of a drunken lamt with a fellow Indian."—L. C,
Draper, Raq.
} Captain bratly was killed shoot three miles north-
Want of the nioiinnient, where the ridge drops down
to th* leuik of Wolf rnn. Ills jrsr* Is n*nr th* alia
of Fort Mnnry,
Captain lirmly wan an well educated
' as (ho circumstance* of his father would
j allow, and taught an clctncli tury school
! and sillying school over in New .lersey
' prior to the removal of his hither ami
: iatnily to the hanks of the Conodo
j gwinet, not fur troni Shippensburg, in
Cumberland county, about the year
17.10.* In the i|uiot the l'rovinee had
before the coming storm of the French
ami Indian war, he followed the usual
avocations of frontier life ; the primeval
forest yearly bowing to the settler's axe.
j His personal appearance has come down
I to us by trndilion; he was six feet high,
well formed, had coal black hair, hazel
i eyes and of rather dark complexion.
About the year 1755 he married Mary
who was also of Scotch-1 riah ex
j traction, and in the year 1756 his eldeat
! son, the celebrated t'apt. Samuel iirady,
I was born in the midst of the tempest
uous waves of trouble that rolled in
i upon the settlements in the wake of
i Braddock'a defeat.t Armstrong's ex
pedition agninst Kittnning was then or-
I gauized and marched from Fort Shirley
|on the 30 th of August, three hundred
! strong, Brady going along as a private,
(ten. .lames Potter, his subsequent as
! sociate in the settlement of this valley,
was a Lieutenant in the command and
| was wounded at Kittaning. Kittaning
was destroyed on tho Htli of September,
and the settlers returned in triumph.
But this severe retaliation did not de
ter the savage* ; as late as the Mil of
November. 1756, they entered the Cum
berland Valley, killed a number of in
habitants and carried away captives.
Forbes' expedition against Fort Du
quest, e followed in 1758. His troops
were composed in part of the regular
forces of the Province, but Brady does
not seern to have been along, not at
least as an officer, as there is a very cir
cumstantial account extant of every
officer that accompanied the expedition.
Pennsylvania Archives, 2<l series, vol.
2, pages 560, Ac. >n Forbes approach
the F.etch burned Fort Duquesne and
retired, thus tcrminatirfg the struggle
between tho French and Knglish for
the tiliio Valley (Nov. 25, 1758). Gen.
Stannix built Fort Pitt upon the ruins
of Foit Duquesne in 175'J, and on the
I .lib of September, upon the plains of
Abraham, rendered immortal by the
death of Gen. Wolfe, Montcalm, with
the "Lilies of France," went down be
fore the Cross of St. George ; virtual
ly ending French dominion in North
America. This was followed by the !
peace of Pal is, February 10, It 63.
But the end was not yet to blazing
homes and border conflicts on the fron
tier*. I'ontiac has secretly organized
bis noted conspiracy of the Indian
tribes extending from the Lakes to the ,
Lower Mississippi, and now called upon
them, in fiery eloquence, to save their
tace Irora slavery and ruin, and to drive i
the Knglish into the Atlantic. About •
the 27th of April, 176-'!, he assembled a .
council on the batik* of the Kxoorces, a
small stream not fir from Hotrod, and i
having aroused the < hiefs in a speech
of unparalleled fury to terrible earnest
ness he let the tribes loose in vengeful
wrath uj>on the frontiers. While Na- |
ture was robing the forests of the West ;
in the green mantle of May, they stole .
silently through the n, seized most of
the fort* unaware* and m...•sacred the
garrisons. They even surrounded Fort
Pitt, and for live days threatened its
capture, their scouting parlies from the
North penetrating nearly to Beading.
Then John Brady sprang front the
ranks apparently to the office of Cap
tain. He was commissioned July 19,
1763, Captain of the Second Battalion
of the Pennsylvania Uegiment, "com
manded by Governor John l'enn," Tur
tiutt Francis and Asher Clayton, Lieu
tenant commandants. Then came Boti
quel's expedition for the relief of Fort
Pitt, the battle of Bushy Bun beyond
Fort Ligonier (August 5, 1763), a bard
fought battle of two days, in which
Bouquet's troo|>s suffered severely, but
he at last defeated the Indians by a
hold stratagem—a victory which saved
Fort Pitt, relieved the Western front
ier*, and the Provincials returned to
battle with inroads from the North.
This closed the year 1763,
With the return of spring in 1764,
their incursions were renewed, and in
the Pennsylvania HazftU of April 5,1764,
there is an account of "the Indian dep
redations in the Carlisle region on the
20th, 21st and 22d of March; killing
people, burning bouses and making
captives," adding, "Captains Piper and
Brady, with their companies, did all
ttint lay in their power to protect the
inhabitants. No man can go to sleep
within ten or fifteen miles of the border
without being in danger of having hi*
house burned and himself or family
scalped or led into oltptivity before the
next morning. The people along the
North Mountain are moving farther in,
esjwcially about Shippensburg. which is
crowded with families ol that neighbor
hood."
Bouquet's second expedition follow
ed, in which he was accompanied by
the First and Second Battalions of the
Pennsylvania Begiment. At Fort I.ou
don (about twelve miles west of Chain
hershurg) he was met by a runner from
Colonel Bradstreet. who had |>enetrated
with a force to Presque Isle (City of Krie
now) who advised Col. Bouquet that he
had granted a peace to all the Indiana
between Lake Krie and the Ohio. Bou
quet was at the head of the Provincial
soldiery of Pennsylvania, and he and
they were determined upon a conquer
ed peace. He, therefore, forwarded the
dispatrb toGov. Penn, with the remark,
"that such a peace with no satisfaction
insisted upon, would fix an indelible
•tain upon the Nation. I, therefore,
take no notice of that pretended peace,
and proceed forthwith upon the expe
dition, fully determined to treat as ene
mies any Delaware* or Nhawanese I shall
find on my way."J He accordingly pen
etrated the country of the Delaware# to
the Forks of the Muskinghum, (where
Coshocton, < hio, now stands), and upon
the banks of that river dictated his
terms of peace; among theae were the
absolute return of about three hundred
captives.
Some of my hearers, tho descendants
* Jfotl.—llnsli Ilre.t '• asm* apposra npon lha list
of taasbles i>f 11/ipewell ti-wfiahlp,i Timhertnod r.xintr,
f.,r the year )?al, with Uh*> of June* slot John
Qnlsiaj.
ton th 24 of April, ITfi*, MeOords' Fort
!,m.|..ti) now In franklin ronnly, was taken sn4
l.nrii-4 by tho In.llsns.sii4 Cspt. Aleisodet Cwlbert
sifl who, with Or Jimsnn sl4 atenl Oft j men follow
„| sflsr i'imb. worn frfnlnt Is sn action Islsrm Kay
sod Si4-11.-s 11111, sn.l Captain Cnllo-rtt'.n sn.l many
of th* insn hilled.
JCol. Bee., vol. 9,W.
of thu Cummins, the (liiiiililm, the Ir
| vines, the McCortnicks, the Mucigenic
i ry*, tho I'i |the Kobbs, iiikl others,
who with me trace their lineage I" tli
dwellers under the shadow of I lie North
Mountain, will recall tho tradition* nt
Bouquet's return with the captive*,
which were minuted with our grand
mothers' fireside tale*, and hunot the
memory of our inlant yearn, like tho
dying cadence of sonic distant music,
or tho words of a well nigh forgotten
song. It wuh on a wintry day (I>eeeru
ber .11, 1764) when Col. Bouquet, having
advertised for those who had lost chil
dren to come to Carlisle ami reclaim
them, brought out the band ot little
captives for recognition. Many had
been captured when very young and
had grown up to boyhood and girlhood
in the wigwam of the Indian, having
learned tin' language of tho savage and
forgotten their own. I'ne woman was
unable to point out her daughter, and
the captives could otdv talk in an un
known tongue. She told her sad lot to
the Colonel, and mentioned that she
used, many years before, sing to her
daughter a hymn ol which the child
was very fond. Iho Colonel told her
to *ing it, and she began :
••Altitu*, v i n>i aloft* >• I.
Though in thin aolltuda • lre*r,
I ft| my Hutitiiir high,
lln my o**l7 hour lo hwr."
Sho had not flni#h<<l tho lirnt v*rne
before her loug lost daughter rushed in
to her arms.
1 come now to the connection of Bou
ipiet's expedition with the history of
the settlement of the West llranch \ al
ley. On the 30th of November, 1764,
the First Hattallion of the l'ennsylvania
Regiment left Fort Pitt for home, and
the Second followed the next day.
When they reached Red ford the officers
made an agreement with each other in
writing, to apply to the Proprietaries
for a tract of land sufficiently extensive
and conveniently situated, whereon to
elect a compact and defensible town,
and accommodate them with reasonable
and commodious plantations, the same
to he divided according to the several
ranks, etc. John Rrady was one of
the officers who s'gned this agreement.
In their application to the Proprietaries,
dated April 30, 17C.*i, they proposed to
embody themselves into a compact set
tlement, at some distance from the
inhabited part of tbc Province, where,
by industry, they niigh* procure a com
fortahle subsistence for themselves, and
by their arms, union and increase
become a jarwerful barrier to the Prov
ince. They suggested the confluence
of the two branches of the Susquehanna
ut Shmnokin, n affording a situation
convenient for their purpose, ami asked
the proprietaries to make a ptyclis.se
from the Indians to accommodate their
application.
Meanwhile, urged by the restless,
mysterious impulse which moulds the
destiny of the pioneers of civilisation,
Captain Rrady had removed from the
Conodogwinet fifty miles further north
west, to Standing Stone now Hunting
don). Hete, in 1768, his children,
General Hugh Rrady and twin sjsier
Jennie, were born, and Captain Rrady
followed the occu| atio.i of surveyor. ' hi
the Mb of November, 1768, Thomas and
Richard l'o -n purchased from the Six
Nations at Fort Stanwix .(now Rotre, .
N. Y.), with other territory, all that
|>ortion of the West Rranch \ alley
extending from the m< nth of Mahanoy
creek to the mojth of Pine creek, and
on the 3d of February. 1769, t'.-e officers
of the First ard Second Itattallions met
at the Governor's and obtained an or
der allowing thm lo take up twenty
four thousand sere*. The surveys of
8,000 of'it, in what is now Union coun
ty, were made by Samuel Maelay on
tile lt, 3d and 3d of March, 17t ap
tain Rrady, with other* of the officers,
being along. The survey* of the second
8,000 acres, at the mouth of Chillitqu*-
que creek, were made at the same time,
and the officers returned to Fort Au
gusta (now Sunbury). held a meeting
and uetermincd that the remaining
8,(J00 acres should he surTcyerl on Raid
Kagle creek, and Captains Hunter,
itrady and Piper were selected to over
see it. The latter survey* were made
by Charles I.ukens in April, 1769, Cap
tain Rrady accompanying him, and em
brace the land from the City of J>ock
Haven up Raid Kagle creek to where
Howard now stands, in Centre county.
During the summer of 1769 Captain
Rrady removed hi* family to tho
Rranch snd cleared a place on the east
ern side of the river, directly opposite
Perr'a Mill, now the site of l.ewisburg.
<in the 21*t of March, 1772, Northum- i
her I and county was created, and on the
fourth Tuesday of May Captain John
Rrady was foreman of the first grand
jury that ever sat in Northumberland
county. Rut the sir seemed to !>e full '
of trouble in those early day*. The
Connecticut |>eople, who had settled
at Wyoming, claimed under their char
ter the territory of the Province of
Pennsylvania, as far south as the 41
deg. of latitude, which would run a
mile or so north of lewisburg, and were ,
determined to enfotce it by adverse oc
cupation. Retween the 3d and 7th of
July, 1772, a large party of them reach
ed the river at ilulings, where Milton
now stands, when (xdonel d'lunket
summoned the IVnnamitea to arms and
forcibly drove them off. This contest
continued for some time after the
trumpet of the Revolution summoned
the combatants to fight a common foe.
In December, 1775, Rrady accompanied
Colonel I'lunket's force to Wyoming
Valley as a captain of a company, in
which last encounter of the I'ennsrnite
war .lease I.ukens, son of the Surveyor
General of the Province, lost hi* life.
Meanwhile the storm of war with the
mother country broke upon the shore*
of New Kngland, and when the news df
the battle of Runker Hill reached this
valley, it# heroic settlers promptly ac
cepted the arbitrament of the sword,
and Captain John Ixiwdon's company,
one hundred strong, marched for Bos
ton, Captain Samuel llrady, then a
young man of twenty years, went along
as a private, entering the trenches at
Cambridge with Ixmdon on the 31st of
August, 1775,
Two Battalions of Associators were
organised on the West Rranch, one
commanded by Colonel Hunter, the
other by Colonel William Plunket j in
the latter Battalion Captain John Brady
was commissioner! first mtjor (March
13, 1776). On tho 4th of July, 1776, he
attended the Convention of Associatora,
at Lancaster, as one of the representa
' live* of I'lunknt's B.ttlnlion, where
Ihuiiel Roberdean and James Kwing
ivero elctflod Brigadier Generals ot the
Associators of the Province, And now
comes in order of lime, August, J77ti, the
incident at Heir's trading house, when
| returning in haste ftom Sunbury (laid
out in June, 1772, just below the situ of
Fort Augusta) lie entered a canoe and
shoved swiftly over to Dorr's, lo find
; the Indians in high carnival over a bar
| rc| of rum, with which Derr was stand
ing treat. In the midst of their drunk
en orgies lie kicked over a barrel. To
j this interference some attribute f'uptain
Brady's sad fate, as the Indian appoint
ed to he sober that day said, in effect,
"Ho would rue the spilling of that rum
1 some day."
Moon after this occurrence Captain
Rrady moved to Money, having erected
in the spring of 177 the semi fortified
residence which afterward went by the
name of Fort Brady. The day of asso
ciators wo* soon over with nine months
land one year's service. It became ini
j iterative to raise regular regiments en
| listed for the war, if the independence
of the State was to |,c maintained. Ac
cordingly • .'ol. William C-ook's Regiment,
' the Twelfth, was directed to ho raised
in the counties of Northumberland and
Northampton. Among the last set* of
j the Convention which formed the first
I Constitution of this Commonwealth,
September 28, 1770, was the election of
the field officers of this Regiment. Col.
William Cook whose grandson, Jacob
Cook, is with u* today, Lieutenant
Colonel Ncigal Gray, then of Northnmp
' ton county, but who after the war own
ed and died upon the place now known
as Kelley's Mills, in I'mon county, and
Major James Crawford, who died in
Wayne township, Lycoming county, of
which he was a Justice of the Peace in
1814, were elected. John Brady was
■ commissioned one of its Captains, Oc j
tober 11, 1776, and on the IMb of De-
I cember, in mid winter, it left Sunbury
!in boats for the battle fields of New
Jersey. The regiment went immediate
ly into active service. Being composed
of good riflemen it was assigned to the
same duties our "Rucktai!*" were in the
late war, on picket, on the skirmish
line, to commence the fighting and to
go through it. At Roundbrook, at
KonumUtwn, at I'mcataivay, it left its
• lead, and the green mounds that deck
ed the purple heaths of New Jersey left
their sorrow in many a borne in the
! West Rranch Yalh-y.
When General Washington crossed
the Delaware into Pennsylvania to
| await the development to General
Howe's plans, he detached Captain
Hawkins Booue, of the Twelfth to Mor
gan's Rifle Command, to assist in the
capture of Rurgoyne, and two at least
tb it I know ofi of Ins woumb-d soldier*
returned to this valley to tell that Tim
othy Murphy, a West Rranch rifleman, i
had shot Gen. Ft i/er, at Saratoga, and
how they, with Major James I'arr, of
Northumberland, and Lieutenant Col
onel Richard Butler, of Westmoreland,
stormed Breyrnand's camp, led by the
lion hearted Arnold. \\ ithin a few
-hort months July 26, 1771*,) after Capt.
Brady's death, (.'apt, Roone bravely died
in defence of tin* vallev at Fort Free
land.
In due time Howe made his appear 1
an re nt the Head of the Klk. and Gen.
Washington moved his army of the i
batik* ol the Rrady wine to confront him. ;
The Twelfth, with the Third, the Ninth
and the Sixth, was in Conway's Brigade,
General s terlinc's Division, in the right
wing commanded by General Sullivan
on the 11th of September battle of
Rrandywine). General Wayne, with
the two other brigade# of Pennsylvania,
was left at < 'hadd's ford to opjwje Kny
phausen while Sullivan's right wing
was hurried on to Birmingham Meeting
House to attack the Fngiiah left under
Cornwallia. When the Twelfth Penn
sylvania arrived on double quick upon
the ground, "the cannon balls were
ploughing up the ground, the trees
cracking over their heads, the branches
riven by the artillery, and the leaves ;
were falling a* in Autumn by the grape '
shot." Capt. Rrady had two son* in
the fight : Samuel, the eldest, was First
Lieutenant (commissioned July 17,
1776.) in ('apt. Doyle's company, then
attached to the First Pennsylvania, Col.
Jsine# Chambers, and was with General ;
Wayne, at l'hadd's Ford. John, (sub
sequently, 1795, Sheriff of Northuml>er
land county i then a youth of fifteen
1 year*, who bad gone to the army to ride
the horse* home, was with, hi# father
with a big rifle by hi* side.
They had scarcely lime to obey the
stentcrian order of Col. Cook, "fall into
line!" when the British made their ap
pearance. The Twelfth fired sure, and
last, and many an officer leaped forward
j in death after the sharp crack* of its!
rifles. As the fight grew furious and .
, the charge of glpatnmg bayonet* came
; on, other troops that had not time to j
form reeled Isefore "the burnished row* !
jof steel." But the Twelfth stood firm. :
■ Lieutenant William Boyd (of Northum
[bertand) fell dead by his Captain. Lit
tle John was wounded and Captain j
Rrady fell with a wound through his
mouth. The day ended with disaster I
to our arm*, and the Twelfth sttilenly
quit the field nearly cut lo pieces.
The wound only loosened some of the j
Captain's teetn, hut being disabled by s
severe attack of pleurisy, caused hy hi*
exposure*, which he never got entirely
well of, he was sent home. On the in
vasion of Wyoming Valley, in 17*8, he
retired with his family to Munbttry, and
it was there, on the Sth of August, 1778,
his son James was sent to hi* parents,
cruelly wounded and scalped by the In
dians, to die. The circumstances of hi#
death are very minutely detailed in a
letter from Col. Hartley, to he found in
the l'ennsylvan a Archives, vol. 6, O. 8.
page 689; also in Meginness' history,
page 222, Ac. I will only add General
Hugh Brady's recollections of bis broth
er. "James Rrady wa* a remarkable
man. His person was fine, ho lacked
but a quarter of an inch of six feet, and
his mind was as well finished a* his per
son. I havejever placed him bv the side
of Jonathan, son of Saul, for bcautr of
t.er#on nnd nobleness of soul, and like
litn he fell by the hands of the Philis
tines. He was wounded and scalped on
Saturday and carried on a bier to Hun
bury where he died on the Thursday
following, after reviving sufficiently to
relate everything that happened."
On the Ist of September, 1778, Capt.
Rrady returned to the army. Mean
while, under an arrangement of the
! army, which took place about tho Ist
; of July, tho field officer* had been mus
tered out and tlio companies and their
j officers distributed into tlm Third arid
Sixth Pennsylvania Regiments. Capt.
Rrady was therefore sent home by Gen.
Washington's order, with Capt. linone,
Lieutenants Samuel and Jolur Daugher
! ly, to assist Col. Hartley in protecting
j the frontiers. He joined Col. Hartley
j at Muncy on the 18th of Heptember,
I and accompanied him on the expedi
j tion to Tioga. (>l. Hartley, in a letter
| to Congress (dated October 8, 1778. Pa.
I Archives, vol. 7, page 5) describes the
j hardships of this march. "We waded
or swam Lycoming creek upwards of
; twenty times, met great rains and pro
j digious swarnnt, mountain defiles and
i rocks impeded our course, and we bad
to open and clear the way as we paused.
We carried two boxes of spare ammu
; iiition arid twelve days' provision. I
cannot help observing the difficulties
in crossing the Alps or passing up the
I Kennebec could not have been greater
than our tiipn experienced for the
j time." <>n their return, after they left
Wyalusing, the enemy made a heavy
attack upon his rear and the rear guard
j gave way. "At the critical moment
j ''apiains Boone and Rrady, and Lieut.
| King, with a few brave fellows, landed
front the canoes and renewed the ac
tion. We advanced on the enemy on
all sides, and the Indians, after a brave
I resistance, conceived themselves sur
rounded, fled with the utmost haste,
leaving ten dead."
During the whole of the fall of 1778
the savages ravaged the settlements,
and ''aptain Rrady was kept busy. He
was one of those of whom Col. jlunter
wrote on the 13th of December, who
told him, "They would rather die fight
ing than leave their homes again."
j With the opening spring of 1779 these
I inroads were renewed and in such force
that William Maclay wrote, "He believ
! Ed the whole force of the Mix Nations
was being poured down uj>on the West
Branch Valley,"
Annd the scenes of terror and confu
sion Captain Brady stood manfully at
Ins post, and died by it, at a time when
his service* could ill be spared. •>n the
fatal 11th of April, 1779. in the golden
light of morning its sunlight reflected
by the myriad roin drops lying on the |
bushes and the trees, with the song* of
bird* among the branches, in all the
hope and glory of coming spring, going
forth to the duties of the hour, the
sharp summons came, and in the twink
ling of an eye Captain John Rrady stood
before his (iod.
*"r of rlrlnrv, the j.lufnt , 1h
leff (( J u t from tlk le.it . I hie Die !/%
Hut—
**Glar? ItfliU b * l-hefS !/.
Ab'i 1-ssdUtjl Wr-wf* til*- t-ntt."
The day# of Heathenism arc long
since pa*t, and w.s no longer lay our
dead beneath the cypress shade to sleep
the sleep thai knows no mourning.
The eye of taith reveals to u* more
glorious destiny, and the firm belief of
n reunion in the Heavenly home sweep*
the shadows Iroin fills our hearts snd our
souls with hope* that tall be realized
beyond the tomb. "Spring shall yet
visit these mouldering graves." Know
we not
"Tit* on
W t.s**j to| * MbgU •! t <jf I tirUi
H h#>t!**r "h Uhd Af It. the )••/ i us m.
Hat must jeftv ui iU 1 .u.u.iii.] 4u*L
Ir.xtoUtr
Yes, when the Arch Angel's truinp
shall sound, Riddle* will come, and
Conner will corne, from their seaweed
shrouds and their coral coffins, far down
in the deq> green waters of the Allan
tic. and Capt. John Rrady will leap ex
ultant fr>m his silent grave, with the
immortal light of God on liis counten
ance.
To the valley hi* loas wa* well nigh
irreparable. Death came to it* defend
er, and "Hell followed" hard after. In
May Buffalo Valley was overrun, and
the people left; on the Sth of July
Smith's Mills, at the mouth of White
leer creek, were burned, and on the
17th Muncy Valley was swept with the
besom of destruction, Starrett's Mill#
and all the principal houses in Muncy
township burned, with Forts Muncy,
Brady and Freeland; and Sunbury be
came the frontier. But why picture
the sadness and sorrow which on this
happy day, cannot be realized? Time
has long since assuaged it all. The
broken bearted widow has long since
ria.ped hands with her brave husband
in a better world, where there are no
"garments rolled in blood," and their
children snd their grand children nave
joined tbcm beyond the flood.
After the death of her husband Mrs.
Brady removed with her family to her
father's place, in •brabcrlsnd county,
where she arrived in May, 1779. Mhe ;
remained until October of that year, and
then removed to Buffitlo Valley, to what
is now known a# the Frederick place,
three miles weat of Lewisburg; where
she died on the 20lh of October, 1783,
at the early age of forty-eight years,
t rer her remain# in the beautiful ceme
tery at I-ewiaburg, in the same grave
with those of the youthful hero of
Rrandywine (John Brady, who died on
the loth of December. 1809, at the same
age—forty eight), is a marble slab with
the appropriate inscription, "All tear*
arc wiped from her eyes."
To Captain Brady's descendants, time
fail# me in paying a proper tribute, j
When border tales have lost their
charm for the evening hour; when
oblivion blot# from the historic page
the glorious redord of Pennsylvania in
the Revolution ol 1776; then,and then
only, will Captain Samuel Brady, of the
rangers, be forgotten. In private life,
in public office, at the bar, in the Senate
of Pennsylvania, in the House of Re
presentatives of the United States, in I
the rank* of battle, Capt. John Brady's
sons snd grandson* have flung far for '
ward into the future the light of their
family fame.
Of General Hugh Brady, of whom
General Winfield Sootl said, *9 iod never
made a better man nor abetter soldier,"
I must (|>eak : No character in all bis
tory, since the day* of General Wayne,
hss impressed me like his—a kind, true
hearted man; an accomplished gentle
•tint* -Captain Mkbolss BM-tl- noH lit. IVwa
.ilT.na as. at aek* fa as OseUln ot \h*
.'ranklln. sad prnat.Smf is Ik. CSIM StatM
Intlw. IIS *w la ranaoMad nt Ik. Randolph sbni
Moan Hp In aa nngafMasat alth Iho Vsnanath at
ana. aaataard of IwMim, o* tho 7th nf Murk. 1775,
only knr oat of the** hnndrrd sad Iflm ami mi
ni. Morcnn tlnaaor, it Kmdiat. nalnrnd Iho aorrkw
aa I Joatonaat fa da no, 177 k, sad ess amtaotod Moatm
ant-Ontnaol of Hartloy'a to(tiaoat la daaaary, ITTt. Mo
tt lost at aaa la tho eanwr of USD: su thna Unat
onant Otoaol <aaaaaadaal of tho Soraath r-onasylra
aha All cat og hy doath fere tho fralttoa of ihoir
cwwatry'* ladopoadoatv
man ; hi educated, lion-hearted o(li< <-r.
At i hippewa, where in inn nephew,
-Sgium I I'.imly Uei-ond win of KheiilT
John Biudy, who wet an ensign in the
I weiiiynenon'i if.litnirv,''olor.el I'rady'c
: regiment), Wrote- "Tin re him blood,
ciniiHjri' hii<l destruction of men, and
out of tho whole regiment only Major
, Arrowainitli, hnsign J'rady and thirty
private* could march into camp;' t'olo
ni-l Brady win severely wounded within
j fifteen iniii uton after the action com
menced, and hud to i<e lifted ujceri hi*
I home, yet ho commanded until tho
j dreadful drama had nearly cloned, Hut
I the crowning glory of hi* career .waa
that he wan a Christian soldier. .Shortly
before hi* death at l>etroit, in Aj.iil,
IMI, he wa* thrown from a carriage and
severely injured; and when the physi
cian told him thut he could not recover,
with that calm self posesnion, so indica
tive of true courage, be said ; "I/el the
drum* heat ; my knapsack in slung."
As the General sank under hi* injuries
ho became partially unconscious, and
his mi lid wandered hack to scenes of
his early life. lie was again an officer
m high command, marshaling hi* army
on the battle field ; then a subaltern,
obeying the orders of h>* superior*;
again a schoolboy conning over hi* les
son ; and finally a child at hi* mother *
knee; until, as the night of death clo
cd around him forever, he murmured—
New I lay lu- flow n If, ,Ifo j,;
I I'll) til' Is.r l Ui) Miul If k<w]i.
Many <f my bearer* will recollect
f apt. .lohn I'iiady'a grandson, William
Perry Brady, so loig Sergeant at-Arm*
of the reriiisylvarna Senate. Jle waa
with a Centre county company at bake
Erie, when Commodore I'erry, not bar
ing a sufficient number of marine* to
man his vessel*, called for volunteer*.
William I'. Hrady wa* the first man to
step out, and helped gain the bril
liant victory which sent a thrill of joy
throughout our country arid placed an
immortal cbaplet upon the brow of
I'erry.
And where were the great-grand chil
dren of Captain John Hrady when the
secessionist* undertook to ovse-run tbi*
government, ordained offiod >d scaled
with the Mood of their ancestors? I
recall one, Captain Kvan Rice I van*
Braily, who, upon the soil of hi* native
State, within sight of the ancestral borne
of the iiradys, on South Mountain, fell
in the storm of battle. Four gen<-ra
tionsof the Hrady* fought for this coun
try, yet be w.i* the fir-t to fall in action:
"ij.ej fairing trying In* f*tr !r *
!..•• I" aid ug bUo 'itilfi tukfffri tr-* ;
*,<-
! lu Tii u H nx I. h tun c '
He fell fighting the battle of freedom,
fell in the great struggle for the preser
vation of the I'nioo, purchased by the
blood of a noble ancestry. "He fell in
a war for law, for order, for the obliga
gation of solemn contracts, for the sanc
tity of oaths, for religion, for morality,
for social quu-t, for all that secure* tho
transmission ot healthy |>o!jtical insti
tutions from age to age. for all that i*
venerable in history, for all 'that i*
lovely, pure, peaceable and of good re
port among men, for all that truly
made the f'nited States a fower ordain
ed of Clod and he and those who fell
at Gettysburg, at Malvern, at Shiloh. at
I'etersbtirg, or starved to death in Lite
by and at Anderaonville, were as truly
martys as the early CuriMian*, or the
Huguenot*, who
"Kiss.-I lie flunns it,l drank <beir U-.1,
At>4 • thrtf * all t* llefeteti *"
From far an<l near, all over this grand
valley, the most beautiful to us the sun
in hi* course through the Heavens look*
down upon, we have come to dedicato
thr* monument to the memory of it*
pioneer and defender—Captain -lohn
Brady. *
At thy feel, then, oh ! Mountains of
Muncy ' thy solemn Red Men fled be
fore the mystic sound of coming civili
sation ; before the tramp and tread of
States ; we dedicate this granite land
mark to Hrady, the pioneer, the Gory
pheu* here, of title by improvement
and pre-emption : a system which be
gan by the rock at Plymouth anil will
continue until the iast echo of the
woodman * axe dies away amid the
surges of the Pacific.
In tby bosom, oh ! Valley of the Wot
Branch ! we dedicate this memorial to
the eaglecyed sentinel, who one hun
dred years ago jeered through the
dusky twilight for thy foe*. Here on
these heights, in ihi* holy bivouac of
the dead, let it forever stand sentry of
hi*oom|>atriot* slain of Antietam, of
Fredericksburg, ot the Wilderness, of
Atlanta, of the mourned battle fields of
the war for the I'nion, whose last "All's
well I" is still echoing gloriously through
the Republic.
Hv thy bright water*, oh ! Noble J*us
quehanna! which mirror in thy wind
ing course so many, mny scene* of do
mestic peace and comfort; *o many
scene* of Eden like be*uty. rescued
from primev*! wildnea*. only listening,
in thy quiet course to the sea. "To the
laughter from the village and the town,
and the church bells ever jingling aa
the weary day goes down ;" surrounded
by these venerable fathers who have
lingered in life's journey to see this hap
py day; surrounded by the youth and
beauty of this grand old home of brave
son* and patriotic daughters, under the
auspice* of the Grand Army of the Re
public—the "Cincinnati" of the war for
the Cnion—in solemn joy we dedicate
this monument to our benefactor. And
as we gaae upon it, let u* resolve, thst
a* this Oovernment came down to u* .
from the Past, it shall go from us into
the Future—a blessing to our posterity,
and the hope of the world's freedom.
•Sotl-Hit rrwttl of !h* <lr1 m£jr"ttoti of •
tiset*l to ftntdy Mflhif* to J 9.
, of TTlllUWfflfi irl lt Mi llifttsir J of lb* M ill
Hnr K VaUow. Hn>llnt IH, IMA, * I**" *•
Mf "Hif |wwplo of LptMifet mfimif % IgJj
tot tot of |9ttoUMA tb*n If tof w
hit ItnmMr Ut>. At toAt. to f~ * of tb —miry
of tH# |TAltott B-W tot lM> aah— l
AAho* f O}vN* b mat KM to thi* wy, tntb • tftbM oA
•MrK to lm*nt tM maitj Tlrtwoa of tt* "
Tto |*rAio r.* nn)iA| .ml !.!• •
to J M M <iv*v*4 <4 b*. by 4miM
iiigtita of toll, bw wol fmm Mt If <**** tab a
o n<Ujh f aidnliow t*t.
Ail inquWdff young l*dy
"What ia the most popular oolor for tho
bride?" Tho New York -NNir ansMers:
If we were going to marry wo should
prefer a white one.
A stranger asked a boy: "Sonny, *
what ia the quickest way to get to tho
Central I>opol?" "Run!" he answered,
and aet the example by getting out oi
the way pretty fast,
A Bible haa been discovered in Allen*
town that was made in the year 1748,