582 Ohio.
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
little and after a careful search they
found some blood stains and with
a mighty war whoop dashed on his pursuit
once more. By this time Cap-
tain Brady's strength was nearly spent
and he ran with difficulty, but self
preservation was strong and he still
pressed on through the tangled
forest hoping to reach a place of
safety. About three or four miles
from Kent he hid himself beneath a great
chestnut log in the quiet
waters of this pretty lake, and managed
to get air through some water
reeds which grew in the lake.
Captain Brady had taken the utmost
precaution to destroy all
evidences of his trail and had succeeded
so well that when the Indians
came up and searched carefully for their
victim they did not find the
slightest trace of him and so concluded
that he had drowned himself in
the lake or that, being wounded, he had
been drowned while trying to
escape. However they lingered around the
lake for a time, and Brady,
in his safe retreat, heard their angry
words and decision which he
understood from his knowledge of the
Indian language. And as soon
as he thought it safe set out for the
white settlement where he ar-
rived a little later.
His friends could scarcely credit his
story, but found that he had
indeed had a race for life and rejoiced
with him that it had not been
in vain.
Captain Brady renewed his warfare upon
the Indians and at one
time captured several single handed and,
marching by night, and hiding
by day, took them a distance of many
miles.
The place where he made his bold leap
has since been known as
"Brady's Leap," the hill down
which he ran as "Brady's Hill," and
this lake in which he hid is still known
as "Brady's Lake."
LOCATION OF CRAWFORD'S BURNING.
Judge Allen Smalley, of Upper Sandusky,
in a letter made public
some years ago, located to within one
acre, the exact spot upon which
Col. CRAWFORD was burned.
"On the 11th day of June, 1782,
Col. William CRAWFORD was burned
at the stake by the Wyandot and Delaware
Indians about half a mile
north-east of the site of
CRAWFORDsville, in this county. No man knows
the exact spot where the execution
occurred. The Indians, Dr. Knight
and Simon Girty, knew exactly where the
burning took place, but as
to the particular point where the cruel
deed was done the balance of
mankind must be content with hearsay
tradition. Colonel Butterfield
tried to locate the tragic spot in the
light of first and second-hand
hearsay; and others seek now
to walk to the exact spot in the light
given by Colonel Butterfield.
Editorialana. 583
"Early in October, 1853, my father
with his family moved onto the
old Myron Buell farm, at Crawfordsville,
and our dwelling house was
within half a mile and in plain sight of
the High Bank, on Tymochtee
creek, close to which, all agree,
Colonel Crawford was burned. The
traditions from the whites and Indians
agree that the execution took
place in this locality. The Indians were
numerous and better acquainted
with the exact place and its
environments than were the few whites.
"The first white settler within the
present limits of Wyandot county
was Henry Lish, who settled near the
mouth of Tymochtee creek, about
the year 1818. Settlers began to pour in
rapidly in 1821, and never
stopped coming until the public land was
all taken and the county was
completely settled. This settlement of
the county commenced less than
forty years from the time of Colonel
Crawford's cruel execution.
"The burning of Crawford was
contrary to the customs of the
Wyandots, and it strained the friendly
relations hitherto existing between
the Wyandots and the Delawares. Such an
unusual event would naturally
make a deep impression upon the minds of
the Indians of both tribes.
They all had an opportunity of knowing
the exact spot where the
tragedy was consummated and all must
concede that they did know.
Many of the actual participants in
Crawford's execution, not only lived
here when the white settlers began to
move into the country forty years
later, but they continued to live here
until their final removal west of
the Mississippi in 1843.
"The old settlers were a hardy,
long-lived people, and many of
them were active here until after the
close of the Civil War. The
Wyandots had only been gone ten years
when we moved into the
country. At that time the large timber
on and in the neighborhood
of the High Bank had never been
disturbed. The environments were
about the same as they had been for a
hundred years. Certainly the
relative positions of the creek and the
High Bank had not materially
changed since 1872. During the long
years of my residence in sight
of the spot I always understood that the
burning occurred under the
walnut trees in the bend of the creek,
just across the stream from
High Bank. This general description
brought the tragic spot within
the compass of less than an acre of
land, and that was as close as we
ever cared about getting to the 'exact
spot.'
"I never heard this location
disputed until in 1876, when the Craw-
ford monument was, dedicated, and then,
and at different times since,
old men living remote from the field and
very seldom having seen it,
fortified with little morsels of
hearsay, persist in putting a pin in the
'exact' spot where Colonel Crawford died
at the stake.
"One hundred and twenty-two years
ago Colonel Crawford died;
he was a noble, good man; a pioneer of
our pioneers. His place of
sepulchre was the place of his
execution, and, like one of the great
leaders of old, no man knows to this day
the exact place of his burial.
584 Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The Tymochtee remains, the 'Bend'
remains, the 'High Bank' remains,
and these monuments retain their
relative positions substantially as they
have existed for the last 150 years.
"The actors in the tragedy have
long since joined the silent
majority, but the early, undisputed
tradition yet lives in the memory of
living witnesses, and under the walnut
trees, in the bend of the creek,
just across from the High Bank is the
'exact spot' where the great
Colonel Crawford was burned at the
stake."
AN INDIAN CAPTIVITY.
A copy of the following article, by
courtesy of a member of the
Oviatt family, recently fell into the
hands of the Editor of the
QUARTERLY. It was published some years
ago in one of the news-
papers of Eastern Ohio. It gives a reliable account of an Indian
massacre and captivity typical of the
times in the early settlements of
the New England and Pennsylvania
colonies. This particular narrative
is interesting to Ohio readers for the
reason that those spoken of as
massacred or carried into captivity were
the progenitors of prominent
Ohio settlers, as appears in the
article. It is perhaps permissible to
say, en passant, that the Elizabeth
Carter and the Benjamin Oviatt,
of the account, were respectively the
great-grandmother and the great-
grandfather of the Editor of the
QUARTERLY, his grandfather being
Heman Oviatt who came to Ohio from Goshen, Conn., in 1800, in
the party of Henry Hudson, when the
latter founded the town given
his name. An account of the centennial
of Hudson town appeared in
the publications of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical So-
ciety, volume IX, pages 318-371-EDITOR.
THE CAPTIVES.
A NARRATIVE OF REAL LIFE.
[NOTE.-During the past two or three
years I have been collect-
ing and arranging facts and data for a
complete geneology of the
Oviatt family in America. In connection
with this work, there has
come into my possession the following
narrative, which is said to
have been originally published in the Litchfield
(Conn.) Enquirer, about
1845 or 1846. The Benjamin Oviatt who
married Elizabeth Carter,
was my great-grandfather; my father,
Darius, being a son of Nathaniel
Oviatt, of Richfield, (Summit Co.,)
Ohio. Samuel Oviatt, (born in
1741,) who it appears was an older
brother of Benjamin, was the
progenitor of the Trumbull County
Oviatts. T. D. OVIATT.]
Warren, O., February 15th, 1889.
Almost incredible is the recital of the
hardships and sufferings
from savage cruelty to which the early
emigrants of our western set-