BRADY'S LEAP.
BY E. 0. RANDALL.
In what is known as "Tract
29," issued in 1875 by the West-
ern Reserve Historical Society, the
"tradition"-as the Tract calls
it-of Brady's leap is related. That a
famous leap by Brady was
made, at the place generally designated
as the site, there is little
or no doubt. The time and attending
circumstances of the
achievement are much in dispute, and
wrote Mr. L. V. Bierce,
in 1856, "the numerous traditions
respecting Brady's Leap across
the Cuyahoga River, and many other hair
breadth escapes and
adventures of that old frontiersman grow
more and more vague
and conflicting with the lapse of
time."
"Tract 29" consists mainly of
a letter written at Akron, in
1856, to one Seth Day, by Frederick
Wadsworth, in which letter
Wadsworth states that in 1802 he was
residing in Pittsburg and
there met "a man by the name of
John Sumerall," who had long
lived in Pittsburg and who had been an
"intimate friend of
Brady," from whom he (Sumerall)
learned the particulars of
his (Brady's) life and adventures.
According to Sumerall's ac-
count Samuel Brady "a powerful
strong man, kind hearted, but
an uncompromising and deadly enemy to
the Indians," lived in
his youth in Pennsylvania. During an
Indian raid the people of
Brady's settlement were killed and Brady
escaping "swore etern-
al enmity to the whole Indian
race." Sumerall relates to Wads-
worth many of the encounters Brady had
with the red men and
among escapades the one involving the
famous leap. Sumerall
gave Wadsworth the date of this feat but
the latter failed to
remember it. This lapse of memory by
Wadsworth is unforunate
as that is the main point in dispute by
different relators of the
incident. Wadsworth recites the story at
some length as he had
it from Sumerall who had it from Brady.
Briefly the account
is that Brady-at the time in question,
date not given-left Pitts-
457
458
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
burg with three or four companions,
"on a scout toward the
Sandusky villages," and arrived
there only to be captured by a
party of twelve Indians. His companions
were killed in the en-
counter. The Indian captors hastened
their prize prisoner to
their village amid great rejoicings of
the tribesmen. His execu-
tion at the stake was decreed. The
tribesmen assembled to wit-
ness the burning. There seemed to be no
hope for Brady when
he espied the renegade Simon Girty in
the Indian crowd. They
had been boys together and had been
companions in frontier ad-
ventures. Brady plead with Girty to
rescue him from his fate
but to no avail as Girty, at first
pretending not to recognize his
old friend, finally refused to aid him.
He now "begged Girty
to furnish him with the means to take
his own (Brady's) life"
and thus escape the horrible tortures
awaiting him. But without
effect. Girty was implacable. The victim
was tied to the stake;
the fagots heaped about him; "the
fires were lighted and the
excitement among the Indians
intense." The Indian circle around
him drew closer and he began to feel the
flames. He watched
his opportunity, when in the confusion
of the scene, a fine look-
ing squaw, belonging to one of the
chiefs, ventured too near
him for her own safety. With a mighty
effort, Brady broke the
withes that bound him, leaped over the
burning fagots, caught
the squaw by the head and shoulders and
threw her into the
burning pile and amid the consternation
and panic following,
sprung forth and fled for the forest.
Brady was a swift runner
and easily outdistanced his pursuers.
The Indians were of course
soon in hot pursuit and a long chase,
lasting a day or more,
ensued. It continued for a hundred miles
until he reached
the Cuyahoga river in Franklin Township,
Portage County,
at what is now the town of Kent. The Indians were
close upon him, and a number of times
came near over-
taking him. He had intended crossing the
Cuyahoga at a place
called "Standing Stone" on the
Indian trail from Sandusky to
the Salt Springs, a few miles south of
Warren, Trumbull County.
He was obliged to change his course and
followed down the river
until he found himself at the Narrows, the
narrowest place in
the river channel, "the Indians
close on his track behind him;
he had not a moment to spare and as it
was life or death with
Brady's Leap. 459
him he made the famous Brady's leap
across the Cuyahoga
River."
Some years before writing the letter,
giving this account,
Wadsworth visited the site of this leap,
accompanied by a Mr.
Haymaker who had personally known Brady:
"We measured
the river where we supposed the leap was
made and found it
between twenty-four and twenty-six feet.
Brady jumped from
the west to the east side; the banks on
each side of the stream
were nearly of the same height, the flat
rock on the west side
descending a very little from the west
to the east. Brady "caught
the bushes on the bank as he landed and
fell some three or four
or five feet before he recovered and got
out." By this time the
Indians were within a few rods of the
river and when they saw
him on the opposite bank of the river
they set up a terrible yell;
"but none of them attempted to
follow in jumping the river."
Three or four Indians fired at him, and
wounded him slightly
in the leg. The Indians then crossed the
river at Standing Stone
and continued their pursuit until Brady
arrived at the small
lake (Brady's Pond), about a mile east
of the Cuyahoga River.
Here he found the Indians were gaining
on him and as the
wound in his leg was troubling him a
little, "he must either
secret himself in the lake or be again
taken prisoner." He
plunged into the lake and "secreted
himself under the water;
amongst the lily pads, or pond lilies;
he found a hollow weed
which he could breathe through with his
head under the water,
this was in the fore part of the day and
he remained in the lake
until the next morning; he heard the
Indians about the lake all
day and until late at night." The
more likely account is that
Brady concealed himself in the water
beneath the branches of a
tree fallen in the water's edge. In any
event the Indians sup-
posed their pursued was drowned and gave
up the hunt. Brady
escaped to be the hero of many other
events.
Such is the story Wadsworth relates in
"Tract 29." There
are other variations told by other
reciters. The feature of the
leap is usually similarly told but the
secretion in the lake has
different interpretations.
As to the date of this noted occurrence
we are of the opinion
that it was in the year 1780, for it was
May of that year that
460
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
General Brodhead, then at Pittsburg,
having learned that an
army of British and Indians was
assembling on the Sandusky
River, in preparation for an attack on
Fort Pitt, directed Captain
Samuel Brady-same Brady-to go to the
Sandusky and learn
the situation in the Indian center. On
this particular errand
(1780) Brady was accompanied by two or
three companions, all
dressed and painted like savages. The
party reached the San-
dusky River at Lower Sandusky, the
Indian center (now Fre-
mont). They waded, under cover of night,
from the river on
to the Island now called Brady's
Island-opposite the Indian
town-where they lay in a thicket all the
next day, watching the
Indians enjoying a horse-race near the
river bank. The tradition
is that the party were discovered,
Brady's companions killed and
Brady himself was captured and escaped
as recited in "Tract 29."
Butterfield in his "History of the
Girtys" places the episode in
the year 1783. But that is too late for
at that time the Revolu-
tion in Ohio was practically over and
Brodhead had no need of
Brady's spying expedition at that time
and the summer of 1782
was occupied with the Moravian massacre
and the Crawford
Expedition. There is no intimation
anywhere of the occurrence
of the event in that (1782) year. It may
possibly have been in
1781. But all indications point to the
summer of 1780 when
Brodhead sent Brady to the Sandusky
town. The circumstances
all point to that date. Still the mist
of mere tradition obscures
the certainty of history. One thing is
certain, the leap was made
and the place is indisputably located.
Recently-September, 1911-the Editor of
the Quarterly
journeyed to Kent to view the exact
spot. But that visit was
somewhat disappointing as there are now
no indications of the
natural conditions prevailing at the
time of the famous achieve-
ment. The Cuyahoga River flows through
the center of the
picturesque little town of Kent. At the
exact spot designated,
the river, in early days, found its
narrowest passage then
some twenty-two feet in width. The banks
on both sides
were then of perpendicular height of
twenty-five or more
feet-some writers say forty. But time
and the encroachments
of civilization have leveled down these
banks until they now
rise only a few feet above the water's
surface; moreover the
Brady's Leap. 461
rocky formation-formerly the base of the
earthen banks- flank-
ing each side of the river channel has
been worn away by the
water's current and by the blasting of
engineers to facilitate the
river transportation, until the stream
is today twice the width
it was when Brady cleared the chasm with
a bound.
We have given above the substance of
"Tract 29," concern-
ing Brady's Leap. Another authority,
though not quite so explicit
is the account in the Draper
Manuscripts, a copy of which we
secured from the archives of the Library
of the Wisconsin His-
torical Society. It is catalogued in the
Library as Draper Mss.
"S" Vol. 8, pp. 133-140,
inclusive. By permission of the distin-
guished Librarian, Dr. Reuben G.
Thwaites, we publish the
manuscript.
FROM GEN. SAM. C. D. HARRIS,
RAVENNA, 0.,
BORN IN CONNECTICUT, NOV. 23. 1786.
Gen. Harris came to the country in 1812; then heard the
stories of the Leap of Brady's, and
his battle at Brady's Lake,
from his brother-in-law, Ralph
Buckland, who came in 1799, and
others.
This is Gen. Harris' strong
recollection of these interesting
narratives: The Indians had committed
depredations on the
frontiers, and Brady followed them to
Cuyahoga Portage at what
is now Northampton. There came upon the
Indians, and fired
upon them, but as the Indians were much
the most numerous,
Brady found he had not force enough successfully to resist
them,
and accordingly directed his men to
disperse, which they did.
The Indians either knowing Brady, or
at least suspecting him
as the leader, directed some of their
fleetest runners and bravest
warriors after; they followed him, in
hot pursuit, to the Cuya-
hoga, and finding himself closely
pursued, and partly hemmed in,
and three quarters of a mile yet to the
ford at the Standing Stone,
left the trail, & bent his course
for the Narrows, boldly resolving
to leap the fearful chasm, and thus
elude his enemies. And this
feat he successfully accomplished.
General Harris, as a practical surveyor, measured the spot
in the fall of 1812, and found it just
22 feet across; then there
Brady's Leap. 463
was a bridge on the very spot, made by Ralph
Buckland in 1800
or 1801; subsequently to 1812, a bridge
was erected about 40
or 50 rods above; and near the leap
spot, a negro woman fell
on a small footbridge, and they had to
get her out with ropes.
The ground was gently descending on the
west side from
the war-trail to the leap locality; the
banks of the river here were
nearly on a level with each other, but
on the east side was a shelf
or bench some three feet wide, and some
four or five feet below
the top of the bank, and this bench was
some thirty or forty feet
long-& upon this Brady probably
alighted, which served to favor
his desperate effort. This ledge or
bench was blasted off about
1840
when the canal was building. Both banks of
the river, from
the Standing Stone down to the
little island, about 120 rods
below the Narrows, were lined with
scattering hemlocks of vari-
ous dimensions, some quite large, and
back of this hemlock skirt
were scattering oaks.
As Brady rose the eastern bank,
the Indians fired on and
wounded him-for they dared not follow
the bold adventurer,
& had to go above three fourths of a
mile to the ford at the
Standing Stone, or below to the little island, something over a
third of a mile-probably some went
either way, hoping to head
Brady, weary & wounded as he was, and doubly exhausted as
they very well knew he must have been
after making such a
herculean leap as he had accomplished.
But Brady never flagged
in his efforts, but kept on rapidly to
the beautiful pond or lake
which has ever since borne his name,
just two miles from the
Narrows where he made his memorable
leap. Weary & ex--
hausted, & well-knowing his enemies
were yet pursuing him with
the ferocity of blood-hounds, he plunged
into the water, where
it was some 12 feet deep, &
hid himself under a large chestnut
tree which had fallen into the lake at
its southern end, & close to
the battle-ground & where with pond
lilies & flags to aid in
screening him, he remained in quiet,
while the Indians trailing his
blood upon the prostrate tree, walked
out upon its trunk, & con-
cluded he had sunk beneath the waters,
like a brave warrior,
rather than suffer the loss of his
scalp-lock at the hands of his
foes. The Indians, of course, now gave
up the fruitless chase,
and returned-doubtless wondering at
Brady's almost superhu-
464 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
man leap, & exulting that the mortal
foe of the Red Men would
trouble them no more. But they counted
without their host, for
Brady yet lived to make many a one of
their murderous and
treacherous race bite the dust in death.
The chestnut tree which
served our hero so well on this
occasion, was yet to be seen after
1812, and was seen by Gen. Harris.
Brady's Lake Ambuscade.-Brady, at another time, pursued
Indians who had been committing mischief;
& as he and his party
neared Brady's Lake, the trail
became so fresh, that Brady knew
he was close upon them. He placed his
men in ambush on either
side of the bridge at the southern
extremity of this beautiful
sheet of water,-which was a little over
half a mile in length.
This lake is now used as a reservoir for
the canal, & now extends
much farther to the north than formerly,
nearly to Lake Pepin.
Having thus disposed of his men, Brady
then proceeded with a
chosen few cautiously to the Standing
Stone, & there discovered
the Indians encamped and eating; and he
& his party boldly
fired upon the astonished Indians, who
probably thought them-
selves beyond the reach of pursuit,
eighty miles as they were
from the mouth of Beaver. (See Olden
Time, Vol. II, p. 351,
Irvine's letter, 1788.) Brady knew
well what he was about, &
resolved to play the Indians a bold game
of their own kind, and
the moment he fired upon them, he and
his men beat a quick
retreat as though alarmed at their own
temerity. The ill-fated
Indians followed in hot pursuit, and in
a few minutes were un-
consciously drawn into the fatal
ambuscade, where on either
side of the trail & at the east end,
Brady's intrepid warriors were
secreted with their deadly rifles all
poised in waiting for the ap-
proach of the foe-and as Brady reached
the eastern extremity
of the ambuscade, he fired his signal
gun at the Indians as they
were now completely in the net set for
them, when the whites on
either hand gave a general fire at the
Indians now huddled to-
gether in stupid surprise, & nearly
all were killed. Gen. Harris
saw plenty of bones scattered around
after he came to the coun-
try. A broken sword was found by the Stewart
family (Jona-
than Stewart found it) after the settlement of the country-say
about 1820-the hilt of brass was sound,
& is yet preserved. It
was found in the swamp below.
Brady's Leap. 465
The late Gen. Joshua Woodward, of Franklin, one of the earliest settlers there, he and-Scott, of Youngstown, who knew Brady well (Scott has been dead several years) relate about the Leap just as here related-& all the early relators agreed precisely in the particulars of the narrative. The Cuyahoga at the Narrows where the Leap was made- the Indian trail-the Standing Stone-Brady's Lake and battle- ground-are represented on an outline map (See map opposite page 154), made with much care by Gen. Harris for me, on a separate sheet of paper. The Indian trail went to Old Cuyahoga Portage, in Northampton; there the Indians took their canoes to the Tuscarawas portage, about 7 miles. |
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