Frontier Stories - Samuel Brady's Leap
Posted December 23rd, 2011 at 02:16 PM by Baltis
October 12, 1781 – Captain Samuel Brady and 40 rangers have been operating continuous patrols in the Upper Ohio Valley. A group of 60 Mingo, Seneca, and Wyandot warriors are seen near Beaver River and Brady determines to investigate the situation. The rangers find Indians without detection and set up an ambush for the following morning along a trail coming out from the Indian camp. Standard procedure call for the rangers to fire one shot, do some damage, and immediately disperse and head for home at top speed.
Achieving complete surprise the group fires a volley dropping at least 10 warriors dead in their tracks and wounding several others. About 50 warriors regain composure and take off after the rangers. Brady reassembled a group running close together and turns for a second volley. At no more than 50 yards the second barrage stops several more warriors delaying further chase.
Brady separates from the group (dispersal being the preferred escape method for his rangers) and heads slightly southeast. Fording Breakneck Creek, Brady himself accidentally runs into a totally separate Wyandot hunting party. Chest deep in the water, he attempts casual behavior but the Indians are not fooled and take him to the camp.
After roughing him up a bit while tied to a stake, the Indians decide Brady will run the gauntlet locally in the morning and move up to Half-King’s town for execution later. Figuring his best chance is to act quickly, Brady throws an elbow at the warrior who untied his hands for the gauntlet run. He grabs a baby from a woman standing next to him and tosses it into the fire. This surprised the Indians giving Brady just a moment needed to take off running for his life.
Knowing he has nothing to lose but can't outrun the entire tribe, Brady heads straight for Standing Rock over the Cayahoga River. At this point distance of only 22 feet would cross the river canyon. The opposite shore was equal in height but a slight ledge existed just five feet below and a couple of feet wide. As he approaches the rock ledge, Brady extends his body and throws himself across landing on the small ledge and crashing face first into the opposite wall. A bit stunned he scrambles over the ledge and begins running. With no desire to tempt death, the chasing Indians can only get off a shot that buries itself in Samuel’s thigh.
Bleeding profusely and under hot pursuit, Brady holes up in a small space created by the roots of a large tree on the edge of a nearby pond. The Indians give up after Sam spends several hours waist deep in the cold pond. A bit stiff but road worthy, Sam emerges and heads home to heal up for his next patrol.
I credit most details of this story to John A. McClung Sketches of Western Adventure (1879) and Allan W. Eckert’s That Dark and Bloody River (1995)
Achieving complete surprise the group fires a volley dropping at least 10 warriors dead in their tracks and wounding several others. About 50 warriors regain composure and take off after the rangers. Brady reassembled a group running close together and turns for a second volley. At no more than 50 yards the second barrage stops several more warriors delaying further chase.
Brady separates from the group (dispersal being the preferred escape method for his rangers) and heads slightly southeast. Fording Breakneck Creek, Brady himself accidentally runs into a totally separate Wyandot hunting party. Chest deep in the water, he attempts casual behavior but the Indians are not fooled and take him to the camp.
After roughing him up a bit while tied to a stake, the Indians decide Brady will run the gauntlet locally in the morning and move up to Half-King’s town for execution later. Figuring his best chance is to act quickly, Brady throws an elbow at the warrior who untied his hands for the gauntlet run. He grabs a baby from a woman standing next to him and tosses it into the fire. This surprised the Indians giving Brady just a moment needed to take off running for his life.
Knowing he has nothing to lose but can't outrun the entire tribe, Brady heads straight for Standing Rock over the Cayahoga River. At this point distance of only 22 feet would cross the river canyon. The opposite shore was equal in height but a slight ledge existed just five feet below and a couple of feet wide. As he approaches the rock ledge, Brady extends his body and throws himself across landing on the small ledge and crashing face first into the opposite wall. A bit stunned he scrambles over the ledge and begins running. With no desire to tempt death, the chasing Indians can only get off a shot that buries itself in Samuel’s thigh.
Bleeding profusely and under hot pursuit, Brady holes up in a small space created by the roots of a large tree on the edge of a nearby pond. The Indians give up after Sam spends several hours waist deep in the cold pond. A bit stiff but road worthy, Sam emerges and heads home to heal up for his next patrol.
I credit most details of this story to John A. McClung Sketches of Western Adventure (1879) and Allan W. Eckert’s That Dark and Bloody River (1995)
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Comments
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Well, it just goes to show you, you never know what you're going to learn here! I've lived within 25 miles of where Brady made his leap almost my entire life and never even heard of it until a Texan tells me about it in a blog.
And I'm a fan of Allan W. Eckert too, having read several of his books. So we took a trip out there yesterday just to check it out. Found a marker where the leap is supposed to have taken place. The river has been widened and the near bank cut down since then when they put through a feeder of the Ohio and Erie canal, but I could see where an extremely athletic person jumping for his life could do it.
What's really interesting is that this is clearly the narrowest spot of the river. Just a couple hundred feet downstream and upstream it becomes much wider. It seems Brady was aiming at this precise spot all along. I found an interesting analysis of the leap here:
The Cuyahoga - Chapter 5
For what it's worth, here's a picture I took of the presumed jump location:
Brady would have jumped from the near bank to the far bank. The ledge he landed on must have been removed when they widened the river for the canal.
P.S. - The Eckert book is now in my shopping cart. Thanks for sharing this story!Posted January 1st, 2012 at 08:14 AM by Rongo
Updated January 1st, 2012 at 08:24 AM by Rongo
