Samuel Brady, a Frontier Legend, Rescues Jane Stoops

The American Revolution west of the Appalachians produced a number of stories, which in their constant retelling evolved into legends. They created a unique frontier mythology. Just as ancient Greece had Achilles and Odysseus, America west of the Appalachians had Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. An American officer and frontier scout, Samuel Brady, became one such legendary hero. According to John Frost, writing in the 1850s, “Captain Samuel Brady was the Daniel Boone of Western Pennsylvania. As brave as a lion, as swift as a deer, and as cautious as a panther, he gave the Indians reason to tremble at the mention of his name.”[1] One history of the region characterized Brady as

emphatically the hero of Western Pennsylvania, and future bards of this region, when time shall have mellowed the facts of history, will find his name the personification of all that was fearless and fruitful resource in the hour of danger. His the step that faltered not, the eye that quailed not, even in the terrific scenes of Indian warfare. Many a mother has quieted the fears, and lulled to sleep her infant family, by the assurance that the broad Allegheny . . . was watched by the gallant Captain of the Rangers.[2]

All that’s missing is an explicit comparison to Hercules.

Some stories hold up well on inspection. We can compare the folktales and oral tradition against the written record. The rescue of Jane Stoops by Samuel Brady is one such episode. It also reveals some of the remarkable parallels between Revolutionary War adversaries on the frontier, where violence fell on hearth and home, isolated trails, and even berry picking, more readily than the battlefield.

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In the winter of 1780, Continental Army Col. Daniel Brodhead, commanding the Western Department from Fort Pitt, and Virginia militia Col. George Rogers Clark in Kentucky, sought to cooperate in a campaign against Detroit, but their superiors could not provide sufficient resources, a perennial problem on the frontier. Continental Army Commander in Chief George Washington, however, thought an attack on hostile Native Americans might be useful and left it to Colonel Brodhead’s discretion. So, Clark and Brodhead planned to coordinate an attack into the Ohio Country, with the latter moving against the Wyandot, Delaware, and Mingo nations along the Sandusky River.[3] Brodhead turned to Samuel Brady to scout the area.

One night in late May or early June 1780, a party of Indians attacked the Stoops cabin on Chartiers Creek in southwestern Pennsylvania, waking the family by attempting to batter down the front door. James Stoops was a veteran of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot, who settled in the area with his wife Jane and four of their sixteen children after the 18th Regiment departed Pittsburgh.[4] Alexander Fowler, another veteran of the 18th Regiment who resigned his lieutenancy and settled in Pittsburgh, reported that the raiding party was comprised of seven warriors from the Wyandot and Lenape/Delaware nations.[5] (While both tribes actively raided farms in the Pittsburgh area, Fowler was likely piecing together scattered bits of intelligence). As the raiding party attempted to batter down the front door and the Stoops attempted to gather themselves to fight or flee, three or four-year old William, the only child living at home, demonstrated the lung capacity of a terrified toddler by screaming every time his mother attempted to move him. She urged her husband to flee, not just to save his own life, but to care for their three children in Pittsburgh and hopefully mount a rescue attempt if she and William survived their capture. He bolted through the back door in his shirttails carrying only his gun, which he managed to fire once.[6] This was not a cowardly act, but entirely rational and in the best interests of the family. The Stoops could not hope to prevail in a fight; a raiding party would simply burn their cabin to the ground with them in it. So, surrender or flight were their only options. If captives survived their initial encounter with a raiding party and subsequent return to an Indian village, they could hope to be kept alive or even sent to Detroit, where they might be ransomed. Better yet, they might be rescued en route by a pursuit party. So, Mrs. Stoops was taking her chances, but probably had a realistic understanding of her options.

While James fled and successfully eluded his pursuers, Jane tried to conceal herself in a shallow potato cellar under the floor, leaving William in his bed. The raiding party set the house on fire, but it was a slow burn and they broke in to find William in his bed. Fearing for her son’s life, Jane gave up her hiding place and begged the Indians not to kill him. They decided to take both Stoops back their villages on the Sandusky River, looted the house, and left while it burned to the ground behind them.[7] Eventually, James turned up at the gates of Fort Pitt, having attempted to warn neighbors along the way of an enemy raiding party in the area. He was aware that his house had burned, but had no knowledge of the fates of his wife and youngest son. Fowler, who knew him as far back as their service in the 18th Regiment, observed, “he made a melancholy and shocking appearance … the Poor Man knows not well what to do,” although Stoops had the presence of mind to ask Fowler to forward the news to Brig. Gen. Edward Hand, a fellow veteran of the 18th Regiment now serving in the Continental Army.[8] There was little the general could do. But, in one of those rare coincidences of fate that can bring people together in unexpected circumstances, Jane Stoops, her son, and their captors were about to encounter Samuel Brady, helping establish his legend.

Brady was born in 1756 near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He joined a company of volunteer Pennsylvania riflemen in the summer of 1775 and participated in the siege of Boston.[9] After that, there is less clarity, but a few facts can be verified. The National Archives confirms his service as a private in Capt. John Lowden’s company in January 1776 and then lieutenant in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, originally raised in 1775. His date of commission was July 16, 1776 as a member of Doyle’s Independent Company, which joined the 1st Pennsylvania on November 25, 1776.[10]

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In September 1778, Brady’s name appeared on a regimental roster for the 8th Pennsylvania as the regiment’s captain-lieutenant, and later rolls and pension receipts list him as captain. [11] It was in this capacity that Brady often served a scout for commanders at Fort Pitt, including by 1780 Colonel Brodhead, who had also commanded the 8th Pennsylvania. With thoughts of offensive military action in the air, sometime in late spring Brodhead dispatched Capt. Samuel Brady and seven or eight men on a scouting mission to villages on the Sandusky River. Intending to operate in hostile territory, Brady and his men dressed as Native Americans.

Brady and his men arrived at the main Wyandot village on the Sandusky River in late May or early June, in time to witness two days of horse races. The winning horse, a large gray, was only finally defeated after being ridden by two men.[12] With the races concluded, the men returned to their village, while the women and children dispersed to pick berries. Brady and his scouts singled out two women, probably because they were isolated, and took them captive, then started for Pittsburgh. Scouting missions were generally opportunities for intelligence collection and prisoners were excellent sources. Just as Native American warriors lurked nearby while the Stoops went about their daily lives, so too did American soldiers lurk watching Native Americans go about routine activities.

As the Americans made their way back to Pittsburgh, it rained, ruining both gunpowder and provisions, so the party would be hungry and vulnerable during much of its return. En route back to Pittsburgh, five men separated themselves from the party, presumably from fatigue, to take a different route home.[13] Six days after departing the Sandusky, one of Brady’s prisoners escaped. Inevitably, she would rush home, spread the word, and the Wyandot would raise a war party to pursue Brady and rescue his remaining Indian prisoner. The Americans would have to move faster.

In popular retelling, Brady left his remaining men and their prisoner to hunt with his last load of gunpowder and ran into an eight-man Indian raiding party taking Mrs. Stoops and her toddler back to the Sandusky. With no more than one or two rounds of powder, he single-handedly ambushed the raiding party, killed the leader, drove the others off, and then rescued Mrs. Stoops, after which they fled to Fort McIntosh on the Beaver and Ohio Rivers. He was unable to free her son.[14]

Contemporary accounts tell a more complicated story. They are mostly second-hand. Samuel Brady’s younger brother, Hugh, was a boy at the time but heard the story from Samuel’s own mouth. Nancy Stoops, who later married William Stoops and was Jane’s daughter-in-law, probably heard the story from Jane. Andrew Fowler, who probably heard the story from Brady himself close to its occurrence, reported it to General Hand. Samuel Sprott served as one of Brady’s scouts in the 1790s and may have heard it directly from Brady, but probably also heard the story as boy when it first circulated on the frontier. Finally, Daniel Brodhead briefly summarized Brady’s scout in his correspondence. By taking each element of the rescue of Nancy Stoops, we can tease out the nuances and appreciate the reality behind the legend.

In the area that is now along the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania, Brady and his men approached the Beaver River along the north shore of the Mahoning River. It was a frequently used trail to move east and west, so it is not surprising that Brady and his men were using it to travel east at the same time a raiding party was using it to travel west. Both groups were going home with prisoners in tow. They ran into one another about thirty miles from the Beaver (roughly two miles down the Mahoning from today’s town of Lowellville, OH).[15]

Legend often implies that Brady was alone when he conducted his ambush, whether to heighten the drama and heroism or narrow the focus on Samuel Brady himself. The Continental captain had indeed separated himself from his men. Being low on food and ammunition, with enough powder for just one or two rounds, he went ahead on the trail in search of game.[16] How far is open to speculation; the captain’s brother suggested not too far. According to Hugh Brady, Samuel Brady yelled when he attacked the Indians and his men yelled back, meaning they were well within earshot.[17] Sprott agrees that Brady and his men yelled out during the ambush.[18] Stoops and Fowler do not mention yelling, but Fowler reported to General Hand that Brady’s men were with him and close enough to take cover and concealment as the Indians approached.[19] Fowler was reporting events closest to their occurrence. But, it should be clear from Hugh Brady, Sprott, and Fowler that Samuel Brady was not alone when he ambushed the Indian war party.

The next element of the legend concerns what happened when Brady first spotted the war party. He clearly surprised it, but was that because he fired from concealment or because the ruse of dressing like an Indian worked so well? Hugh Brady reported that his brother spotted the war party coming toward him on the trail, with its leader on horseback. That first Native American “accosted the Capt as a friend,” not surprising given Brady’s disguise. When the Indian turned, Brady shot him and he fell from the saddle.[20] As little William Stoops was tied to the Indian, he fell to the ground as well. Nancy Stoops, likely relating what her mother-in-law told her, only noted that Jane Stoops initially also took Brady for an Indian and demanded to know why he shot his “brother.”[21] Alexander Fowler offered a more conventional interpretation. When Brady and his men spotted the Indians approaching on their trail, Brady “accordingly tree’d himself and party and Waited untill the Leader of the Indians was within ten paces of the muzzle of his Riffle,” then fired.[22] In short, according to Fowler surprise lay in concealment for Brady and his entire party, who had time to hide.

After Brady’s initial shot, several things happened very quickly. According to Samuel Sprott, having fired his last load of powder, Brady rushed to the Indian he had just shot to find the man’s powder horn. Sprott claimed Brady saw William Stoops tied to the Indian before he fired, but if he had not, the captain would have at least noticed the boy at this point. While frantically trying to jerk the man’s horn free, one of the Native Americans fired on Brady from cover. Fortunately, for both, the warrior’s pull of the trigger only touched off the gunpowder in the pan without igniting the powder in the barrel: a proverbial flash-in-the-pan misfire. Nancy Stoops was asked about Brady’s attempt to retrieve the powder horn, but had no knowledge of it. Still at risk from the remaining warriors, Brady scrambled into cover near Mrs. Stoops without retrieving either the dead Indian’s powder or William Stoops.[23] Fowler, Sprott, and Hugh Brady agreed that the Indians retreated slightly, giving Brady enough time to identify himself and free Mrs. Stoops. Hugh Brady recalled that his brother Samuel had to drag Mrs. Stoops off against her will, since she logically wanted to retrieve or protect her son.[24]

Leaving little William behind, it was the Americans’ turn to escape. They had no powder, little food, and were now burdened by their prisoner and Mrs. Stoops. Fort McIntosh was achingly close and would provide the only refuge should the war party collect itself and pursue. In the legend, Brady’s men ran off as soon as the shooting started, since they had no powder.[25] Hugh Brady, who may be the source of that story, later accepted that the Americans had run off, assuming Samuel had been killed in a volley fired at him.[26] Samuel Sprott only mentioned that Brady’s men had scattered.[27] According to Nancy Stoops, however, Brady’s party retreated from the ambush site together and crossed the Mahoning River, where their prisoner took the opportunity to escape. That night, the group sheltered under a rock shelf before finally making its way to Fort McIntosh. Stoops’ version of events may be suspect, however. According to her, Jane Stoops was both physically and emotionally exhausted and sick with worry about William. She also reported that the war party returned to the ambush site and was debating killing William, when the escaped Indian prisoner joined them and convinced them not to.[28] She, of course, had no real way of knowing this. William was three or four and likely had no recollection of it. Fowler reported that Brady came in to Fort McIntosh with his men, seemingly confirming that the Americans stayed together throughout the event. Colonel Brodhead, commanding the Western Department from Fort Pitt confirmed Brady “brought his whole party safe to this place.”[29]

At Fort McIntosh, Brady rearmed, gathered a few more men, and set out to return to the Mahoning River, presumably hoping to catch the raiding party and rescue William Stoops. In the end, he could not, but did take the time to scalp the Native American he had killed.[30] One legend has Brady and his men, guided by an allied Indian, searching for the man’s grave before digging up the body, robbing it, and scalping him.[31] Although contemporary sources only note Brady returning to Fort Pitt with the scalp, it is certainly reasonable to conclude that he and his men robbed the grave to get it.

Setting aside their races and causes, the parallels between Brady’s party and the Indians reveal several commonalities in the experience of war on the frontier. A vast wilderness separated the two sides, its sheer size placing a premium on intelligence, which was hard to come by and often required combining scouting missions and raids. Home areas, whether along the Sandusky in the west or Chartiers Creek in the east, were always vulnerable to observation and attack by the enemy, who would inevitably choose isolated and vulnerable targets to strike. Often, these targets were what Europeans considered non-combatants. Such distinctions were less relevant for all combatants on the frontier. Small raiding parties could sneak across the no-man’s land of eastern Ohio and strike at any time. Yet, those very raiding parties used the same trails to navigate the wilderness. It was not mere coincidence that Brady and his men ran into an Indian raiding party, both wearing the same garb, both with prisoners, and both headed home from a successful raid into enemy territory. They were taking the quickest way to safety, most likely to escape expected pursuit parties. Tactical surprise was always a possibility, but it often only provided a momentary advantage. Brady and his men had to escape quickly after the captain retrieved Mrs. Stoops; he had no resources for even a brief skirmish and had to abandon William on the trail. The Indians were in a similar circumstance, with every reason to believe an American party was already pursuing them from Chartiers Creek. Fighting occurred on an intimate scale, particularly given the size of the territory. In this instance it involved at most twelve combatants, three prisoners and the exchange of a few bullets: one for the Americans and one or two for the Indians. But, the frontier population was small enough to make it memorable. The rescue of Mrs. Stoops became part of Brady’s legend.

None of this takes anything away from Samuel Brady. If anything, the rescue of Jane Stoops demonstrates that there was real history behind the legend. The parallels also remind us that there was more to the story than the crafting of a myth.

[1] John Frost, Heroes and Hunters of the West: Comprising Sketches and Adventures of Boone, Kenton, Brady, Logan, Whetzel, Fleehart, Hughes, Johnston, &c. (Philadelphia: H.C. Peck and Theo. Bliss, 1859), 38.

[2] Belle McKinney Hays Swope, History of the Families of McKinney-Brady-Quigley (Newville, PA: Franklin Repository Printery, 1905), 156. Swope was quoting Cecil B. Hartley, Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel, the Virginia Ranger; to Which are Added Biographical Sketches of General Simon Kenton, General Benjamin Logan, Captain Samuel Brady, Governor Isaac Shelby, and Other Heroes of the West (Philadelphia: G.G. Evans, 1859), 192.

[3] Daniel Brodhead to George Washington, April 24, 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-25-02-0332. Brodhead informed Washington that Indians had killed forty-three men, women, and children in three Virginia counties near Pittsburgh.

[4] Michael N. McConnell, Army & Empire: British Soldiers on the American Frontier, 1758-1775 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004), 27; Richard Cannon, Historical Record of the Eighteenth or The Royal Irish Regiment of Foot (London: Parker, Furnivall, & Parker, 1848), 47. Stoops and Fowler also served with Edward Hand in the 18th Regiment of Foot. Stoops was a sergeant, Fowler a lieutenant, and Hand, initially, a surgeon. Companies were separated from the 18th and deployed as far west as Britain’s Mississippi River posts.

[5] “Alexander Fowler to Gen. Edward Hand, 22d July, 1780,” Louise Phelps Kellogg, ed., Frontier Retreat on the Upper Ohio, 1779-1781, Collections, Volume XXIV, Draper Series, Volume V (Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1917), 224. Fowler addressed his former comrade in the British Army, and now superior officer in the Continental Army, familiarly as “Dear Hand” without mentioning his rank and referred to Stoops simply by his last name, suggesting the general was already familiar with the former sergeant.

[6] “Reminiscences of Mrs. Nancy Stoops,” Frontier Retreat, 205. The other surviving children remained in Ireland, where the 18th Regiment had been posted prior to serving in the American colonies.

[7] “Reminiscences of Mrs. Nancy Stoops,” Frontier Retreat, 205.

[8] “Alexander Fowler to Gen. Edward Hand,” Frontier Retreat, 224.

[9] Charles H.L. Johnston, Famous Scouts Including Trappers, Pioneers and Soldiers of the Frontier (Boston: L.C. Page & Company, 1910), 97; Swope, History of the Families of McKinney-Brady-Quigley, 157. Johnston has him promoted to lieutenant during the siege for rescuing a captain stunned, but uninjured, by a cannonball. Swope makes no mention of the episode, but indicates he was breveted captain in 1779.

[10] National Archives, U.S. Revolutionary War Service Records, 1775-1783, Record Group 93, Publication Number M881, Catalog ID 570910. (All references to National Archives records are from fold3.com unless otherwise noted.)

[11] National Archives, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, compiled 1894-ca. 1912, documenting the period 1775-1784, Record group 93, Publication number M881, Catalog ID 570910.

[12] “Reminiscences of General Hugh Brady,” Frontier Retreat, 203-204.

[13] “Alexander Fowler to Gen. Edward Hand,” Frontier Retreat, 224; “Reminiscences of Gen. Hugh Brady,” Fronter Retreat, 203; “Reminiscences of Mrs. Nancy Stoops,” Frontier Retreat, 204. Fowler reported that Brady left Fort Pitt with another gentleman from the 8th Pennsylvania and seven men, nine in all, but that Brady was reduced to himself and three men after three men separated themselves from the party, leaving two men unaccounted.

[14] Johnston, Famous Scouts, 7. This pamphlet was originally published as a series of articles in The Blairsville Record.

[15] “Reminiscences of Mrs. Nancy Stoops,” Frontier Retreat, 205. Nancy Stoops gives us the location. Her brother-in-law, John McFarland, bought the land, and later discovered bones lying on it, which he, Nancy, and presumably William Stoops concluded were from an Indian killed during the rescue.

[16] “Reminiscences of General Hugh Brady,” Frontier Retreat, 203-204; “Reminiscences of Samuel Sprott,” Frontier Retreat, 207.

[17] “Reminiscences of General Hugh Brady,” Frontier Retreat, 203. Hugh Brady concluded that Samuel Brady’s men returned his yell because they thought he had shot something for dinner.

[18] “Reminiscences of Samuel Sprott,” Frontier Retreat, 207.

[19] “Alexander Fowler to Gen. Edward Hand,” Frontier Retreat, 224.

[20] “Reminiscences of General Hugh Brady,” Frontier Retreat, 203.

[21] “Reminiscences of Mrs. Nancy Stoops,” Frontier Retreat, 206.

[22] “Alexander Fowler to Gen. Edward Hand,” Frontier Retreat, 224.

[23] “Reminiscences of Samuel Sprott,” Frontier Retreat, 207.

[24] “Reminiscences of General Hugh Brady,” Frontier Retreat, 203.

[25] Sketches of the Life and Adventures of Captain Samuel Brady (Lancaster, PA: S.H. Zahm & Co., 1891), 7. This is a reprint of a series of newspaper articles printed in The Blairsville Record several decades earlier.

[26] “Reminiscences of General Hugh Brady,” Frontier Retreat, 203.

[27] “Reminiscences of Samuel Sprott,” Frontier Retreat, 207.

[28] “Reminiscences of Mrs. Nancy Stoops,” Frontier Retreat, 206.

[29] “Alexander Fowler to Gen. Edward Hand,” Frontier Retreat, 225; Brodhead to Washington, June 29, 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-26-02-0448.

[30] “Alexander Fowler to Gen. Edward Hand,” Frontier Retreat, 225.

[31] Sketches of the Life and Adventures of Captain Samuel Brady, 7.