Fort Brady was the dwelling house of Capt. John Brady, at Muncy, stockaded by
digging a trench about four feet deep and setting logs side by side, filling in
with earth and ramming down solid to hold the palisade in place. They were
usually twelve feet high from the ground, with smaller timbers running
transversely at the top, to which they were pinned, making a solid wall. Capt.
Brady's house was a large one for the time; he had been a captain in the
Scotch-Irish and German forces west of the Alleghenies under Col. Henry Bouquet
in his expedition, which Dr. Egle tells us composed the Bouquet expeditions, and
had received a grant of land with the other officers in payment for his
services. He was a captain in the 12th Pennsylvania regiment in the Revolution
and was wounded at the battle of the Brandywine. His son, John, a lad of
fifteen, stood in the ranks with a rifle and was also wounded. Sam, his eldest
son, was in another division and assisted to make the record of Parr's and
Morgan's riflemen world famous. The West Branch, in its great zeal for the cause
of the colonist, bad almost denuded itself of fighting men for the Continental
army. Consequently, on the breaking out of Indian hostilities a cry for help
went up from these sparsely settled frontiers. Genl. Washington recognized the
necessity without the ability to relieve them. He, however, did all in his power
by mustering out such officers as would be likely to organize such defense and
restore confidence to these justly alarmed communities, distributing the men
among other regiments. Capt. John Brady was one of these officers; he was
mustered out soon after the battle of Brandywine, came home and in the fall of
1777 stockaded Fort Brady. He was active, energetic, honest, devoid of fear and
kind. A man of prominence and a natural leader of men. Fort Brady at once became
a place of refuge to the families within reach in times of peril and continued
so until after the death of the valiant captain and the driving off of the
inhabitants. Capt. Brady was killed by the Indians at Wolf run, above Muncy,
April 11, 1779. Meginness, in his History of the West Branch, says: "One of the
saddest incidents of these troublesome times was the assassination of Capt. John
Brady by a concealed foe on the 11th of April, 1779. He was living with his
family at his fort, as it was termed, at Muncy, and was taking an active part
against the Indians. On this fatal day he made a trip up the river to Wallis'
for the purpose of procuring supplies. He took a wagon and guard with him, and,
after securing a quantity of provisions started to return in the afternoon. He
was riding a fine mare and was some distance in the rear of the wagon. Peter
Smith, the same unfortunate man who lost his family in the bloody massacre of
the 10th of June, and on whose farm young James Brady was mortally wounded and
scalped by the Indians on the 8th of August, was walking by his side. When
within a short distance of his home, Brady suggested to Smith the propriety of
his taking a different route from the one the wagon had gone, as it was shorter.
They traveled together until they came to a small stream of water (Wolf run),
where the other road came in. Brady observed: This would be a good place for
Indians to hide; Smith replied in the affirmative, when three rifles cracked and
Brady fell from his horse dead. As his frightened mare was about to run past
Smith he caught her by the bridle and, springing on her back, was carried to
Brady's Fort in a few minutes. The report of the rifles was plainly heard at the
tort and caused great alarm. Several persons rushed out, Mrs. Brady among them,
and, seeing Smith coming at full speed, anxiously enquired where Capt. Brady
was. It is related that Smith, in a high state of excitement, replied: "In
Heaven or hell, or on his way to Tioga," meaning he was either killed or a
prisoner by the Indians. The Indians in their haste did not scalp him, nor
plunder him of his gold watch, some money and his commission, which he carried
in a green bag suspended from his neck. His body was brought to the fort and
soon after interred in the Muncy burying ground, some four miles from the fort
(now Hall's station, P. & E. R. R.) over Muncy creek." His grave is suitably
marked at Hall's, while a cenotaph in the present Muncy cemetery of thirty feet
high, raised by J. M. M. Gernerd by dollar subscription, attests the lively
interest still felt by the community in one who devoted himself to the
protection of the valley when brave active men and good counselors were needed.
Of his sons, Capt. Samuel Brady, a sharpshooter of Parr's and Morgan's rifles,
fought on almost every battlefield of the Revolution, from Boston and Saratoga
to Germantown, can speak of his deeds as a scout and Indian fighter Western and
Northern Pennsylvania, which West Virginia and Ohio attest. To the Indian he
became a terror, and he fully avenged the blood of his sire shed at Wolf run, on
the West Branch of the Susquehanna, that beautiful day in April, 1779, at the
bloody fight of Brady's Bend, on the Allegheny, where, with his own hand, he
slew his father's murderer and avenged his brother James, the "Young Captain of
the Susquehanna," in a hundred other fights. Of his second son, James, killed by
the Indians at the Loyal Sock, whose career bid fair to be as brilliant as his
elder brother's but unfortunately cut off at his commencement. John, who, when
but a boy of fifteen, going with his father and oldest brother to the
battlefield of the Brandywine to bring back the horses, finding a battle on
hand, took a rifle and stepped into the ranks and did manful duty, and was
wounded. He is said to have served with Jackson at New Orleans in the War of
1812. William Perry Brady served on the northern borders in the same war, and at
Perry's victory at Lake Erie, when volunteers were called, was the first to step
out.
Hon. John Blair Linn, at the dedication of the Brady monument in 1879, one
hundred years after the death of John Brady, said: "To the valley his loss was
well nigh irreparable; death came to its defender, and 'Hell followed' hard
after. In May, Buffalo Valley was overrun and the people left, on the 8th of
July Smith's mills, at the mouth of the White Deer Creek were burned, and on the
17th Muncy valley was swept with the besom of destruction. Starrett's mills and
all the principal houses in Muncy Township burned, with Fort Muncy, Brady and
Freeland, and Sunbury became the frontier."
And, in speaking of the fall of Capt. Evan Rice Brady at South Mountain, in the
war of '62, said: "Four generations of the Brady's fought for this country, yet
he was the first to fall in action." The site of Fort Brady adjoins the town of
Muncy, on the south side of and near the built up portions of the town on lot
owned by Mrs. Hayes. Until late years, a flag staff has stood, marking the site,
Mr. J. M. M. Gernerd, the well-known antiquarian of Muncy, keeps a good lookout
for the site. No question as to its genuineness.
Notes About Book:
Source: The Frontier Forts Within The North and West Branches of the Susquehanna
River Pennsylvania, BY Captain John M. Buckalew, Read Before The Wyoming
Historical And Geological, Society, October 1, 1895. Reprinted From The State
Report, 1896. E. B. Yoruy, Printer, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Notes about Online Publication: This manuscript has been ocr'd and heavily
edited. Many of the Native American words have been reproduced as clearly as
online publication will allow us, but not all are exactly the way they were in
the original work. The structure of this manuscript has been changed to allow
better online presentation.