ONCE upon a time a bald-headed old man lived on the top of a mountain with his wife and three children near a lake about half way to the summit.
Each day the old man went down to fish in the lake. He gave the fish to his wife and they lived well and happily.
After they had passed many years in this manner, the old man became curious to know how large the world is.
Being chief of his people he called a council and said, "I want to know how large the world is. I wish some man would volunteer to find out."
One young man said, "I will go and find out."
"Very well," said the chief, "How long will you be gone?"
"I can't tell, for I don't know how far I shall have to travel."
"Go," said the chief, "And when you return you will tell us about your journey."
The young man started and after traveling two moons he came to a country where everything was white--the forests, the water, the grass. It hurt his feet to walk on the white ground, so he hurried back. When he reached home he notified the chief.
The chief said, "I don't believe that he has been to the end of the world but I will call a council and we will hear what he has to say.When the people were assembled, the young man said:
"I did not go very far, but I went as far as I was able."
And he told all he knew of the White Country.
The chief said, "We must send another man."
They sent a second man. He was gone four moons and returned. The chief called a council, and then asked: "Did you go to the end of the world?"
"No, but I went as far as I was able to go.
Everything was as it is here till I came to the White Country. I traveled two moons in the White Country and could go no farther. I could not have lived had I continued my journey."
The chief sent a third man. He traveled farther than the second man then came back and related that there were people who lived in white houses and dressed in fur.
The chief was encouraged and he sent a fourth man.
As the man traveled he noticed everything. He crossed white rivers and white lakes and was gone eight moons. On his return, he said, "I came back quicker than I went, for I came a shorter way and reached the green land sooner than I would if I had come on the trail by which I went."
The chief sent a fifth man. He crossed the White Country and beyond that he found a place where there was nothing but rocks. He climbed very high up and down till he wore his moccasins off. He was gone ten moons and came back. At the council he said, "I passed over the White Country, crossed rocky places and then came straight home.
It cannot be very far across the world."
"How did you know the way home?" asked the old man. ''As I went I noticed the trees. The tops of the hemlocks leaned toward the East and our home is in that direction, so I followed the bend of the hemlocks."
The bald-headed chief was learning something all the time.
Many men were sent, one after another, and each returned with a story a little different from that told by others but still no one satisfied the chief.
At last a man said, "I will start and I will go to the end of the world before I come back."
The chief looked at the man and saw that he was very homely but very strong. He said, "I think you will do as you promise. You may go."
When the man came back he said,
"I have been to the end of the world. I have seen all kinds of people, all kinds of game, all kinds of forests and rivers.
I have seen things which no one else has ever seen."
The chief was satisfied, he said, "I am chief of all the people, you will be next to me. You'll be second chief."
The old chief was Bald Eagle. The first man sent out was Deer. His feet were tender, he could not endure the ice and snow of the White Country.
The homely man who went to the end of the world was Mud-turtle.
Chief Bald Eagle had a camp "The Bald Eagle's nest" or Wapalanewachschiechey for part of the year at the mouth of a creek which empties into the Susquehanna near the Great Island, During the Revolutionary War he led war parties from the Nest against settlements in the West Branch Valley.
Yet the settlements progressed and reached the Muncy hills. A fort was built at the mouth of Muncy creek near where Pennsborough now stands and command was given to Captain John Brady. John Brady had a younger son James and an older son named Samuel.
Frequent skirmishes took place between the whites and Indians who resumed their old practice of harrassing the settlers by dividing themselves into small squads, taking some prisoners, scalping others, and carrying away or destroying the cattle and moveable property of their victims.
A company of men formed for the purpose of aiding a friend to cut his oats, near the mouth of Loyalsock creek.
James Brady, son of Captain John, the younger brother of Captain Samuel of the Rangers, went along. According to a custom in those days, if no commissioned officer was present, the company selected a leader whom they styled " Captain" and James was selected leader or Captain of this little band of about twenty men. After arriving on the ground they placed two sentinels at opposite sides of the field since the other sides had clear land around. The guns were all placed together at one side of the field and the order was that in case of alarm all were to run to the rifles.
As the story goes James Brady had a full head of handsome red hair, In the custom of the day he wore it long and tied up. James had his hair "done up" by a Mrs. Buckalow. "He was lively and full of nonsense, and she said to him,
'Ah,Jim, I fear the Indians will get this red scalp of yours yet.
' 'If they do', he replied, 'it will make a bright light on a dark night'.
On the first day which was spent in cradling the oats, nothing remarkable happened. During the night a strict watch was kept. In the evening one of the sentinels fired and cried "Indians!" The young Captain without looking round for his men ran for his rifle. When near the guns he was fired upon by a white man with a pistol. Tumbling over a sheaf of oats he fell and the ball missed him.
The Indians supposing him dead, ran to secure his scalp. He fell within reach of the guns and seizing one he shot the first Indian who approached him.
He now discovered that his men had fled and left him to contend with the savages alone.
Despair rendered him the more determined to die gallantly. He caught another gun and brought down a second Indian.
They rushed upon him in numbers. He was a stout active man and struggled with them for some time.
At length one of them struck a tomahawk into his head and for a time he remained altogether powerless; yet strange as it may seem, he retained his senses.
He then received a thrust from a spear and fell. He had no sooner fallen than he was pounced upon and his scalp ruthlessly torn from his head.
It was quite a trophy to them due to his long and remarkably red hair.
After they had scalped him, a little Indian was called and made to strike the tomahawk into his head in four separate places.
Then leaving him for dead they took the guns and fled to the woods.
James although scalped crept to a cabin where an old man named Jerome Vaness was employed to cook for the soldiers and field workers. On hearing the report of the guns the old man had hid himself but when he saw Brady return he came to him. James begged the old man to fly to the fort, saying, "the Indians will soon be back and kill you."
The old man refused to leave him. Brady requested to be taken to the river where he drank large quantities of water. He still begged the old man to leave him and save himself but he would not.
He next directed his old friend to load the gun and put it in his hands, He lay down and appeared to sleep.
A noise was suddenly heard on the riverbank above them and James jumped on his feet and cocked the gun. It was soon discovered that the noise was made by some troops who had come from the fort on horseback in pursuit of the Indians.
They carried the brave young " Captain" to the fort, where he lived for five days. The first four days he was delirious and on the fifth his reason returned. He described the whole scene with great minuteness. He said the Indians were of the Seneca tribe with two chiefs: a very large man, Cornplanler and the celebrated chief Bald Eagle;
His brother Samuel hastened home but was too late. He swore vengeance not loud but deep on Bald Eagle and "made a solemn vow that he would never make peace with any tribe.
In June 1779, a band of the Wolf Clan of Delawares and probably Senecas made a raid into Westmoreland County attacking the settlement and killing people at James Perry's Mill. The Indians as usual kidnapped several children. Samuel Brady was leading a small ranger unit ahead of Colonel Brodhead when they spotted Indians ahead of them. Brady's group avoided Bald Eagle's men ran to the side and disappeared into the woods. He allowed the Indians to pass knowing that they would soon meet Brodhead with the major part of his force. He reasoned that when they met Brodhead, they would retreat up the same path from whence they had come. He placed his men on both sides of a narrow pass on the path Brady and waited for daybreak. They attacked as the first streaks of dawn floated over the verdant hills of the Allegheny, . . . A sheet of flame blazed from the rifles of Brady and his men, and the chief of the seven Indians fell dead while the others fled into the surrounding forest.
With a shout of triumph, Brady leaped upon the fallen chieftain and scalped him. His body was set up in a canoe, with a pipe in his mouth, and sent floating down the Monongahela river. A woman, Sara, noticed the corpse and rowed out from her home at the mouth of Big Whitely Creek. She towed the boat to shore and the Indian was given a decent burial.
Although there's no way Brady would have known but this same manoeuvre was used by Napoleon in his battle with some Mamelukes twenty-five years later. Retreating out of a woods, or swamp using the same path used going in is contrary to basic infantry tactic and should be avoided (even if you are an experienced fighter).
The children were returned to the fort and news of Bald Eagle's death had the effect that the Indians made no more raids into Westmoreland that summer.
Later during one of his Ohio trips Samuel Brady was captured by Indians and taken to their village where they would have him run the gauntlet, be tortured, shot, and then scalped. They were elated at having captured such a famous man.
At a point in the process, Brady found himself near a large fire surrounded by the entire tribe. He noticed a squaw nearby carrying a baby.
Lunging across the squaw's body he wrestled the baby from her, ran to the fire and threw the baby in.
The crowd went wild.
They jumped into the fire to find and save the baby. Meanwhile, Brady made his way through the chaos and ran into the woods. The Indians quickly took up pursuit but were unable to trace him.
He escaped.
The stories do not explain the fate of the baby.
