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.