Bravest Soldier of All

I had forgotten about this amazing story until my mother reminded me of it this weekend. I thought about paraphrasing it but I love the language the J.C. Spees uses.

This is an excerpt from the book  "The Geneology of the Spees Tribe" by J.C. Spees

   "Miss Lucy Wright had seven brothers in the Revolutionary War, but she was the bravest soldier of all. One day during the War of Independence in the United States of America the Indians surrounded Red Stone Fort, now Brownsville, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where the old men, mothers and children of the soldiers in Washington's army were stationed in stockades for protection from the Indians, there was a call for two volunteers to try and reach Washington's army, which was twenty-two miles away, to notify them of the critical condition of the Fort. Out stepped little [sic] curley headed Lucy Wright, about 18 years of age, followed by her young lady chum. 

     Time was precious as the Indians could be seen gathering wood for their camp fires for the night. The sun was getting ready to set in the western sky and pin her [sic] murkey curtains of night with the evening stars. Two horses were made ready for the girls to try and run the gauntlet of the Indian lines. On the backs of these horses sprang Lucy Wright and her girl friend, whose name father had forgotten as he was but a small boy of 8 or 10 years when his old Grandmother Young told him of the hardships of her childhood days during the war. The gate of the Fort swung open and out dashed these girls, coming onto the Indians so sudden that they stood spell-bound with the wood in their arms hardly realizing what was going on until horses and riders were out of reach. On dashed the ladies, following the trail of glazed trees as their guide by moon light until they reached the outer edge of Washington's picket line, where the horse that Lucy Wright rode dashed sideways against a snag of a tree and tore off the calf of one of her limbs. The great grandmother of J.C. Spees, her grandson, the scar and say, "Brice, if you do as much for your country as your grandmother did you will be a brave boy.  

     This ride of twenty-two miles was made in less than three hours through the forests of Washington county, Pennsylvania. The best horses were selected and soldiers went to help save Red Stone Fort and its occupants, and they reached the Indian camp before all the powder and balls had been consumed in the Fort. Great was the joy when those old fathers, mothers and children heard the sound of guns around the Indian camp, for they then knew the girls had reached the camp of Washington's army."

I am still learning more about Lucy Wright and who she was. In other parts of the book Spees refers to the Wrights as "curly headed people" and "very energetic". Lucy certainly sounds like someone I'd like to meet.
In genealogy things aren't always certain. There is a Lucy Wright born about the same year as my Lucy who married and died in Madison County, AL. However, I am almost certain they are not the same person. She would have had to be married to remarried and moved to Alabama yet the Spees book mentions calls her "old Grandmother Young" at one point. There another Lucy Wright recorded as being born that same year but her parents died when she was young and her trail goes cold. I am going to keep digging and hopefully find my Lucy.

Lucy Wright Young is my 6th great-grandmother. Lucy - Mary Young Spees - Joseph Carter Spees - Newell Birkett Spees - Beulay Mae Spees - Oda Zelle Smith Spearman.