BIO: Thomas Coleman, Tillard Pen Pictures, 1911, Blair County, PA Contributed April 2003 for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _________________________________________ Pen Pictures of Friends and Reminiscent Sketches by J. N. Tillard Altoona, PA: William F. Gable & Co., Mirror Press, 1911 The Terror of The Valley The Prowess of Thomas Coleman in The Early Days Kept The Indians at Bay and Made Tuckahoe Valley Peaceful THE history of the upper end of Tuckahoe Valley, that is, the section of country between Tyrone and Kittanning Point, of which Altoona is now the centre, can be written in a very small space so far as it antedates the memory of the oldest inhabitants. While the valleys immediately surrounding it are rich in the lore of the aborigines who a little more than a century ago were its undisputed owners, the tides of frontier war surged around the peaceful section lying between the Brush Mountain and the main range of the Alleghanies on the west. As far back as any record of events has been kept, Frank's old town or Frankstown, was on the map as a trading post and permanent settlement along the great Kittanning trail over which the various tribes of Indians that peopled the province of Pennsylvania traveled from east to west. Hollidaysburg, Standing Stone, Fort Roberteau at Arch Springs and numerous other points along the Juniata Valley were celebrated by stirring events, but the lonely settlers along what is now the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad were never much disturbed by wars, alarms or the warwhoop of the Indian. The only recorded murder by the red man in the immediate vicinity of Altoona was in the spring of 1778, at what is now East Altoona. John Guilliford had cleared a small patch of ground and built a cabin at the limestone spring that gushes from the foot of the hill at a point opposite the East Altoona or Blair Furnace Station, and which but a few years ago was the springhouse or dairy for the John Trout and Philip Bartlebaugh farms. The rendezvous for all the settlers at that time when the Indians threatened, was Fetter's Fort, located one mile west of where Hollidaysburg now is, and in the spring of this year, Mr. Gulliford had taken his family to the fort, but later on in the season, went to see how his crops were progressing, and was killed by the Indians who frequented the spring because of its excellent water. His body was found the same day by that mighty scout and Indian fighter, Thomas Coleman, and his comrade, Milligan. The historian of that time says that the principal reason for the quietness of this section and its freedom from Indian raids was owing to the great fear on the part of the redskin for "Old Coley," or Thomas Coleman. The great Kittanning trail led directly through the valley by the big spring, but after the fame of Thomas Coleman and his brother, Michael, as Indian slayers had spread far and wide, the red man avoided their habitation in the Juniata Gap as they would the plague, and the war path was moved across to the valleys to the south and east by way of Hollidaysburg and Frankstown. In the fall of 1777, Thomas Coleman was hunting one day where Hutchison's Curve below the "Red Bridge" now is, when he saw two Indians coming toward him each carrying a white child that they had picked up. He was afraid to fire for fear of hitting the children, but coolly stepped into the path of the Indians and demanded their surrender. Recognizing their arch and terrible enemy, they dropped their burdens and fled like the wind. The Coleman Brothers came to the Juniata Valley from Northumberland County on the Susquehanna, and Thomas had in his heart a burning desire for vengeance that seemed to be never quenched. While boiling maple sugar with his brother on the banks of the Susquehanna one day, he returned from a turkey hunt to find that the red fiends had boiled the brother who had been left in charge of the sugar camp in one of the kettles. Then and there he vowed to hunt the red man to the death so long as his own life should last, and while he always hunted alone by preference and never admitted to a living soul that he had ever killed an Indian, there was no tribe in the east that did not fear him. As late as the war of 1812, the Indians met along the Canadian Frontier by the Pennsylvania soldiers invariably inquired about "Old Coley," and one who represented himself as a son of Shingas, the great chief, pointed to a huge tomahawk scar on his forehead and said "Old Coley gave me that," which would seem to indicate that he got into close quarters as well as doing execution with his deadly rifle. That he loved the game for its own sake is demonstrated by an account of a sortie he led from Fort Fetter in the fall of 1777. The Indians had massacred all the people in a Dunkard settlement in Morrison's Cove and the party was camping about a mile east of Kittanning Point waiting for scattered members of the band to join them, when they were discovered by Thomas and Michael Coleman and Michael Wallace who were out for the purpose of killing venison for the people it the fort. About four inches of snow had fallen in the morning and the hunters saw the moccasin tracks in the snow and soon located the camp. Thomas Coleman saw that it was a large party, but sent his brother to the fort to bring the sixteen available men with instructions not to tell them how many Indians there were for fear they might become frightened and refuse to come. The men who came were Edward Milligan, Samul Jack, William Moore, George and John Fetter, William Holliday, Richard Clausir, John McDonald and one or two others whose names have been lost. Thomas Coleman led the party to the light of the Indian camp fire. Night had come on and it was very cold. The Indians had their guns stacked around a tree and one of them was mixing a can of war paint over the fire. Coleman wanted to steal up and take away the Indians' guns and the whites would then have them at their mercy, but he could not do the job alone and there was none brave enough to go with him. Coleman then told each man to pick his target and fire simultaneously at his command. Three or four of the Indians fell and Thomas called upon his comrades to load quickly as the unhurt savages sprang for their guns, but when he looked around he discovered that the men had all run except Wallace and Holliday. They were too few to fight alone and rejoined their companions at the fort; but Coleman led them out again next morning, but were unable to come up with the Indians who had carried off their dead and wounded. Except the numerous personal exploits of Thomas Coleman, these were about the only Indian fights that ever took place in this immediate vicinity, the red man always giving the Coleman cabin a wide berth after the fort was abandoned. #