TX BIOS:  Half Moon Valley Massacre (told by John Coalson)
   Selected and converted.American Memory, Library of Congress.
   
   Washington, 1994.
   
   Preceding element provides place and date of transcription only.
   
   This transcription intended to be 99.95% accurate.
   
   For more information about this text and this American Memory
   collection, refer to accompanying matter.
   
   U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (Folklore
   Project, Life Histories, 1936-39); Manuscript Division, Library of
   Congress.Copyright status not determined.
   
   00011
   
   Folkstuff - Rangelore [?] Words
   
   EDITORIAL FIELD COPY
   
   by
   
   Mrs. Florence Angermiller, P. W.
   
   Page 1
   
   232
   
   Pioneer Experiences From Uvalde Leader-News UVALDE COUNTY, DISTRICT
   #10
   
   HALF MOON VALLEY MASSACRE
   
   As told by John Coalson
   
   to
   
   Mrs. Letitia Charlton
   
   I was born in 1843. My parents had seven children, five boys and two
   girls.
   
   With the tide of immigration my parents drifted westward. encountering
   many hardships and dangers.
   
   Once when we lived on Coyeras Creek, a tributary to the Llano River,
   my father, Nick Coalson, owned a fine horse. At night he kept this
   animal locked in a stable made of heavy timber.
   
   Returning one night after dark a bear hunt with two captured cubs, he
   took the horse to lock him up. Inside the stable were several Indians
   who fired at dad when he opened the door. One bullet struck him in the
   hip and he suffered from the wound as long as he lived.
   
   At the time he maintained a pack of hounds. Most of them w were
   vicious. He called them and they drove the Indians away.
   
   Once dad and Mr. Mann went deer hunting. They left at night or
   evening. The next morning mother, ever watchful over her brood of
   youngsters, cautioned us to be quiet as the house was surrounded by
   Indians. Such firearms as we had were a miscellaneous bunch of junk.
   
     NOTE: C12 - 2/11/41 - Texas
     
   00022One [?] and ball was pretty good if one exercised caution in
   loading it. If not, one night pull the trigger, have it [?] in firing
   an and several minutes later it might blow one end of the house out.
   
   "There was a man by the name of Morris working for dad. He was killed
   within thirty feet of our door. Mother, seemingly unafraid, put on a
   hat and a jacket of dad's. The front door to the room where we were
   was split in two sections. The upper section could be opened while the
   lower section remained closed.
   
   "I had never seen mother look so beautiful. If they should kill our
   mother! "Keep quiet, children," she whispered. The color never left
   her cheeks. She walked calmly to the door with her abundant hair
   tucked under dad's hat. She then flung the upper portion of the door
   open and looked out. The Indians retreated and after several
   depredations left. She learned afterwards from a man who was watching,
   that the Indians had a lookout who signaled to them that dad and [??]
   were returning. So they left.
   
   Mother died at [?] about 1872 or 1873. Dad afterwards b brought his
   family to the Edwards County section. He then married a Mrs. [?]
   Humphrey who had a small child by her former marriage.
   
   After this we moved to a place called Half Moon Prairie, about 14
   miles north of [?] near the break of the plains. No more beautiful
   place can be imagined. A level of grassy valley, always green and
   formed into a [??] by hills thickly studded with cedar. [??] was
   situated at the western end of the valley.
   
   My parents had twins, Etta and Arthur. They were [?] ten at this time.
   
   [??] some [?] and dad [?] his place [?] Coopers Creek for sheep.
   Arthur and I herded them. [?] camp was about six miles from 00033home.
   Selecting a place, Dad made tanks to catch rain water for the sheep
   and goats. One morning Arthur and I discovered a bumble-bee nest rich
   in honey. We worked the greater part of the day trying to kill the
   bees.
   
   Suddenly, we found ourselves surrounded by mounted Indians. Side by
   side, we started running but I was shot between the shoulders and fell
   right there. Arthur ran on and was killed some distance from me but I
   did not know it then.
   
   The bullet came out of my chest at the left front and close to my
   collar bone. The Indians came back and watched me closely at times. On
   one trip, I must have flinched and they saw that I was still alive. I
   had my arm across my eyes and one of them shot me through the upper
   arm. This wound was more painful than the one in my chest.
   
   I got up weakly and walked to camp about four-hundred yards away. I
   let the water out of the barrels and crawled into the puddle. I laid
   there all night. Next morning, I ate a little barbecued beef and again
   laid down in the water. Sometime later, I felt a hand on my arm. I
   felt indifferent but opened my eyes. I was gratified to find the Texas
   Rangers. They took me and Arthur's body home.
   
   Dad had been hard put for he had been fighting Indians all evening and
   had killed one of the party who had killed Arthur and shot me. Just
   one year to a day after this, about 1878, there occurred the massacre
   of three more members of my family.
   
   It was June. My step-mother wanted to gather some wild grapes growing
   along Cedar Creek at the east end of the valley. There were no horses
   handy so mother and Etta, taking the baby with them, each rode a
   donkey. Dad went with them.
   
   Later on, he left them to drive home the milk cows. Dad took the
   00044cows through the trail. My step-mother and Etta came back by the
   road. It was late when Dad arrived home and I felt uneasy about the
   women. Dad said they were coming by way of the road but I was not
   satisfied, so I went and found them all three dead. Their bodies lay
   near where the valley narrowed at the eastern end and where the cedars
   grow thickly.
   
   ----------
   
   Note: As I had know about this massacre all my life, I have ridden
   through this valley in later years and could never forbear an eerie
   feeling of discomfort as I fancied I saw the shifty eyes and feathered
   heads of Indians in the cedar on either side. (Letitia Charlton.)

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