TUCKAHOE--MURDER OF JOHN GUILLIFORD.
In the Valley of Tuckahoe, stretching from Altoona to the mouth of the
Bald Eagle, there were some depredations committed, but never any of a
very serious nature, except upon one occasion. The cause of this can be
traced, in a great measure, to the fact that Thomas and Michael Coleman
and Michael Wallack lived in the upper end of the valley. These men
were so well known and so much feared by the Indians, that, although
the Kittaning Path, leading to the Bald Eagle Valley, ran directly
through Tuckahoe, they always avoided it, for fear of finding those old
and experienced hunters ambuscaded along their route. Besides, Captain
Logan, a friendly chief, lived for some years in what is now known as
Logan's Valley. He was also known and feared, and he was constantly on
the watch to guard against the incursions of hostile savages. Add to
this the fact that the valley was thinly populated, and the risk
attending the hunting for scalps immeasurably great, small roving
parties, on but two or three occasions, made their appearance in
Tuckahoe.
In the fall of 1777, two savages took captive two children while at
play, near a cabin located somewhere in the neighborhood of where Mr.
Hutchinson now lives. Thomas Coleman happened to be out hunting, and
saw them come up the path. Each one was carrying a child, but neither
of them had fire-arms, so that he felt quite at ease. From behind the
tree where he stood, he might easily have shot one of the savages, but
he would not run the risk for fear of hitting the child; so, waiting
until they had passed him, he jumped into the path, levelled his gun
at them, and shouted "_surrender_!" The affrighted savages dropped the
children and disappeared in the woods.
On another occasion they entered the valley, stole three horses, and
set fire to a stable. A number of pioneers tracked them through the old
war-path to the top of the mountain; which was quite as far as it was
prudent to venture, as that was considered the line dividing the white
settlements from the Indian country.
The only massacre in Tuckahoe ever committed by the savages took place
in the summer of 1778. A man named John Guilliford cleared a small
patch of land a short distance south of where Blair Furnace now stands,
and erected his cabin near where John Trout's house is. In the spring
of 1778, he abandoned his ground and cabin after the first alarm of
Indian depredations, and sought safety in Fetter's Fort. In the course
of the summer, after the alarm had somewhat subsided, Guilliford went
down to see how his crops were progressing. His body was found the same
day by Coleman and Milligan. It was lying at the threshold of his cabin
door; so that, in all probability, he was shot just as he was coming
out of his house. Coleman and Milligan dug a grave near the hut, and
buried him as he was, without a coffin. The most remarkable feature
about this murder was that Guilliford was not scalped. When we remember
that scalps were paid for at the British garrison at Detroit, the
omission to scalp Guilliford appears almost inexplicable. Coleman and
Milligan went in search of the Indians, but did not succeed in getting
upon their trail.