My novel entitled The Coleman Massacre is based on an actual Indian raid that occurred in September 1757 in Burlingham, New York.

The story is based on the accounts of two narrators: a woman who survived the raid and the man who led the rescue party. I am trying to fictionalize the account while still remaining faithful to the details they provided. And, of course, I have run into a lot of problems, as anyone who has written historical fiction knows.

Even the exact location of the Coleman brothers' house is uncertain after 250 years, as is the exact date. Nor do I know the first names of the brothers or their wives or of any of their seven children. I don't even know the ages or sexes of the children or, with the exception of the baby, which children belonged to which family. Indeed, the eventual fates of most of the victims of the raid are unknown.

Still, the raid itself and especially the fact that the woman who narrated the story survived solely because of the courage and kindness of an Indian woman fascinates me.

So, in spite of the difficulties of research, the simple lack of information, and the conflicts in some of what I have found, I feel driven to write this story.

It took place, after all, right here in my own village--Burlingham, in upstate New York--in a time when we were still Englishmen and the French were our enemies, when the terrorists were the Indians who raided our frontier and homeland security meant a loaded flintlock rifle and faith in God.