John Schneider laid out the village called Schneidershtettle (Snydertown), named in his honor, on a tract of 360 acres in 1818. Later the town became known as Uniontown, presumably because the main roads and trails converged here at the "Gap" connecting the Lykens and Mahantango Valleys. Uniontown was officially incorporated as a borough in 1864, however, a Uniontown in Fayette County caused post-office confusion, and the town  was renamed after a General Pillow in 1965.

It is probably safe to say that few residents of the area are aware of how or why this name change came to be, or even after whom the town took it's name. We'll attempt to answer those questions here.

At Fort Donelson, when hopelessly surrounded by Union forces, senior ranking General Gideon J. Pillow and Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd passed on command to lesser ranking Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, who was pre-arranged to surrender the fort and garrison to General Grant. Before the surrender, Floyd embarked his Virginia troops upon steamers and carried them off. General Pillow along with a number of officers and entourage crossed to the opposite side of the Cumberland and and escaped to Clarksville. Buckner surrendered to Grant unconditionally as planned, and was taken prisoner with his remaining men. At Decatur, AL, General Pillow was immediately relived from duty. He did, however, subsequently lead a brigade at Stone's River in the Southwest under Beauregard, and still later was made chief of conscripts in the Western department. . After that, most of his assignments were administrative. Once the Civil War ended, Pillow joined former Tennessee governor, Isham G. Harris, with intent to establish a thriving law practice.

After the close of the war Pillow found himself in some serious financial difficulty, brought on by yet another questionable decision he made as a General. During the war he had ordered the seizure and sale of the coal and other assets of a Pittsburgh company. The coal was sold and the proceeds turned over to the State, and everything  received for the coal and other property of the company was used by the Confederacy for military purposes. After the war, the the Pittsburgh Company sued the Confederacy and The General personally for $125,000 damages, which resulted in a judgment against him for $38,500, an almost unfathomable debt in 1865. The outcome of the trial was no doubt influenced by the fact that Pillow was a moderate, well connected Tennessee politician with strong links to Washington, but who accepted the appointment of Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. Although a new trial was granted, the general's claims as a belligerent were disallowed. His State was unable to come to his aid, and he was compelled to declare bankruptcy. General Pillow said that the loss of his property gave him "less anguish than the humiliation of bankruptcy." He attempted the cultivation of his farm in Maury county and of his plantation in Arkansas, but labored under many discouraging circumstances. He died in Lee county, Ark., October 6, 1878