SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

"We chillun had nothing to do wid coffee* We drunk milk out little
bowls* We f d turn it up or lap it out which one could do the best* They fed
us* We f d ask for more till we got filled up*
"I recollect the soldiers come by in July 1863 or 1864 and back in
December* I heard talk so long f fore they got there I knowed who they was*
They took my oldest brother* He didn f t want to go* We never heard from
him* He never come back* Mjy white master hid out* He didn f t go to war*
One son went and come back* It was the Yankees made my oldest brother go#
The first crowd in July swapped their wore-out scrub stock for our good
stocko That second crowd cleaned them out, took ou* hogs* Miss Betty had
died f fore they come in July* That second crowd come in December* They
cleaned out everything to eat and wear* They set the house f fire several
times with paper and coal oil (kerosene)* It went out every time* One told
the captain* He come up behind* It went out every time* He said, f Let f s
move on. f They left it clean and bare* We didn f t like them* We had meat
hid in the cellar* We got hungry that spring sure as you born*
*The old man married pretty soon after freedom* He married young to
what he was*
W I didn't find much fault to slavery f cepting the abuse* We et three
times a day and now if I get one piece I do well* Mother cooked, washed*
ironed and spun four cuts a day* We all et at the master 1 s kitchen three
times a day* We had thirty-two families* I f ve heard that ag f in tixas and
ag f in so as I recollect it till now* We didn f t have to work no harder f en
we do now if you have a living*
"Master waited till all there* He had a horn made sorter like
a bugle for that business* Called us to our meals* We stayed a year*
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