SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

#2
When we fust came here dis place, as well as de rest ob de Valley, wuz just a
big canebrake- nothin* lived in dere but bears, wolves, and varmints* "Why
de Mahster would habe to round up de livestock each afternoon, put dem in pens,
and den put out guards all night to keep de wolves and bears frum gettin* em*
De folks didn*t go gallivatin 1 round nights like dey do now or de varmints would
get them* But den we didn f t stay here but a few months until de Mahster 1 s
AtW.O.L* 1 wuz up, so we had to go back and jine de army. We fougjh* in Mississippi
Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina*
"When de war ended de Mahster moved us to Miller County, but not on de
Adams farm* For de man -wliut used to own de farm said Uncle Sam hadn f t made any
such money as wuz paid him for de farm, so he wanted his farm back* Dat Confed-
erate money wuzn*t worth de paper it wuz printed on, so de Mahster had to gib
him back de farm* Poor Massa Ogburn - he didnft live long after dat* He and
his wife are buried side by side in Rondo Cemetery*
tf Not long after de negroes wuz freed, I took 86 ob dem to de votin 1 place
at Homan and voted 'em all straight democratic* On my way back home dat evenin*
five negroes jumped frum de bushes and stopped me* ^ey f splained dat I wuz too
T fluential wid de negroes and proceeded to string me up by de neck* I hollers
as loud as I could, and Roy Nash and Hu$i Burton, de election officers, just
happen to be comin 1 down de road and hear me yell* Dey ran off de niggers and
cut me down, but by dat time I had passed out* It wuz several weeks befo f I
got well, and I can still fepl dat rope f round my neck* If fen dey had known
how to tie a hangmans knot I wouldn f t be here to tell you about it# w
"It wuzn f t long after dis dat I jined Colonel 1 Baker*s Gang for f tection*
f Colonel f Baker wuz a great and brave man and did mo f fo de white folks of dis
country den any other man* TKhy if fen it hadn*t been fo 1 him de white folks
couldn f t hab lived in dis country, de negroes wuz so mean* Dey wuz so mean dat
dey tied heavy plow shoes aroun 1 de necks ob two little -white boys and threw dem
ia de lake* Yes suh* I wuz dere*
2