SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

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And another time I wuz wid a bunch of niggers when dey wuz plannin 1 on killin a
white man who wuz a friend ob mine* As soon as I could I slips away and tips
him off* "When I got back one ob dem niggers looks at me suspicious like and asks,
"where yo been, nigger? 11 "I wuz shakin 1 like a leaf in a storm, but I says: I
ain*t been nowhere - just went home to get some cartridges to help kill dis
white man*
"Not long after I jined Colonel Baker's Gang, we wuz comin' frum Fulton
to Clipper through de Red River bottoms. De river wuz overflowin* an 1 as we wuz
crcssin* a deep, swift slough, Colonel Baker and his horse got tangled up in
some grape vines* Colonel Baker yelled, and I turned my mule around and cut all
de grape vine loose wid ray Bowie knife* Dere ain ! t nothin 1 like a mule for swimming
Dey can swim circles aroun 1 any horse* As long a s he lived, Colonel Baker was
always grateful to me fo 1 savin 1 his life*"
"De Colonel hated de sight ob mean niggers* We would ride up to a negro
settlement, and tell de niggers we wuz organizing a colored militia to catch Cullen
Baker and his gang* Most ob de negroes would join, but some ob dem had to be en-
couraged by Colonel Baker 1 s big gun* De recruits would be lined up in an open
field fo* drilling* And dey sho wuz drilled* Colonel Baker and his men would
shoot them by the score* Dey killed 53 at Homan, Arkansas, 86 at Rocky Comfort, (
Foreman} Arkansas, 6 near Ogden, Arkansas, 6 on de Temple place, 62 at Jefferson* .
Texas, 100 in North Louisiana, 73 at Marshall, Texas, and several others*
H A11 of de big planters wuz friendly to Cullen Baker* I have carried supplies
many times frum de big plantations - Hervey, Class, and others - to Cullen Baker*
De Colonel always carried a big double-barrel shotgun* It must have been de biggest
shotgun in de world, not less den a number eight size* He whipped 16 soldiers at
Old Boston wid dis gun one time* 11
"I saw Colonel Baker killed* We had just arrived at his father-in-law f s
house and I wuz in the horse lot, about 50 yards from de house, when Joe Davis,
Thomas Orr and some more men rode up*