SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

IS*
J0478
v interviewer Mlas Irene Rofrerteon
Person interviewed Will inn Rogers
R»F,D., Brinkley, Arkansas
Age 70
,f I was born three years after the surrender* I was horn at J'ryers
Point, Mississippi* The reason I ain f t got the exact date when I was
born, my ma put it down in the Bible and the house burned up and every-
thing in it burned to ashes* No mam she got somebody what could write
real nice to write all the names and ages for her*
"When ma was a young woman, she said they put her on a block and
sold her. They auctioned her off at Richmond, Virginia* When they
sold her, her mother fainted or drapped dead, she never knowed ifaieh.
She wanted to go see her mother lying over there on the ground and the
man what bought her wouldn't let her. He just took her on* Drove her
off like cattle, I recken* The man what bought her was Kphram Hester.
That the last she ever knowed of any of her folks. She say he mated f em
like stock so she had one boy* He livin» down here at Helena now. He is
Mose Kent. He was born around Richmond, Virginia jes f lack dat she say*
"iShen it nearly 'bout time for freedom a whole army of Yankees
come by and seed Mose working* They told him if he come go wid them
they give him that spotted horse and pair red boots* He crawled up on
the horse an 1 was gone wid f em for a fact she said* She started right
after them, following him* She followed them night and day. She nearly
starved, jess begged *long the road all she could* I heard her say
how fast she have to walk to keep on trail of f em and how many nights*
73