“When I was fifteen years old, mother said, ’Peter, you are fifteen years old today; you was born March 1, 1852.’  She told me that two or three times and I kept up wid it.  I am glad I did; she died right after that.

“Ma and pa et dinner, well as could be.  Took cholera, was dead at twelve o’clock that night.  It was on Monday.  Ike and Jake took it.  They got over it.  I waited on the little things.  One of them said, ’Peter, I’m hungry.’  I broiled some meat, made a ash cake and put the meat in where I split the ash cake.  He et it and went to sleep.  He started mending.  Sister come and got the children and took them to Lake Providence.  I fell in the hands then of some cruel people.  They had a doctor named Dr. Coleman come to see ma and pa.  He said, ’Don’t eat no fruit, no vegetables.’  He said, ‘Eat meat and bread.’  I et green plums and peaches like a boy fifteen years old then would do.  I never did have cholera.  A boy fifteen years old didn’t know as much as boys do now that age.  The master died b’fore the cholera disease come on.  We had moved from the hill place to a place in the bottoms.  It was on the same place.  None of his family hod cholera but neighbors had it.  We buried ma and pa on the neighbor’s place.  We had kin folks on the Harris place.  While we was at the graveyard word come to dig two or three more graves.

“Master’s house was set on fire, the smokehouse emptied, the gin burned and the cotton.  The mules was drove out of the lot.  That turned me ag’in’ the Yankees.  We helped raise that meat they stole.  They left us to starve and fed their fat selves on what was our living.  I do not believe in parts of slavery.  That whooping was cruel, but I know that the white man helped the slave in ways.  The slaves was worked too hard.  Men was no better than they are now.

“My owner had two fine black horses name Night and Shade.  Clem was a white driver.  We lived close to Fiat where they had horse races.  He told Clem to get Night ready to win some money.  He told Clem not to let nobody have their hand on the horse.  Clem slept in the stable with the horse.  They had three horses on the track.  They made three rounds.  Night lost three times, but on Friday Night come in and won the money.  He made two or three thousand dollars and paid Clem.  I never heard how much.

Freedom

“Some men come to our house searching for arms.  We had a chest.  They threw things winding.  Said it was freedom.  We didn’t think much of such freedom.  Had to take it.  We didn’t have no arms in the house.  We never seen free times and didn’t know what to look for nohow.  We never felt times as good.  We moved to the bottoms and I lost my parents.