“The name of the plantation where I was held as a slave was called Beatrice Manor, after the wife of Haynes.  It contained 8000 acres, of which more than 6000 acres were under cultivation, and having about 350 colored slaves and 5 or 6 overseers all of whom were white.  The overseers were the overlords of the manor; as Haynes dealt extensively in tobacco and trading in slaves, he was away from the plantation nearly all the time.  There was located on the top of the large tobacco warehouse a large bell, which was rung at sun up, twelve o’clock and at sundown, the year round.  On the farm the slaves were assigned a task to do each day and In the event it was not finished they were severely whipped.  While I never saw a slave whipped, I did see them afterwards, they were very badly marked and striped by the overseers who did the whipping.

“I have been back to the farm on several occasions, the first time in 1872 when I took my father there to show him the farm.  At that time it was owned by Colonel Hawkins, a Confederate Army officer.

“Let me describe the huts, these buildings were built of stone, each one about 20 feet wide, 50 feet long, 9 feet high in the rear, about 12 feet high In front, with a slanting roof of chestnut boards and with a sliding door, two windows between each door back and front about 2x4 feet, at each end a door and window similar to those on the side.  There were ten such buildings, to each building there was another building 12x15 feet, this was where the cooking was done.  At each end of each building there was a fire place built and used for heating purposes.  In front of each building there were barrels filled with water supplied by pipes from a large spring, situated about 300 yards on the side of a hill which was very rocky, where the stones were quarried to build the buildings on the farm.  On the outside near each window and door there were iron rings firmly attached to the walls, through which an iron rod was inserted and locked each end every night, making it impossible for those inside to escape.

“There was one building used as a jail, built of stone about 20x40 feet with a hip roof about 25 feet high, 2-story.  On the ground in each end was a fire place; in one end a small room, which was used as office; adjoining, there was another room where the whipping was done.  To reach the second story there was built on the outside, steps leading to a door, through which the female prisoners were taken to the room.  All of the buildings had dirt floors.

“I do not know much about the Negroes on the plantation who were there at that time.  Slaves were brought and taken away always chained together, men walking and women in ox carts.  I had heard of several escapes and many were captured.  One of the overseers had a pack of 6 or 8 trained blood hounds which were used to trace escaping slaves.

“Before I close let me give you a sketch of my family tree.  My grandmother was a Haitian Negress, grandfather a Frenchman.  My father was a Creole.