No, my mother’s mother was taken from her and sold when she was a baby.  So I never seed my grandmother and I don’t know any more about my grandfather than a goose about a band box.

29.  Do you remember the money called “shin-plasters?”

I’ve seen plenty.  I guess my master had barrels of them.

30.  What interesting historical events happened during your youth,—­such as Sherman’s Army passing through your section?  Did you witness the happenings and what was the reaction of the other Negroes to them?

Sherman’s army went through Perry but they did not do any damage there.  They expected them to come and buried lots of food and valuable things, and when they came they took them to the smoke houses and told them to help themselves.  They did not burn any houses there.

31.  Did you know any Negros who enlisted or joined the northern army?

Yes, plenty went with their boss, but ran off to Sherman’s army when he came along.  One woman’s husband I knowed, Mr. Bethel, he stayed with his master and didn’t run off with the Northern army.  When he was given his freedom, his master give him nice house.

32.  Did you know any Negroes who enlisted in the Southern Army?

About all I knew.

33.  Did your master join the Confederacy?  What do you remember of his return from the war?  Or was he wounded or killed?

His two sons joined the army.  James was killed, but Bud, he would never get through telling war stories when he came back.

34.  Did you live in Savannah when Sherman and the Northern forces marked through the state, and do you remember the excitement in your town or around the plantation where you lived?

No.

35.  Did your master’s house get robbed or burned during the time of Sherman’s march?

No.

36.  What kind of uniforms did they wear during the civil war?

Blue and gray.

37.  What sort of medicine was used in the days just after the war?  Describe a Negro doctor of that period.

We never got sick.  Sometimes they would give us oil with a drop or two of turpentine in a big spoonful.  They put turpentine on cuts and sores.

38.  What do you remember about Northern people or outside people moving into a community after the war?

Yes, Jake Enos, he was a colored teacher.  He was sent down to teach the colored school.  He taught around from Atlanta to Florida.  He took yellow fever and died My brother, he teached school, but I never went to school.  I larned my ABC’s from my massy’s children.  I aint never forgot ’em.  I could say ’em now.

39.  How did your family’s life compare after Emancipation with it before?

I had it the same.  I had it good with my massy, but the rest wuz paid some little wages.  Our plantation was called a free place.  Some of the slaves worked so well and made money for the massy and gained their freedom even befo’ ’mancipashun.  I heard one come to him and say I howe dat man $10 an’ he retched down in his pocket an’ paid hit.