“They had what was called legal money—­I did have some of it but guess it was burned when I lost my house by fire a few years ago.

“Now, my master had three boys and two girls; his wife, Elizabeth, was about like the ordinary missus; Master Davis was good, but positive; he didn’t allow other whites to bother his slaves.

“When the war came, his two boys went first, finally Master Davis went; he and one son never returned.

“The Yankees killed cows, etc., as they went along but did not destroy any property ’round where I was.

“We had preachers and doctors, but no schools; the white preachers told us to obey and would read the Bible (which we could not understand) and told us not to steal eggs.  Most of the doctors used herbs from the woods and “Aunt Jane” and “Uncle Bob” were known for using “Samson’s Snake Root,” “Devil’s shoe-string” for stomach troubles and “low-bud Myrtle” for fevers; that’s good now, chile, if you can get it.

“The ‘nigger’ didn’t have a chance to git in politics during slavery, but after Emancipation, he went immediately into the Republican Party; a few into the Democratic Party; there were many other parties, too.

“The religions were Methodist and Baptist; my master was Baptist and that’s what I am; we could attend church but dare not try to get any education, less we punished with straps.

“There are many things I remember just like it was yesterday—­the general punishment was with straps—­some of the slaves suffered terribly on the plantations; if the master was poor and had few slaves he was mean—­the more wealthy or more slaves he had, the better he was.  In some cases it was the general law that made some of the masters as they were; as, the law required them to have an overseer or foreman (he was called “boss man”) by the ‘niggers’ and usually came from the lower or poorer classes of whites; he didn’t like ‘niggers’ usually, and took authority to do as he pleased with them at times.  Some plantations preferred and did have ‘nigger riders’ that were next to the overseer or foreman, but they were liked better than the foreman and in many instances were treated like foremen but the law would not let them be called “foremen.”  Some of the masters stood between the ‘nigger riders’ and foremen and some cases, the ‘nigger’ was really boss.

“The punishments, as I said were cruel—­some masters would hang the slaves up by both thumbs so that their toes just touched the floor, women and men, alike.  Many slaves ran away; others were forced by their treatment to do all kinds of mean things.  Some slaves would dig deep holes along the route of the “Patrollers” and their horses would fall in sometimes breaking the leg of the horse, arm or leg of the rider; some slaves took advantage of the protection their masters would give them with the overseer or other plantation owners, would do their devilment and “fly” to their masters who did not allow a man from another