houses were all small. A four or five room house was considered a
mansion. We made our own clothes, had spinning wheels and raised and
combed our own cotton, clipped the wool from our sheep's backs, combed
and spun it into cotton and wool clothes. We never knew what boughten
clothes were. I learned to make shoes when I was just a boy and I made
the shoes for the whole family. I used to chop wood and make rails and
do all kinds of farm work."

"I had a good master, most of the masters were good to their slaves.
When a slave got too old to work they would give him a small cabin on
the plantation and have the other slaves to wait on him. They would
furnish him with victuals, and clothes until he died."

"Slaves were never allowed to talk to white people other than their
masters or someone their master knew, as they were afraid the white man
might have the slave run away. The masters aimed to keep their slaves in
ignorance and the ignorant slaves were all in favor of the Rebel army,
only the more intelligent were in favor of the Union army."

"When the war started, my master sent me to work for the Confederate
army. I worked most of the time for three years off and on, hauling
canons, driving mules, hauling ammunition, and provisions. The Union
army pressed in on us and the Rebel army moved back. I was sent home.
When the Union army came close enough I ran away from home and joined
the Union army. There I drove six-mule team and worked at wagon work,
driving ammunition and all kinds of provisions until the war ended. Then
I returned home to my old master, who had stayed there with my mother.
My master owned about four hundred acres of good land, and had had ten
slaves. Most of the slaves stayed at home. My master hired me to work
for him. He gave my mother forty acres of land with a cabin on it and