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