by the name of Peter Taylor. His orders was law, if you wanted to please
Mistress and Master, obey old Peter.

"The farm was very large, the slaves worked from sunup to sundown, no
one was harshly treated or punished. They were punished only when proven
guilty of crime charged.

"Our master never sold any slaves. We had a six-room house, where the
slaves entertained and had them good times at nights and on holidays. We
had no jail on the plantation. We were not taught to read or write, we
were never told our age.

"We went to the white church on Sunday, up in the slave gallery where
the slaves worshipped sometimes. The gallery was overcrowded with ours
and slaves from other plantations. My mistress told me that there was
once an old colored man who attended, taking his seat up in the gallery
directly over the pulpit, he had the habit of saying Amen. A member of
the church said to him, 'John, if you don't stop hollowing Amen you
can't come to church'; he got so full of the Holy Ghost he yelled out
Amen upon a venture, the congregation was so tickled with him and at his
antics that they told him to come when and as often as he wanted.

"During my slave days only one slave ran away, he was my uncle, when the
Yankees came to Virginia, he ran away with them. He was later captured
by the sheriff and taken to the county jail. The Doctor went to the
court house, after which we never heard nor saw my uncle afterwards.

"I have seen and heard white-cappers, they whipped several colored men
of other plantations, just prior to the soldiers drilling to go to war.