"When we fust came here dis place, as well as de rest ob de Valley, wuz
just a big canebrake--nothin' lived in dere but bears, wolves, and
varmints. Why de Mahster would habe to round up de livestock each
afternoon, put dem in pens, and den put out guards all night to keep de
wolves and bears frum gettin' em. De folks didn't go gallivatin' round
nights like dey do now or de varmints would get them. But den we didn't
stay here but a few months until de Mahster's A.W.O.L. wuz up, so we had
to go back and jine de army. We fought in Mississippi Alabama, Georgia,
and South Carolina."

"When de war ended de Mahster moved us to Miller County, but not on de
Adams farm. For de man whut used to own de farm said Uncle Sam hadn't
made any such money as wuz paid him for de farm, so he wanted his farm
back. Dat Confederate money wuzn't worth de paper it wuz printed on, so
de Mahster had to gib him back de farm. Poor Massa Ogburn--he didn't
live long after dat. He and his wife are buried side by side in Rondo
Cemetery."

"Not long after de negroes wuz freed, I took 86 ob dem to de votin'
place at Homan and voted 'em all straight Democratic. On my way back
home dat evenin' five negroes jumped frum de bushes and stopped me.
Dey 'splained dat I wuz too 'fluential wid de negroes and proceeded to
string me up by de neck. I hollers as loud as I could, and Roy Nash and
Hugh Burton, de election officers, just happen to be comin' down de road
and hear me yell. Dey ran off de niggers and cut me down, but by dat
time I had passed out. It wuz several weeks befo' I got well, and I can
still feel dat rope 'round my neck. Iffen dey had known how to tie a
hangmans knot I wouldn't be here to tell you about it."

"It wuzn't long after dis dat I jined Colonel' Baker's Gang for