down in de swamp when I was tuk. I wouldn' of tol' him goodbye. I jes
wouldn' of lef' him. No sir, I couldn' have lef' my good boss. He tol'
me dem Yankees was comin' to take me off. I never wanted to see him
'cause I would have went back 'cause he pertected me an' loved me.

"Like dis week, I lef' de crowd. One day, Cap'in Bob McDaniel came by,
an' asked me if I wanted to mek fires an' wuk 'round de house. I said,
'I'd like to see de town whar you want me to go, an' den I come to West
Point. It wa'nt nothin' but cotton rows--lot of old shabby shanties,
with jes one brick sto', an' it b'longed to Ben Robertson, an' I
hope[FN: helped] build all de sto'es in West Point since den.

"I seed de KuKlux. We would be workin'. Dem people would be in de fiel',
an' must get home 'fo dark an' shet de door. Dey wo' three cornered
white hats with de eyes way up high. Dey skeered de breeches off'n me.
First ones I got tangled up wid was right down here by de cemetery. Dey
just wanted to scare you. Night riders was de same thing. I was one of
de fellers what broke 'em up.

"Old man Toleson was de head leader of de Negroes. Tryin' to get Negroes
to go 'gainst our white people. I spec' he was a two faced Yankee or
carpetbagger.

"We had clubs all 'round West Point. Cap'in Shattuck out about Palo Alto
said to us niggers one day, 'Stop your foolishness--go live among your
white folks an' behave. Have sense an' be good citizens.' His advice was
good an' we soon broke up our clubs.

"I ain't been to no school 'cept Sunday School since Surrender. A good
white man I worked with taught me 'nough to spell 'comprestibility' and