say, 'well boys, come on boys,' an' the boys come out. The man say, 'I'm
Union Soldier. What yoh all doin' heah?' I say, 'We goin' to 'nlist in
de ahmy.' He say, 'Dat's fine' and he say, 'come 'long' He say, 'git
right on white man's side'--we go to station. Den he say, 'You go right
down to de station and give yoh inforhmation. We keep on walkin'. Den we
come to a white house wit stone steps in front so we go in. An' we got
to 'nlistin' place and jine up wit de ahmy.

"Den we go trainin' in d' camp and we move on. Come to a little town ...
a little town. We come to Bolling Green ... den to Louiville. We come to
a rivah ... a rivah (painfully recalling) d' Mississippi.

"We weah 'nfantry and petty soon we gits in plenty fights, but not a
scratch hit me. We chase dem cavalry. We run dem all night and next
mohnin' d' Captain he say, 'Dey done broke down.' When we rest, he say
'See dey don' trick you.' I say, 'We got all d' ahmy men togedder. We
hold dem back 'til help come.'

"We don' have no tents. Sleep on naked groun' in wet and cold and rain.
Mos' d' time we's hungry but we win d' war and Mahstah Eubanks tell us
we no moah hisn property, we's free now."

The old man can talk only in short sentences and his voice dies to a
whisper and soon the strain became evident. He was tired. What he does
remember is with surprising clearness especially small details, but with
a helpless gesture, he dismisses names and locations. He remembers the
exact date of his discharge, March 20, 1866, which his daughter verified
by producing his discharge papers. He remembers the place, Vicksburg,
the Company--K, and the Regiment, 180th. Dropping back once more to his
childhood he spoke of an incident which his daughter says makes them all