How Freedom Came

"The Yankees were coming through the place. A great crowd of soldiers.
The day the corps of Yankees were to go out, they all went up to the
pike and it looked like a dark cloud. There were great big wagons loaded
down with everything to eat. They took all the meat, all the whiskey,
all the flour. That they didn't take, they give to the slaves or poured
on the ground. They took the corn out of the crib.

"The next day, old master called us up to the stand around him. He told
us we were all free and that if we would stay with him, he would pay us.


Whipping

"My old master never whipped me but once and never hit me much then. I
said, 'Master, if you don't hit me no more, I'll tell you who's been
stealing all your eggs.' He said, 'Will, you tell me, sure 'nough.' I
said, 'Yes.' But I never done it.


Patrollers

"I heard about the pateroles catching the colored folks. They would
catch them on the road as they were going places and whip them. The
pateroles was white folks that was supposed to catch colored folks when
they were out without a pass. Sometimes the colored folks would stretch
ropes across the road and trip them up. You would hear them laughing
about it when they got amongst themselves the next day.