Ed Cotton. He was sold three times. He had one scar on his shoulder. The
patrollers hit him as he went over the fence down at Indian Bay. He was
a Guinea man. He was heavy set, not very tall. Generally he carried the
lead row in the field. He was a good worker. They had to be quiet wid
him to get him to work. He would run to the woods. He was a fast runner.
He lived to be about a hundred years old. I took keer of him the last
five years of his life. Mother was seventy-one years old when she died.
She was the mother of twenty-one children.

"Sure, I do remember freedom. After the Civil War ended, Ed Cotton
walked out and told papa: 'Rob, you are free.' We worked on till 1866
and we moved to Joe Lambert's place. He had a brother named Tom Lambert.
Father never got no land at freedom. He got to own 160 acres, a house on
it, and some stock. We all worked and helped him to make it. He was a
hard worker and a fast hand.

"I farmed all my life till fifteen years ago I started trucking here in
Helena. I gets six dollars assistance from the Sociable Welfare and some
little helpouts as I calls it--rice and potatoes and apples. I got one
boy fifty-five years old if he be living. I haven't seen him since 1916.
He left and went to Chicago. I got a girl in St. Louis. I got a girl
here in Helena. I jus' been up to see her. I had nine children. I been
married twice. I lived with my first wife thirteen years and seven
months. She died. I lived with my second wife forty years and some
over--several weeks. She died.

"I was a small boy when the Civil War broke out. Once I got a awful
scare. I was perched up on a post. The Yankees come up back of the house
and to my back. I seen them. I yelled out, 'Yonder come Yankees.' They
come on cussing me. Aunt Ruthie got me under my arms and took me to Miss