[TR: The following paragraphs contain many crossouts replaced by
unreadable handwritten edits, and will be indicated by: 'deleted words'
replaced by ??.]

Freedom was discussed on the plantation [TR: ??] for many years before
the Civil War began. As contented as [TR: 'they' replaced by ??] were
[TR: 'there was something to look forward to when they thought of'
replaced by ??] being absolutely free. An ex-slave's description of the
real cause of the Civil War, deserves a place here. It seems that
Lincoln had sent several messages to Davis requesting that he free the
slaves. No favorable response was received. Lincoln had a conference
with Mr. Davis and to this meeting he carried a Bible and a gun. He
tried in vain to convince Davis that he was wrong according to the
Bible, so he finally threw the two upon the table and asked Davis to
take his choice. He chose the gun. Lincoln grasped the Bible and rushed
home. Thus Davis _began_ the war but Lincoln had God on his side and so
he _ended_ it.

One of Gov. Towns' sons went to the army and Phil was sent to care for
him while he was there; an aristocratic man never went to the war
without his valet. His [HW: Phil's] duty was to cook for him, keep his
clothes clean, and to bring the body home if he was killed. Poor
soldiers were either buried [HW: where they fell] or left lying on the
field for vultures to consume. Food was not so plentiful in the [TR:
'army' replaced by ??] and their diet of flapjacks and canned goods was
varied only by coffee and whiskey given when off duty. All cooking was
done between two battles or during the lull in a battle. John Towns was
soon sent back home as they [HW: the officers] felt he was too [TR:
'valuable a Southerner' crossed out] important to be killed in battle,
and his services were needed at home.