med Jacob Wise and his mother was named Martha. I don't remember the
names of their master. I don't remember the names of my mother's people.

War Memories

"I remember the year the War ended. I remember when the Yankees came on
the place that day the War ended. We children was all settin' out in the
yard. Some of them ran under the house when they saw the soldiers. They
were shooting the chickens and everything, taking the horses, and
anything else they thought they could use. They said to the old lady,
'Lemme kill them little niggers.' Old miss said, 'No, wait till you set
them free.' He said, 'No, when we set them free, we ain't goin' to kill
them.' They got around in the house, under the house, and in the yard.
They asked the old lady, 'Where is the horses?' She said, 'I don't
know.' They said, 'Go down in the woods and get them.' Somebody went
down and brought back a mare and a mule and a colt. They knocked the
colt in the head and shot him. They took the mare and the mule. They
took all the meat out of the smokehouse. They didn't set us free, and
they didn't tell us anything about freedom. Not then.

How Freedom Came

"I don't remember how we got the news of freedom. I don't remember what
the slaves expected to get. I don't know what they got, if they got
anything. I don't remember nothin' about that.

Schooling

"I went to school about eight days. That's all the schooling I ever got.
I had a brother and sister who went to school, but I never went much. I
went to school what little I did right here in Lonoke County, Arkansas.
My teacher was Tom Fuller. He was a colored man. He came from down in
Texas. I learned everything I know by watching people and listenin' to
them.

Occupational Experiences

"The first thing I ever did was farming. I farmed all up till 1879. I
worked on steamboat till 1881, and then I went out railroading. I worked
at that a long time. I married in 1883. I was about twenty-seven years
old then, and a few months over.

"While I was farming, I did some sharecropping, but I never got cheated
out of anything.

Ku Klux

"I remember the folks had been off to see their people and the Ku Klux
taken the stock while they were gone. I don't remember the Ku Klux Klan
interfering with the Negroes much. I never saw them.

Voting

"I never voted till Cleveland began his campaign for President. I voted
for eight presidents. Nobody ever bothered me about it.

Family

"There