was
here when the War started and followed my young master into it with the
First Texas Cavalry. I was here during reconstruction, after the War. I
was here during the European World War and the second week after the
United States declared war on Germany I enlisted as cook at Camp Leon
Springs.

"This sounds as if I liked the war racket. But, as a matter of fact, I
never wore a uniform--grey coat or khaki coat--or carried a gun, unless
it happened to be one worth saving after some Confederate soldier got
shot. I was official lugger-in of men that got wounded, and might have
been called a Red Cross worker if we had had such a corps connected with
our company. My father was head cook for the battalion and between times
I helped him out with the mess. There was some difference in the food
served to soldiers in 1861 and 1917!

"Just what my feelings was about the War, I have never been able to
figure out myself. I knew the Yanks were going to win, from the
beginning. I wanted them to win and lick us Southerners, but I hoped
they was going to do it without wiping out our company. I'll come back
to that in a minute. As I said, our company was the First Texas Cavalry.
Col. Buchell was our commander. He was a full-blooded German and as fine
a man and a soldier as you ever saw. He was killed at the Battle of
Marshall and died in my arms. You may also be interested to know that my
old master, Alvy Fitzpatrick, was the grandfather of Governor Jim
Ferguson.

"Lots of old slaves closes the door before they tell the truth about
their days of slavery. When the door is open, they tell how kind their
masters was and how rosy it all was. You can't blame them for this,
because they had plenty of early discipline, making them cautious about
saying anything uncomplimentary about their masters. I, myself, was in a
little different position than most slaves and, as a consequence, have
no grudges or resentment. However, I can tell you the life of the
average slave was not rosy. They were dealt out plenty of cruel
suffering.

"Even with my good treatment, I spent most of my time planning and
thinking of running away. I could have done it easy, but my old father
used to say, 'No use running from bad to worse, hunting better.' Lots of
colored boys did escape and joined the Union army, and there are plenty
of them drawing a pension today. My father was always counseling me. He
said, 'Every man has to serve God under his own vine and fig tree.