dat wine.'

Us could shout dat one.

"I was a grown-up man wid a wife an' two chillun when de War broke out.
You see, I stayed wid de folks til 'long cum de Yanks. Dey took me off
an' put me in de War. Firs', dey shipped me on a gunboat an', nex', dey
made me he'p dig a canal at Vicksburg. I was on de gunboat when it
shelled de town. It was turrible, seein' folks a-tryin' to blow each
other up. Whilst us was bull-doggin' Vicksburg in front, a Yankee army
slipped in behin' de Rebels an' penned 'em up. I fit[FN: fought] at Fort
Pillow an' Harrisburg an' Pleasant Hill an' 'fore I was ha'f through wid
it I was in Ba'timore an' Virginny.

"I was on han' when Gin'l Lee handed his sword to Gin'l Grant. You see,
Miss, dey had him all hemmed in an' he jus' natchelly had to give up. I
seen him stick his sword up in de groun'.

"Law! It sho' was turrible times. Dese old eyes o' mine seen more people
crippled an' dead. I'se even seen 'em saw off legs wid hacksaws. I tell
you it aint right, Miss, what I seen. It aint right atall.

"Den I was put to buryin' Yankee sojers. When nobody was lookin' I
stript de dead of dey money. Sometimes dey had it in a belt a-roun' dey
bodies. Soon I got a big roll o' foldin' money. Den I come a-trampin'
back home. My folks didn' have no money but dat wuthless kin'. It was
all dey knowed 'bout. When I grabbed some if it an' throwed it in de
blazin' fiah, dey thought I was crazy, 'til I tol' 'em, 'dat aint money;
it's no 'count!' Den I give my daddy a greenback an' tol' him what it
was.

"Aftah de War was over de slaves was worse off dan when dey had
marsters. Some of 'em was put in stockades at Angola, Loosanna[FN:
Louisiana], an' some in de turrible corral at Natchez. Dey warnt used to
de stuff de Yankees fed 'em. Dey fed' em wasp-nes' bread, 'stead o'
corn-pone an' hoe cake, an' all such lak. Dey caught diseases an' died
by de hund'eds, jus' lak flies. Dey had been fooled into thinkin' it
would be good times, but it was de wors' times dey ever seen. Twant no
place for 'em to go; no bed to sleep on; an' no roof over dey heads. Dem
what could git back home set out wid dey min's made up to stay on de
lan'. Mos' of dey mistis' took 'em back so dey wuked de lan' ag'in. I
means dem what lived to git back to dey folks was more'n glad to wuk!
Dey done had a sad lesson. Some of 'em was worse'n slaves after de War.

"Dem Ku Kluxes was de debbil. De Niggers sho' was scared of 'em, but dey
was more afte