sat on the porch and they were
so humble no Yankee bothered anything in the great house. The slaves
were awfully excited. The Yankees stayed there, cooked, eat, drank and
played music until about night, then a bugle began to blow and you never
saw such getting on horses and lining up in your life. In a few minutes
they began to march, leaving the grove which was soon as silent as a
grave yard. They took marster's horses and cattle with them and joined
the main army and camped just across Cypress Creek one and one half
miles from my marster's place on the Louisburg Road.

When they left the country, lot of the slaves went with them and soon
there were none of marster's slaves left. They wandered around for a
year from place to place, fed and working most of the time at some
other slave owner's plantation and getting more homesick every day.

The second year after the surrender our marster and missus got on their
carriage and went and looked up all the Negroes they heard of who ever
belonged to them. Some who went off with the Yankees were never heard of
again. When marster and missus found any of theirs they would say,
'Well, come on back home.' My father and mother, two uncles and their
families moved back. Also Lorenza Brodie, and John Brodie and their
families moved back. Several of the young men and women who once
belonged to him came back. Some were so glad to get back they cried,
'cause fare had been mighty bad part of the time they were rambling
around and they were hungry. When they got back marster would say, 'Well
you have come back home have you, and the Negroes would say, 'Yes
marster.' Most all spoke of them as missus and marster as they did
before the surrender, and getting back home was the greatest pleasure of
all.

We stayed with marster and missus and went to their church, the Maple
Springs Baptist church, until they died.

Since the surrender I married James Anderson. I had four children, one
boy and three girls.

I think slavery was a mighty good thing for mother, father, me and the
other members of the family, and I cannot say anything but good for my
old marster and missus, but I can only speak for those whose conditions
I have known during slavery and since. For myself and them, I will say
again, slavery was a mighty good thing.

N. C. District: No. 2 [320280]
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 789
Subject: Cornelia Andrews
Story Teller: Cornel