heap wood-cut pictures of this early
champion of their liberty. In some way they had learned also to
sing songs of John Brown, and other songs of liberty. When the
trains proceeded towards the Potomac freighted with these people
they commingled songs of freedom and the religious hymns peculiar
to their race with the universal but more cheerful music of the
fiddle and banjo.

They were light-hearted and free from care, though abandoning all
of home they had ever known, and going whither, for home and
protection, they knew not,--all was compensated for with them, if
only they were forever free. The prompt emancipation of slaves
was exceptional in the Shenandoah Valley, especially at Winchester.
Most of these freed people soon found homes and employment, some
of the younger men with the army, later as soldiers, and others on
farms, or as house servants North, where the war had called away
the able-bodied men. It was not until after the war that the great
trials of the freedmen came.

It must not be assumed that the slave owners in the Valley were,
in war times at least, cruel to their slaves; on the contrary,
kindness and indulgence were the rule. This was probably true in
ante-war days, save when members of families were sold and separated
to be transported to distant parts. I recall no word of censure
to the blacks for accepting freedom. Pity was in some cases
expressed. Tokens of remembrance were offered and accepted with
emotion. Those who had been house or personal servants often
evinced feelings of compassion for the pitiable and helpless
condition of those whom they had so long served. It must be
remembered that, regardless of estates once owned, the war had
impoverished the people of this Valley, and but few of them could,
even with money, secure enough food, clothing, and help to enable
them to live in anything approaching comfort. And the future then
had no promise of relief.

The plight of some of the affluent people might well excite sympathy.
I remember an excellent Winchester family of four ladies, a mother
and three grown daughters, who were educated and accomplished,
unused to work, and thus far wholly dependent on their slaves.
White or black servants could not, after the Proclamation, be
procured for money. These ladies therefore held a consultation to
determine what could be done. The mother would not attempt to do
what she deemed menial service. The daughters at length decided
to wor