em
runned off and stayed in the swamps, and they was mean. They called them
runaways. If they saw you, they would tell you to bring them something
to eat. And if you didn't do it, if they ever got you they sure would
fix you.

"I don't know when my mother was set free. My husband's marster's name
was King. He was from Savannah, Georgia, but at the time was living
close to Boerne. My husband's father was killed in the war. When my
husband was about ten years old, his marster hadn't told them they was
free. You know some of them didn't tell the slaves they was free until
they had to. After freedom was declared, lots of people didn't tell the
slaves they were free. One morning, my husband said, he happended to
look out and he saw a big bunch of men coming down the road, and he
thought he never saw such pretty men in his life on them horses. They
had so many brass buttons on their clothes it looked like gold. So he
run and told his mama, and she looked and saw it was soldiers, and some
of 'em told the boss, and he looked and saw them soldiers comin' in the
big gate and he called 'em in quick, and told them they were free. So
when the soldiers come, they asked him if he had told his slaves they
were free, and he said yes. They asked the Negroes if they lived there,
and they said yes. One said, 'He just told us we was free.' The soldiers
asked him why he had just told them, and he said they wasn't all there
and he was waiting for them all to be there.

"My husband said he thought them was the prettiest bunch of men he ever
saw, and the prettiest horses. Of course, he hadn't never saw any
soldiers before. I know it looked pretty to me when I used to see the
soldiers at the barracks and hear the band playin' and see them drillin'
and ever'thing. You see, we lived on a little cross-street right back of
St. Mary's Church in San Antonio, I don't know how that place is now.
Where the post office is now, there used to be a blacksmith shop and my
father worked there. I went back to San Antonio about fifteen years ago
and jes' took it afoot and looked at the changes.

"I was fifteen years old the first time I married. It was almost a
run-a-way marriage. I was married in San Antonio. My first husband's
name was Henry Hall. My first wedding dress was as wide as a wagon
sheet. It was white lawn, full of tucks, and had a big ruffle at the
bottom. I had a wreath and a veil, too. The veil had lace all around it.
We danced and had a suppe