Most of the ex-slaves interviewed were too young to have taken any part
in war activities, though many of them remembered that the best slaves
were picked and sent from each plantation to help build breastworks for
the defense of Waynesboro. On some places the Yankees were encamped and
on others the southern soldiers were entertained.
"De Yankees come through de plantation on Sunday," said Hannah Murphy, a
former slave on a Georgia plantation. "I'll never forgit dat! Dey wus
singin' Dixie, 'I wisht I wus in Dixie, look away!' Dey wus all dress in
blue. Dey sot de gin house afire, and den dey went in de lot and got all
de mules and de horses and ca'y 'em wid 'em. Dey didn't bother de smoke
house where de food wuz, and dey didn't tek no hogs. But dey did go to
de long dairy and thowed out all de milk and cream and butter and stuff.
Dey didn' bother us none. Some o' de cullard folks went wid de Yankees.
De white folks had yeared dey wuz comin' and dey had lef'--after de
Yankees all gone away, de white folks come back. De cullud folks stayed
dere a while, but de owners of de place declaimed dey wuz free, and sont
de people off. I know dat my mother and father and a lot o' people come
heah to Augusta."
Old Tim, from a plantation in Virginia, remembers when Lee was fighting
near Danville, and how frightened the negroes were at the sound of the
cannon. "They cay'd the wounded by the 'bacco factory," he said, "on de
way to de horspittle."
The northern troops came to the William Morris plantation in Burke
County. Eliza Morris, a slave, who was her master's, "right hand bough"
was entrusted with burying the family silver. "There was a battle over
by Waynesboro," Eliza's daughter explained to us. "I hear my mother
speak many times about how the Yankees come to our place." It seems that
some of the other slaves were jealous of Eliza because of her being so
favored by her master. "Some of the niggers told the soldiers that my
mother had hidden the silver, but she wouldn' tell the hidin' place. The
others were always jealous of my mother, and now they tried to made the
Yankees shoot her because she wouldn' tell where the silver was hidden.
My mother was a good cook and she fixed food for the Yankees camped on
the place, and this softened the soldiers' hearts. They burned both the
plantation houses, but they give my mother a horse and plenty of food to
last for some time after they left."
"What did your mother do after the war?" we asked.
"She spent the rest of her life cookin' for her young Mistis, Mrs. Dr.
Madden in Jacksonville. She was Cap'n Bill's daughter. That was her home
till shortly after the World War when she died."
"Did your Master live through the war?"
"Yas'm. He come home. Some of the old slaves had stayed on at the
plantation; others followed the Yankees off. Long time afterward some of
'em drifted back--half starved and in bad shape."
"'Let'em come home'", Marster said. "And them that he couldn' hire he
give patches of land to farm."
"'Member de war? Course I do!" said Easter Jones, "My Marster went to
Savannah, and dey put him in prison somewhere. He died atter he come
back, it done him so bad. I 'member my brudder was born dat Sunday when
Lee surrender. Dey name him Richmond. But I was sick de day dey came and
'nounced freedom."
Augustus Burden, a former slave on General Walker's plantation at
Windsor Springs, Ga., served as valet for his master, said, "Master was
killed at Chickamauga. When the war ceased they brought us home--our old
master's home. My old Mistis was living and we came back to the old
lady."
When the Yankees came through Georgia the Walkers and Schleys asked for
protection from gunfire. Because of school associations with Northern
officers nothing on the plantation was disturbed.
"Mrs. Jefferson Davis came there to visit the Schleys," said Augustus,
and his face lit up with enthusiasm, "She was a mighty pretty woman--a
big lady, very beautiful. She seemed to be real merry amongst the white
folks, and Miss Winnie was a pretty little baby. She was talking then."
Louis Jones was seven years old when he was freed. He said, "I kin
'member de Yankees comin'. I wasn't skeered. I wanted to see 'em. I hung
on de fence corners, and nearabouts some sich place. After freedom my Ma
didn't go 'way. She stayed on de plantation till she could make more
money cookin' some udder place. I don't think dey did anything to de
plantation whar I wus. I yeared dey cay'd out de silver and mebbe hid it
in places whar de Yankees couldn't find it."
When Ellen Campbell of the Eve plantation in Richmond County, was asked
if she remembered anything about the Yankees coming through this part of
the country, she replied:
"Yas'm, I seen 'em comin' down de street. Every one had er canteen on de
side, a blanket on de shoulder, caps cocked on one side de haid. De
Cavalry had boots on, and spurros on de boots. First dey sot de niggers
free on Dead River, den dey come on here and sot us free. Dey march
straight up Broad Street to de Planters Hotel, den dey camped on de
river. Dey stayed here six months till dey sot dis place free. When dey
campin' on de river bank we go down dere and wash dey clo'se fer a good
price. Day had hard tack to eat. Dey gib us hard tack and tell us to
soak it in water, and fry it in meat gravy. I ain't taste nothin' so
good since. Dey say, 'Dis hard tack whut we hadder lib on while we
fightin' to sot you free.'"