*Interview with Wylie Miller,*
*Cape Girardeau Co., Missouri.*
"I'se gonna be 83 cum nex' Nobember. Mah mammy's name wuz Easter. We
belong to Ole Massa Henry Miller so we goes by de name o' Miller. Mah
daddy's name wuz Israel an he belong to a neighbor name Brown so he go
by de name o' Brown. Ole Missus name wuz 'Frohnie an dey had three boys
whut went off tuh war. Dey live in a two-story frame house--dat down
close to Bloomfiel'.
"De fust time we ever seed sojers, dey wuz a big crowd o' 'em cum up to
our place. When us chillern seed 'em we crawl unner de house--white and
black, all o' us. De Blue Coats look unner dere an' dey say, 'Come out
o' der, you, or we kill all o' you'. We's sure scared but we crawls out.
Dey didden hurt us none, but dey 'rests Ole Boss. Dey takes him up
stairs an' acks him things. I spects dey didden do him no harm but dey
keeps him locked up.
"Dey wuz a feller hangin' roun' dere named Bolen, Nas' Bolen--he wuz a
bush-wacker and we seed dem Blue coats chase 'em across a ten acre fiel'
but dey didden catch 'em. Den dey take all de bes' meat in de smoke
house--we sho' did hate to stan' dere an' see 'em cut down all dem good
hams. An dey had de women folks inside a cookin' fo' 'em, an a bakin
bread. An' de sojers wuz all roun' de bahn an de gran'ries feedin our
cahn to dey hosses. When de sojers lef', my mammy an' a feller name Nash
Miller escape an' go off wid de sojers.
"Den one time de Seeseshes, under Marmaduke, come through dar on dey way
to Cape. De Blue Coats was camped at Round Pond an dar de Rebel sojers
run into 'em an' dar's whar they had de big battle. De Rebels nebber
bother us none nuther 'cept jes for gin.
"When de war was ober, Ole Massa call us all up to de fron' porch and
tell us now de war is ober an we is free, but it don' make much
diffrence. We stays dar jes de same for few year. Ole Massa wuz allus
good to his cullud folks, but fo' a spell he had a overseer. He wuz a
Denmarker an' his name wuz Martindale an' he wuz tuff.
"I 'members one night de Ku Kluxers came--dey wants a drink o' water.
One man say 'Gimme some water. I ain't had no drink sence de battle of
Shiloh.' I had to carry water for him 'bout ez fur as fum here to cross
de street and dat man drink five big buckets full an say he want mo'. My
young Massa Wes, he step up, an' tell um to leave here an he say 'Wylie,
don't you carry no mo water.' Dey don' wanta go--dey had on white gowns
button' up de front wid black buttons an' masks on dey faces.
"Young Wes, he had a pistol. He call it a Remington an' he jes es soon
shoot 'em as to say 'Hodey-do!' So he tell 'em again, 'Git out fum here,
I know you.' Den dey goes but dey say to me, 'Boy, we don' wanna ketch
you out at night'--an' didden."