"I have seen thousands and thousands of soldiers. Sometimes it would
take a whole day for them to pass through. When Sherman's army marched
through Atlanta, it took more than a day. I was in Atlanta then. He sent
word ahead that he was coming through and for all people that weren't
soldiers to get out of the town. I saw the Rebels, too; I saw them when
they stacked their arms. Looked like there was a hundred or more rifles
in each stack. They just come up and pitched them down. They had to
stack their arms and turn them over.
"I was taken to Georgia when I was four years old, you know. I recollect
when all the people came up to swear allegiance, and when they were
hurrying out to get away from Sherman's army. They fit in Atlanta and
then marched on toward Savannah. Then they crossed over into South
Carolina. They went on through Columbia and just tore it up. Then they
worked their way on back into Georgia. They didn't fight in Augusta
though.
"Jeff Davis was captured not far from my father's place[7]. Jeff Davis
had a big army, but the biggest thing he had was about a thousand wagons
or more piled up with silver and other things belonging to the
Confederacy. He was supposed to be taking care of that. He had to turn
it over to the North."
'Shin Plasters'
"They had a kind of money right after the Civil War--paper money gotten
out by the United States Government and supposed to be good. The
Confederate money was no good but this money--these 'shin plasters' as
they were called--was good money issued by the government. They did away
with it and called it all in. You could get more for it now than it is
worth. The old green back took its place but the 'shin plaster' was in
all sizes. It wasn't just a dollar bill. It was in pinnies, five cents,
ten cents, twenty-five cents, and then they skipped on up to fifty
cents, and they didn't have nothin' more till you got to a dollar."