Dr. Adams exclaimed, “My God! Your last son!”
“Yes,” said Uncle Daniel with a tremulous voice, “this was the last of my dear family. So you see, gentlemen, as I first stated, my home is desolate. Why should I wish to buffet the world longer? This was the fulfillment of my good wife's dream—the seven fingers were now gone.
“Wintergreen escaped. The distress of Henry's wife, as well as my own grief, I will not undertake to describe. We conveyed his body to Allentown and there laid him to rest with his mother and brothers. Gen. Anderson, learning of our affliction, met us at our old home. Seraine and I remained with our little family at Allentown, I getting back my house. I broke down under this last sorrow, and was confined to the house for more than a year. Seraine cared for me as she would for her own father, and this child here, my dear Jennie, was with me and by my bedside nearly the whole time of my sickness. God bless her!”
“So say we all!” was the response from those present.
“Gen. Anderson visited me several times during my illness. His wife and little daughter came and spent a month with us, which added greatly to what happiness we could then enjoy.
“The men who had been in rebellion now began to show their feeling and take hold of the politics of the South. Gen. Anderson was very prominent as a lawyer and a leader in political affairs in Mississippi. The rebels now commenced to organize secret societies similar to those that were in the North during the war. Another Presidential canvass came on, and the then President was re-elected. Very soon political matters in that part of the country, in State affairs, became very exciting. Prominent men were threatened; colored men were whipped and driven away from meetings; raids were made upon their houses in the night-time and many were murdered—some white men sharing the same fate.
“Gen. Anderson used all of his influence to stay this tide of oppression and wrong. He was threatened with violence, but did not believe they would assault him. He was a brave man, and could not think of leaving his friends, but determined to stand by them. Quite a number of Northern men were driven from that part of the country, and their property destroyed. A perfect reign of terror prevailed.
“The General moved into another county, so as to be out of the excitement as much as possible. At a political meeting near the capital of the State, Gen. McKee, a Northern man, without any provocation whatever, was brutally assaulted and almost murdered for making a Republican speech. This character of conduct continued until one day in court, where some of these men were being tried for their outrages, the General denounced this course as brutal, and such as ought to make barbarians blush. A mob collected around the court-house and made threats of violence against him, denouncing him as a ——- Yank and not fit to live. They then and there notified him to leave the State within five days, and that if found there longer than this his life should pay the forfeit.
“He had determined not to leave, so he prepared himself and remained at home. At the end of the five days a mob collected about his house and demanded that he leave at once. They were boisterous and threatening. One of his neighbors was at his house and prepared to assist the General in defense of his home and family. His wife and little girl were so much alarmed that they screamed and cried for help. Finally the General, standing in his door, flatly refused to leave. A volley was fired at him, one shot taking effect in his right thigh. His little daughter ran to him and threw her arms about his neck, shrieking and begging for her papa. His neighbor fired from a window, wounding one of the mob.