“Dem wuz days ob ’struction, ter be shure! but dey mought ha’ knowed dat war wuz a comin’, kase Daddy Charles see dem divisions in Virginia an’ tell de white people great ’struction ob war wuz a comin’, he tell dem dat hit gwine ter wrestle wif a foreign country, an’ den ’sides de divisions, de wild pigeons come an’ dey wuz so thick you couldn’t see de trees and de slaves kill ’em wif der hoe handles in de corn field.
“Yes, dat big Seminole war did come,” said Martha Jane triumphantly, “jest like dat ole saint o’ black man tole de people.
“I ain’t nebber seed no lonesomer place like dat Payne’s Prairie from dat day ter dis arter dey hab dat skirmishin’.
“I see de folks lyin’ on de grass an’ de tall grass blowin’ backards and forrerds, but dem sojers nebber move. Den de men come an’ carry ’em ter de hospital. I shrouded so many dat night dat I got hardened jest like a dog wifout a soul.
“Colonel Whisler, he wuz a Yankee man, he sayd, ‘Marthy Jane, you orter hab been a man, you is so nervy.’ Dat why I can’t eat hominy ter dis day, I make so many poultices endurin’ ob de war ter draw out de bullets; dey didn’t hab dem pizen balls o’ Satan like dey do in dese regenerate days since surrender.
“Arter dem scanlous time, Colonel Worth an’ Colonel Whisler ’cided dat dey mus’ go ter Fort Myers to see how dem scrummagers wuz goin’ on down dat way.
“De headquarter men ’low dey mighty nigh perish’d foh sumptin’ good ter eat an’ tell ole Mistis dey ’bliged ter hab me go ’long ter do de cookin’. Colonel Whisler wuz one ob dese kind o’ captains what want his coffee hot an’ all de victuals on de jump.
“Dem wuz high camp-meetin’ times all de way. In dem days de game wuz powerful plentiful, an’ dem victuals I cooked wuz a plum sight; deer, wild turkey an’ ducks wuz a flyin’ wherebber der wuz a pond o’ water. Um-um-m, didn’t I cook ’em de fine victuals.
“Colonel Worth ’cided dey couldn’t kill de Indians so he say he would jest campaign along an’ destroy all der crops an’ burn der houses; he ’lowed dat wuz better dan shootin’ dem; an’ oh Lordy, didn’t we eat de corn an’ watermelons dem Indians raise.
“We march an’ we stop, an’ we march an’ we stop, till hit wuz de Lord’s blessin’ dat we hab so many horses an’ wagons.