"All the young folks, they had them in Tyler, Texas makin' bullets. My father had the care of about fifty youngsters makin' bullets.
"Old master had two plantations in Louisiana and three in Mississippi. He was a large slaveholder.
"When we got back to Louisiana from Texas, ever'thing was the same except where the levees had been cut and overflowed the land.
"Old master died before the War broke out and my mistress died in '67.
"My father died in Texas. That left my mother a widow. She spent about two weeks at the old home place in Louisiana. She pulled up then and went to Natchez to my father's people. She made two crops with my young master. His name was Otie Railey. Help her? Well, I was comin'. I had one brother and one sister.
"In '68 she worked with a colored man on the shares.
"I started to school in '67. A colored man come in there and established a private school. I went in '67, '68, and '69 and then I didn't go any more till '71 and '72. I got along pretty well in it. I know mine from the other fellows. I can write and any common business I can take care of.
"We had two or three men run off and joined the Yankees. One got drowned fore he got there and the other two come back after freedom.
"My mother worked for wages after freedom. She got three bales of cotton for her services and mine and she boarded herself.
"In '74 she rented. I still stayed with her. She lived with me all her life and died with me.