"'High Buck, Low Do' was one o' the games us boys usta play.
"My gran'fathuh was mos'ly Indian an he usta go out into the woods an' stay for days at a time. Ole Mastuh always called him Ole Yaller Abe—But one time he ran away—crossed the rivuh ovah heah an' went up tuh Canada. He usta write tuh Ole Mastuh an' he'd read the lettuhs tuh us. Mah fathuh was the shoe-maker, made all the shoes—for the white folks an' us too. We bought the leathuh from the tanyawd at the edge o town an We'd sell them tan-bark. Mah Mothuh was one o' the weavers. The loom an spinnin wheels was in a separate house—Ah usta watch the big warpin' bar go 'roun' an' wish ah could ride on ut but ah nevuh did.
"We had church foh the cullud folks an' lotsa white folks ud a'ways come an' lissen to the preachin'.
"We raised lotsa cattle an' horses, an mules—an in them days wheat was nevah less 'en $2.00 a bushel.
"The niggah buyahs usta come roun' ouah place but ah don' recollect any of ouah niggahs bein sold. They'd have slave sales ovah at Benton. One time young Mastuh bought home a thirteen yeah ole boy he paid a thousan' dollahs an' fifty cents for—We didden have no school fo' the cullud folks but young Mastuh William went to school an' in the evenin's he'd teach some o' us. In 'at way ah got as far as the fo'th grade.
"When the wah came on', 'cose we heared lots about it an sometime we'd see sojers. One time Gen'ral Grant come thru Commerce with about 40,000 men. They come down the rivuh in boats, an' camped here. The sojers 'ud come foragin' round ouah place but they nevah bothered much. They'd grind they swords on ouah grindstones an' show us how sharp they was by cuttin' the cahn stalks.
"One night in sixty-three, me an four othuhs ran away and went to the Cape an' joined the ahmy. Ah was in Co. H. 56th U.S. Cullud, unduh Col. Bentzoni.[2] We was in the Battle of Big Creek, Arkansas an in several skirmishes. Ah learned tuh play in the band, played second B-flat cahnet. We suah learned our do, re's.
| [2] | HW: Probably 56th Ohio Infantry (?) [TR: 56th U.S. Colored Infantry, Helena, Arkansas] |
"Ouah Captain, Ole George Free, was a preacher an he'd have prayun meetin's in his tent. All the ole women from aroun' would come—an' we'd have big times on Sunday mahnin's. One time one o' the boys, Ed Johnson, got drunk an' the provost guahd put 'm in jail. Nex' mahnin, Capin Free go down theah to git him an' he raise so much racket Ol Cunnel say 'Turn im loose, Ole Cap'm go crazy 'bout his niggers.'
"We was stationed down in Helena, Arkansas, aftuh the fightin was ovah an' the officers sent up no'th fo' some teachers, to have school fo' us. They call it the Norman Institute an we each paid fifty cents a month to go. The teachers was Quakers an they never laughed or smiled. They a'ways seemed tuh be thinkin—seemed tuh think it was a sin to have fun. 'Ah kin still heah em—how they usta say, 'Thou shall get thy lessons ovah.' We was mustered out in St. Louis in 1866.