"I'se gonna be 83 cum nex' Nobember. Mah mammy's name wuz Easter. We belong to Ole Massa Henry Miller so we goes by de name o' Miller. Mah daddy's name wuz Israel an he belong to a neighbor name Brown so he go by de name o' Brown. Ole Missus name wuz 'Frohnie an dey had three boys whut went off tuh war. Dey live in a two-story frame house—dat down close to Bloomfiel'.
"De fust time we ever seed sojers, dey wuz a big crowd o' 'em cum up to our place. When us chillern seed 'em we crawl unner de house—white and black, all o' us. De Blue Coats look unner dere an' dey say, 'Come out o' der, you, or we kill all o' you'. We's sure scared but we crawls out. Dey didden hurt us none, but dey 'rests Ole Boss. Dey takes him up stairs an' acks him things. I spects dey didden do him no harm but dey keeps him locked up.
"Dey wuz a feller hangin' roun' dere named Bolen, Nas' Bolen—he wuz a bush-wacker and we seed dem Blue coats chase 'em across a ten acre fiel' but dey didden catch 'em. Den dey take all de bes' meat in de smoke house—we sho' did hate to stan' dere an' see 'em cut down all dem good hams. An dey had de women folks inside a cookin' fo' 'em, an a bakin bread. An' de sojers wuz all roun' de bahn an de gran'ries feedin our cahn to dey hosses. When de sojers lef', my mammy an' a feller name Nash Miller escape an' go off wid de sojers.
"Den one time de Seeseshes, under Marmaduke, come through dar on dey way to Cape. De Blue Coats was camped at Round Pond an dar de Rebel sojers run into 'em an' dar's whar they had de big battle. De Rebels nebber bother us none nuther 'cept jes for gin.
"When de war was ober, Ole Massa call us all up to de fron' porch and tell us now de war is ober an we is free, but it don' make much diffrence. We stays dar jes de same for few year. Ole Massa wuz allus good to his cullud folks, but fo' a spell he had a overseer. He wuz a Denmarker an' his name wuz Martindale an' he wuz tuff.
"I 'members one night de Ku Kluxers came—dey wants a drink o' water. One man say 'Gimme some water. I ain't had no drink sence de battle of Shiloh.' I had to carry water for him 'bout ez fur as fum here to cross de street and dat man drink five big buckets full an say he want mo'. My young Massa Wes, he step up, an' tell um to leave here an he say 'Wylie, don't you carry no mo water.' Dey don' wanta go—dey had on white gowns button' up de front wid black buttons an' masks on dey faces.
"Young Wes, he had a pistol. He call it a Remington an' he jes es soon shoot 'em as to say 'Hodey-do!' So he tell 'em again, 'Git out fum here, I know you.' Den dey goes but dey say to me, 'Boy, we don' wanna ketch you out at night'—an' didden."
[Lewis Mundy]
Interview with Lewis Mundy,
Hannibal, Missouri.
Men Growing Weaker And Wiser
Lewis Mundy, now living on West Center Street, Hannibal, Missouri, was born in slavery on the farm of John Wright, five miles north of La Belle, Lewis County, Missouri. He has lived in Hannibal more than thirty years, and has a wide acquaintance among both whites and colored people. The following is his story of his life.