jer«1/2~/37
7.	53
Ex—slave‘s oDiniori of 8lavery
told. hini, she said., “I~ lt hadn‘t been for that little villain, the Yankees would. never have foand. yoar whiskey.“ Tb~e mastei~

u.nderstood, however, tP~t Isaiah had.n‘t known what he was doing, and. refused to pOEnish him.

7/	The Yankees oaa~ to the Willis plantation to notify the

•/Negroes o~ their freedom. One thing they said stands ou~t In

‚1‘ Green‘s n~mory. ~‘i±~ your mistress calls you. ‘JO~m,‘ eau her ‘Sally.‘ You. are as free as she Is and. she can‘t whip you any

more. If yoti remain, sIgn a paper so that you~ will receive pay

~‚ for yoar work . „ Mrs • Willis looked on wi th tears in her ey es

j and shook her head. sadly. The next day the ~ster no~fied each

j slave family that they could remain on his plantation If tk~y

~t- desired and. he woald give each ~?5.OO at ChrIatn~a. Looking at

j Isaiah‘s step—father, he told. him that since he was a~tflicted he ~ would çI~5~45O.OO, bu.t this amou.nt was reftised. Wishing ..~ to keep the nan, Col. Willis finally offered him as mu.ch as he

promised the ablebodled. men.

	Some slave owners did not let their slaves know of their freedom, ani kept them in ignorance as long as six months; some even longer.

	Green‘~ family remained en the Wiflisplantation until

they were forced to move, dae to their ex~master‘s extravagance.

~s Isaiah remarked., ‘THe ran through with 3,000 acres of land

and died on rented land in Morgan Coanty.“

~	~‚ Directly after the war, Col. Willis was nominated for tI~

/offioe of legislator of Georgia. Realizing that the vote of tk~ / ex~-slaves woald probably mean eleotion for him, he rode throagh ~: ~ plantati~on trying to get them to vote for hirn. K. was not

~	succeasrul, however, aM some families were asked to move off