Ex.~s1ave Stories	Pace Five	~	12
	  (Texas)







	When war come on I seed. sojers every day. Dey have de camp in Liberty and I watches dem. I heared de gu~ns, too, maybe at Sabine Pass, but I d.idn‘ t see rio actual fightin‘ . i~t a 1on~ year to wait, de las ‚ year de war. Dey sont de papers dowr~ on March 5th, I done heared, but dey dithi‘t turn us loose den. Dis de last state to turn de slaves free. Then dey did~tt let dem ~o in March, de Yankee soj ers come In Jujie and make dem let us ~o. Next mornin‘ after de soje.s come, de overseer reads de papers out and say we‘s free as he is and we can go. Some stay on de old place a long time and some ~o off. You 1~ow dey ils‘ slaves and wasn‘t civilize‘. Some ain1t never git civilize ‚ jet . Old massa never give us nothin‘ ‚ but he t old us we would stay on iffen we want ‚ but I I eft.

	“I goes down close to Anahuac and builds a li~l log cabin at Monroe City, and dat‘s where dey puttin‘ in oil wells now. Washington Lewis, dat my daddy, he have 129 acres dere. De white folkssay to sign de paper to let dem

put de well on it and dey give us ~5O.OO end us sigi d~t paper and dey have de land.

	H ~ marries in slavery t ime ‚ when I ‚ s ‘bout 22 year old. My first wife naine‘ Rachel 5.fl: she live on Double Bayou.. She belong to de Mayes plac e. I see her when I ridin‘ de range for Massa Bob. I tells massa I wants to ~it max~r~3r and he ma3~e me ask Massa Mayes and us have de big ~.~e~idin‘ . She dress ~‘1l in white. I have de nice hat anc~ suit of black clothes and daddy a shoemaker and make me de good pai±‘ of shoes to git marry in. Us stand front Massa Mayes and he read out de Bible. Us had a real big supper and some de white folks give us money.

	“De first money I wakes am workin‘ for de gov‘ment in Gk~iiveston. After de war de gov‘xnent hire fo~~ to clean up • c~e trash what de fi~it iii‘ make and.