450008

Interview of Ex‘~‘s1ave and
Civil War Veteran

By -~ Thelma Durieton
January 8, 1937
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Civil War Veteran of Portsmouth, Virginia



On the out ~irts of Portszaouth, Virginia where one seldom }iears of or goes
f.‘	~	~ )
for sightseeing lives Mr. Albert Jones. In a four room cottage at 126 Lindsey Aveziue, the aged Civil War Veteran lives alone with the care of Mr. Jones‘ niece,

who resides next door to him. He tias managed to survive his riinety.~fifth year. It is almost a miracle to see a man at his age as suple as he.

	On enterir~g a scanty room in the small house, Mr. Jones was nodding in a chair near the stove. When asked about his early li~‘e, he straightened up e~-h4. ~p±!t,, crossed his legs and said, “l‘s perty old — ninety six. I ~as born a slave in Souf Hampton county, bt~t my mastah wuz mighty good to me. He won ‘t ruff ; dat is ‘f yer done right.“

	The aged man cleared his throat and chuckled. Then he said, “But you better never let xnastah catch yer wif a book or paper, and yer couldn‘t praise God so he

could hear yer. 1f yer done dem things, he sho ‚ would beat yer. ‘Course he wuz good to me, ‘cause I never doria none of ‘em. My work won‘t hard neiver. I had to wait on my mastah, open de gates fer him, drive de wagon and tend de horses. 1 was sort of a house boy.“

	“Fer twenty years I stayed wif znastah, and I didn‘t tryto run away. V~hen I wuz twenty one, ~e and one of my brothers run away to fight wif the Yankees. Us left Sauf Hampton county and went to Petersburg. Dere we got some food. Den us went to

.	Fort Hatton where we met some more slaves who had done run away. when we got in Fort

‚.	Hatton, us had to cross a bridge to git to de Yankees. De rebels had torn de bridge

~ ~ down. We all got together and builded back de bridge, and we went on to ‘de Yankees.

ç Dey give us food and clothes.