e they
were cuttin' a piece of railroad, then to Quincy, then to Tallahassee.
When the war ended I weren't 'xactly in 'Gusta, I was in Irwinville,
where they caught Mars. Jeff Davis. Folks said he had de money train,
but I never seed no gold, nor nobody whut had any. I come on up to
'Gusta and jined de Bush Arbor Springfield Church.

"When freedom came they called all the white people to the court house
first, and told them the darkies ware free. Then on a certain day they
called all the colored people down to the parade ground. They had a big
stand," explained Eugene Wesley Smith, whose father was a slave in
Augusta. "All the Yankees and some of our leading colored men got up
there and spoke, and told the negroes: "You are free. Don't steal! Now
work and make a living. Do honest work, make an honest living and
support yourself and children. There are no more masters. You are free!"

"When the colored troops came in, they came in playing:

'Don't you see the lightning?
Don't you hear the thunder?
It isn't the lightning,
It isn't the thunder
But the buttons on the Negro uniform!'

"The negroes shouted and carried on when they heard they were free."

This story of freedom was told by Edward Glenn of Forsythe County: "A
local preacher, Walter Raleigh, used to wait by the road for me every
day, and read the paper before I give it to Mistis. One day he was
waiting for me, and instead of handing it back to me he tho'wed it down
and hollered, 'I'm free as a frog!' He ran away. I tuk the paper to
Mistis. She read it and went to cryin'. I didn't say no more. That was
during the week. On Sunday morning I was talking to my brother's wife,
who was the cook. We were talking about the Yankees. Mistis come in and
say, 'Come out in the garden with me.' When we got outside Mistis said:
'Ed, you suppose them Yankees would spill their blood to come down here
to free you niggers?'

"I said, 'I dunno, but I'se free anyhow, Miss Mary.'"

"'Shut up, sir, I'll mash your mouth!"

"That day Marster was eating, and he said, 'Doc' (they called me Doc,
'cause I was the seventh son). 'You have been a good boy. What did you
tell your Mistis?'"

"I said, 'I told her the truth, that I knowed I was free.'

"He said, 'Well, Doc, you aren't really free. You are free from me, but
you aren't of age yet, and you still belong to your father and mother.'

"One morning I saw a blue cloud of Yankees coming down the road. The
leader