t place to get in and out of the
Confederate lines. Hamburg is a beautiful place and is owned by Mrs.
S. C. Voight, who resides upon the premises. It was at this place that
Beast Butler, of the Federal Army, carried on a very extensive barter
trade with the Rebs. It adjoins the Washington farm, as I said before,
and may have been at one time a part of it. I knew nothing of the
first settlement of the place. It has the appearance of being very
ancient--no doubt dates back many years before the Revolution, or it
may have been the headquarters of a roving tribe of Indians, as many
arrow points and tomahawks have been ploughed up on the place. To my
friend, T. H. Lassiter, Esq., of Gates county, North Carolina, I am
indebted for much of the information gained of that locality, and I
could relate a good deal told me by that gentleman which might be very
interesting. Mr. Lassiter lives at a beautiful farm, on the main
Edenton road, near the Silver Spring, a place of great resort for
persons living in that part of the county.

I will relate a very interesting conversation which I had with a very
old colored man that I met in the road near the Orapeake Mill, in
Gates county, North Carolina, when on my way to Suffolk, Va., and not
far from the beautiful village of Jonesville, lying on both sides of
the Suffolk and Carolina Short Line or Grand Trunk Railroad. I said to
the old man, "Uncle, where do you live?" "Boss, you ax me a hard
question," replied the old man. "Git off your hoss an sot down, I'm
gwine tell you sumfin. Do you smoke de pipe, boss?" I replied that I
did, and handed him my bag of tobacco. He took from his pocket what I
supposed he called a pipe. It was the butt end of a corn cob hollowed
out, with something protruding at a right angle, which he called a
stem. What it really was, I could not tell. He filled it with tobacco.
I then handed him a match, when thanking me very kindly, he lighted
his pipe, drawing it a few times to see that it was well lighted,
said: "Boss, I will now tol you sumfin dat happen many years ago. Do
you see dat mill pon' yonder?" alluding to the Orapeake. I replied
that I did. "Well, boss, dat pon' was de cause of my trouble. One dark
nite I was in dar strikin' at fish. I had just hit a large chub, when
a white man, who was in dar strikin', cum up and sed: 'Boy, dat is my
fish.' I tole him dat I kilt de fish, an dat it was mine. 'Bout dat
time he was gwine to take de fish, an den I took up