rmy, and commanded at the capture of Fort
Pillow; and, in harmony with the debasing influences of his early
business, he was responsible for the fiendish massacre of negroes after
the capture of the fort--an act which will make his name forever
infamous. None of this family were sold to the same person except my
wife and one sister. All the rest were sold to different persons. The
elder daughter was sold seven times in one day. The reason of this was
that the parties that bought her, finding that she was not legally a
slave, and that they could get no written guarantee that she was, got
rid of her as soon as possible. It seems that those who bought the other
members of the family were not so particular, and were willing to run
the risk. They knew that such things--such outrages upon law and
justice--were common. Among these was my Boss, who bought two of the
girls, Matilda and her sister Mary Ellen. Matilda was bought for a cook;
her sister was a present to Mrs. Farrington, his wife's sister, to act
as her maid and seamstress. Aunt Delia, who had been cook, was given
another branch of work to do, and Matilda was installed as cook. I
remember well the day she came. The madam greeted her, and said: "Well,
what can you do, girl? Have you ever done any cooking? Where are you
from?" Matilda was, as I remember her, a sad picture to look at. She had
been a slave, it is true, but had seen good days to what the slaves
down the river saw. Any one could see she was almost heart-broken--she
never seemed happy. Days grew into weeks and weeks into months, but the
same routine of work went on.

* * * * *

MY MARRIAGE--BIRTH OF TWINS.

Matilda had been there three years when I married her. The Boss had
always promised that he would give me a nice wedding, and he kept his
word. He was very proud, and liked praise. The wedding that he gave us
was indeed a pleasant one. All the slaves from their neighbor
acquaintances were invited. One thing Boss did was a credit to him, but
it was rare among slave-holders--he had me married by their parish
minister. It was a beautiful evening, the 30th of November, 1858, when
Matilda and I stood in the parlor of the McGee house and were solemnly
made man and wife. Old Master Jack came up from Panola at that time, and
was there when the ceremony was performed. As he looked through his
fingers at us, he was overheard saying: "It will ruin them, givin
wedins-wedins." Things