ffense.

A whipping post was used for this purpose. As soon as one slave was
whipped, he was given the whip to whip his brother slave. Very often the
lashes would bring blood very soon from the already lacerated skin, but
this did not stop the lashing until one had received their due number of
lashes.

Occasionally the slaves were ordered to church to hear a white
minister, they were seated in the front pews of the master's church,
while the whites sat in the rear. The minister's admonition to them to
honor their masters and mistresses, and to have no other God but them,
as "we cannot see the other God, but you can see your master and
mistress." After the services the driver's wife who could read and write
a little would tell them that what the minister said "was all lies."

Douglas says that he will never forget when he was a lad 14 years of
age, when one evening he was told to go and tell the driver to have all
the slaves come up to the house; soon the entire host of about 85 slaves
were gathered there all sitting around on stumps, some standing. The
colonel's son was visibly moved as he told them they were free. Saying
they could go anywhere they wanted to for he had no more to do with
them, or that they could remain with him and have half of what was
raised on the plantation.

The slaves were happy at this news, as they had hardly been aware that
there had been a war going on. None of them accepted the offer of the
colonel to remain, as they were only too glad to leaver the cruelties of
the Matair plantation.

Dorsey's father got a job with Judge Carraway of Suwannee where he
worked for one year. He later homesteaded 40 acres of land that he
received from the government and began farming. Dorsey's father died in
Suwannee County, Florida when Douglas was a young man and then he and
his mother moved to Arlington, Florida. His mother died several years
ago at a ripe old age.

Douglas Dorsey, aged but with a clear mind lives with his daughter in
Spring Glen.

REFERENCE

1. Interview with Douglas Dorsey, living on Spring Glen Road, South
Jacksonville, Florida

FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
American Guide, (Negro Writers' Unit)

Martin D. Richardson, Field Worker
Brooksville, Florida

AMBROSE DOUGLASS

In 1861, when he was 16 years old, Ambrose Hilliard Douglass was given a
sound beating by his North Carolina master because he attempted to
refuse the mate that had been given to him--with the instruc