le. His early boyhood days was spent on the L'Angle place
filled with duties such as minding hogs, cows, bringing in wood and such
light work. His wearing apparel consisted of one garment, a shirt made
to reach below the knees and with three-quarter sleeves. He wore no
shoes until he was a man past 20 years of age.

The single garment was worn summer and winter alike and the change in
the weather did not cause an extra amount of clothes to be furnished for
the slaves. They were required to move about so fast at work that the
heat from the body was sufficient to keep them warm.

When Charles was still a young man Mr. L'Angle sold him on time payment
to W.B. Hall; who several years before the Civil War moved from Richmond
to Washington County, Georgia, carrying 135 grown slaves and many
children. Mr. Hall made Charles his carriage driver, which kept him from
hard labor. Other slaves on the plantation performed such duties as rail
splitting, digging up trees by the roots and other hard work.

Charles Coates remembers vividly the cruelties practiced on the Hall
plantation. His duty was to see that all the slaves reported to work on
time. The bell was rung at 5:30 a.m. by one of the slaves. Charles had
the ringing of the bell for three years; this was in addition to the
carriage driving. He tells with laughter how the slaves would "grab a
piece of meat and bread and run to the field" as no time was allowed to
sit and eat breakfast. This was a very different way from that of the
master he had before, as Mr. L'Angle was much better to his slaves.

Mr. Hall was different in many ways from Mr. L'Angle, "He was always
pretending" says Charles that he did not want his slaves beaten
unmercifully. Charles being close to Mr. Hall during work hours had
opportunity to see and hear much about what was going on at the
plantation. And he believes that Mr. Hall knew just how the overseer
dealt with the slaves.

On the Hall plantation there was a contraption, similar to a gallows,
where the slaves were suspended and whipped. At the top of this device
were blocks of wood with chains run through holes and high enough that a
slave when tied to the chains by his fingers would barely touch the
ground with his toes. This was done so that the slave could not shout or
twist his body while being whipped. The whipping was prolonged until the
body of the slave covered with welts and blood trickled down his naked
body. Women were treated in the sam