place
down in the Choska bottoms. But as soon as we got up on the upland
east of the bottoms we could look across and see the hill.

When we got to a grove at the foot of the hill near the agency Mr.
Mose and the other masters went up to the Agency for a while. I
suppose they found out up there what everybody was supposed to do and
where they was supposed to go, for when we started on it wasn't long
until several more families and their slaves had joined the party and
we made quite a big crowd.

The little Negro boys had to carry a little bundle apiece, but Mr.
Mose didn't make the little girls carry anything and let us ride if we
could find anything to ride on. My mammy had to help lead the cows
part of the time, but a lot of the time she got to ride an old horse,
and she would put me up behind her. It nearly scared me to death,
because I had never been on a horse before, and she had to hold on to
me all the time to keep me from falling off.

Of course I was too small to know what was going on then, but I could
tell that all the masters and the Negroes seemed to be mighty worried
and careful all the time. Of course I know now that the Creeks were
all split up over the War, and nobody was able to tell who would be
friendly to us or who would try to poison us or kill us, or at least
rob us. There was a lot of bushwhacking all through that country by
little groups of men who was just out to get all they could. They
would appear like they was the enemy of anybody they run across, just
to have an excuse to rob them or burn up their stuff. If you said you
was with the South they would be with the North and if you claimed to
be with the Yankees they would be with the South, so our party was
kind of upset all the time we was passing through the country along
the Canadian. That was where old Gouge had been talking against the
South. I've heard my folks say that he was a wonderful speaker, too.

We all had to move along mighty slow, on account of the ones on foot,
and we wouldn't get very far in one day, then we Negroes had to fix up
a place to camp and get wood and cook supper for everybody. Sometimes
we would come to a place to camp that somebody knew about and we
would find it all tromped down by horses and the spring all filled in
and ruined. I reckon old Gouge's people would tear up things when they
left, or maybe some Southern bushwhackers would do it. I don't know
which.

When we got down to where the North Fork ru