do.

When dat Civil War come along I was a pretty big boy and I 'remember
it good as anybody. Uncle Joe tell us all to lay low and work hard and
nobody bother us, and he would look after us. He sure stood good with
de Cherokee neighbors we had, and dey all liked him. There was Mr. Jim
Collins, and Mr. Bell, and Mr. Dave Franklin, and Mr. Jim Sutton and
Mr. Blackburn that lived around close to us and dey all had slaves.
Dey was all wid the South, but dey was a lot of dem Pin Indians all up
on de Illinois River and dey was wid de North and dey taken it out on
de slave owners a lot before de War and during it too.

Dey would come in de night and hamstring de horses and maybe set fire
to de barn, and two of 'em named Joab Scarrel and Tom Starr killed my
pappy one night just before de War broke out.

I don't know what dey done it for, only to be mean, and I guess they
was drunk.

Them Pins was after Master all de time for a while at de first of de
War, and he was afraid to ride into Fort Smith much. Dey come to de
house one time when he was gone to Fort Smith and us children told dem
he was at Honey Springs, but they knowed better and when he got home
he said somebody shot at him and bushwhacked him all the way from
Wilson's Rock to dem Wildhorse Mountains, but he run his horse like de
devil was setting on his tail and dey never did hit him. He never seen
them neither. We told him 'bout de Pins coming for him and he just
laughed.

When de War come old Master seen he was going into trouble and he sold
off most of de slaves. In de second year of de War he sold my mammy
and my aunt dat was Uncle Joe's wife and my two brothers and my little
sister. Mammy went to a mean old man named Peper Goodman and he took
her off down de river, and pretty soon Mistress tell me she died
'cause she can't stand de rough treatment.

When Mammy went old Mistress took me to de Big House to help her, and
she was kind to me like I was part of her own family. I never forget
when they sold off some more negroes at de same time, too, and put dem
all in a pen for de trader to come and look at.

He never come until the next day, so dey had to sleep in dat pen in a
pile like hogs.

It wasn't my Master done dat. He done already sold 'em to a man and it
was dat man was waiting for de trader. It made my Master mad, but dey
didn't belong to him no more and he couldn't say nothing.

The man put dem on a block and sold 'em to a man dat had come in on