er.

Next day de Yankees move on away from our place, and old Master start
gitting ready to move out. We git de wagons we hid, and de whole
passel of us leaves out for Shreveport. Jest left de old place
standing like it was.

In Shreveport old Master git his cotton and tobacco money what he been
afraid to have sent back to de plantation when he sell his stuff, and
we strike out north through Arkansas.

Dat was de awfullest trip any man ever make! We had to hide from
everybody until we find out if dey Yankees or Sesesh, and we go along
little old back roads and up one mountain and down another, through de
woods all de way.

After a long time we git to the Missouri line, and kind of cut off
through de corner of dat state into Kansas. I don't know how we ever
git across some of dem rivers but we did. Dey nearly always would be
some soldiers around de fords, and dey would help us find de best
crossing. Sometimes we had to unload de wagons and dry out de stuff
what all got wet, and camp a day or two to fix up again.

Purty soon we git to Fort Scott, and that was whar de roads forked
ever whichaways. One went on north and one east and one went down into
de Indian country. It was full of soldiers coming and going back and
forth to Arkansas and Fort Gibson.

We took de road on west through Kansas, and made for Colorado Springs.

Fort Scott was all run down, and the old places whar dey used to have
de soldiers was all fell in in most places. Jest old rackety walls and
leaky roofs, and a big pole fence made out'n poles sot in de ground
all tied together, but it was falling down too.

They was lots of wagons all around what belong to de army, hauling
stuff for de soldiers, and some folks told old Master he couldn't make
us niggers go wid him, but we said we wanted to anyways, so we jest
went on west across Kansas.

When we got away on west we come to a fork, and de best road went
kinda south into Mexico, and we come to a little place called Clayton,
Mexico whar we camped a while and then went north.

Dat place is in New Mexico now, but old Master jest called it Mexico.
Somebody showed me whar it is on de map, and it look lak it a long
ways off'n our road to Colorado Springs, but I guess de road jest wind
off down dat ways at de time we went over it. It was jest two or three
houses made out'n mud at dat time, and a store whar de soldiers and de
Indians come and done trading.

About dat time old Master sell off some of