dea of forming negro regiments and as
an inducement to the slaves, they offered them freedom if they would
join the Union forces. John's mistress and master told him that if he
wished to join the Union forces, he had their consent and would not have
to run away like other slaves were doing. At the beginning of the war,
John was twenty-one years of age. When Lincoln freed the slaves by his
Emancipation Proclamation, John was promptly given his freedom by his
master and mistress.

John decided to join the northern army which was located at Bowling
Green, Kentucky, a distance of thirty-five miles from Glasgow where John
was living. He had to walk the entire thirty-five miles. Although he
fails to remember all the units that he was attached to, he does
remember that it was part of General Sherman's army. His regiment
started with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia, but for some
reason unknown to John, shortly after the campaign was on its way, his
regiment was recalled and sent elsewhere.

His regiment was near Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the time Lee
surrendered. Since Lee was a proud southerner and did not want the
negroes present when he surrendered, Grant probably for this reason as
much as any other refused to accept Lee's sword. When Lee surrendered
there was much shouting among the troops and John was one of many put to
work loading cannons on boats to be shipped up the river. His company
returned on the steamboat "Indiana." Upon his return to Glasgow, [HW:
Ky.] he saw for the first time in six years, his mother and other
members of his family who had returned free.

Shortly after he returned to Glasgow at the close of the Civil War, he
saw several colored people walking down the highway and was attracted to
a young colored girl in the group who was wearing a yellow dress.
Immediately he said to himself, "If she ain't married there goes my
wife." Sometime later they met and were married Christmas day in 1866.
To this union twelve children were born four of whom are living today,
two in Gary and the others in the south. After his marriage he lived on
a farm near Glasgow for several years, later moving to Louisville, where
he worked in a lumber yeard. He came to Gary in 1924, two years after
the death of his wife.

President Grant was the first president for whom he cast his vote and he
continued to vote until old age prevented him from walking to the polls.

Although Lincoln is one of his favorite heroes,