se experiences of "sixteen long years in hell, as a slave", I
was very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined
the Union army.

At the out-break of the Civil War and when the Northern army was
marching into the Southland, hundreds of male slaves were shot down by
the Rebels, rather than see them join with the Yankees. One day when I
learned that the Northern troops were very close to our plantation, I
ran away and hid in a culvert, but was found and I would have been shot
had the Yankee troops not scattered them and that saved me. I joined
that Union army and served one year, eight months and twenty-two days,
and fought with them in the battle of Fort Wagnor, and also in the
battle of Milikin's Bend. When I went into the army, I could not read or
write. The white soldiers took an interest in me and taught me to write
and read, and when the war was over I could write a very good letter. I
taught what little I knew to colored children after the War.

I studied day and night for the next three years at the home of a
lawyer, educating myself and in 1868, I started preaching the gospel of
Jesus Christ and have continued to do so for sixty-nine years. In that
time I have been instrumental in the building of seven churches in
Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. I did this good work through
gratefulness to God for my deliverance and my salvation. During my life,
I have joined the K. of P. Lodge, and I.O.O.F and Masonic Lodge. I have
preached for the up-life and advancement of the colored races. I have
accomplished much good in this life and have raised a family of eight
children. I love and am loyal to my country and have received great
compensation from my government for my services. I am in good health and
still able to work, and I am thankful to my God and my country."

Stories from Ex-Slaves
5th District
Vanderburgh County
Lauana Creel
1415 S. Barker Avenue, Evansville, Indiana

ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE OF ADAH ISABELLE SUGGS

Among the interesting stories connected with former slaves one of the
most outstanding ones is the life story of Adah Isabelle Suggs, indeed
her escape from slavery planned and executed by her anxious mother,
Harriott McClain, bears the earmarks of fiction, but the truth of all
related occurences has been established by the aged negro woman and her
daughter Mrs. Harriott Holloway, both citizens of Evansville, Indiana.

Born in slavery before January the twenty-second, 1