ody was bein' mean to me. No, I was'nt bein' whipped. Don't you know
all that story 'bout slaves bein' whipped is all _Bunk_, (with scornful
emphasis). What pusson with any sense is goin' to take his horse or his
cow an' beat it up. It's prope'ty. We was prope'ty. Val'able prope'ty.
No, indeed, Mr. Luke give the bes' of attention to his colored people,
an' Mis' Huggins was like a mother to my mother. Twa'nt anythin' wrong
about home that made me run away. I'd heard so much talk 'bout freedom I
reckon I jus' wanted to try it, an' I thought I had to get away from
home to have it.

Well, I coaxed two other boys to go with me, an' a grown man he got the
boat an' we slipped off to the beach an' put out to sea. Yes'm, we sho'
was after adventure. But, we did'n get very far out from sho', an' I saw
the lan' get dimmer an' dimmer, when I got skeered, an' then I got
seasick, an' we was havin' more kinds of adventure than we wanted, an'
then we saw some ships. There was two of 'em, an' they took us on board.

They was the North Star an' the Eastern Star of the Aspinwal Line, a
mail an' freighter runnin' between Aspinwal near the Isthmus of Panama
and New York. We used to put in off Charleston.

Then, in 1864 I joined the Union Navy. Went on board our convoy, the
Nereus. We convoyed to keep the Alabama, a Confederate privateer, away.
The Commander of the Nereus asked me how's I like to be his cabin boy.
So I was 2nd class cabin boy an' waited on the Captain. He was Five
Stripe Commander J. C. Howell. He was Commander of the whole fleet off
Fort Fisher. When the Captain wanted somethin' good to eat he used to
send me ashore for provisions. He liked me. He was an old man. He didn't
take much stock in fun, but he was a real man. I was young an' was'nt
serious. I jus' wanted a good time. I don't know much about the war, but
I do know two men of our boat was killed on shore while we was at Fort
Fisher.

After the battle of Fort Fisher, we was on our way to Aspinwal. Layin'
off one day at Navassa Island, the Mast Head reported a strange sail.
'Where away?' 'Just ahead'. 'She seems to be a three mast steamer!'
'Which way headed?' We decided it was the Alabama going to St. Nicholas
Mole, West Indies.

Our Captain called the officers together an' held a meetin'. Says he:
'We'll go under one bell (slow). Lieutenant will go ashore an' get some
information.' When we got there she had a coal schooner alongside taking
on coal. Our Captain