e to hire us to do his work."

When asked to describe his feelings about the war and the possibility of
his being freed, Mr. Bland said that he had no particular feeling of
gladness at all. The outcome of the war did not interest him at all
because Mr. Coxton was such a good master he didn't care whether he was
freed or not. His fellow slaves felt the same way.

When Sherman and the Yankees were marching through they took all of the
live stock but bothered nothing else. The buildings on the adjoining
plantation were all burned. A small skirmish took place about 2 miles
away from Mr. Coxton's plantation when the Yankees and Confederates met.
Mr. Coxton's two sons took part in the war.

Mr. Bland was taken by Sherman's army to Savannah and then to Macon. He
says that he saw President Jeff Davis give up his sword to General
Sherman in surrender.

After the war Mr. Coxton was still well off in spite of the fact that he
had lost quite a bit of money as a result of the war. He saved a great
deal of his cash by burying it when Sherman came through. The cattle
might have been saved if he (Mr. Bland) could have driven them into the
woods before he was seen by some of the soldiers.

At the close of the war Mr. Coxton informed all the slaves that they
were free to go where they wished, but they all refused to leave. Most
of them died on the plantation. Mr. Bland says that when he became of
age his former master gave him a wagon, two mules, a horse and buggy and
ten pigs.

Mr. Bland thinks that old age is a characteristic in his family. His
grandmother lived to be 115 years old and his mother 107 years old.
Although in his 80's, Mr. Bland is an almost perfect picture of health.
He thinks that he will live to become at least 100 years old because he
is going to continue to live as sane a life as he has in the past.

J.R. Jones

RIAS BODY, Ex-Slave.
Place of birth: Harris County, near Waverly Hall, Georgia
Date of birth: April 9, 1846
Present residence: 1419-24th Street, Columbus, Georgia
Interviewed: July 24, 1936
[JUL 8, 1937]

Rias Body was born the slave property of Mr. Ben Body, a Harris County
planter. He states that he was about fifteen years old when the Civil
War started and, many years ago, his old time white folks told him that
April 9, 1846, was the date of his birth.

The "patarolers," according to "Uncle" Rias, were always quite active in
ante-bellum days. The regular patrol consisted of six men wh