rves the sacred shrine she holds, along
with the great Lincoln, in the black man's heart.

CHAPTER II.

WAR. "THE REBELS AND YANKEES." I RAISE A REGIMENT TO FIGHT. DIFFICULTY
IN FINDING AN ENEMY. ASH SAKE. FREEDOM.

When I was ten years old the war broke out between the "North and the
South." And there was little else talked about, among the slaves as well
as the slave owners of the neighborhood. And naturally the many
different stories we heard worked us children to a high state of
excitement. So much so that we wanted to go to war, and fight for the
Union, because among us slave children there was no difference of
opinion, as to which side was right.

The Union was "IT," and we were all "Yankees." Not being able to go to
war as our masters did, we concluded to play war, accordingly I gathered
all the boys of the neighborhood together, into a regiment, which it was
my intention to divide into two parties of Rebels and Yankees, but in
this I met an insurmountable obstacle. Not one of the boys wanted to be
a rebel, consequently we had to look elsewhere for an enemy to give us
battle, and serve as a vent for our growing enthusiasm. The next Sunday
preceding the organization of our regiment, we started out over the
surrounding country in quest of trouble, which we were not long in
finding, as we soon ran across a nest of yellow jackets. These we
proceeded to exterminate, in which we were successful after a short but
destructive battle. We suffered considerably in wounded but lost none of
our soldiers. This engagement we called the capture of fort "Hell." For
some time thereafter we made regular raids into the surrounding country
in quest of an enemy. We were eventually successful in our quest, as in
quick order we ran across and captured a company of bumble bees. This we
called the "Battle of the Wilderness." Victory over a nest of hornets we
called the capture of "Fort Sumter." A large nest of wasps gave us
perhaps the hardest fight of our campaigning. This we ran across in the
fields not far from home. There was an unusually large number of them,
and as is usually the case with these insects, they proved very
ferocious. Nothing loth, however, we attacked with cheers, only to be
driven back time and again and finally we were compelled to make a very
undignified retreat, at full speed in the direction of home. Not to be
beaten, however, we secured reinforcements and more ammunition, in the
shape of old rags, br