"Things passes over quicker sometimes dan we figures out dat dey will.
Everything, no matter how good it be or how hard, passes over. Dey jes'
does like dat. So dem Yankees went on somewhars, I never know'd whar,
and everything round Yorkville was powerful relieved. Den de
Confederate soldiers started coming across Broad River. Befo' dey got
home, word had done got round dat our folks had surrendered; but dem
Yankees never fit (fought) us out--dey starved us out. If things had
been equal us would a-been fighting dem till dis day, dat us sho would.
I can still see dem soldiers of ours coming across Broad River, all
dirty, filthy, and lousy. Dey was most starved, and so poor and lanky.
And deir hosses was in de same fix. Men and hosses had know'd plenty
till dat Sherman come along, but most of dem never know'd plenty no
more. De men got over it better dan de hosses. Women folks cared for de
men. Dey brewed tea from sage leaves, sassafras root and other herb
teas. Nobody never had no money to fetch no medicine from de towns wid,
so dey made liniments and salves from de things dat grow'd around about
in de woods and gardens.

"I told you 'bout how small I was, but my brother, Jim Rice, went to
Charleston and helped to make dem breastworks down dar. I has never
see'd dem, but dem dat has says dat dey is still standing in good
conditions. Cose de Yankees tore up all dat dey could when dey got dar.

"Lots of rail fences was made back in dem days. Folks had a 'no fence'
law, dat meant dat everybody fenced in deir fields and let de stock run
free. Hogs got wild and turkeys was already wild. Sometimes bulls had to
be shot to keep dem from tearing up everything. But folks never fenced
in no pasture den. Dey put a rail fence all around de fields, and in dem
days de fields was never bigger dan ten or fifteen acres. Logs was
plentiful, and some niggers, called 'rail splitters', never done nothing
else but split rails to make fences.

"If I recollects right, Wade Hampton broke down fence laws in dis
country. I sho heard him talk in Yorkville. Dey writ about him in de
Yorkville Inquirer and dey still has dat paper over dar till now. De Red
Shirts come along and got Wade Hampton in. He scared de Yankees and
Carpetbaggers and all sech folks as dem away from our country. Dey went
back whar dey come from, I reckon.

"De Ku Klux was de terriblest folks dat ever crossed my path. Who dey
was I ain't never know'd, but dey took Alex Leech t