HARRY JOHNSON, 86 BORN IN MISSOURI;SLAVE IN ARKANSAS AND TEXAS.
     I COME FROM MISSOURI TO ARKANSAS AND THEN TO TEXAS, AND I WAS OWNED BY MASS
A LOUIS BARKER AND MY NAME WAS JIM JOHNSON.  BUT A WHITE MAN NAME  HARRY FUGOT S
TOLE ME AND RUN ME OUT TO ARKANSAS AND CHANGED MY NAME TO HARRY.  HE STOLE ME
FROM MISSISSIPPI COUNTY IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF MISSOURI, DOWN CLOSE TO THE ARKA
NSAS LINE, AND I WAS ABOUT TWELVE YEARS OLD THEN.
     MY MAMA'S NAME WAS JUDIE AND HER HUSBAND'S NAME MILLER.  WHEN I WASN'T BIG
 ENOUGH TO PACK A CHIP, OLD MASSA LOUIS BARKER WOULDN'T TAKE FOUR HUNDRED
DOLLARS FOR ME, BECAUSE HE SAID HE WANTS TO MAKE A OVERSEER OUT OF ME.  MY
DADDY WENT OFF DURING THE WAR.  HE CARRIED OFF BY SOLDIERS AND HE NEVER
DID COME BACK.
     THERE WERE ABOUT THIRTY OR FORTY ACRES IN MASSA BARKER'S PLANTATION IN
MISSOURI.  HE USED TO HIRE ME OUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE AND THE MEN WHO HIRED ME P
UT ME TO DOING WHAT THEY WANTED.  I WAS STOLEN FROM MY MAMMY WHEN I WAS ABOUT
TEN OR TWELVE AND SHE NEVER DID KNOW ABOUT WHAT BECAME OF ME.
     OH] MY STARS]  I SAW HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF SOLDIERS BEFORE I WAS
STOLEN  FROM MISSOURI.  THEY WERE WHAT WE CALLED YANKEES.  I SAW THEM STRUNG OUT
 A HALF MILE LONG, GOING TO BATTLE TWO AND THREE DEEP.  THEY NEVER DID DESTROY
ANY HOMES.  THEY TOOK UP A LITTLE STUFF.  I HAD FIVE SACKS OF MEAL ONE DAY AND W
AS GOING TO THE MILL AND THE SOLDIERS CAME ALONG AND TOOK ME, MEAL AND ALL.
THE MADDEST WOMAN I EVER SAW WAS THAT DAY.  THE SOLDIERS CAME AND DROVE OFF HER
 COWS.  SHE TOLD THEM NOT TO, THAT HER HUSBAND WAS FIGHTING AND SHE HAD TO MAKE
 LIVING OFF OF THEM COWS,BUT THEY DROVE THE COWS TO CAMP AND KILLED ABOUT THREE
 OF THnM.  THEY DONE THAT, I KNOW, BECAUSE I WAS WITH THEM.
     BUT DOWN IN ARKANSAS I SAW THE SOUTHERN SOLDIERS AND I WAS PLOWING FOR AN O
LD LADY CALLED WILLIAMS, AND SOME SOLDIERS CAME AND WENT IN THE HOUSE. I HEARD
SAY THEY WAS GREEN'S MEN, AND THEY TOOK EVERYTHING THAT OLD WOMAN HAD THAT THEY
 WANTED, AND THEY ROBBED LOTS OF HOUSES.
     IT DON'T LOOK REASONABLE TO SAY IT, BUT IT IS A FACT; DURING SLAVERY IF YOU
 LIVED IN ONE PLACE AND YOUR MAMMY LIVED ACROSS THE STREET YOU COULDN'T GO TO
SEE HER WITHOUT A PASS.  THE PATROLLERS WOULD WHIP YOU IF YOU DID.  THERE WAS
 ONE WOMAN WHO OWNED SOME SLAVES AND ONE OF THEM ASKED HER FOR A PASS AND SHE GA
VE HIM A PIECE OF PAPER SUPPOSED TO BE A PASS, BUT SHE WROTE ON IT:
"HIS SHIRT IS ROUGH AND HIS BACK IS TOUGH, DO, PRAY, MISTER PATROLLER, GIVE
HIM ENOUGH."  THE PATROLLERS BEAT HIM      NEARLY TO DEATH, BECAUSE THAT WAS WHA
T WAS WRITTEN ON THE PAPER HE GAVE THEM.
     I REMEMBER A WHIPPING ONE SLAVE GOT.  IT WAS ONE HUNDRED LASHES.  THERE WAS
 A BIG-OVnRSEnR-RIGHT HnRE-ON THE SjN-MjRlOS-RIVnR, lLnM-POLK,&HE jND HIS-MASSA
 KILLED SIXTEEN NIGGERS IN ONE DAY.  THAT MASSA COULD NOT KEEP AN OVERSEER, CAUS
E THE NIGGERS WOULDN'T LET THEM WHIP THEM, AND THIS CLEM, HE SAID:
 "I'LL STAY THERE," AND HE FOUND HE COULDN'T WHIP THEM NIGGERS EITHER, SO HE JUS
T KILLED THEM.  ONE NIGGER NEARLY GOT HIM AND HE WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM.  THAT NI
GGER RAISED THE AXE TO COME DOWN ON POLK'S HEAD AND THE MASSA STOPPED HIM JUST I
N TIME, AND THEN POLK SHOT THAT NIGGER IN THE BREAST WITH A SHOTGUN.
     THEY HAD COURT DAYS AND WHEN COURT MET, THEY PASSED A BILL THAT SAID,"KEEP
NIGGERS AT A HOME."  SOME OF THEM COULD GO TO CHURCH AND SOME OF THEM
COULDN'T.  THEY WOULD LET THE COLORED PEOPLE BE BAPTIZED, BUT THEY DIDN'T MANY W
ANT IT, THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND IT ENOUGH.
     AFTER THE WAR ENDED, MASSA FUGOT SOLD ME TO MASSA GRAHAM FOR TWELVE
HUNDRED ACRES OF LAND, AND I LIVED IN CALDWELL COUNTY.  HE WAS PRETTY GOOD TO HI
S SLAVES AND WE LIVED IN A LITTLE OLD FRAME HOUSE, FACING WEST.  I SLEPT IN
THE SAME HOUSE AS MASSA AND MISSUS, TO GUARD THEM. ONE NIGHT SOME MEN CAME AND W
OKE ME UP AND TOLD ME TO PUT MY CLOTHES ON.  MISSUS WAS IN THE BED AND SHE
BEGAN CRYING AND TOLD THEM NOT TO TAKE ME, BUT THEY TOOK ME ANYWAY.  WE CALLED
THEM GUERRILLAS AND THEY WERE THIEVES.  THEY WERE WHITE MEN AND ONE OF THEM I HA
D KNOWN A LONG TIME.  I WAS WITH THEM THIEVES AND HEARD THEM TALK ABOUT KILLING
YANKEES.  THEY KEPT ME IN THE SOUTH PART OF MISSOURI A LONG TIME.  I DIDN'T DO A
NYTHING BUT SIT AROUND THE HOUSE WITH THEM.
     WHnN&I WAS sOLD TO MASSA GRAHAM I DIDN'T   HAeE tO lOME tO TEXAS, BECAUSE
I WAS FREE, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT, AND I WAS OUT HERE TWO YEARS BEFORE I KNEW I
 WAS FREE.  DOWN IN CALDWELL COUNTY IS WHERE THE BONDAGE WAS LIFTED OFF ME AND I
 FOUND OUT THAT I WAS FREE.  I JUST STAYED ON AND WORKED AND MY MASSA GAVE ME HI
S PROMISE I WOULD GET A HORSE AND SADDLE AND ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS IN MONEY WHEN I
 WAS TWENTY ONE YEARS OLD, BUT HE DIDN'T DO IT.  HE GAVE ME A LITTLE PONY AND A
 SADDLE WHAT I SOLD FOR THREE DOLLARS AND ABOUT EIGHT OR NINE DOLLARS IN MONEY.
  HE HAD ME BLINDFOLDED AND I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO GET A GOOD HORSE AND
SADDLE AND MORE MONEY.
     I LOOK BACK SOMETIMES AND THINK TIMES WAS BETTER FOR EATING IN SLAVERY THAN
 THEY ARE NOW.  MY MAMMY WAS A REGULAR COOK AND SHE MADE ME PEACH COBBLERS AND A
PPLE DUMPLINGS.  IN THEM DAYS WE WOULD TAKE CORNMEAL AND MIX IT WITH WATER AND C
ALL THEM CORN DODGERS AND THEY WAS AWFUL NICE WITH PLENTY OF BUTTER.
WE HAD LOTS OF HOG MEAT AND WHEN THEY KILLED A BEEF A MAN TOLD ALL THE NEIGHBORS
 TO COME GET SOME OF THE MEAT.
     RIGHT AFTER THE WAR, TIMES WERE PRETTY HARD AND I WAS TAKING BEANS AND
PARCHED THEM AND GOT THEM RIGHT BROWN, AND MEAL BRAN TO MAKE COFFEE OUT OF.
TIMES WAS PRETTY HARD, BUT I ALWAYS COULD FIND SOMETHING TO WORK AT IN THEM
DAYS.
     I LIVED ALL MY LIFE AMONG WHITE FOLKS AND JUST WORKED IN FIRST ONE PLACE
 AND THEN ANOTHER.  I RAISED TEN WHITE CHILDREN, NINE OF THE LOWE CHILDREN, AND
 THEY WOULD MIND ME QUICKER THAN THEIR OWN PAPPY AND MAMMY.  THAT WAS IN MCMULLI
N COUNTY.
     THE DAY I WAS MARRIED I WAS FIFTY NINE YEARS OLD AND MY WIFE WAS ABOUT
SIXTY YEARS OLD NOW.  THE LAST TWENTY YEARS I WAS JUST PIDDLING AROUND AND HAVE
 DONE NO REGULAR WORK.  I MARRIED RIGHT HERE IN THE CHURCH HOUSE.  I-NURSED MY W
IFE WHEN SHE WAS A BABY AND USED TO COURT HER MAMMY WHEN SHE WAS A GIRL.  WE HAV
E BEEN REAL HAPPY TOGETHER.
  X   XXX