X  XXX
ISAAC ADAMS
    9I WAS RN9IN LO ISIANA, WAY BEFORE THE WAR.  I THINK IT WAS ABOUT TEN YEAR
S BEFORE, BECAUSE I CAN REMEMBER EVERYTHING SO WELL ABOUT THE START OF THE WAR,
AND I BELIEVE I WAS ABOUT TEN YEARS OLD.
     MY MAMMY BELONGED  TO MR SACK P GEE.  I DON'T KNOW WHAT HIS REAL GIVEN NAME
 WAS, BUT IT MAYBE WAS SAXON.  ANYWAYS WE ALL CALLED HIM MASTER SACK.  HE WAS A
KIND OF YOUNGISH MAN, AND WAS MIGHTY RICH.  I THINK HE WAS BORN IN ENGLAND.  ANY
0AY HIS PAPPY WAS FROM ENGLAND, AND I THINK HE WENT BACK BEFORE I WAS BORN.
     MASTER SACK HAD A BIG PLANTATION TEN MILES NORTH OF ARCADIA, LOUISIANA, AND
8 IS LAND RUN TEN MILES ALONG BOTH SIDES.  HE WOULD LEAVE IN A BUGGY A5D BE GONE
 ALL DAY AND STILL NOT GET ALL OVER IT.  THERE WAS ALL KINDS OF LAND ON IT, AND
&E RAISED CANE AND OATS AND WHEAT AND LOTS OF CORN AND COTTON.  HIS COTTON FIELD
2 WAS THE BIGGEST ANYWHERES IN THAT PART, AND WHEN CHOPPING AND PICKING TIMES CO
ME HE WOULD GET NEGROES FROM OTHER PEOPLE TO HELP OUT.  I NEVER WAS NO GOOD AT P
ICKING, BUT I WAS A TERROR WITH A HOE]
    I WAS THE ONLY CHILD MY MAMMY HAD.  SHE WAS JUST A YOUNG GIRL, AND MY MASTE
R DID NOT OWN HER VERY LONG. HE GOT HER FROM MR ADDISON HILLIARD, WHERE MY PAPPY
 BELONGE<.  I THINK SHE WAS GOING TO HAVE ME WHEN HE GOT HER.  ANYWAYS, I COME A
LONG PRETTY SOON, AND MY MAMMY NEVER WAS VERY WELL AFTERWARDS.  MAYBE MASTER
SACK SENT HER BACK OVER TO MY PAPPY.  I DON'T KNOW.
     MAMMY WAS THE HOUSE GIRL AT MR SACK'S BECAUSE SHE WASN'T VERY  STRONG, AND
WHEN I WAS FOUR OR FIVE YEARS OLD SHE DIED.  I WAS BIG ENOUGH TO DO LITTLE THING
S FOR MR SACK AND HIS DAUGHTER, SO THEY KEPT ME AT THE MANSION, AND I HELPED THE
HoUSE BOYS.  TIME I WAS NINE OR TEN MR SACK'S DAUGHTER WAS GETTING TO BE A YOUN
G WOMAN--FIFTEEN OR SIXTEEN YEARS OLD--AND THAT WAS OLD ENOUGH TO GET MARRIED OF
F IN THEM DAYS.  THEY HAD A LOT OF COMPANY JUST BEFORE THE WAR, AND THEY HAD A W
HOLE BUNCH OF HOUSE NEGROES AROUND ALL THE TIME.
    6OLD  ISTRESS DIED >HEN9I6WAS A BA[Y, SO I DO)'T REMEMB     R A)Y, I G   OUT
HER
, BUT YOUNG MISTRESS WAS A WINDER]  SHE WOULD RDE HORSEBACK NEARLY ALL THE TIME
 AND I HAD TO GO A3ONG WITH HER WHEN I GOT BIG ENOUGH.  SHE NEVER DID GO AROUND
THE QUARTERS, SO I  DON'T KNOW NOTHING MUCH ABOUT THE NEGROES MR SACK HAD FOR TH
E FIELDS.  THEY ALL LOOKED PRETTY CLEAN AND HEALTHY, THOUGH, WHEN THEY WOULD COM
E UP TO THE BIG HOUSE.  HE FED THEM ALL GOOD AND THEY ALL LIKED HIM.
    HE&HAD SO MUCH DIFFERENT KINDS OF LAND  THAT THEY COULD RAISE ANYTHING THEY
 WANTED, AND HE HAD MORE MULES AND HORSES AND CATTLE THAN ANYBODY AROUND THERE.
  OME6OF ,HE  ;YS6RKED WI,H8HIS FILLIES ALL ,HE  IM(.  AND8HE6WENT6OFF  O-N W
ORLEANS EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE WITH HIS RACE HORSES.  HE TOOK HIS DAUGHTER BUT TH
EY NEVER TOOK ME.
     SOME OF HIS LAND WAS IN PASTURE BUT MOST OF IT WAS ALL OPEN FIELDS, WITH JU
ST MILES AND MILES OF COTTON ROWS.  THERE WAS A PRETTY GOOD STRIP ALONG ONE SIDE
HE&CALLED THE OLD FIELDS.  THAT'S WHAT THEY CALLED THE LAND THAT WAS WORE OUT A
ND TURNED BACK.  IT WAS ALL GROWED UP IN YOUNG TREES, AND THAT'S WHERE HE KEPT H
IS HORSES MOST OF THE TIME.
     ,HE  IRST I KNOWED ABOUT ,HE WAR COMING ON WAS WHEN MR SACK8HAD A6>HOLE BUN
CH OF WHITE FOLKS AT THE BIG HOUSE AT A FUNCTION.  THEY DIDN'T TALK ABOUT ANYTHI
NG ELSE ALL EVENING AND THEN THE NEXT TIME THEY COME NEARLY ALL THEIR MENFOLKS W
ASN'T THERE--JUST THE WOMENFOLKS.  IT WASN'T VERY LONG TILL MR SACK WENT OFF TO
HOUMA WITH SOME OTHER MEN, AND PRETTY SOON WE KNOW HE WAS IN THE WAR.  I DON'T R
EMEMBER EVER SEEING HIM COME HOME.  I DON'T THINK HE DID UNTIL IT WAS NEARLY OVE
R.
     NEXT THING WE KNOWED THEY WAS CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS RIDING2BYPRETTY NEARLY
EVERY DAY IN BIG DROVES.  SOMETIMES THEY WOULD COME AND BUY CORN AND WHEAT AND H
OGS.  BUT THEY NEVER DID TAKE ANY ANYHOW, LIKE THE YANKEES DONE LATER ON.  THEY
WOULD PAY WITH BILLETS, YOUNG MISSY CALLED THEM, AND SHE DIDN'T SEND THEM TO GET
 CASHED BUT SAVED THEM A LONG TIME.  THEN SHE GOT THEM CASHED, BUT YOU  OULD)'T
BUY ANYTHING WITH THE MONEY SHE GOT FOR THEM.
     THAT CONFEDERATE MONEY SHE GOT WASN'T NO GOOD.  I WAS IN ARCADIA WITH HER A
T A STORE, AND SHE HAD TO PAY SEVENTY FIVE CENTS FOR A CAN OF SARDINES FOR ME TO
 EAT WITH SOME BREAD I HAD, AND BEFORE THE WAR YOU COULD GET A CAN LIKE THAT FOR
  WO CENT\.  ,HINGS WAS EVEN HIGHER ,HEN ,HAN LATER ON, BUT THAT'S ,HE6ON$Y  r E
9I S WHEr BUY ANYTHING.
    WHEN THE YANKEES GOT DOWN IN THAT COUNTRY MOST OF THE BIG MEN PAID FOR ALL
THE CORN AND MEAT AND THINGS THEY GOT, BUT SOME OF THE LITTLE BUNCHES OF THEM WO
ULD RIDE UP AND TAKE HOGS AND THINGS LIKE THAT AND JUST RIDE OFF.  THEY WASN'T A
NYBODY AT OUR PLACE BUT THE WOMENFOLKS A5D THE NEGROES.  SOME OF MR SACK'S WOMEN
KINFOLKS STAYED THERE WITH YOUNG MISTRESS.
     A O G AT ,HE LAST ,HE NEGROES ON O R7PLACE DIDN'T PUT IN MUCH ST FF--J STW
HAT THEY WOULD NEED, AND COULD HIDE FROM THE YANKEES, BECAUSE THEY WOULD GET IT
ALL TOOK AWAY FROM THEM IF T8E YANKEES FOUND OUT THEY HAD PLENTY OF CORN AND OAT
S.
     THE YANKEES WAS MIGHTY NICE ABOUT THEIR MANNERS, THOUGH.  THEY CAMPED ALL A
ROUND OUR PLACE FOR A WHILE.  THERE WAS THREE CAMPS OF THEM CLOSE BY AT ONE TIME
, BUT THEY NEVER DID COME AND USE ANY OF OUR HOUSES OR CABINS.  THERE WAS LOTS O
F POOR WHITES AND CAJUNS THAT LIVED DOWN BELOW US, BETWEEN US AND THE GULF, AND
THE YANKEES JUST MOVED INTO THEIR HOUSES AND CABINS AND USED THEM TO CAMP IN.
     THE NEGROES AT OUR PLACE AND ALL OF THEM AROUND THERE DIDN'T TRY TO GET AWA
Y OR LEAVE WHEN THE YANKEES COME IN.  THEY WASN'T NO PLACE TO GO, ANYWAY SO THEY
 ALL ST YED ON..  BUT THEY DIDN'T DO VERY MUCH WORK.  JUST ENOUGH TO TAKE CARE O
F THEMSELVES AND THEIR WHITE FOLKS.
     MASTER SACK COME HOME BEFORE THE WAR WAS QUITE OVER.  I ,Hr K8HE8HADBEEN S
ICK, BECAUSE HE LOOKED THIN AND OLD AND WORRIED.  ALL THE NEGROES PICKED UP AND
WORKED MIGHTY HARD AFTER HE COME HOME.  ONE DAY HE WENT INTO ARCADIA AND COME
HOME AND TOLD US THE WAR WAS OVER AND WE WAS ALL FREE.  THE NEGROES DIDN'T KNOW
WHAT TO MAKE OF IT, AND DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO GO, SO HE TOLD ALL THAT WANTED TO S
TAY ON THAT THEY COULD JUST GO ONLIKE THEY HAD BEEN AND PAY HIM SHARES.
     ABOUT HALF8HIS NEGROES STAYED ON, AND HE MARKED OFF LAND6FOR ,HEM TO FjRM A
ND MADE ARRANGEMENTS WITH THEM TO LET THEM USE THEIR CABINS, AND LET THEM HAVE M
ULES AND TOOLS.  THEY PAID HIM OUT OF THEIR SHARES, AND SOME OF THEM FINALLY BOU
GHT THE MULES AND SOME OF THE LAND.  BUT ABOUT HALF WENT ON OFF AND TRIED TO DO
 BETTER SOMEWHERES ELSE.  I DIDN'T STAY WITH HIM BECAUSE I WAS JUST A BOY AND HE
 DIDN'T NEED ME AT THE HOUSE ANYWAY.
     LATE9IN ,8E WAR MY PAPPY BELONGED  O A MAN NAMED  SANDER OR ZANDn. - !.T
BEEN ALEXANDER, BUT THE NEGROES CALLED HIM MR SANDER.  WHEN PAPPY GOT FREE HE CO
ME AND ASKED ME TO GO WITH HIM, AND I WENT A3ONG AND LIVED WITH HIM.  HE HAD A S
HARECROPPER DEAL WITH MR SANDER AND I HELPED HIM WORK HIS PATCH.  THAT PLACE WAS
 JUST A LITTLE EAST OF HOUMA, A FEW MILES.
     >HEN *Y PAPPY WAS BORN HIS PARENTS BELONGED  O A MR ADAM\,  O8HE  O K ADj S
 FOR HIS LAST NAME, AND I DID TOO, BECAUSE I WAS HIS SON.  I DO)'T K OW6>HERE
MR ADAMS LIVED, BUT I DON'T THINK MY PAPPY WAS BORN IN LOUISIANA.  ALABAMA, MAYB
E.  I THINK HIS PARENTS COME OFF THE BOAT, BECAUSE HE WAS VERY BLACK--EVEN BLACK
ER THAN I AM.
     I LIVED THERE WITH MY PAPPY UNTIL I WAS ABOUT EIGHTEEN AND THEN I MARRIED A
ND MOVED AROUND A3L OVER LOUISIANA FROM TIME TO IME.  MY WIFE GIVE ME TWELVE BOY
S AND FIVE GIRLS, BUT ALL MY CHILDREN ARE DEAD NOW BUT FIVE.  MY WIFE DIED IN
1920 AND I COME UP HERE TO TULSA TO LIVE.  ONE OF MY DAUGHTERS TAKES CARE AND LO
OKS OUT FOR ME NOW.