IN 1861 I saw a troop of soldiers drilling west of Spring Place, Georgia, near the place where I am now living. That was the first group of soldiers I ever saw.
When I was a boy, an old colored man wanted a white boy and me to get some whisky for him, as the colored people could not get any whisky in those days. So Bill Ellis the white boy that went with me, he was about my age, bought the whisky and had it put in a jug. We started on back, and on our way we had to pass through a place called "the haunted holler." There we stopped and began to draw us some of the whisky. We had a bottle but could not see how to pour the whisky, so we drew it out in our mouths and then emptied it into the bottle until we had the bottle full. We then took up our load and began to travel. When I got home and sat down by the fire it made me sick, and "Miss Rebecka" asked me what was the matter, so I told her that I had been to town and some one had shocked me on the shocking machine. She said, "all right, I will see about it," and Mrs. Scythe Luffman came along and told her that she had seen Bill and me with some whisky, so she asked me again and I had to tell her the truth. She then asked Bill about it and made it so plain that he had to tell her just how it was. I tell you Mrs. Rebecka was hard to fool, but we sure did fool her about Watch (the dog) killing her sheep.
Memoirs Of A Slave