William Branch
From:
Texas
WILLIAM BRANCH, born 1850, 322 Utah St., San Antonio, Texas.
Eyesight is so poor someone must lead him to the store or to
church. William kneels at his bedside each evening at five and says
his prayers. In this ceremony he spends a half hour or more
chanting one Negro spiritual after another.
"Yahsur, I was a slave. I was bo'n May 13, 1850, on the place of Lawyer
Woodson in Lunenburg County, Virginia. It was 'bout 75 miles southwest
of Richmond. They was two big plantations, one on one side the road,
yother the yother. My marster owned 75 slaves. He raised tobacco and
cotton. I wukked tobacco sometime, sometime cotton. Dere wasn't no
whippin' or switchin'. We had to wuk hard. Marster Woodson was a rich
man. He live in a great big house, a lumber house painted white. And it
had a great big garden.
"De slaves lives in a long string of log houses. Dey had dirt floors and
shingle roofs. Marster Woodson's house was shingle roof too. We had home
cured bacon and veg'tables, dried co'n, string beans and dey give us hoe
cakes baked in hot ashes. Dere always was lots of fresh milk.
"How'd us slaves git de clothes? We carded de cotton, den de women spin
it on a spinnin' wheel. After dat day sew de gahment togeddah
on a sewin' machine. Yahsur, we's got sewin' machine, wid a big wheel
and a handle. One woman tu'n de handle and de yuther woman do de
sewin'.
"Dat's how we git de clothes for de 75 slaves. Marster's clothes? We
makes dem for de whole fam'ly. De missis send de pattren and de slaves
makes de clothes. Over nigh Richmond a fren' of Marster Woodson has 300
slaves. Dey makes all de clothes for dem.
"I was with Marster twel de Yankees come down to Virginia in 1861. De
sergeant of de Yankees takes me up on his hoss and I goes to Washington
wid de Yankees. I got to stay dere 'cause I'd run away from my marster.
"I stay at de house of Marse Frank Cayler. He's an ole time hack driver.
I was his houseboy. I stay dere twel de year 1870, den I goes to
Baltimore and jines de United States Army. We's sent to Texas 'count of
de Indians bein' so bad. Dey put us on a boat at Baltimore and we landed
at Galveston.
"Den we marches from Galveston to Fort Duncan. It was up, up, de whole
time. We ties our bedclothes and rolls dem in a bundle wid a strap. We
walks wid our guns and bedclothes on our backs, and de wagons wid de
rations follows us. Dey is pulled by mules. We goes 15 miles ev'ry day.
We got no tents, night come, we unrolls de blankets and sleeps under de
trees, sometime under de brush.
"For rations we got canned beans, milk and hardtack. De hard tacks is 3
or 4 in a box, we wets 'em in water and cooks 'em in a skillet. We gits
meat purty often. When we camps for de night de captain say, 'You'all
kin go huntin'.' Before we git to de mountains dere's deer and rabbits
and dey ain't no fences. Often in de dark we sees a big animal and we
shoots. When we bring 'im to camp, de captain say, 'Iffen de cow got
iron burns de rancher gwineter shoot hisself a nigger scout.' But de cow
ain't got no iron, it's--what de name of de cow what ain't feel de iron?
Mavrick, yahsur. We eats lots of dem Mavricks. We's goin' 'long de
river bottom, and before we comes to Fort Duncan we sees de cactus and
muskeet. Dere ain't much cattle, but one colored scout shoots hisself a
bear. Den we eats high. Fort Duncan were made of slab lumber and de roof
was gravel and grass.
"Den we's ordered to Fort Davis and we's in de mountains now. Climb,
climb all day, and de Indians give us a fit ev'ry day. We kills some
Indians, dey kills a few soldiers. We was at Fort Clark a while. At Fort
Davis I jines de colored Indian Scouts, I was in Capt. George L.
Andrew's Co. K.
"We's told de northern Cheyennes is on a rampus and we's goin' to Fort
Sill in Indian Territory. Before we gits to Fort Concho (San Angelo) de
Comanches and de Apaches give us a fit. We fitten' 'em all de time and
when we gits away from de Comanches and Apaches we fitten de Cheyennes.
Dey's seven feet tall. Dey couldn't come through that door.
"When we gits to Fort Sill, Gen. Davidson say de Cheyennes is off de
reservation, and he say, 'You boys is got to git dem back. Iffen you
kill 'em, dey can't git back to de reservation.' Den we goes scoutin'
for de Cheyennes and dey is scoutin' for us. Dey gits us first, on de
Wichita River was 500 of 'em, and we got 75 colored Indian Scouts. Den
Red Foot, de Chief of de Cheyennes, he come to see Capt. Lawson and say
he want rations for his Indians. De captain say he cain't give no
rations to Indians off de reservation. Red Foot say he don't care 'bout
no reservation and he say he take what we got. Capt. Lawson 'low we
gotter git reinforcements. We got a guide in de scout troop, he call
hisself Jack Kilmartin. De captain say, 'Jack, I'se in trouble, how kin
I git a dispatch to Gen. Davidson?' Jack say, 'I kin git it through.'
And Jack, he crawl on his belly and through de brush and he lead a pony,
and when he gits clear he rides de pony bareback twel he git to Fort
Sill. Den Gen. Davidson, he soun' de gin'ral alarm and he send two
companies of cavalry to reinforce us. But de Cheyennes give 'em a fit
all de way, dey's gotter cut dere way through de Cheyennes.
"And Col. Shafter comes up, and goes out in de hills in his shirt
sleeves jus' like you's sittin' dere. Dey's snow on de groun' and de
wind's cole, but de colonel don't care, and he say, 'Whut's dis order
Gen. Davidson give? Don' kill de Cheyennes? You kill 'em all from de
cradle to de Cross.'
"And den we starts de attack. De Cheyennes got Winchesters and rifles
and repeaters from de government. Yahsur, de government give 'em de guns
dey used to shoot us. We got de ole fashion muzzle loaders. You puts one
ball in de muzzle and shove de powder down wid de ramrod. Den we went in
and fit 'em, and 'twas like fightin' a wasp's nest. Dey kills a lot of
our boys and we nearly wipes 'em out. Den we disarms de Cheyennes we
captures, and turns dere guns in to de regiment.
"I come to San Antonio after I'se mustered out and goes to work for de
Bell Jewelry Company and stays dere twel I cain't work no more. Did I
like de army? Yahsur, I'd ruthuh be in de army dan a plantation slave."
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Clara Brim
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Jacob Branch
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