The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1876-11-16
" Uncle Jake" Pullfa,n.

1nere dled near hOSsvllle, lenn., IeH
days ago, a venerable and remarkable
old negro-perhaps one of the Oldest in
the land; man who has seen generation
after generation come upon the stage Of
life, act hispart and pass off into oblivion
He has seen his friends born, ripened
into manhood, and gone down in old age
to the grave. Children Uf three genera,
tions have clustered around his knees
and heard his recital of the legends of a
past century, and have, one after an
other, been laid to rest in grave over
which his tears have fallen. Yet, like
the Wandering Jew" of Sues great
fiction, he has been forced to ego on /"
until the Creator that gave him life
should see fit to take back the gift.
"Uncle Jake" Pulliam has for many
years been living in the county where he
died., having before the war been the
slave of the Pulliam family. " Uncle
Jake" claimed to be one hundred and
ffty-six years old, and was probably,
judging from his age at the time various
scenes were enacted, not less than one
hundred and twenty-five years old.
To men of this generation there is
something weird and almost incompre-
hensible in the existence but week ago
of one who was man grown at the time
of the birth of the republic. The old
mans stories of the stormy events of the
Revolution were singularly fresh and &C.
curate, and showed that he had acted his
part in those great and perilous scene.
which attended the ushering into ex-
istence of the best government the world
has ever seen. The history of this old
patriarch's life as he has told it over and
over again beside the pine-knot fire be-
fore his cabin. door, contains so much that
is marvellous that it should not be with
held from the public.
Uncle Jake's earliest memories take
him back to a confused mingling of a
savage crowd-a sea voyage, and the
crowding of new sensations of a strange
people and in a strange land. From all
of which Uncle Jake thought that he
was brought to this country when he was
about ten years old. He never knew a
mother or father. His first home was
among the rice fields of the Carolinas,
where he was for several years don't
know how many, employed Ground de
house." When about seventeen years
old he was sold to the Du Pont family
of Huguenot extraction, and was the
body servant of the "young mass'r, u
Henry Du Pont. When the Revolution
began in l775 his young master enlisted
as an ensign under Moultrie in the Con-
tinential army, and he accompanied him.
The old man says he was then "jes about
grone, and didn't hab no har on my
chin" He remembers clearly his first
engagement with the Red Goats; it was
when Colonel Moultrie sent his young
master with their captain, Marion, to
take Fort johnson. When the fort was
taken be himself rammed the ball in one
of the cannon that was turned against
the British fleet. Uncle Jake tells some
marvellous tales of his own personal dar-
ing upon that and similar occasions. One
ludicrous incident of how "de sojers
LATED" when a ball striking the sand
bags of the fort he was covered upto the
chin and lay yelling for help, thinking
the rest of his anatomy had been carried
off by the shot.
At the assault on Savannah by the
combined forces of the French and
Americans his young master fell by the
side of the gallant Pole, Count Pulaski
The old mans voice would grow husky
as he spoke of the burial by torchlight on
the margin of the marsh, and how Cap
tain Marion kindly patted his shoulder
as he lay sobbing on the ground, and
said, Never mind, Jake. He fell like 8
brave man, and you can tell his father
So"
After that he attached himself to
Marion, and was, after the return of the
command to Carolina, presented to
Marion by his old master for his use
until the close of the war. Uncle Jake
could tell many incidents of the siege OF
Charleston; how Marion's leg was broken
there, and how he helped to bandage up
the shattered limb. He was with the
"Swamp Fox in all his battles and am
bushes with Tarleton and his tories, be-
ing once captured by that bold rider, but
afterward escaping, carrying off Tarle.
toms own pack mule with his private
baggage. He followed Marion through
the swamps of the Pedee and Santee
Rivers; was present when three
BritisheTs" were swung up to one limb
by way of retaliation for the hanging Of
three of Marion's men. He describes
Marion as a small man whom he feared
and yet loved devotedly. But strangesi
of all is the narrative Uncle Jake gives Of
an incident which is familiar to every
schoolboy. The instance of the visit o.
the English officer to Marion at Snow
Island, and how Marion gave him din
ing on potatoes. Uncle Jake affirms that
his hand put "dem taters in de ashes
and took dem out on sharp stick, and
put dem on de log between de General
and de officer" After the war Jake
returned to the old homestead. The cole
mass'r" had gone down in sorrow to the
grave, to be followed soon by cole
missis." The plantation was sold and the
slaves scattered among various owners
Jake fell to the lot of cousin of the Du
Points, who lived in the rice country o.
South Carolina. Here his children and
grandchildren grew around him.
When he was, he says, about sixty
years old, he went down the river tc
Savannah, pulling de six ode boat,
used on such occasions. There everything
was on the streets cheering and yelling
as an old man richly dressed drove BY