The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-07-23


those poor creatures who had to bear
the burden of It's tolls. Still fewer,
perhaps, are aware that one of Ben
nington's well known citizens was
born a slave and until his sixteenth
year served his master with fidelity
This man is none other tnan Doc
Miller, whom everybody knows. The
story of his life would furnish mater
lal for a masterpiece of fiction filed
with historical interest and thrilling
adventures of war.
He was born in Prince Edward
county, Virginia, near a small town
called Red House on December %,
1919 His parents were slaves owned
by Captain Henry Lee who had a
plantation of some thousand acres in
the vicinity of the town. The captain
was considered one of the ricnest men
in the state, having over a hundred
slaves on his immense farm. AS far
as Doc" knows Captain Lee was not
a relative of General Lee of Civil war
fame and took no part in the struggle
as he died about five years before ii
started.
Like all other slave children Miller
grew up without any education and
instruction of any sort. In summer
his wardrobe consisted of a combin-
alton linen suit made out of the same
material rsed for sacks at the present
day and ut in a similar fashion with
the addition of sleeves. In winter
every slave was allowed to wear
SHOES made by cobbler on the plan
tation but as soon as the warm wealth
er came they had to be dotted. When
working about the house slaves had
uniform.
When he was five years old Captain
Lee gave him as wedding present
to his daughter Nancy, who married
Sim Flelshman in Appomatox county.
The captains daughter took a fancy
to aim when he was a baby and when
he came into her possession she treat
ed him like her own child He stayed
with her until he was IA years old,
being engaged in doing odd jobs about
the house and waiting on table.
When the Civil war broke out ne
groes between 10 and 40 years of age
were being drafted on all sides. His
mistress, unwilling to have him go TO
the front and perhaps be killed, let
him out to a contractor who was sup
plying logs to be used as breast works
by the Confederate army. This made
him exempt from drafting He drove
mules from the mountains to Appoma-
tox depot Later he was taken to
Glade Springs, Va, where he was en-
ployed in cutting down trees. These
were used in boiling the salt water OF
the nearby Chesapeake Bay to extract
the salt for use in the southern army.
Later he returned to the vicinity of
Appomatox but was still employed by
the government drawing logs.
He remained at this work until the
spring of 1865. In speaking of the
happenings about the time of General
Lees surrender TO a Banner reporter
recently Doc gave graphic descrip-
ton of the last days of the campaign
as follows. ION Saturday morning
early in April four Johnnies (the
name the Union soldiers called the
Confederates) stopped hastily at the
house of Wyatt Abbott where | was
staying and said, The Yankees are
coming. What can we do?' The mas
ter of the house was as perpleXed as
the soldiers but ordered Aunt Lucy to
get the men something to eat as they
had been without food for two or
three days and were almost starved.
He turned the horses over to me TO
put in the stable. One of the party
afterwards learned was Lees adju-
tant general and the other privates.
Well, the party had just got ready to
sit down to eat when a great crash
came at the gate. The soldiers cried,
The Yankees are after us and run
ming out the back door swan across
the river and hid in the woods.
There were three Yankees, Frank
II. HOLSTER of Bennington and Steve
Clapp of Rupert and William Bedding
of Peru. They came into the house
and ate the food prepared for the
Johnnies. After they finished eating
they said to Aunt Lucy You are free
woman and the same to all the slaves
They went to the dairy and filled their
canteens with cider brandy and pass
ing over to the smoke house helped |
to hams. Taking the !
Johnnies' horses and their own they !
loaded on two hams on each horse |
and filed all the canteens WITH apple
lack. With two boys besides myself |
they started towards the Union army !
and told us to follow them"
Before they reached the lines, he I
they got into skirmish |
with some of the confederate soldiers !
living around in the bushes and be- |
came separated. When they reached !
camp Miller was the only negro in |
the party, the others having gone as
tray in the woods. In this the expert
ence gained by riding horseback with
his mistress in the woods served nim
10 good advantage. He was station
ed with the pack train for few days
Later Frank HOLSTER brought him
to Captain Alvah r. Haswell of co. u
First Vermont Cavalry of which he
was a member. The captain was
White Creek man, son of John Has
well of that town. He was anxious 10
learn what the young negro's name
was and wnen he heard that 1t was
Charles Fleischman, he thought that
This was too long and decided to call
him DOC" for short. Thus the sub
iect of our story received the name
by which he has always since Deeh
known. He remained WITH captain
HasweIl as his orderly until the close
of the war
, After Lee surrendered and the
troops were reviewed in Washington
the company started for home traveE