Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-04-25
Early RecOIIectiOns
of Old NOxubee.
ouitman, Miss April 20, 1918.

Tnere ls n2ruly week DuC suhe Va'e
who has seen my "recollections ID
writing me either to compliment the
correct memory of boy" or else
make inquiry Of matters touching upon
the days Of which write, the following
being among the letters recently re-
ceived, and would here ask that some
one who was older &C the time referred
to would give the lady the information
she seeks:-
Mendsnhall. Miss, April H. 1918
Quitman. Miss.
Dear Sir:- -
| noticed your letter in the "Ma-
con Beacon" of April l1th and judging
from same think you must have been a
resident Of that town at the close OF
war. If 80, can you give any informa-
tion as to when the government took
the cotton from the w: W. Goodwin
farm, east of Macon? / remember
having heard my husband speak OF
their hauling it away. It was when
the Yankee soldiers were stationed at
Macen, though I can't remember the
date or month. Anv information you
can give me will be highly appreciated.
Respectfully.
MRS. M. B. GOODWIN.
remember that the first sermon !
ever heard preached in Mississippi was
by Rev. Jesse Buck, of Macon, Shuqua-
lax being included in his charge and he
preaching there once month. 1t was
in 1858 slavery time-and the church
house "a union edifice) was stationed
near the cemetery on the east side of
the railroad. about 800 yards from the
south crossing.
Quite number of slave owning fam
lilies living in the country around wor-
shipped there. coming in in their con-
veyances the massive, old fashioned
carriages, pulled by two big horses,
and the bodies Of the vehicles suspended
on strong feathers fastened to semi-up-
right springs, and these carriages driv-
en- by servants who sat on top.
I remember that there were three
tiers Of seats in the building and that
the first four seats in each tier were
painted. a solid black. These were for
the negroes (the drivers, the nurses
and waiting girls) who would come
along with their owners.
And speaking Of negroes, there was
not mother and father having daugh-
ters then but who would as soon trusted
their daughters off on days journey
with one of those old trusted drivers as
with their own son. and the fact that |
never heard of negro's being lynched
until after the war. shows that the con-
fidence of these parents was well
founded.
At that time the young white boys on
the place would be saluted by the negro
servants as ''young marster;;" the
girls "young missus;" the grown ups,
'marster" and ''missus," and the old
er ones as ''old marster" and "old
missus."
1t was the day of the "pstterrolls,"
as the negroes called them-a kind of a
police organization of which all grown
up males were members, and night or
day if a negro was met on the highway
without ''pass" or privilege from his
master, he was. without further notice,
taken down and strapped this being
necessary in order to keep the young
bucks" from running away. it being
rare thing to ever hear of the older
ones evincing any such disposition.
But when the surrender at Appomat-
tox came and detachments of Yankee
cavalry seemed suddenly to appear ev-
erywhere over Mississippi, / remember
company swooped down upon Shuqua-
lax just after breakfast one morning,
and dividing out in twos and fours. they
visited every family in the little town
within an hour, ransacking their homes
for valuables; breaking open their
smoke houses and dividing the meat out
among the hundreds of negroes that
had gathered to them and had learned
from them that they were free. after
which every horse lot of the town was
visited and if there was good horse it
was taken and an old plug" left in his
stead, after which they left town as
suddenly as they had appeared, not,
however, until after they had told the
negroes to flock to Meridian where
there would be "Freedman's bureau"
established right away to teach them
the rules governing their citizenship
under the new order of things.
All along this company's travels it
seems that they had instructed the ne
groes to proceed to Meridian, for along
in the evening of the day they visited
Shuuualak the rsilroad track showed
great droves of negroes with their little
budgets on their backs, afoot, 'bound
for the promised land" Meridian. and
this continued for several days, and
what surprised people most, old trusted
negroes, who only few days before