| Eli Coleman was born in 1846 and has a long memory of enslavement. In this excerpt he describes what it was like to serve alongside his enslaver in the Civil War. *Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted]. See more information. |
Excerpt:
Master was a colonel in the war and took me along to care for his horse and gun. Those guns, you couldn’t hear anything popping. We [redacted] had to go all over and pick up those who were killed. The hurt we carried back. Those too badly hurt we had to carry to the burying place and the White man would finish killing them, so we could roll them in the hole.
| Interviewee Formerly enslaved person | Birth Year (Age) | Interviewer WPA Volunteer | Enslaver’s Name |
| Eli Coleman | 1846 (91) | Unknown | George Brady |
| Interview Location | Residence State | Birth Location |
| Texas | Texas | Kentucky |
| Themes & Keywords | Additional Tags: |
| Civil War | First person, witnessed extreme cruelty, Union Troops |
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