Voices of Emancipation: Deposition of Emeline Anderson

Winter 2005, Vol. 37, No. 4

Document 2b
Deposition of Emeline Anderson to a Special Examiner
December 24, 1905, Warren, Mississippi

Source: Civil War Pension File of Charles Washington, Co. E, 47th U.S. Colored Infantry, Record Group 15, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

I will be 87 years old on the 27th of this month. My post office address is Vicksburg, Miss. I am the widow of Robert Anderson, who was 1st sergeant in Co. E, 47th U.S.C. Inf. I was married to him long before the war and was with his regiment all the time he was in the service. I was cook and washerwoman for Capt. Hathaway and the other officers of Co. E, 47th U.S.C. Inf. Yes sir, I knew Charley Washington. He was a member of Co. E, 47th, U.S. C. Inf. He was a corporal in the company. No sir, he was not a sergeant, if so I have forgotten it, but know he was a corporal. I had known him several years before the war. I was a slave of Mr. James Berry, who owned a plantation on the Mississippi River, up above Lake Providence, La., and then he bought a plantation and all the slaves on it, and this man Charley Washington was one of the slaves on that plantation. I do not remember now the name of the man from whom he bought that plantation, but I know that the place was on Joe's Bayou, La., a long ways from where we lived on the Mississippi River. I was never on that place until about the time the soldiers came through there, and then my old master ran us to the place he had on Joe's Bayou, and he ran a part of his slaves to Texas. He intended to send all of us to Texas, but the Yankees came in before he got us away. Yes sir, Charley Washington had a wife when I first knew him. Her name was Harriet. She was one of them who were carried to Texas. We heard that she was dead. Charley was going to get his wife from Texas and he heard she was dead and then he married a woman by the name of Charity, who was the widow of a man by the name of Walker, think his full name was Walker Hubbard. No sir, we did not call her Cherry, we called her Charity. Her husband was a member of my husband's company and he died while he was a soldier of yellow jaundice. I do not know when he married Cherry, or Charity as I was not present. I am not certain whether they married while he was a soldier or after. I heard that they were married. No sir, I never heard her called Cherry Green. Charley Washington lives up above Lake Providence La. or did live there about a year ago. I have a brother by the name of Anthony Brown, who lives not far from where Charley Washington lives and he told me about a year ago that Charley lived near him. The both lived on the Blackburn plantation, on Lake Providence. Question. How old was Charley Washington when he went into the army. Answer. I could not tell you. He had been married a long time before the war, and had two or three children before he went into the army. I would guess that the oldest one was nine or ten years old. He had two boys and think he had one girl. Question. Which is the older, you or Charley Washington. Answer. I am "heap the oldest." I had six children when I was carried to Joe's Bayou and he did not have but two. I am positive that the Charley Washington who was a slave of Mr. James Berry was a member of Co. E, 47th U.S.C. Inf. He is a brown colored man, and had a raw boned face. I saw him three or four years ago. Have no idea how old he was when he went into the army, but know he was not as old as I was. I did not know my age at that time. Question. Did you ever know a man, a white man by the name of Vincent, or Vinson. Answer. I knew Mr. Vincest Tucker. Question. Did you ever know a doctor Vincent. Answer. I do not remember that name now. Question. Was not that the name of the man from whom Mr. Berry bought the plantation which was on Joe's Bayou. Answer. I do not remember. I have forgotten the name of that man. Have no interest in this claim. This deposition has been read to me. I thoroughly understood your questions and my answers are correctly recorded.

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