"I done tol' de col'nel all how it was.

I was wid my Massa from Louisiana, an' he was a captain, sah! 'Bout two weeks ago he lef' me down yander on de pike wid orders fo' to stay dere till he done come back.

But it wa'n't no job fo' me, sah, an' so I skipped out de first night, an' joined up wid de Yanks.

I reckon I knows 'bout whar I belongs in dis yere fightin', an' I ain't nobody's slave no mor'." The lad's earnestness impressed me, and beneath his words was evident a deep smouldering resentment, not so much against slavery as against the individual who had owned him.
"What is your name, my boy ?" "Charles Le Gaire, sah.".