Report of the Joint select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states, so far as regards the execution of laws, and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States and Testimony taken.

1904 CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
Question. Yes, sir.
Answer. I did all I could.
Question. Tell the committee what you did.
Answer. If soldiers passed by and required sustenance or food, I have contributed
as far as I had.
Question. Did you remain at home during the war?
Answer. I remained at home, with the exception of about from December-hold on;
wait till I get that out-December, I think it was, in 1861, until July 1862.
Question. Where were you during that time?
Answer. I went up here to Demopolis a short time after the rebellion broke out. I remained there.
Question. What wr o oin ere you doing there?
Ansiwer. I was with the Fortieth Alabama Regiment.
Question. What were you doing there?
Answer. Waiting upon the boys who were sick.
Question. You were surgeon to that regiment?
Answer. No, sir; I was a private. I was there voluntarily.
Question. You were a volunteer?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. You never raised a company?
Answer. No, sir; no pay. I paid my own way; recruited.
Question. With that exception did you remain in Choctaw County during the war?
Answer. Yes, sir; I went down to Mobile fronm Demopolis and staid until some time
in July.
Question. With the regiment?
Answer. Yes, sir; and came back home.
Question. Were your ever present with the regiment in any engagement?
Answer. No, sir; it had none.
Question. Were there any Federal soldiers or company through Choctaw County?
Answer. None that I ever saw.
Question. You were never present, then, at any conflict between this regiment and the
Federal soldiers?
Answer. No, sir; I left it before it got into active service.
Question. Were you in favor of the secession ordinance?
Answer. I was in favor of our country.
Question. You voted in favor of the delegates to the convention to pass the ordinance.
did you?
Answzer. Hold on a while about that-the year before that time I was an old-line
whig.
Question. You thought it was right for Alabama to go out of the Union?
Ansiwer. I thought when it was precipitated upon us, and there was no other alternative, that we had to do this; it was for our homes.
Question. That is what I wanted to know.
Answer. I was in for protecting our homes, our firesides, our people, our country; and
thought it a very judicious and religious act.
Question. I did not ask for a speech; only the facts.
Answer. I just threw that out.
Question. You have mentioned the murders of Abe Lyon, of Ezell, of Rogers, of Dunn,
and of Campbell. What other murders do you know to have been committed in Choctaw County?
Answer. Understand me; those I do not know of. There is only one murder I know
of.
Question. You believe them to have been' committed?
Answer. Rumor states that.
Question. My question is, do you believe it?
Answer. I have no right to doubt it.
Question. Do you believe that any other murders have been committed since the surrender, in Choctaw County?
Answer. I cannot believe anything I never heard.
Question. Have you ever heard of any other murders?
Answer. No; yes, I recollect one.
Question. State it.
Answer. I think that occurred in 1868.
Question. What case was that?
Answer. A negro by the name of Dud Woodward; I think that was in 1868.
Question. Was he killed?
Alnswer. Yes, sir; he was killed.
Qucstion. Did you Lunderstand what the circumstances were?
Answcer. The rumor or the facts that were communicated to me was that he was a
democratic negro; a negro supposed civil and quiet; he liked to live with white