lantations became crueland cold hearted. Mattie Curtiss mistress whipped the slaves to the point of unbearablepain when she received news on the death of her son. Master Charley hit a slave girlnamed Missy with a hot poker stick and then says, Free de niggers, will dey? I freedem(10), as he gets a gun and heads for the field. Annie Row, the slave girl witnessingall this, ran and screamed because she had brothers and sisters in de field whar de niggersam a-working (10). The cruel and disgusted treatments did not halt; they continued andexpanded throughout the Civil War.Even with the cruel and unspeakable treatment the slaves received, some of theslaves were still faithful and loyal to their masters and mistresses. To play dumb waswhat most of the slaves did to protect their masters or mistresses from the Yankees. Oneslave hid the familys silverware and even struck his masters children to keep theYankees distracted. The slave cried like a child when the Yankees left because he didnot want to hit the children but felt it was necessary to protect the masters family. Onegroup of slaves even humiliated themselves to keep their master, John Williams, frombeing physically abused by the Yankees. The Yankees had order Williams to dance ormake his slaves dance. When he stood up and looked at the slaves, the slaves started todance. The soldiers were then happy and content, and no harm was done to Williams. Oneof the dancing slaves said, We act lak we dancing for de Yankees, but we trying to pleaseMaster and Mistress more than anything, and purty soon he begin to smile a little and weall feel a lot better (151). Many slaves lied that their owners were true Union patriots, butcould not show their patriotism because of the Confederates. While some of the slaveswere faithful and loyal, others were called betrayers by their owners. As the war continued, slaveholders viewed their slaves as back stabbers. The slaveholders could not realiz...
