Fort Bill. 



It was at Fort Donaldson that he built his famous fort called by 

 the soldiers Fort Bill — a small place dug in the ground and covered 

 with logs to keep the bullets out; where he would seek cover, he said, 

 when they began to shoot, and where he would try and coax his young 

 inarsters. When Fort Donaldson surrendered in the night Bill stole 

 out and found a place unguarded and took his young masters out with 

 important papers, and they escaped. They then joined Gen. Forest, 

 acting as scouts and guides. After the Stone river battle Rill under- 

 took to get another darkey through the lines, but was caught by the 

 guard, the Sixth Indiana Regiment, and quickly thrust into prison as a 

 spy. He says, "I told the Yanks I was tired of the rebels and wanted 

 to be free; but they called in some men who were Union men, that 

 lived at my home, and they told the officers I was the worst rebel in 

 the South, and to hold me till they caught my young master, A. W. 

 Key, and hang us both together. 



"I staid in that prison six weeks, when one day Gen. Naglee stated 

 he wanted a cook, and some one who knew me told him I was the best 

 cook in the country, so he and Capt. Prather both came and wanted 

 me. I liked the looks of Capt. Prather, and I knew he was a great 

 poker-player, and I had never found a man that could beat me, so I 

 went with Capt. Prather and in six weeks I owned everything he had; 

 he owed me over a thousand dollars. He gave me a pass to go home 

 for the debt. 



"At the battle of Shiloh I was with my young master again, and I 

 tried to shoot him in the calve of the leg so that he would not have to 

 fight any more, but he kept too close a watch on me. 



Went to Get $100,000. 



■'The second time the Yanks caught me I went into their lines to 

 get $500,000 in Confederate money. A man who knew me offered me 

 $100,000 in Confederate money if I would go to a certain store which 

 a. Union man kept and bring back the money that was hid there. I 

 didn't like this job, but there was so much money in it that one night 

 I stole out by the camp, and when I had got in the town the first man 

 I met was my worst enemy. 



In a Slave Driver's Grasp. 



"He was a slave-driver, and had tried to buy me; and when I per- 

 suaded my master not to sell me he swore he would get me some day 

 and lick the blood out of me. Well, he clapped me into prison and 

 told me he would have me hung before daylight; and he would, but a 

 lawyer, W. H. Wiseman, who knew me, and that I had money, said if 

 I would give him $i,ooo he would get me off. I had the money in my 

 shoe, sewed between the soles. 



"My case was put off time and time again by this lawyer, and one 

 day the inspector said he wanted a good whitewasher. I told him that 

 was my regular business, and that my brushes were at a certain store 

 in town. He sent me there with a guard. I went behind the counter 

 and pulled off the sole of my shoe and gave the money to a lady who 

 run the store, and she gave it to Lawyer Wiseman. The next day the 

 rebels raided and captured the place, and I was let go and my money 

 was gone too. 



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