Pike-Lamar County GaArchives Biographies.....Manry, Elizabeth Hill November 18 1837 - March 15 1935
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Lynn Cunningham http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002535 December 28, 2004, 1:38 pm

Author: Mrs. Elizabeth Hill Manry
When the war first began, there were four members of my family, including my 
father, mother, one brother, Ben Hill, and myself. My other brother, Joseph W. 
Hill, at this time was in Arkansas in which state he enlisted in the Western 
division of the Confederate Army. He did not live long after enlisting and died 
near Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1862, having been transferred to Kentucky from 
Arkansas. My younger brother, Ben Hill was among the first volunteers of the 
Quitman Guard so only my father, mother and I were left at home. Our colored 
family was composed of two women, four young men and several children. My 
father and mother were both advanced in years and I soon realized that if aught 
were to be accomplished on the farm, that I must “put my shoulder to the 
wheel.” I had never had experience with farm work but I had plenty of 
determination and I found one of the negro boys particularly helpful as he was 
so willing. My father was taken sick early in 1862 and died three days after my 
brother Ben was killed in battle. We did not know tho that he had been killed 
until after my father was buried. Our farm work progressed very well until some 
one stole one of our horses just when we needed him most to finish up the crop.

I had no money with which to buy another but our faithful cook “Sally” who was 
always looking out for our interests, heard that our soldiers, who were being 
transferred to the West from Virginia, were anxious to buy pies, in fact 
anything in the way of eatables and she suggested that we make blackberry pies 
for them. We had a large berry patch near the house and with the help of the 
negro children, we would pick enough berries to make forty or fifty pies per 
day. Sally made the pies, baking them on the old fashioned oven that was so 
much used in that day. It is doubtful if there was a stove in Monroe County at 
the time so all cooking was done in this way. We had no sugar with which to 
sweeten the pies as that was of course a real luxury but we had plenty of honey 
as my father was a real apiarist having as many as fifty stands of bees at the 
time, and so we sweetened the pies with honey.

Sally would take them in a big basket on her head to Colliers Station where the 
trains stopped and where without any trouble whatever she could get $1.00 each 
for them, this, of course, being Confederate money. When the berry season was 
over, we used other fruits such as apples, peaches, and plums. With the 
Confederate money in hand, first bought a blind mare with a mule colt, the colt 
being about six months old. I paid $450.00 for the two. A short time after this 
the train killed one of our oxen and seeing the necessity of having another, I 
bargained with Mr. David McDade for a pair, paying $640.00 for the pair. Taking 
William, one of the faithful hands with Andrew, a very small boy in the buggy 
behind our blind mare we made the trip to Mr. McDade’s. William brought them 
back and Andrew rode back with me. As we got in sight of home, the colt which 
had been confined in the lot during our absence began to nicker and my mother 
who was out in the yard became very uneasy for fear the old mare would run into 
the train which was coming around the curve, as we had to pass the crossing 
before getting to the house. I was not at all afraid tho I was somewhat amused 
at the little boy who kept saying to me “rein her to the fence, Miss Liza, rein 
her to the fence” meaning, of course to turn her head to the fence instead of 
to the raid road crossing. The train passes on nor was there any wreck.

Well, the farm work moved along alright, the mare died after many moons, but we 
raised the colt to be eighteen months old when some Union soldier stole him, 
riding him as far as Zebulon where he abandoned him. He was large and the man 
who got him probably thought he was older.

In some time the man who took him in found out that he was my property and 
brought him down to me in return for which I gave him twenty yards of jeans 
cloth that I had spun and woven.

[Transcribed 12/27/04 Lynn Cunningham]

Additional Comments:
From copy obtained at Old Jail Museum and Archives, Barnesville, Georgia. 
Compiled by Shanna English.

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