Thought this might be of some interest to the list.It is a transcript of a tape made by my grandfather Toby Lonzo Holsted (I did the interview). His father Robert Holsted was about age 15 at the end of the Civil War. They lived in Searcy County AR. Lemuel, father of Robert was killed in Feb 1865. This is Robert's account of life immediately after the war. If no interest just hit delete. What did they do they after he (Lemuel) was killed? How did they make a crop? They had a little field back up the holler and they went up there and planted corn. Now these boys did that-they's three of em. My dad and two brothers, but I don't remember which one's what, and they up there and was hoein corn and they come back down, they talked it over and decided they's goin to starve to death. They come back down through by an old man by the name of Adams. Dad always called him Uncle Joe, Joe Adams, and he hollered at the boys and asked em why they was quittin. Said well they knowed it wasn't no use to work, they knowed that corn, they couldn't wait till that was growed, they decided they'd just go on, and the old man hollered at em and told them to go down there and get a sheep he had, an old black sheep, and kill it, butcher it, and eat it. And that's what they done, went back to the field, and went to hoein their corn. Something about eating buds off the trees, or somethin? He said he eat sassafras buds down-lot of people don't know what a sassafras is-but it's a little sprout that grows there in Arkansas, you know, and they eat this slippery elm bark, peel the rough part off, and eat the slippery elm bark and eat buds off bushes. That's what they lived on. And he said the first good meal he got after they liked to starved to death, his mother took him to one of the neighbors once and they had bear meat for dinner, and she was afraid he'd eat enough to kill him. Wouldn't let him eat all of it he wanted. I've heard him tell it so many times-it was the best meal he thought he ever eat, was that bear meat. Because he hadn't had any meat in such a long time? That's right. And them days they didn't have no salt to put in their food, even when they had meat, didn't had no salt. And they'd go in these old smoke houses where they had salted meat years ago and dig up that dirt and put it in the water and boil the water off and strain it through somethin and use that for salt. No salt 'cause of the War, was that what it was? They just run out of salt. Nobody didn't have no salt. Because of the War. Yeah, and I don't know why they run out of salt, but they did. There's no natural salt down in that area where??? No, not that I know of.

I can answer part of the salt question. It ties in with my 2gtgrandaddy, David P. MORGAN, and the other Union Men in Florida. Prior to the war, there were salt works all along the coast of Florida, which provided salt to most of the South and even the North. After the War began, salt became a prize commodity due to the necessity of preserving the meats for the soldiers. Union gunboats would send units ashore to destroy these salt works. The Rebs would start up more primitive sites, and the gunboats, with the assistance of the anti-secessionist bands, such as White's Band(my grandfather's), Strickland's Band(Taylor Co.), Coker's Band, Ward's Band, etc., would come in and destroy them ...again and again....and again. BTW, I proudly claim ancestry on both sides of the War of the Northern Aggression. On the matter of the Reconstruction...the North merely had to re-build a small segment of its' infrastructure. The South was under the most brutal occupation of our nation's history (no other defeated nation has been treated so badly, with the exception of the Indians). Our lands were stolen from us, our women were brutalized, our men were murdered. The stories of the Carpetbaggers and the military districts which were established are glossed over, or completely ignored. The reason for the rise of the KKK is usually ignored,also, but it was an act of desperation, by brave and strong men, to try and preserve their families and what was left of their land. It became, sadly, a caricature of hatred and bias, and no longer has a place in our society. God bless, Carolyn ----- Original Message ----- From: Judy Oldziewski <harness75@earthlink.net> To: <Southern-Trails-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 3:35 AM Subject: [SouthernTrails] Life after the Civil War > Thought this might be of some interest to the list.It is a transcript of > a tape made by my grandfather Toby Lonzo Holsted (I did the interview). > His father Robert Holsted was about age 15 at the end of the Civil War. > They lived in Searcy County AR. Lemuel, father of Robert was killed in > Feb 1865. This is Robert's account of life immediately after the war. If > no interest just hit delete. > > What did they do they after he (Lemuel) was killed? How did they make a > crop? > > They had a little field back up the holler and they went up there and > planted corn. Now these boys did that-they's three of em. My dad and > two brothers, but I don't remember which one's what, and they up there > and was hoein corn and they come back down, they talked it over and > decided they's goin to starve to death. They come back down through by > an old man by the name of Adams. Dad always called him Uncle Joe, Joe > Adams, and he hollered at the boys and asked em why they was quittin. > Said well they knowed it wasn't no use to work, they knowed that corn, > they couldn't wait till that was growed, they decided they'd just go on, > and the old man hollered at em and told them to go down there and get a > sheep he had, an old black sheep, and kill it, butcher it, and eat it. > And that's what they done, went back to the field, and went to hoein > their corn. > > Something about eating buds off the trees, or somethin? > > He said he eat sassafras buds down-lot of people don't know what a > sassafras is-but it's a little sprout that grows there in Arkansas, you > know, and they eat this slippery elm bark, peel the rough part off, and > eat the slippery elm bark and eat buds off bushes. That's what they > lived on. And he said the first good meal he got after they liked to > starved to death, his mother took him to one of the neighbors once and > they had bear meat for dinner, and she was afraid he'd eat enough to > kill him. Wouldn't let him eat all of it he wanted. I've heard him > tell it so many times-it was the best meal he thought he ever eat, was > that bear meat. > > Because he hadn't had any meat in such a long time? > > That's right. And them days they didn't have no salt to put in their > food, even when they had meat, didn't had no salt. And they'd go in > these old smoke houses where they had salted meat years ago and dig up > that dirt and put it in the water and boil the water off and strain it > through somethin and use that for salt. > > No salt 'cause of the War, was that what it was? > > They just run out of salt. Nobody didn't have no salt. > > Because of the War. > > Yeah, and I don't know why they run out of salt, but they did. > > There's no natural salt down in that area where??? > > No, not that I know of. > > ______________________________