No slav'ry chains to tie me down,
And no mo' driver's ho'n to blow fer me
No mo' stocks to fasten me down
Jesus break slav'ry chain, Lord
Break slav'ry chain Lord,
Break slav'ry chain Lord,
Da Heben gwinter be my home.
Harriett's parents remained with the widowed woman for a while. Had they
not remained, she might not have met Gaylord Jeannette, the knight in
Blue, who later became her husband. He was a member of Company "I", 35th
Regiment. She is still a bit breathless when she relates the details of
the military wedding that followed a whirlwind courtship which had its
beginning on the citadel green, where the soldiers stationed there held
their dress parade. After these parades there was dancing by the
soldiers and belles who had bedecked themselves in their Sunday best and
come out to be wooed by a soldier in blue.
Music was furnished by the military band which offered many patriotic
numbers that awakened in the newly freed Negroes that had long been
dead--patriotism. Harriett recalls snatches of one of these songs to
which she danced when she was 20 years of age. It is as follows:
Don't you see the lightning flashing in the cane brakes,
Looks like we gonna have a storm
Although you're mistaken its the Yankee soldiers
Going to fight for Uncle Sam.
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