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MSUenWeb Library Slave Narrative Project - Louis J. Piernas - Harrison County
http://msgw.org/slaves/piernas-xslave.htm
officers because they didn't want to go in the army. We always helped them to hide and get away.
When the men in the Yankee boat had slaughtered all the beef they wanted, they started out. The Confederates hidden behind bushes, began to fire on them and the Yankees fired back with big guns, so there was a little battle. Soon the Confederates began to run and never stopped till they got across the county to Gainesville on Pearl River. You know Gainesville used to be the county seat, but the courthouse burned in 1853 with all the records, and afterward it was changed to Shieldsboro (now Bay St. Louis.)
(What do you think of the Yankees coming in and taking your cattle and destroying things?)
They took my grandmother's cattle with the rest, but the Yankees had to eat, and it was war. You know Sherman said, "War is hell," and it's that way in China and Spain today.
My mother was Adele La Bat, she was born here. My father was a brick layer by trade, he laid the foundations of Our Lady of the Gulf Church, and of the old Jackson House which burned at Gulfside (Negro Protestant Educational Center at Waveland). They called it the "Jackson House", but President Andrew Jackson never had anything to do with it - it was some other Jackson.
My first work as a child was with my uncle in the oyster business, but after I learned the barber trade in New Orleans, I came back here and set up a shop. This was in 1877.
I never saw anything of the Kluklux clan in my life, they didn't bother around here. What I know of them is through reading.
I think Judge Hugo Black is all right and that he will hold his seat. 1 think that he has proved that he is a friend to all religions and colors. I'm sure that he will be fair to Catholics and negroes.
I have held several offices in my life time. The first was when I was appointed a member of the Bay St. Louis School Board. We had separate schools for white and colored then, but at that time in towns, the Board had to consist of three members, two white and one colored to represent the colored schools. Now in towns, all Board members are white, but the country color schools have colored trustees. I served on the Board with Col. Posey, and Capt. J. V. Toulme.
After that I was elected secretary and auditor of Bay St. Louis 1884-86, I think. Then I was Supervisor for Beat 5, Hancock County which includes the town of Bay St. Louis, two terms of 4 years each. I ran against some of the most prominent citizens, one an ex-Confederate soldier. There were the two parties at the time, Democrat and Republican, but I was elected on a coalition ticket, composed of some from both parties. I forget the exact years, without going to my records.
I was appointed post master of Bay St. Louis under Benj. Harrison, and altogether served under five presidents, being out for short times while Cleveland and Wilson were presidents. The post office was only 4th class when I was appointed, but I soon worked it up to third-class. (It is second now.)
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