Gabe Hines

Gabe Hines was born in Cusseta, Georgia, to Hetty and Gabe Hines, who were enslaved by William and Mary Shipp. During the war he was big enough to carry water on the plantation. He did not know his age "except by the squeaking and aching of my bones."

After freedom he moved to Silver Run and married Anna. When a man claiming to be from the North promised them high wages and a fine house, they left everything but a bundle tied to a stick and followed him to Columbus, Georgia. The wages turned out to be fifty cents a month and the house little better than a stable, out in the hot sun with water miles away. One stormy night robed Ku Klux riders surrounded the place, and the couple fell to their knees in terror. The riders seized the man and carried him off, and he was never seen again.

Anna died nine years before the interview, and Gabe lived alone in their cabin in Alabama, still missing her everywhere. He said that on nights when his bones ached past bearing, she came back to him and rubbed in the liniment as she used to.