The slaves were free to invite those from the neighboring plantations to join in their social gatherings.  A Negro preacher delivered sermons on the plantation.  Services being held in the church used by whites after their services on Sunday.  The preacher must always act as a peacemaker and mouthpiece for the master, so they were told to be subservient to their masters in order to enter the Kingdom of God.  But the slaves held secret meetings and had praying grounds where they met a few at a time to pray for better things.

Harriett remembers little about the selling of slaves because this was never done on the Bellinger plantation.  All slaves were considered a part of the estate and to sell one, meant that it was no longer intact.

There were rumors of the war but the slaves on the Bellinger place did not grasp the import of the war until their master went to fight on the side of the Rebel army.  Many of them gathered about their mistress and wept as he left the home to which he would never return.  Soon after that it was whispered among the slaves that they would be free, but no one ran away.

After living in plenty all their lives, they were forced to do without coffee, sugar salt and beef.  Everything available was bundled off to the army by Mrs. Bellinger who shared the popular belief that the soldiers must have the best in the way of food and clothing.

Harriett still remembers very clearly the storming of Fort Sumpter.  The whole countryside was thrown into confusion and many slaves were mad with fear.  There were few men left to establish order and many women loaded their slaves into wagons and gathered such belongings as they could and fled.  Mrs. Bellinger was one of those who held their ground.

When the Union soldiers visited her plantation they found the plantation in perfect order.  The slaves going about their tasks as if nothing unusual had happened.  It was necessary to summon them from the fields to give them the message of their freedom.

Harriett recalls that her mistress was very frightened but walked upright and held a trembling lip between her teeth as they waited for her to sound for the last time the horn that had summoned several generations of human chattel to and from work.

Some left the plantation; others remained to harvest the crops.  One and all they remembered to thank God for their freedom.  They immediately began to hold meetings, singing soul stirring spirituals.  Harriett recalls one of these songs.  It is as follows: 

  T’ank ye Marster Jesus, t’ank ye,
  T’ank ye Marster Jesus, t’ank ye,
  T’ank ye Marster Jesus, t’ank ye
  Da Heben gwinter be my home. 
  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.