Exhibit D: Affidavit of Rachel Parks, March 21, 1874

she is the identical Rachel Parks who is in receipt of Pension Certificate Number 104473, as the widow of Ransom Parks, who was a Private in Company "A" 11th U.S.C.T. in the war of 1861, and who was killed in action at Fort Pillow Tennessee April 12" 1864; that she is the widow of the said Ransom, having been married to him in LaFayette County Mississippi about two years before the war of 1861, and thinks her said marriage took place in the summer and as yet having never re-married, that she was married by the Rev Andlow a white man, that at the time of her said marriage, she was a slave of William Buford of LaFayette County Mississippi, and was living on his place about five miles from Oxford, that her name before marriage was Rachel Buford; that she had two children by the said Ransom named, respectively Marcellus Augustus, and Isabella, the first was born before the war, and died before the war; the second was born during the war and at Corinth Mississippi and died about a year after her husband was killed at Fort Pillow; that she left her owners with her said husband, and was with him continuously to the day of his death at Fort Pillow, and knows her said husband was a member of company "A" 11th U.S.C.T. and was in the said battle of Fort Pillow as she saw him in it, and has never seen him since; that while the said battle was going on she was placed on a Flat and taken up and across the River, leaving the said Ransom behind; that she lived with the said Ransom as his wife from the day of their said marriage to the day of his death; that they were recognized as man and wife by all who knew them from the day of their said marriage to his death; that she was married while a slave as per the customs among slaves and has no record thereof as there was none kept among slaves; that her said husband Ransom was a slave of Samuel Parks and lived some two or three miles from her; that she never was married to any one before to the said Ransom, and that to her personal knowledge the said Ransom was never married until he married her, and she knows he never lived with any other woman before or since their said marriage than with her; that she never saw Elsie Patterson or her husband George Patterson until after—affiant—came to Memphis Tennessee with her said husband who was then a soldier; that after she came back to Memphis from Fort Pillow she lived with the said Elsie and George Patterson; that the said George and Elsie Patterson were witnesses in her claim as filed for a Pension; that the said Elsie and George were not a Fort Pillow when her said husband was killed; that Jerry Steward and George Patterson who were witnesses in her claim as filed were not eye-witnesses to her marriage to deceased and that she never knew the said Steward until she saw him in the army in her husbands company; that Abner Buford who was a witness in her claim as filed for a Pension was a fellow servant of hers and that they were boy and girl together and lived on the same place together to the day she left her owners and came to Corinth Mississippi; that the said Abner Buford was an eye-witness to her marriage, and that the marriage took place in his house where she was at the time living; that she has never lived with or treated any man as her husband, nor has she allowed any man to treat her as his wife since the death of the said Ransom the deceased soldier her husband; that no man has ever paid any house rent for her, bought any provisions, clothing or any thing else for her since the death of her said husband Ransom Parks; that James Nelson made his home at her house for a year or such like when he was in Memphis, but that he paid her for his board and never made her bed his bed, but that they have at times been more intimate than perhaps the should have been, that the said James Nelson is now at work some place in the Country but she is not able to saw where, that when in Memphis he stays in her house some nights but not with her as her husband, that she never went by the name of Nelson, but has often had others to call her by the name of Nelson, because the said James Nelson made his home with her; that her said husband was a bright compected man when he enlisted, but was of a gingerbread color after he had the Small-Pox, that his hair was close and of a red cast, with black eyes, and a low heavy set full—faced man; that he—Ransom—was never healthy man but was always sickly and was never able to do much duty as a soldier and was in consequence of his health detailed as a nurse, that he was sickly before he went in the Army

Rachel Parks
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Attest
Florence Pickett
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Amos Lewis
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