B.W. was kind of an interesting man. He was a realist. He had to make a cotton crop and go on. He became a state senator and was involved in Reconstruction. He was involved in the (Gov. Francis T.) Nicholls government and in the fight against the lottery. |
He had taken out loans that were secured by the slaves. But when the slaves were freed, he still had to pay the debts. Into the 1870s, banks in Philadelphia were forcing him to pay back the loans. |
He was bitter and sad after the war. It was the dividing point in the Marston family. Before the war, the family lived in Clinton. After the war, they lived in north Louisiana. |
Land was cheap. Slaves were the means to produce. If you didn't have slaves, you couldn't turn the land into anything. |
Old Henry didn't want to fight the war, and he voted against secession as a delegate. He hated the war. He called it Jefferson Davis' war. |