Jack Simms was living northwest of the hospital on Poplar Street in Madison when he was interviewed. The fieldworker said he was “a very interesting old man.” Jack’s daughter invited the fieldworker into the house, but Jack wanted to talk outside where he could “spit better.” Jack finally decided that the interview could be conducted in the house, though, since the fieldworker “wouldn’t be there long anyhow.”
Once the fieldworker was in the house, Jack’s daughter said that her father was very young at the time of the war. On hearing this, Jack remarked very testily, “If you’re going to tell it, go ahead. Or am I going to tell it?” Born and raised on Mill Creek in Kentucky, Jack was, in fact, so young at the time of the Civil War that he did not remember very much about it or about how slaves were treated. He referred to the Civil War as the “Revolution War” and said he remembered seeing lines of soldiers on the Campbellsburg Road. He regretted very much that he had been denied an education.