Forgiveness, like compassion, could be extended only so far. For many former slaves, the teachings of Christianity and their recollections of bondage would never be easily reconciled. Harry Jarvis remembered working for "de meanest man on all de Easte'n sho', and dat's a heap to say." Early in the war, he fled the plantation, eventually joined the Union Army, and lost a leg in the Battle of Folly Island. Some years later, two white schoolteachers questioned him about slavery days, his escape and army service, and his intense religious conversion immediately after the war. "As you have experienced religion," one of the teachers asked him, "I suppose you have forgiven your old master, haven't you?" The question came unexpectedly, the glow immediately left the man's face, and he dropped his head. Upon recovering his composure, he straightened himself and gave his reply. "Yes, sah! I'se forgub him; de Lord knows I'se forgub him; but" - and now his eyes suddenly blazed - "but I'd gib my oder leg to meet him in battle!" The schoolteachers thought it best at this moment to terminate the conversation.

(Armstrong & Ludlow: Hampton and its Students, 109-114