Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-08-18 | Page 24 | Aunt Eliza Bufort 'Points with Pride'

AUNT ELIZA BUFCBT j TOifllSWITII ' Humble Cottage of Salt Lake Negress Has 5-Star 5-Star Flag. GRANDSONS IN RANKS One Hundred Per Cent of Males of Family Soldiers. Born a slave, in Giles county, Tenn., more than four score years ago, liliza Reynolds Bufort is the proudest negro woman in Salt Lake City. Herewith is the reason for her prido. Five stars adorn the service flag-that hangs iu her humblo cottage- at 13311 East Seventh South street one for each of her five grandsons, wearing Uncle Sam's uniform. MoreoVer, "Aunt'' Liza prides herself her-self on the fact that HHI per cent of her men folk have been soldiers. Her husband, Parker Bufort, who died here in 1911, was thirty years in the Twenty-fourth infantry, being retired as a sergeant a few years before his death. He enlisted first at Nashville, Teun., and served under General Shatter wdien he was but a lieutenant. A friendship developed between tho two of which the black mau was wont to tell in fond words in later years, and which was enough to wrench his old heart, with sobs when he heard of the death of General Shatter two yeara before ho himself dicd.- At San Juan Hill. James Jasper, a son of "Aunt" Liza, was with the Twenty-fourth in the storming of Sau Juan hill. Later he died at Bcdloe's island of yellow fever. A sou-in-law, Albert Woolley, is retirod from the service. His sous aro the graudsons of whose presence in Uncle Sam's forces Aunt Liza is now so proud. There were twelve children born to the daughter of tho old southern south-ern mammy before she went insano and was sent to an asylum. Of the twelve, the grandmother raised nine. Five were boys, and every one is now a soldier. John and Morgan Mor-gan Woolley are on the Mexican border. bor-der. Lewis' is at Camp Lewis. Albert is in the Philippines, and William is at Camp Funston. "An' all them bovs is pow 'fully well educated," said "Aunt" Liza, asjie recounted the record of her men foiVv "I stayed in the vashtub to give 'em . dat educashun." A Shafter Reminiscence. Stories of the friendliness of Gen- j oral Shafter for Sergeant Parker Bu- f fort, her husband, are those whiej. "Aunt" Liza likes best to tell. c-'&, of how the general saved Bufort from being sent to the Philippines after he was well along in years, is the favorite. fa-vorite. Bufort and the general met at the port of embarkation on tho Pacific Pa-cific coast. According to the story, tho general asked of the welfare of the black man's family and told of the death of Mrs. Shafter. At this point in tho story, "Aunt" Liza has difficulty controlling her voice and her tears, and she is wont to digress into an account ' of the dishes she was proud to prepare for the Shafter table when serving in the family as a cook. Why He Didn't Go. "When Gen '1 Shafter beard how Bufort was goin' to' them Philippines," Philip-pines," said "Aunt" Liza, "ho was 'dignant, 'deed he was. 'You too ol'. Bufort, to go to them Philippines, says (Jen '1 Shafter. " 'I'se been ordered to them Philippines, Philip-pines, and I'se goin' to them Philippines,' Philip-pines,' says Bufort. " 'If you go to them Philippines, I go to them Philippines,' says Gcn'l Shafter. "Then Gen T Shafter he sayf 'Battalion, 'Bat-talion, attention! Y.ou see this man, Bufort? He's my Bufort, an' he ain't goin' to no Philippines. He's too ol' and too fat, an' cain't get his bref good. He ain't goin'. Bufort, you go home to yo' wife.' " The military career of Parker Bufort began even before he was enlisted in the Twentv-fourth infantry. He first served with the confederate forces as a striker, or body servant, for tho master, who was in the ranks. But it is his sergeant's uniform, the culmination of his years of enlisted service, that is the emblem of familv pride in the humble hum-ble home of "Aunt" Liza, with its five stars on a service flag and its 100 per cent record for patriotic service.