Sounds right. In the book of Simpson County stories is a very sad one of the killing of some runaway slave children by dogs sent out to catch them by their sadistic owner. I did a study awhile back on the breed "Negro Dog" and I found several references to their being a specific, independent breed. I also found that they were not only used to catch runaway slaves but other fugitives from the law, and at least one account of them to hunt down deserters. Somewhere I found the breed was specifically destroyed in the United States, being they no longer served a purpose and were too dangerous to keep.

David