Roots: The Saga of an American Family Chapters 96-100 Summary

Chicken George returns home near dawn, and Matilda can tell that he's drunk. She shouts at him and he heads back to the chicken coop to sleep there.
Things get a little better after that, and Matilda gives birth to a third son that January. They name him George.
While riding with Massa Lea one day, George learns of a slave revolt led by a preacher named Nat Turner. Uh-oh.
Massa Lea freaks out when they return home and tears all of the slave quarters apart, destroying George's grandfather clock in the process.

It's nine weeks away from a big cockfighting tournament in New Orleans, and Massa Lea is asking George about his new son—his fourth.
The Massa offhandedly mentions that they haven't named a kid after him yet, and Chicken George eagerly says that they will.
Uncle Mingo's really sick. Massa Lea wants to bring by a doctor, but George thinks that Mingo wouldn't like that.
Matilda is dead-faced when George tells her that their new son will be named Tom, after Massa Lea. Kizzy is on the same page.
George doesn't return home for five days after that. He thinks about all of the booze he drinks and women he canoodles with on his trips with Massa Lea.
He's still mad when he returns, but softens when he sees his sons. He decides to tell them the story of Kunta and suddenly feels "that his cabin was his home again" (97.43).

Massa Lea has gotten a fancy new wagon commissioned ahead of the big New Orleans trip. The thing is gorgeous: "'nearly too pretty to drive" (98.5).
There's a commotion at the farm when they return. Something terrible has happened—Uncle Mingo has died. George collapses in tears.
Later, Matilda tells him that Mingo had collapsed the day they left, but they hadn't found him until the next. Virgil helped by watching over the chickens, but there was little they could do for Mingo. They buried him soon after he died.
Two days later, Massa Lea tells George that their New Orleans trip has been cancelled.

Chicken George can't help but be lonely without Uncle Mingo. He convinces Matilda to let Virgil work with him, even though she really doesn't want him to.
Virgil has none of his father's natural chicken-rearing skills, nor his nerdy obsession with them. George decides to only use him as part-time help.
George also finds himself thinking about freedom a lot. One day, he sees a beautiful, wild gamecock, and decides to spare it to live its life "untouched and free" (99.34).

They don't go to the New Orleans tournament again this year, so George is home for the birth of his next son, James.
A few months later, Matilda gets pregnant again. Busy folks, huh? This time, however, it's a girl and they joyfully name her Kizzy.
One day soon after, George asks Matilda how much money they have saved up. About a hundred dollars, she replies. He's earned several thousand in total, but spent most of it.
But why is he asking? Well, George replies, he's been thinking about buying the family's freedom.
They perform the calculations and it would cost about $6,800 for the whole fam. That'll take a long time, but they actually feel like they have a shot.