Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States

Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery by Various 128Dey come back, de whole crowd, de next day an' made marster bring in his horses. Bey took de horses an'bought some chickens an' paid for 'em, den dey killed an' took de rest. Ha! ha! dey shore done dat. Paid forsome an' took de rest.I seed de Yankees atter de surrender. Dey wus staying at de ole Soldiers Home on New Bern Avenue. Oneday mother carried me there to sell to 'em. One time she went there an' she had a rooster who wus a game. Hiseyes wus out from fighting another game rooster belonging to another person near our home, Mr. EmorySewell. She carried de rooster in where dere wus a sick Yankee. De Yankee took him in his hands an' derooster crowed. He give mother thirty-five cents for him. De Yankee said if he could crow an' his eyes out hewanted him. He said, he called dat spunk.Dere wus a man who wus a slave dat belonged to Mr. Kerney Upchurch come along riding a mule. My oldestsister, de one de Yankees threatened, tole him de Yankees are up yonder. He said, 'Dad lim de Yankees.' Hewent on, when he got near de Yankees dey tole him to halt.' Instead of haltin' he sold out runnin' the mule furde ole field. Der wus a gang of young fox hounds dere. When he lit out on de mule, dey thought he wus goin'huntin' so dey took out atter him, jest like dey wus atter a fox. Some of de Yankees shot at him, de others justalmost died a laughin'.We didn't git much to eat. Mother said it wus missus fault, she was so stingy.We had homemade clothes an' wooden bottom shoes for de grown folks, but chillun did not wear shoes den,dey went barefooted.All de slaves lived in one house built about one hundred yards from the great house, marsters house wuscalled the great house.My father wus named Robin Hinton an' my mother wus named Dafney Hinton. My father belonged to BetsyRansom Hinton an' mother belonged first to Reddin Cromb in Lenoir County an' then to James Thompson ofWake County. I wus borned after mother wus brought to Wake County. Marster had one boy namedBeuregard, four girls, Caroline, Alice, Lena and Nellie. I do not remember my grandparents.I saw a slave named Lucinda, sold to ole man Askew, a speculator, by Kerney Upchurch. I seed 'em carry heroff.One of de slave men who belonged to ole man Burl Temples wus sent to wurk for Mr. Temples' son who hadmarried. His missus put him to totin' water before goin' to wurk in de mornin'. Three other slaves toted wateralso. He refused to tote water an' ran. She set de blood hounds atter him an' caught him near his home, whichwus his ole marster's house. Ole marster's son come out, an' wouldn't let 'em whup him, an' they wouldn'tmake him go back.Missus Harriet Temples wus a terrible 'oman, a slave jest couldn't suit her. De slave dat run away from youngmarster wus finally sent back. His marster give him a shoulder of meat before he left. He hung it in a tree.Missus tole him to put it in the smoke house. He refused, sayin' he would see it no more.A slave by the name of Sallie Temples run away 'cause her missus, Mary Temples, wus so mean to her. Shestuck hot irons to her. Made 'em drink milk an' things for punishment is what my mother an' father said. Sallienever did come back. Nobody never did know what become of her.Soon as de war wus over father an' mother left dere marsters. Dey went to Mr. Tom Bridgers. We lived on defarm atter dis. Mother cooked, sister an' I worked on de farm. Sister plowed like a man. De first help mymammy got wus from de Yankees, it wus pickle meat an' hardtack. I wus wid her an' dey took me in an' giveme some clothes. Mother drawed from 'em a long time. We have farmed most our lives. Sometimes we