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

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Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery by Various 130I was born in New Bern on July 9, 1850. My father and mother belonged to Mr. L. B. Huggins. My father wasa carpenter and ship builder an' the first things I remember was down on Myrtle Grove Sound, where Mr.Huggins had a place. I was a sort of bad boy an' liked to roam 'round. When I was about twelve years old I ranaway. It was in 1863 when the war was goin' on.Nobody was bein' mean to me. No, I was'nt bein' whipped. Don't you know all that story 'bout slaves bein'whipped is all Bunk, (with scornful emphasis). What pusson with any sense is goin' to take his horse or hiscow an' beat it up. It's prope'ty. We was prope'ty. Val'able prope'ty. No, indeed, Mr. Luke give the bes' ofattention to his colored people, an' Mis' Huggins was like a mother to my mother. Twa'nt anythin' wrong abouthome that made me run away. I'd heard so much talk 'bout freedom I reckon I jus' wanted to try it, an' Ithought I had to get away from home to have it.Well, I coaxed two other boys to go with me, an' a grown man he got the boat an' we slipped off to the beachan' put out to sea. Yes'm, we sho' was after adventure. But, we did'n get very far out from sho', an' I saw thelan' get dimmer an' dimmer, when I got skeered, an' then I got seasick, an' we was havin' more kinds ofadventure than we wanted, an' then we saw some ships. There was two of 'em, an' they took us on board.They was the North Star an' the Eastern Star of the Aspinwal Line, a mail an' freighter runnin' betweenAspinwal near the Isthmus of Panama and New York. We used to put in off Charleston.Then, in 1864 I joined the Union Navy. Went on board our convoy, the Nereus. We convoyed to keep theAlabama, a Confederate privateer, away. The Commander of the Nereus asked me how's I like to be his cabinboy. So I was 2nd class cabin boy an' waited on the Captain. He was Five Stripe Commander J. C. Howell. Hewas Commander of the whole fleet off Fort Fisher. When the Captain wanted somethin' good to eat he used tosend me ashore for provisions. He liked me. He was an old man. He didn't take much stock in fun, but he wasa real man. I was young an' was'nt serious. I jus' wanted a good time. I don't know much about the war, but Ido know two men of our boat was killed on shore while we was at Fort Fisher.After the battle of Fort Fisher, we was on our way to Aspinwal. Layin' off one day at Navassa Island, the MastHead reported a strange sail. 'Where away?' 'Just ahead'. 'She seems to be a three mast steamer!' 'Which wayheaded?' We decided it was the Alabama going to St. Nicholas Mole, West Indies.Our Captain called the officers together an' held a meetin'. Says he: 'We'll go under one bell (slow). Lieutenantwill go ashore an' get some information.' When we got there she had a coal schooner alongside taking on coal.Our Captain prepared to capture her when she came out. But she did'n come out 'til night. She dodged. Goodthing too. She'd a knocked hells pete out o' us. She was close to the water and could have fought us so muchbetter than we could her. We didn't want to fight 'cause we knowed enough to jest natu'ally be skeered. Shewas a one decker man o' war. We was a two decker with six guns on berth deck, an' five guns on spar deck. Inever saw her after that, but I heard she was contacted by the Kearsage which sunk her off some island.I stayed in the navy eighteen months. Was discharged at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Admiral Porter wasAdmiral of the U. S. Navy at that time.I stayed in New York five or six years, then I cane home to my mother. I was in the crude drug business inWilmington for twenty years.Yes'm I went to church and Sunday school when I was a child, when they could ketch me. Whilst I was inNew York I went to church regular.I married after awhile. My wife died about ten years ago. We had one son. I b'lieve he's in Baltimore, but Iain't heard from him in a long time. He don't keer nothin' about me. Of co'se I'm comfortable. I gits mypension, $75 a month. I give $10 of it to my nephew who's a cripple.
Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery by Various 131N. C. District: No. 2 [320124] Worker: T. Pat Matthews No. Words: 645 Subject: CHARLIE H. HUNTERStory Teller: C. H. Hunter Editor: Geo. L. Andrews[TR: Date Stamp "AUG 4 1937"]CHARLIE H. HUNTER, 80 years old, 2213 Barker Street West RaleighMy full name is Charlie H. Hunter. I wus borned an' reared in Wake County, N. C., born May, 1857. Mymother wus Rosa Hunter an' my father wus named Jones. I never saw my father. We belonged to a familynamed Jones first, an' then we wus sold to a slave owner seven miles Northwest by the name Joe Hayes an' aterrible man he wus. He would get mad 'bout most anything, take my mother, chain her down to a log andwhup her unmercifully while I, a little boy, could do nothing but stan' there an' cry, an' see her whupped. Wehad fairly good food an' common clothing. We had good sleeping places. My mother wus sold to a mannamed Smith. I married first Annie Hayes who lived sixteen months.No prayer meetings wus allowed on de plantations an' no books of any kind. I can read an' write, learned in aschool taught by Northern folks after the surrender, Mr. an' Mrs. Graves who taught in Raleigh in the rear ofthe African Methodist Episcopal church. The school house wus owned by the church. We played no games inslavery times. I saw slaves sold on the block once in Raleigh.I wus to be sold but the surrender stopped it. When the Yankees come they asked me where wus my marster. Itold them I didn't know. Marster told me not to tell where he wus. He had gone off into the woods to hide hissilver. In a few minutes the ground wus covered with Yankees. The Yankees stole my pen knife. I thought alot of it. Knives wus scarce and hard to get. I cried about they taking it. They got my marster's carriage horses,two fine gray horses. His wife had lost a brother, who had been in the army but died at home. He wus buriedin the yard. The Yankees thought the grave wus a place where valuables wus buried and they had to get aguard to keep them from diggin' him up. They would shoot hogs, cut the hams and shoulders off, stick themon their bayonetts, throw them over the'r shoulders an' go on.We called our houses shanties in slavery time. I never saw any patterollers. I don't remember how manyslaves on the plantation wus taken to Richmond an' sold. My mother looked after us when we wus sick. I hadfour brothers an' no sisters. They are all dead. I did house work an' errands in slavery time. I have seen onegang of Ku Klux. They wus under arrest at Raleigh in Governor Holden's time. I don't remember the overseer.We moved to Raleigh at the surrender. Marster give us a old mule when we left him, an' I rode him intoRaleigh. We rented a house on Wilmington Street, an' lived on hard tack the Yankees give us 'til we could gitwork.Mother went to cooking for the white folks, but I worked for Mr. Jeff Fisher. I held a job thirty-five yearsdriving a laundry truck for L. R. Wyatt. The laundry wus on the corner of Jones an' Salisbury Street.I married Cenoro Freeman. We lived together fifty-six years. She wus a good devoted wife. We wus marriedDec. 9, 1878. She died in May 1934. [HW: bracket] Booker T. Washington wus a good man. I have seen him.Abraham Lincoln wus one of my best friends. He set me free. The Lawd is my best friend. I don't know much'bout Jefferson Davis. Jim Young an' myself wus pals.My object in joining the church wus to help myself an' others to live a decent life, a life for good to humanityan' for God.N. C. District: No. 2 [320154] Worker: Mary A. Hicks No. Words: 670 Subject: EX-SLAVE STORY StoryTeller: Elbert Hunter Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
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