Tag: First-Person

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Lucy Ann Warfield

Lucy Warfield spent her childhood and young adult life enslaved.  She doesn’t know her age, but she was an adult and married when the Civil War broke out.  In this excerpt, she describes why she doesn’t know when she was born, as well as the difficulty of the work she was given as an enslaved person.  She finishes by describing how one of her mother’s sisters was able to escape to Canada.
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Excerpt:

Lordy child, I’ve been old so long that the affliction of years makes me forget lots and lots I might tell you.  I was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, but I can’t say what year, because White folks didn’t keep count of their slaves’ ages.  They were just like chickens- like so many chickens.

I know I was a married woman when the war came, and they say I am more than a hundred, Nannie says I’m about 117.  But I just don’t know.  Anyhow, I know that God’s been awful good to me.

. . . They never did give me a whipping, but they sure worked me hard. I did a man’s work on the place; putting’ up stone fences and rail fences, splitting’ rails, breaking hemp, plowing fields, doing corn planting’, and anything the men were supposed to do, and I was supposed to say nothing. The good Lord only knows just what I’ve been through.

I remember when one of my mother’s sisters ran off and got safe into Canada.  She was a fine woman and she didn’t care for anything except to be free. She did what more of them ought to have done – me, too, because I was grown in size long time before we were free- but they were just afraid.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Lucy Ann Warfield1820 (117 years old – speculated)UnknownScott and Perry Families
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Clark County, OHOhioJessamine County, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Family, Gender/gender rolesFirst person, dialect

Warfield_L_1

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Lucy Davis

In this excerpt, Ms. Davis describes her experiences during the Civil War and her Emancipation.  Of note is the fear that her enslavers had of the Union soldiers, and how she was put on lookout outside the property when they would come, allowing her enslavers to hide while the soldiers took what they wanted from the property.  She finished by retelling the reaction of her and her family when they were told they were free.
See full document •  Visit the Library of Congress to see the original document

Excerpt:

When the war came Ole Master didn’t go, but he was a regular old secesh! (Secessionist/Southern sympathizer) Young James Andrew went off to war and ole Missus used to grieve for him. We never saw fighting around our place but we could hear the big guns over at Columbus. When the soldiers were around the neighborhood, they’d always have me playing around the front gate so I could tell them when they were coming up the road. Then they’d go and hide before the soldiers got there. They were all scared of the soldiers. I was scared too, but they said soldiers wouldn’t bother a little black gal. The soldiers just came in and ransacked the house—they’d find something to eat and they’d look for money. They want money! But they don’t find any. Then they wanted to know where my folks were, but I told them I didn’t know, “They just left and didn’t say where they were going’.

When the war was over, Ole Master Joe came in and he said, ’Rose, you all ain’t slaves any more. You are all as free as I am.’ Then you should’ve heard my mammy shout! You never heard such shouting in all your born days. And Ole Missus, she joined in the shouting too. She was glad because now James Andrew would be coming home.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Lucy DavisUnknownUnknownJoe Mott
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Cape Girardeau, MOMissouriHickman, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Family, Civil War, Emancipation,First person, dialect, Union Soldiers, 

Davis_L_1

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Rachel Gaines

Rachel Gaines lived enslaved until her early 20’s.  After Emancipation her enslaver hired her to continue to work on his plantation.  This excerpt describes her Emancipation and experiences still living and working in the plantation in the years after.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted].  See more information.
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Excerpt:

After freedom was declared the master told all his slaves that they could go wherever they pleased, but if they couldn’t make their own living to come to him and he would help them.  Missus Dickinson kept me there because I was the nurse to their son, Howard, who was sure a wild one. I remember how he would tote out fried chicken, pig meat and other good stuff to us … 

They agreed to pay me $35.00 a year (and keep) and it was given me every Christmas morning. They treated me good, gave me all the clothes and other things I needed, as if I were one of the family.  

Every two weeks the master would send for Jordan McGowan, who was the leader of a string music band. They would get there Friday night early and the slaves would dance in the grape house that night and all day Saturday up to midnite. You don’t have now as good dance music and as much fun as the ole time days had. We always had a big barbecue and watermelon feast every time we had a dance. Never again will there be as good times as we used to have. 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Rachel Gaines1840 (Believes she is 95-100)UnknownDr. Bainbridge Dickerson
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Nashville, TNTennesseeTodd County, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Emancipation,First person, dialect,

Gaines_R_1

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Robert Glenn

Robert Glenn’s enslaver sold him away from his family at a young age. In this excerpt he describes being put on the auction block three times in one day, while his father and mother attempted to win the auction and purchase him.
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Excerpt:

My father’s time was hired out, and as he knew a trade, he had by working overtime saved up a considerable amount of money. After the speculator, Henry Long, bought me, Mother went to Father and pleaded with him to buy me from him and let the white folks hire me out. No slave could own a slave. Father got the consent and help of his owners to buy me and they asked Long to put me on the block again. Long did so and named his price but when he learned who had bid me off he backed down.

 Later in the day he put me on the block and named another price much higher than the price formerly set. He was asked by the white folks to name his price for his bargain and he did so. I was again put on the auction block and Father bought me in, putting up the cash. Long then flew into a rage and cursed my father saying, ‘You damn black son of a bitch, you think you are white do you? Now just to show you are black, I will not let you have your son at any price.’ Father knew it was all off, Mother was frantic but there was nothing they could do about it. They had to stand and see the speculator put me on his horse behind him and ride away without allowing either of them to tell me goodbye. I figure I was sold three times in one day, as the price asked was offered in each instance. Mother was told under threat of a whipping not to make any outcry when I was carried away. 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Robert Glenn1850 (87)T. Pat MatthewsBob Hall, William Moore
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Raleigh, NCNorth CarolinaHillsboro,  NC
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Family, EqualityFirst person, sold, slave traders

Glenn_R_1

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Robert Glenn

Robert Glenn’s enslaver sold him away from his family at a young age.  In this excerpt he describes how the son of his enslaver took it upon himself to teach him how to read and write, which was uncommon and often illegal.
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Excerpt:

Master Moore had four children, among whom was one boy about my age. The girls were named Atona, Beulah, and Minnie, and the boy was named Crosby. He was mighty brilliant. We played together. He was the only white boy there, and he took a great liking to me, and we loved each devotedly. Once in an undertone he asked me how I would like to have an education. I was overjoyed at the suggestion and he at once began to teach me secretly. I studied hard and he soon had me so I could read and write well. I continued studying and he continued teaching me. He furnished me books and slipped all the papers he could get to me and I was the best educated Negro in the community without anyone except the slaves knowing what was going on.  

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Robert Glenn1850 (87)T. Pat MatthewsBob Hall, William Moore
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Raleigh, NCNorth CarolinaHillsboro,  NC
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
LiteracyFirst person, education

Glenn_R_2

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Robert Glenn

Robert Glenn’s enslaver sold him away from his family at a young age.  In this excerpt he describes his Emancipation and how his enslaver agreed to pay him for a year of his services.  It then goes on to talk about Glenn’s difficult decision to leave this place, which he called home, to work elsewhere.
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Excerpt:

A big army of Yankees came through a few months later and soon we heard of the surrender. A few days after this master told me to catch two horses that we had to go to Dickenson which was the County seat of Webster County. On the way to Dickenson he said to me, ‘Bob, did you know you are free and Lincoln has freed you? You are as free as I am.’ We went to the Freedmen’s Bureau and went into the office. A Yankee officer looked me over and asked Master my name, and informed me I was free, and asked me whether or not I wanted to keep living with Moore. I did not know what to do, so I told him yes. A fixed price of seventy-five dollars and board was then set as the salary I should receive per year for my work. The Yankees told me to let him know if I was not paid as agreed. 

I had been thinking for several days before I went back home as to just what I must tell Mr. Moore and as to how he felt about the matter, and what I would get when I got home. In my dilemma I almost forgot I was free.  I got home at night and my mind and heart was full but I was surprised at the way he treated me. He acted kind and asked me if I was going to stay with him next year. I was pleased. I told him, ‘Yes sir!’, and then I lay down and went to sleep. He had a boss man on his plantation then and next morning he called me, but I just couldn’t wake. I seemed to be in a trance or something, I had recently lost so much sleep. He called me the second time and still I did not get up. Then he came in and spanked my head. I jumped up and went to work feeding the stock and splitting wood for the day’s cooking and fires. I then went in and ate my breakfast. Mr. Moore told me to hitch a team of horses to a wagon and go to a neighbors five miles away for a load of hogs. I refused to do so. They called me into the house and asked me what I was going to do about it. I said I do not know. As I said that I stepped out of the door and left. I went straight to the county seat and hired to Dr. George Rasby in Webster County for one hundred dollars per year. I stayed there one year. 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Robert Glenn1850 (87)T. Pat MatthewsBob Hall, William Moore
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Raleigh, NCNorth CarolinaHillsboro,  NC
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Emancipation, economicsFirst person, bound out after war

Glenn_R_3

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Samuel Bell

Samuel Bell was an enslaved person in Kentucky for 12 years before Emancipation.  In this excerpt, he describes how the enslaved didn’t truly have rights under the law, and because of this, the enslaver’s rules were the only laws that mattered.
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Excerpt:

“[John Bell] … was a good and a just man and fed his slaves well. He only used the lash when it was absolutely necessary. You know how it is in the court! Well, it was the same way on the plantations in slavery days. A good slave was seldom punished, but mean ones had to be punished to prevent their taking advantage of their master and the other slaves. Slaves were not subject to the laws of the land, and this punishment had to be governed by a slave’s deeds and errors. The master’s will was the only law he was compelled to obey. When a slave refused to work, he was flogged until he was willing to work. The master had to feed and clothe him and expected him to repay with work.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Samuel Bell1853UnknownJohn Bell
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Evansville, INIndianaKentucky
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
ViolenceFirst person, whipped

Bell_S_1

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Samuel Lyons

Samuel Lyons was an enslaved person during his childhood and teenage years.  In the excerpt below, he gives a brief overview of life on the plantation.
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Excerpt:

Evall had about 200 slaves on a big plantation and fine race horses. He raised cane, wheat, and corn, and he had a big stillhouse to make his own whiskey, and he made it to sell, too. 

We did our cooking in our cabin, and it wasn’t much except jowl bacon, cornbread, and syrup. I and part of our family were sold once, and ole Miss Evall’s mother brought us back the same day.     

I saw slaves whipped at the whipping post in Paris, Kentucky, until their backs bled. And then they sprinkled the cuts with salty water. 

Different slave owners would take their slaves to help other slave owners cut their winter’s wood, or husk corn, or shear their sheep.  We got good food then and sometimes they used to let their slaves have dances together whilst they were working to get the work done. 

Evall bought our shoes in Paris, (Kentucky) and if they were too big, we wore them, and if they were too little we wore them just the same, But sometimes we cut the toes out of the shoes to make them long enough.   

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Samuel Lyons1847 (About 90)UnknownEvall
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Clark County, OHOhioSawhill Station, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Violence, EmancipationFirst person, dialect, whipped

Lyons_S_1

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Samuel Sutton

Samuel Sutton was very young when the Civil War was fought, however he has some recollection. Here, he tells of his experiences interacting with soldiers from both sides.  He goes on to tell about the celebrations that occurred among the formerly enslaved person on July 4 after the Civil War ended.
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Excerpt:

The war? Yes ma’am, I saw soldiers, Union Calvary going by dressed fine with gold braid on blue and big boots. But the Rebels now, I recollect they had no uniforms because they were hard up and they came in just common clothes. Old master was a Rebel and he always helped them. Yes ma’am. A pitched battle started right on our place. It didn’t last long, for they were running on to fight in Perryville, where the one big battle to take place in the state of Kentucky took place. 

Most likely story I remember to tell you about was something that made me mad and I always remembered because of that. I had the biggest, finest watermelon, and I was told to sit up on the fence with the watermelon and show them and sell them twenty cents.  Along came a line of soldiers. ‘Hey there boy, how much for the melon?’, one hollered at me.

‘Twenty cents sir!’ I said, just like I had been told to say, and he took that melon right out of my arms and rode off without paying me. I ran after them trying to get my money but I couldn’t keep up with those soldiers on horses, and all of the soldiers just laughed at me. Yes ma’am, they were the finest, biggest melons I ever saw. That was right mean of him, fine looking gentleman he was, at the head of the line. 

Ole Master Ballinger, he was a Rebel, and he harbored Rebels. There were two men hanging around there named [Union General Don Carlos] Buell and [Confederate General Braxton] Bragg. Buell was a northerner, Bragg, he was a Rebel. Buell gave Bragg a chance to get away when he should have found out what the Rebs were doing and taken him prisoner.  I heard tell about that.

There was a lot of spying and riding around there for one thing or another, but I don’t know what it was all about. I do know I feel sorry for those Rebel soldiers I saw that were ragged and tired, all worn out. Master felt pretty bad about everything sometimes, but I reckon there were mean Rebels and southerners that had it coming to them. I always heard till they had it coming to them.

 . . .Yes ma’am, like I told you, the war was over and the colored folks had a big time, with speaking and everything over at Dick Robinson’s camp on the 4th.  Never have I seen such rejoicing on the 4th of July since, no ma’am, I ain’t.

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Samuel Sutton1854Miriam LoganBallinger
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Lebanon, OHOhioGarrett, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Civil WarFirst person, Union troops

Sutton_S_1

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Samuel Sutton

Samuel Sutton was very young when the Civil War was fought, however he has some recollection and remembers life directly after.  Here he describes his right to vote and why he votes the way he does.
See full document • Visit the Library of Congress to see the original document

Excerpt:

I’ve seen two presidents, Grant and Hayes. I voted for Hayes when I was 22 years old. General Grant was running against Greeley when I heard him speak in Louisville.  He told what all Lincoln had done for the colored man. Yes ma’am, fine looking man he was, and he wore a fine suit. Yes ma’am. I haven’t missed an election since I was 22 and voted for Hayes. I’m not going to miss any, and I vote like the white man read out of the Emancipation Proclamation. I vote for one of Abe Lincoln’s men every time , I sure do. 

Interviewee 
Formerly enslaved person		Birth Year (Age)Interviewer
WPA Volunteer		Enslaver’s Name
Samuel Sutton1854Miriam LoganBallinger
Interview LocationResidence StateBirth Location
Lebanon, OHOhioGarrett, KY
Themes & KeywordsAdditional Tags:
Voting, 15th Amendment,First person, Union troops,

Sutton_S_2

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