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105 Mulberry Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age 91
"Yes man, I was a slave! I was sixteen years old when the war begun. I was born in Texas.
"My old master was John Hall and my young master was Marse Dick. Marse John went to war the 5th day of May
in 1861 and he was killed in June. They wasn't nothin' left to bring home but his right leg and his left arm. They
knowed it was him cause his name was tattooed on his leg.
"He was a mean rascal. He brought us up from the plantation and pat us on the head and give us a little whisky and
say 'Your name is Sally or Mary or Mose' just like we was dogs.
"My old mistress, Miss Caroline, was a mean one too. She was the mother of eight children -- five girls and three
boys. When she combed her hair down low on her neck she was all right but when she come down with it done up
on the top of her head -- look out.
"It was my job to scrub the big cedar churns with brick dust and inish potato and polish the knives and forks the
same way. Then every other day I had to mold twelve dozen candles and sweep the yard with a dogwood bresh
broom.
"She didn't give us no biscuits or sugar 'cept on Christmas. Jest shorts and molasses for our coffee. When the
Yankes soldiers come through old mistress run and hide in the cellar but the Yankees went down in the cellar too
and took all the hams and honey and brandied peaches she had.
"They didn't have no doctors for the niggers then. Old mistress just give us some blue mass and caster oil and they
didn't give you nothin' to take the taste out your mouth either.
"Oh Lord, I know 'bout them Ku Klux. They wore false faces and went around whippin' people.
"After the surrender I went to stay with Miss Fulton. She was good to me and I stayed with her eleven years. She
wanted to know how old I was so my father went to Miss Caroline and she say I 'bout twenty now.
"Some white folks was good to their slaves. I know one man, Alec lates, when he killed hogs he give the niggers
five of 'em. Course he took the best but that was all right.
"After freedom the Yankees some and took the colored folks away to the marshal's yard and kept them till they got
jobs for 'em. They went to the white folks houses and took things to feed the niggars.
"I ain't been married but once. I thought I was in love but I wasn't. Love is a itchin' 'round the heart you can't get at
to scratch.
"I 'member one song they sung durin' the war
'The Yankees are comin' through
By fall sez I
We'll all drink stone blind
Johnny fill up the bowl.' "
Name of interviewer Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Subject Songs of Civil War Days
"In eighteen hundred and sixty-one
Football (?) sex I;
In eighteen hundred and sixty-one
That's the year the war begun
We'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
"In eighteen hundred and sixty-two
Football (?) sex I;
In eighteen hundred and sixty-two
That's the year we put 'em through
We'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
"In eighteen hundred and sixty-three
Football (?) sex I;
In eighteen hundred and sixty-three
That's the year we didn't agree
We'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
"In eighteen hundred and sixty-four
Football (?) sex I;
In eighteen hundred and sixty-four
We'll all go home and fight no more
We'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
"In eighteen hundred and sixty-five
Football (?) sex I;
In eighteen hundred and sixty-five
We'll have the Rebals dead or alive
We'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
This information given by Sally Neeley ( )
Place of residence 105 M. Mulberry, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Occupation None Age 90 "In eighteen hundred and sixty-six
Football (?) sex I;
In eighteen hundred and sixty-six
We'll have the Rebels in a helava fix
We'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
"In eighteen hundred and sixty-seven
Football (?) sex I;
In eighteen hundred and sixty-seven
We'll have the Rebals dead and at the devil
We'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl."
The word "football" doesn't sound right in this song, but I was unable to find it in print, and Sally seemed to think it
was the right word.
Sally is a very wicked old woman and swears like a sailor, but she has a remarkable memory.
She was "bred and born" in Rusk County, Texas and says she came to Pine Bluff when it was "just a little pig."
Says she was sixteen when the Civil War began.
I have previously reported an interview with her.
Interviewer Miss Irene Robertson"
