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DeValls Bluff, Ark.
Age Between 85 and 90 years
I don't know jes how old I is. Yes mim I show do member the war jes lack as if it was yesterday. I was born in
Lincoln County, Georgia. My old mistress was named Frances Sutton. She was a real old lady. Her husband was
dead. She had two sons Abraham and George. One of them tried to get old missus to sell my ma jes before the war
broke out. He wanter sell her cause she too old to bear children. Sell her and buy young woman raise mo children to
sell. Put em in the nigger drove and speculate on em. Young nigger, not stunted, strong made, they look at their
wristes and ankles and chestes, bout grown bring the owner fifteen hundred dollars. Yes mam every cent of it. Two
weeks after baby born see the mother carrin it cross the field fur de old woman what kept all the children and she be
going right on wid de hoe all day. When de sun come up the niggers all in the field and workin when de ridin boss
come wid de dogs playin long after him. If they didn't chop dat cotton jes right he have em tied up to a stake or a big
saplin and beat him till de blood run out the gashes. They come right back and take up whar they lef off work. Two
chaps make a hand soon as dey get big nuf to chop out a row.
Had plenty to eat; meat, corncake and molasses, peas and garden stuff. They didn't set out no variety fo the niggers.
They had pewter bowls to eat outer and spoons. Eat out in the yard, at the cabins, in the kitchen. Kat different places
owin to what you be workin at when the bell rung. Big bell on a high post.
My ma's name was Sina Sutton. She come from Virginia in a nigger traders drove when she was sixteen years old
and Miss Frances husband bought er. She had nine childen whut lived. I am de youngest. She died jes before de war
broke out. Till that time I had been trained a house girl. My ma was a field hand. Then when the men all went to the
army I plowed. I plowed four years I recken, till de surrender. Howd I know it was freedom? A strange woman - I
never seed fore, come runhin down where we was all at work. She say loud as she could "Hay freedom. You is
free." Everything toe out fer de house and soldiers was lined up. Dats whut they come by fer. Course dey was
Yankee soldiers settin the colored folks all free. Everybody was gettin up his clothes and leaving. They didn't know
whah des goin. Jes scatterin round. I say give 'em somethin. They was so mad cause they was free and leavin and
nobody to work the land. The hogs and stock was mostly all done gone then. White folks sho had been rich but all
they had was the land. The smoke houses had been stripped and stripped. The cows all been took off cept the
scrubs. Folks plowed ox and glad to plow one.
Sometime we had a good time. I danced till I joined the church. We didn't have no nigger churches that I knowed
till after freedom. Go to the white folks church. We danced square dance jess like the white folks long time ago. The
niggers baptized after the white folks down at the pond. They joined the white folks church sometimes. The same
woman on the place sewed for de niggers, made some things for Miss Frances. I recollects that. She knitted and
seed about things.
She showed the nigger women how to sow. All the women on the place could card and spin. They set around and do
that when too bad weather to be on the ground. They sbow didn't teach them to read. They whoop you if they see
you have a book. If they see you gang round talkin, they say they talkin bout freedom or equalization. They scatter
you bout.
When they sell you, they take you off. See drove pass the house. Men be ridin wid long whips of cow hide wove
together and the dogs. The slaves be walkin, some cryin cause they left their folks. They make em stand in a row
sometimes end sometimes they put en up on a high place end auction em.
The pore white folks whut not able to buy hands had to work their own land. There shore was a heap of white folks
what had no slaves. Some ob dem say theys glad the niggers got turned loose, maybe they could get them to work
for them sometimes and pay em.
When you go to be sold you have to say what they tell you to say. When a man be unruly they sell him to get rid of
him heap of times. They call it sellin nigger meat. No use tryin run off they catch you an bring you back.
I don't know that there was ever a thought made bout freedom till they was fightin. Said that was what it was about.
That was a white mans war cept they stuck a few niggers in front ob the Yankee lines. And some ob the man carried
off some man or boy to wait on him. He so used to bein waited on. I ain't takin sides wid neither one of dem I tell
you.
If der was anything to be knowed the white folks knowed it. The niggers get passes and visit round on Saturday
evening or on Sunday jes mongst theirselves and mongst folks they knowed at the other farms round.
When dat war was done Georgia was jes like being at the bed place. You couldn't stay in the houses fear some Ku
Klux come shoot under yo door and bust in wid hatchets. Folks hide out in de woods mostly. If dey hear you talkin
they say you talkin bout equalization. They whoop you. You couldn't be settin or standing talkin. They come and
ask you what he been tell you. That Ku Klux killed white men too. They say they put em up to hold offices over
them. It was heep worse in Georgia after freedom than it was fore. I think the poor nigger have to suffer fo what de
white man put on him. Wes had a hard time. Some of em down there in Georgia what didn't get into the cities where
they could get victuals and a few regs fo cold weather got so pore out in the woods they nearly starved and died out.
I heard em talk bout how they died in piles. Niggers have to have meat to eat or he get weak. White folks didn't
have no meat, no flour.
The folks was after some people and I run off and kept goin till I took up with some people. The white folks brought
them to Tennessee - Covington - I come too. They come in wagons. My father, he got shot and I never seed him no
mo. He lived on another farm fo de war. I lived wid them white folks till bout nine years and I married. My old man
wanted to come to dis new country. Heard so much talk how fine it was. Then I had run across my brother. He
followed me. One brother was killed in the war somehow. My brother liked Memphis an he stayed there. We come
on the train. I never did like no city.
We farmed bout, cleared land. Never got much fo the hard work we done. The white man don learned how to figure
the black folks out of what was made cept a bare living.
I could read a little and write. He could too. We went to school a little in Tennessee.
When we got so we not able to work hard he come to town and carpentered, right here, and I cooked fo Mr.
Hopkins seven years and fo Mr. Gus Tnweatt and fo Mr. Nick Tnweatt. We got a little ahead then by the hardest. I
carried my money right here bag on a string tied around her waist. We bought a house and five acres of land. No
mum I don't own it now. We got in hard luck and give a nortgage. They closed us out. Mr. Sanders. They say I can
live there long as I lives. But they owns it. My garden fence is down and won't nobody fix it up fo me. They
promises to come put the posts in but they won't do it and I ain't able no mo. I had a garden this year. Spoke fo a pig
but the man said they all died wid the cholera. So I ain't got no meat to eat dis year.
I ain't never had a chile. I ain't got nobody kin to me livin dat I knows bout. When I gets sick a neighbor woman
comes over and looks after me.
I thinks if de present generation don't get killed they die cause they too lazy to work. No mum dey don't know
nuthin bout work. They ain't got no religion. They so smart they don't pay no tention to what you advise em. I never
tries to find out what folks doin and the young generation is killin time. I sho never did vote. I don't believe in it.
The women runnin the world now. The old folks ain't got no money an the young ones wastes theirs. Theys able to
make it. They don't give the old folks nuthin. The times changes so much I don't know what goiner come next. I jes
stop and looks and listens to see if my eyes is foolin me. I can't see, fo de cataracts gettin bad, nohow. Things is
heap better now fo de young folks now if they would help dierselves. I'm too wo out. I can't do much like I could
when I was young. The white folks don't cheat the niggers outen what they make now bad as they did when I
farmed.
I never knowed about uprisings till the Ku Klux sprung up. I never heard bout the Nat Tarner rebellion. I tell you
bout the onliest man I knowed come from Virginia. A fellow come in the country bout everybody called Solomon.
Dis long fo the war. He was a free man he said. He would go bout mong his color and teach em fo little what they
could slip him along. He teached some to read. When freedom he went to Augusta. My brother seed him and said
"Solomon, what you doin here?" and he said "I am er teaching school to my own color." Then he said they run him
out of Virginia cause he was learnin his color and he kept going. Some white folks up North learned him to read and
cipher. He used a black slate and he had a book he carried around to teach folks with. He was what they called a
ginger cake color. They would whoop you if they seed you with booke learnin. Mighty few books to get holt of fo
the war. We mark on the ground. The passes bout all the paper I ever seed fo I come to Tennessee. Then I got to go
to school a little.
Whah would the niggers get guns and shoot to start a uprisin? Never had none cept if a white man give it to him.
When you a slave you don't have nothin cept a big fireplace and plenty land to work.
They cook on the fireplace. Niggers didn't have no guns fo the war an nuthin to shoot in one if he had one whut he
picked up somewhere after the war. The Ku Klux done the uprisin. They say they won't let the nigger enjoy
freedom. They killed a lot of black folks in Georgia and a few white folks whut they said was in wid em. We
darkies had nuthin to do wid freedom. Two or three set down on you, take leaves and build a fire and burn their feet
nearly off. That the way the white folks treat the darky.
I never knowed nobody to hold office. Then whut didn't want to starve got someplace whut he could hold a plow
hardle. You don't know whut hard times is. Dem was hard times. They used to hide in big cane brakes, nearly wild
and nearly starved. Scered to come out. I ain't wanted to go back to Georgia.
The folks I lived wid fo I come to Tennessee, he tanned hides down at the branch and made shoes and he made
cloth hats, wool hats. He sold them. We farmed but I watched them up at the house minus a time.
One thing I recollect mighty well. Fo de war a big bellied great monster man come in an folks made a big to do over
him. He eat round and laughed round havin a big time. His name was Mr. Wimbeish (?). He wo white britches wid
red stripes down the sides and a white shad tail coat all trimmed round de edges wid red and a tall beaver hat. He
blowed a bugle and marched all the men every Friday ebening. He come to Miss Frances. They fed him on pies and
cakes and me brushin the flies off in and my mouth fairly waterin for a chunk ob de cake. When de first shot of war
went off no more could be heard ob old Mr. Wimbeiah. He lef an never was heard tell ob no mo. He said never was
a Yankee had a hart he didn't understand: I never did know what he was. He jess said that right smart.
I gets the Old Age Pension and meets the wagon and gets a little commodities. I works my garden and raises a few
chickens round my house. I trusts in de Lord and try to do right, honey, dat way I lives.
Interviewer Miss Irene Robertson"
Maria Sutton Clements -- Additional Interview
De Valls Bluff, Ark.
Age Between 85 and 90
"Miss, I don't know a whole heap bout Mr. Wimbeiah. I don't know no other name that what they all call him. Some
I heard say it like Wimbuah. He was a great big man, big in here chest, big in here stomach. He have hair bout color
youn light. He have big blue eyes jes' sparklin' round over the victuals on the table. He was a lively man, He had a
heap to tell and a heap to talk bout. He had fair akin and rosy jaws --- full round face. He laughed out loud pretty
often. He looked fine when he laughed too. They all was foolish bout him. He was a newcommer in there. I don't
know whah he stay. He come down the road regular as Friday come, going to practice em marchin'. Looked like
bout fifty follows. I never seed Mr. Wimbeiah on a horse all time he passed long that road. He miter jes' at round
mong the people while he stayed there. He wore red 'appletts' on his shoulders. I never seed him outer that fresh
starched white suit. It was fiahtail coat and had red bands stitched all round the edge and white breatchsa with red
bands down the side. He sure was a young man. They had him bout different places catin'. Old mistress said, 'Fix up
a good dinner today we gwiner have company.' That table was piled full. It was fine eatin'. He say so much I
couldn't forgit. Mever was a Yankees what have a heart he couldn't understand. I don't know what he was. He was
so diffarent.
He master been a Southerner 'cause white folks would not treated him near that good. It was fo de war. They say
when the first bugle blowed fo war he was done gone an' nebber been heard of till dis day. I heard some say last
they seed him, he was rollin' over an' over on the ground and the men run off to find on nother captain. I don't know
if they was tollin' like it took place. I know I never seed him no more.
"The servants take up what they eat in bowls and pans --- little woodon bowls --- and eat wid their fingers and wid
spoons and they had cups. Some had tables fixed up out under the trees. Way they make em --- split a big tree half
in two and bore holes up in it and trim out logs to fit. They cooked on the fireplaces an' hearth and outardoors. They
cooked sompin to eat. They had plenty to eat. But they didn't have pies and cake leas they be goiner have company.
They have so much milk they fatten the pigs on it.
"The animals eat up the gardens and crops. The man kill coon and possum if they didn't get nough meat up at the
house. I say it sure is good. It is good as pork. The men prowl all night in the winter huntin'. If you be workin' at the
field yo dinner is fotched down that to you in a bucket that high 2 ft., that big or round 2 feet wide. The hands all
come an' did they eat. That be mostly fried meat and bread and baked taters, so they could work.
"Old mistress say she first married Mr. Abraham Chenol. Then she married Mr. Joel Sutton and they both died. She
had two sons. She had a nephew what come there from way off. She said he was her sister's boy.
Couse they had doctors and good ones. Iffen a doctor come say one thing the matter he better stick to it and cure
one he come thar to see. Old mistress had three boys till one died. I was brushin' flies offen him. She come and cry
and go way cryin'. He callin' her all time. He quit callin' her then he was dead. Made a sorter gurglin' sound. That
the first person I seed die. When they say he dead I got out and off I was gone. I was usin' a turkey wing to brush
flies offen him. I don't know what was the matter wid em. They buried him on her place whah the grave yard was
made. Both her husbands buried down there. She had a fine marble put over his grave. It had things wrote on it. She
sent way off an' got it. They hauled it to here in a wagon. The Masons buried him. It was the prettiest eight I ever
seed.
"Her son John had some peafowls. She had geese --- a big drove --- turkeys, guiness, ducks, and geese.
"She had feather beds and wheat straw mattresses. Clean whoopeal They used cotton baggin' and straw and some of
the servants had a feather bed. Old mistress get up an' go in set till they call her to breakfast. They had a marble top
table and a big square piano. That was the parlor furniture. They made rugs outen sheep an' goat skins.
"When she want the cook go wid her she dress her up in some her fine dresses --- big white cap like missus slep in
an' a white apron tied round her waist. We wore 5cents calico and gingham dresses for best. She'd buy three and
four bolts at Augusta [Georgia] and have it made up to work in. We didn't spin and weave till the war come on.
Some old men come round making spinnin' wheels. They was very plain too nearly bout rough. Rich folks had fine
silk dresses --- jes' rattle when they walked --- to wear to preachin'. They sho did have preachin' an' fastin' too durin'
the war but folks didn't have fine clothes when it ended like when the war started.
"It started outanar the bushwhackers. Some say they didn't get what was promised on at Shiloh Battle. They didn't
get their rights. I don't know what they meant by it. The bushwhackers ketch the men in day goiner work --- ketch
on this way [by the shoulders or collar]. Such hollerin' and scramblin' then you never heard. They hide behind big
pine trees till he come up then step out behind and grab him. They first come an' call for water. Plenty water in the
well or down at the spring. They knowed it too. Then they waste all you had brought up and say --- 'Ah! First drink
I had since I come from hell.' They all knowed ain't nobody come from hell. They had hatchets an' they burst in
your house. Jes' to scars you. They shoot under your house. They wore their wives big wide nightgowns and caps
and ugliest faces you eber seed. They looked like a gang from hell --- ugliest things you abber did see. It was cold
--- ground spewed up wid ice and men folks so scared they run out in woods, stay all night. Old mistress died at the
close of de war an' her son what was a preacher, he put on a long preacher coat and breeches all black. He put a
navy six in his belt and carried carbeen [carbine] on his shoulder. It was a long gun shoot sixteen times. He was a
dangerous man. He made the Ku Klux let his folks alone. He walk all night bout his place. He say, 'Forward March!'
Then they pass by. He was a dangerous man. So much takin' place all time I was scared nearly to death all time."
Interviewer Miss Irene Robertson"
Maria Sutton Clements -- Additional Interview
De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
Age_________
"Missus, I thought if I'd see you agin I'd tell you this song:
'Jeff Davis is President
Abe Lincoln is a fool
Come here, see Jeff ride the gray horse
And Abe Lincoln the mule.'
"They sung all sich songs durin' of the war.
"Five wagons come by. They said it was Jeff Davise's wagons. They was loaded wid silver money --- all five --- in
Lincoln County, Georgia. Somehow the folks got a whix of it and got the money outen one the wagons. Abraham,
My old mistress' son had old-fashion saddle bag full. Sho it was white folks all but two or three slaves. Hogs tore up
sacks money, find em hid in the woods. They thought it was corn. They found a leather trunk full or money ---
silver money --- down in the creek. Money buried all round. The way it all started one colored man throwed down a
bright dime to a Yankees fo sompin he wanter buy. That started it all. They tied their thumbs this way (thumbs
crossed) behind em, then strung em up in trees by their wrists behind em. It put heep of em in bed an' some most
died never did get over it. The Yankees soldiers come down then and got all the money nearly. They say the war last
four years, five months. Seemed like twenty years."
Interviewer Pernella Anderson"
