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Reference: Interview with Rachael Duncan, 46 Vincennes St., New Albany, Ind., a former slave
Rachael is a little black negro woman whose looks belie her age. She stepped quickly along through the yard to meet me and I thought that I had the wrong person, so brisk was her walk.
Born in Breckenridge County, she was about 6 or 7 years old when freedom was declared, although she doesn't know her exact age. She cannot read or write. The little girl was "farmed out" to various white families until she hardly knew her own mother. One day she said, when her mother came to see her, she ran and hid, as she was afraid of her.
She lived with Emma Jenkins, the Nelson Walkers, and other white families. "Some of the folks was mean to me" she said. The nicest place she lived was near Doe Run. She remembers the old mill there and how the folks used to bring their corn to grind for miles around. (This old mill is still standing and is now a summer hotel. Writer)
One year right after the War, she says, there were so very many snakes all over the country that everyone was afraid to venture out. One day as she was going down to the well she almost stepped on a huge rattler. He rattled angrily and prepared to strike. She was too scared to run and stood as if turned to stone. Fortunately another negro came along and killed it with his hoe. The snake was 5 feet long.
Rachael grew up and married. Her husband was 9 years old during the Civil War and helped his father drive supplies to the soldiers.
She tells a fearful story about an old house they lived in down in Kentucky. One day she heard something in the kitchen and went out to see what it was. When she got to the door there sat a man without any head. And just as she started to run he threw up his hands and vanished into thin air. But always after that they could hear steps on the stairs but could never see anybody going up or down. A man had been murdered and robbed near there during the Civil War and it was said that this was his ghost seeking his murderers.
I asked her about campmeetings. "Campmeetings. Yes ma'am. They used to have some grand ones down in Breckinridge County. They was always held out in the woods in a clear space, away off to ourselves, under a big tree. And they was preachin' and singin' and folks got religion right. Yes ma'm they did."
"One man I remember, got so took up with hisself shoutin' and goin' on with the Lawd that he run off into the woods and didn't come back for 2 days. Had got lost and was all chawed up by muskiters an' chiggers an' briers. The white folk didn't bother with us then. We allus kept to ourselves when campmeetin' was on."
Thus the old woman went on and on. Suddenly we both sniffed the air, something was burning. Cabbage! So I made a hurried departure and the old woman went into the house to salvage her dinner, promising to think up some more stories for me "next time."
