Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XI, North Carolina Narratives, Part 1United States. Work Projects Administration
History
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume XI, North Carolina Narratives, Part 1
United States. Work Projects Administration
African Americans -- North Carolina -- Biography; Enslaved persons -- North Carolina -- Biography; Enslaved persons -- North Carolina -- Social conditions; North Carolina -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Biography; Slave narratives -- North Carolina; Slavery -- North Carolina
All the slaves on marster's plantation lived the first year we spent in
Kentucky in a one room house with one fireplace. There was a dozen or
more who all lived in this one room house. Marster built himself a large
house having seven rooms. He worked his slaves himself and never had any
overseers. We worked from sun to sun in the fields and then worked at
the house after getting in from the fields as long as we could see. I
have never seen a patteroller but when I left the plantation in slavery
time I got a pass. I have never seen a jail for slaves but I have seen
slaves whipped and I was whipped myself. I was whipped particularly
about a saddle I left out in the night after using it during the day. My
flesh was cut up so bad that the scars are on me to this day.
We were not allowed to have prayer meetings, but we went to the white
folks church to services sometimes. There were no looms, mills, or shops
on the plantation at Marster Moore's. I kept the name of Glenn through
all the years as Marster Moore did not change his slaves names to his
family name. My mother was named Martha Glenn and father was named Bob
Glenn.
I was in the field when I first heard of the Civil War. The woman who
looked after Henry Hall and myself (both slaves) told me she heard
marster say old Abraham Lincoln was trying to free the niggers. Marster
finally pulled me up and went and joined the Confederate Army. Kentucky
split and part joined the North and part the South. The war news kept
slipping through of success for first one side then the other. Sometimes
marster would come home, spend a few days and then go again to the war.
It seemed he influenced a lot of men to join the southern army, among
them was a man named Enoch Moorehead. Moorehead was killed in a few days
after he joined the southern army.
Marster Moore fell out with a lot of his associates in the army and
some of them who were from the same community became his bitter enemies.
Tom Foushee was one of them. Marster became so alarmed over the threats
on his life made by Foushee and others that he was afraid to stay in his
own home at night, and he built a little camp one and one half miles
from his home and he and missus spent their nights there on his visits
home. Foushee finally came to the great house one night heavily armed,
came right on into the house and inquired for marster. We told him
marster was away. Foushee lay down on the floor and waited a long time
for him. Marster was at the little camp but we would not tell where he
was.
Foushee left after spending most of the night at marster's. As he went
out into the yard, when leaving, marster's bull dog grawled at him and
he shot him dead.
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