An interview with Ben Johnson 85 of Hecktown, Durham, Durham County,
May 20, 1937.
Uncle Ben, who is nearly blind and who walks with a stick, was assisted
to the porch by his wife who sat down near him in a protecting
attitude. He is much less striking than his wife who is small and
dainty with perfect features and snow white hair worn in two long
braids down her back. She wore enormous heart shaped earrings,
apparently of heavy gold; while Uncle Ben talked she occasionally
prompted him in a soft voice.
"I wuz borned in Orange County and I belonged ter Mr. Gilbert Gregg
near Hillsboro. I doan know nothin' 'bout my mammy an' daddy, but I had
a brother Jim who wuz sold ter dress young missus fer her weddin'. De
tree am still standin' whar I set under an' watch 'em sell Jim. I set
dar an' I cry an' cry, 'specially when dey puts de chains on him an'
carries him off, an' I ain't neber felt so lonesome in my whole life. I
ain't neber hyar from Jim since an' I wonder now sometimes if'en he's
still livin'.
"I knows dat de marster wuz good ter us an' he fed an' clothed us good.
We had our own gyarden an' we wuz gittin' long all right.
"I seed a whole heap of Yankees when dey comed ter Hillsboro an' most
of 'em ain't got no respeck fer God, man, nor de debil. I can't 'member
so much 'bout 'em do' cause we lives in town an' we has a gyard.
"De most dat I can tell yo' 'bout am de Ku Klux. I neber will fergit
when dey hung Cy Guy. Dey hung him fer a scandelous insult ter a white
'oman an' dey comed atter him a hundert strong.
"Dey tries him dar in de woods, an' dey scratches Cy's arm ter git some
blood, an' wid dat blood dey writes dat he shall hang 'tween de heavens
an' de yearth till he am daid, daid, daid, an' dat any nigger what
takes down de body shall be hunged too.
"Well sar, de nex' mornin' dar he hung, right ober de road an' de
sentence hangin' ober his haid. Nobody'ud bother wid dat body fer four
days an' dar hit hung, swingin' in de wind, but de fou'th day de
sheriff comes an' takes hit down.
"Dar wuz Ed an' Cindy, who 'fore de war belonged ter Mr. Lynch an'
atter de war he told 'em ter move. He gives 'em a month an' dey ain't
gone, so de Ku Kluxes gits 'em.
"Hit wuz on a cold night when dey comed an' drugged de niggers out'n
bed. Dey carried 'em down in de woods an' whup dem, den dey throws 'em
in de pond, dere bodies breakin' de ice. Ed come out an' come ter our
house, but Cindy ain't been seed since.
"Sam Allen in Caswell County wuz tol' ter move an' atter a month de
hundret Ku Klux come a-totin' his casket an' dey tells him dat his time
has come an' if'en he want ter tell his wife good bye an' say his
prayers hurry up.
"Dey set de coffin on two cheers an' Sam kisses his ole oman who am
a-cryin', den he kneels down side of his bed wid his haid on de piller
an' his arms throwed out front of him.
"He sets dar fer a minute an' when he riz he had a long knife in his
hand. 'Fore he could be grabbed he done kill two of de Ku Kluxes wid de
knife, an' he done gone out'n de do'. Dey ain't ketch him nother, an'
de nex' night when dey comed back, 'termined ter git him dey shot
ano'her nigger by accident.
"I Imembers [TR: 'members] seein' Joe Turner, another nigger hung at
Hillsboro in '69 but I plumb fergot why it wuz.
"I know one time Miss Hendon inherits a thousand dollars from her
pappy's 'state an' dat night she goes wid her sweetheart ter de gate,
an' on her way back ter de house she gits knocked in de haid wid a axe.
She screams an' her two nigger sarvants, Jim an' Sam runs an' saves her
but she am robbed.
"Den she tells de folkses dat Jim an' Sam am de guilty parties, but her
little sister swears dat dey ain't so dey gits out of it.
"Atter dat dey fin's out dat it am five mens, Atwater, Edwards,
Andrews, Davis an' Markham. De preacher comes down to whar dey am
hangin' ter preach dar funeral an' he stan's dar while lightnin' plays
roun' de dead mens haids an' de win' blows de trees, an he preaches
sich a sermon as I ain't neber hyard before.
"Bob Boylan falls in love wid another oman so he burns his wife an'
four youngins up in dere house.
"De Ku Kluxes gits him, of course, an' dey hangs him high on de old red
oak on de Hillsboro Road. Atter dey hunged him his lawyer says ter us
boys, 'Bury him good, boys, jist as good as you'd bury me if'en I wuz
daid.'
"I shuck han's wid Bob 'fore dey hunged him an' I he'ped ter bury him
too an' we bury him nice an' we all hopes dat he done gone ter glory."
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 991
Subject: ISAAC JOHNSON
Story teller: Isaac Johnson
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
ISAAC JOHNSON
Lillington, North Carolina,
Route 1, Harnett County.
"I am feelin' very well this mornin', while I don't feel like I used
to. I done so much hard work, I'm 'bout all in. Dey didn't have all
dese new fangled things to do work an' go 'bout on when I wus a boy.
No, no, you jes' had to git out an' do all de work, most all de work by
hand. I wus ten years old when de Yankees come through. I wus born Feb.
12, 1855.
"I belonged to Jack Johnson. My missus' name wus Nancy. My father wus
Bunch Matthews; he belonged to old man Drew Matthews, a slave owner. My
mother wus named Tilla Johnson. She belonged to Jack Johnson, my
marster. De plantation wus near Lillington, on the north side o' de
Cape Fear River and ran down to near de Lillington Cross roads one mile
from de river. I had one brother and six sisters. My brother wus named
Phil and my sisters name Mary, Caroline, Francis and I don't remember
de others names right now. Been so long since I saw any of 'em. Dey are
all dead. Yes sir, dey are all dead. I do not remember my grandpa and
grandma. No sir, I don't.
"I wus too small to work, dey had me to do little things like feedin'
de chickens, an' mindin' de table sometimes; but I wus too small to
work. Dey didn't let children work much in dem days till dey were
thirteen or fourteen years old. I had plenty to eat, good clothes, a
nice place to sleep an' a good time. Marster loved his slaves an' other
white folks said he loved a nigger more den he did white folks. Our
food wus fixed up fine. It wus fixed by a regular cook who didn't do
anything but cook. We had gardens, a plenty o' meat, a plenty, an' mo'
biscuit den a lot o' white folks had. I kin remember de biscuit. I
never hunted any, but I went bird blindin' an' set bird traps. I caught
lots o' birds.
"Jack Johnson, my marster never had no children of his own. He had a
boy with him by the name of Stephen, a nephew of his, from one of his
brothers. Marster Jack had three brothers Willis, Billy, and Matthew. I
don' remember any of his sisters. There was 'bout four thousand acres
in de plantation an' 'bout 25 slaves. Marster would not have an
overseer.
"No sir, de slaves worked very much as they pleased. He whupped a slave
now an' then, but not much. I have seen him whup 'em. He had some
unruly niggers. Some of 'em were part Indian, an' mean. Dey all loved
him doe. I never saw a slave sold. He kept his slaves together. He
didn't want to git rid of any of 'em. We went to de white folks church
at Neill's Creek a missionary Baptis' Church.
"We played during the Christmas holidays, an' we got 'bout two weeks
4th of July, and lay by time, which wus 'bout the fourth. We had great
times at corn shuckin's, log rollin's and cotton pickin's. We had
dances. Marster lowed his slaves lots o' freedom. My mother used to say
he wus better den other folks. Yes, she said her marster wus better
than other folks.
"The white folks didn't teach us to read an' write. I cannot read an'
write, but de white folks, only 'bout half or less den half, could read
an' write den. Dere were very few pore white folks who could read an'
write. I remember de baptizin's at de Reuben Matthews Mill Pond.
Sometimes after a big meeting dey would baptize twenty four at one
time. No slaves run away from Marster. Dey didn't have any scuse to do
so, cause whites and colored fared alike at Marster's. We played base,
cat, rolly hole, and a kind of base ball called 'round town.
"Dr. John McNeill looked after us when we were sick. We used a lot of
herbs an' things. Drank sassafras tea an' mullen tea. We also used
sheep tea for measles, you knows dat. You know how it wus made. Called
sheep pill tea. It shore would cuore de measles. 'Bout all dat would
cuore measles den. Dey were bad den. Wus den dey is now.
"I saw Wheeler's Cavalry. Dey come through ahead of de Yankees. I saw
colored people in de Yankee uniforms. Dey wore blue and had brass
buttons on 'em. De Yankees an' Wheeler's Cavalry took everything dey
wanted, meat, chickens, an' stock. We stayed on wid Marster after de
war. I've never lived out of de state. We lived in de same place ontill
old Marster an' Missus died. Den we lived wid deir relations right on
an' here. I am now on a place deir heirs own.
"Ole Marster loved his dram, an' he gave it to all his slaves. It sold
for ten cents a quart. He made brandy by de barrels, an' at holidays
all drank together an' had a good time. I never saw any of 'em drunk.
People wan't mean when dey were drinking den. It wus so plentiful
nobody notices it much. Marster would tell de children 'bout Raw Head
and Bloody Bones an' other things to skeer us. He would call us to de
barn to git apples an' run an' hide, an' we would have a time findin'
him. He give de one who found him a apple. Sometimes he didn't give de
others no apple.
"I married Ellen Johnson May 22, 1865 de year de war went up, an' my
wife is livin' as you see, an' able to be about. I'm not able to work,
not able to go out anywhere by myself. I know I cain't las' much longer
but I'm thankful to de Lord for sparin' me dis long."