George Womble
From:
Georgia
[HW: Dist. 5
Ex-Slave #117]
E. Driskell
Whitley
1-20-37
GEORGE WOMBLE
EX-SLAVE
[Date Stamp: MAY 8 1937]
One of the relics of Slavery is George Womble. From all appearances Mr.
Womble looks to be fifty-three years of age instead of the ripe old age
of ninety-three that he claims. He is about five and one-half or six
feet in height, weighs one-hundred and seventy-five pounds or more, and
has good sight and hearing in addition to a skin that is almost devoid
of any wrinkle. Besides all of this he is a clear thinker and has a good
sense of humor. Following is an account of the experiences of Mr. Womble
as a slave and of the conditions in general on the plantations where he
lived:
"I was born in the year of 1843 near the present site of what is now
known as Clinton, Georgia. The names of my parents were Patsy and
Raleigh Ridley. I never saw my father as he was sold before I was old
enough to recognize him as being my father. I was still quite young when
my mother was sold to a plantation owner who lived in New Orleans, La.
As she was being put on the wagon to be taken away I heard her say: "Let
me see my poor child one more time because I know I'll never see him
again". That was the last I ever saw or heard of her. As I had no
brothers or sisters or any other relatives to care for me my master, who
was Mr. Robert Ridley, had me placed in his house where I was taught to
wait tables and to do all kinds of house work. Mr. Ridley had a very
large plantation and he raised cotton, corn, oats, wheat, peas, and live
stock. Horses and mules were his specialty--I remember that he had one
little boy whose job was to break these animals so that they could be
easily sold. My job was to wait tables, help with the house cleaning,
and to act as nurse maid to three young children belonging to the
master. At other times I drove the cows to and from the pasture and I
often helped with the planting in the fields when the field hands were
rushed. Out of the forty-odd slaves that were held by the Ridleys all
worked in the field with the exception of myself and the cook whose name
was Harriet Ridley." Continuing, Mr. Womble says: "I believe that Mr.
Ridley was one of the meanest men that ever lived. Sometimes he whipped
us, especially us boys, just to give himself a little fun. He would tie
us in such a way as to cause our bodies to form an angle and then he
preceeded to use the whip. When he had finished he would ask: "Who do
you belong to?" and we had to answer; "Marse Robert". At other times he
would throw us in a large tank that held about two-thousand gallons of
water. He then stood back and laughed while we struggled to keep from
drowning."
"When Marse Robert died I was still a small boy. Several months after
his death Mrs. Ridley gave the plantation up and took her share of the
slaves (ten in number) of which I was one, and moved to Tolbert County,
Georgia near the present location of Talbottom, Georgia. The other
slaves and the plantation were turned over to Marse Robert's relatives.
After a few months stay in this place I was sold to Mrs. Ridley's
brother, Enoch Womble. On the day that I was sold three doctors examined
me and I heard one of them say: "This is a thoroughbred boy. His teeth
are good and he has good muscles and eyes. He'll live a long time." Then
Mr. Womble said: "He looks intelligent too. I think I'll take him and
make a blacksmith out of him." And so to close the deal he paid his
sister five-hundred dollars for me."
According to Mr. Womble his new master was even meaner than the deceased
Mr. Ridley. He was likewise a plantation owner and a farmer and as such
he raised the same things that Mr. Ridley did with the exception of the
horses and the mules. In all there were about five-hundred acres to the
plantation. There were six children in the Womble family in addition to
Mr. Womble and his wife, and they all lived in a large one-storied frame
house. A large hickory tree grew through the center of the porch where a
hole had been cut out for its growth.
Mr. Womble says that his reputation of being an excellent house boy had
preceded him, and so here too he was put to work in the master's house
where he helped with the cooking, washed the dishes, cleaned the house,
and also acted as nurse for the younger white children. In addition to
this, he was also required to attend to the cows. He remembers how on
one night at a very late hour he was called by the master to go and
drive the cows from the pasture as the sleet and snow might do them more
harm than good. He was so cold that on the way back from the pasture he
stopped at the pig pens where he pushed one or two of them out of the
spots where they had lain so that he could squat there, and warm his
feet in the places left warm by their bodies. To add to his discomfort
the snow and sleet froze in his long hair and this made him even more
miserable than ever.
Mr. Womble was asked to tell what time he had to arise in the morning to
be at his day's work, and he replied that sometimes he didn't even go to
sleep as he had to keep one hand on the baby crib to keep it from
crying. Most of the time he got up at four o'clock in the morning, and
went to the kitchen where he helped the cook prepare breakfast. After
this was done, and he had finished waiting on the master and his family
he started to clean the house. When he had finished this, he had to take
care of the younger Womble children, and do countless the other things
to be done around a house. Of the other slaves, Mr. Womble says: "None
of them ever suffered from that disease known as "mattress fever". They
all got up long before day, and prepared their breakfasts and then
before it was light enough to see clearly they were standing in the
field holding their hoes and other implements--afraid to start work for
fear that they would cover the cotton plants with dirt because they
could'nt see clearly due to the darkness." An overseer was hired by the
master to see that the work was done properly. If any of the slaves were
careless about their work they were made to take off their clothes in
the field before all the rest and then a sound whipping was
administered. Field hands also get whippings when they failed to pick
the required three-hundred pounds of cotton daily. To avoid a whipping
for this they sprinkled the white sand of the fields on the dew soaked
cotton and at the time it was weighed they were credited with more
pounds than they had actually picked. Around ten or eleven o'clock in
the morning they were all allowed to go to the cook house where they
were given dinner by the plantation cook. By one o'clock they were all
back in the field where they remained until it was too dark to see
clearly, and then they were dismissed by the overseer after he had
checked the number of pounds of cotton that they had picked.
The slaves knew that whenever Mr. Womble hired a new overseer he always
told the prospect that if he could'nt handle the slaves his services
would not be needed. The cook had heard the master tell a prospective
overseer this and so whenever a new one was hired the slaves were quick
to see how far they could go with him. Mr. Womble says that an overseer
had to be a very capable man in order to keep his job as overseer on the
Womble plantation because if the slaves found out that he was afraid of
them fighting him (and they did sometimes) they took advantage of him so
much so that the production dropped and the overseer either found
himself trying to explain to his employer or else looking for another
job. The master would never punish a slave for beating an overseer with
his fists stated Mr. Womble.
During rainy weather the slaves shucked corn, piled manure in the barns,
and made cloth. In the winter season the men split rails, built fences,
and dug ditches, while the women did the weaving and the making of
cloth. These slaves who were too old to work in the fields remained at
home where they nursed the sick slaves (when there was sickness) and
attended to the needs of those children who were too young for field
work. Those children who were still being fed from their mother's
breasts were also under the care of one of these old persons. However,
in this case the mothers were permitted to leave the field twice a day
(once between breakfast and dinner and once between dinner and supper)
so that these children could be fed.
At times Mr. Womble hired some of his slaves out to work by the day for
some of the other nearby plantation owners. Mr. Geo. Womble says that he
was often hired out to the other white ladies of the community to take
care of their children and to do their housework. Because of his ability
to clean a house and to handle children he was in constant demand.
The men worked every day in the week while the women were given Saturday
afternoon off so that they might do their personal work such as the
washing and the repairing of their clothing etc. The women were required
to do the washing and the repairing of the single men's clothing in
addition to their own. No night work was required of any of them except
during the winter when they were given three cuts of thread to card,
reel, and spin each night.
There were some days when the master called them all to his back yard
and told them that they could have a frolic. While they danced and sang
the master and his family sat and looked on. On days like the Fourth of
July and Christmas in addition to the frolic barbecue was served and
says Mr. Womble: "It was right funny to see all of them dancing around
the yard with a piece of meat in one hand and a piece of bread in the
other.
Mr. Womble stated further that clothes were given to all the slaves once
a year. An issue for the men usually consisted of one or two pairs of
pants and some shirts, underwear, woolen socks, and a pair of heavy
brogans that had been made of horse hide. These shoes were reddish in
appearance and were as stiff as board according to Mr. Womble. For
special wear the men were given a garment that was made into one piece
by sewing the pants and shirt together. This was known as a
"roundabout". The women were given one or two dresses that had been made
of the same material as that of the men's pants. As the cloth that these
clothes were made of was very coarse and heavy most of them lasted until
the time for the next issue. None of the clothing that the slaves wore
was bought. After the cloth had been made by the slaves who did all the
spinning and the weaving the master's wife cut the clothes out while the
slave women did the sewing. One of the men was a cobbler and it was he
who made all of the shoes for slave use. In the summer months the field
hands worked in their bare feet regardless of whether they had shoes or
not. Mr. Womble says that he was fifteen years of age when he was given
his first pair of shoes. They were a pair of red boots and were so stiff
that he needed help to get them on his feet as well as to get them off.
Once when the master had suffered some few financial losses the slaves
had to wear clothes that were made of crocus material. The children wore
sacks after holes had been cut out for their heads and arms. This
garment looked like a slightly lengthened shirt in appearance. A dye
made from red clay was used to give color to these clothes.
The bed clothing consisted of bagging sacks and quilts that were made
out of old clothes.
At the end of the week all the field hands met in the master's backyard
where they were given a certain amount of food which was supposedly
enough to last for a week. Such an issue was made up of three pounds of
fat meat, one peck of meal, and one quart of black molasses. Mr. Womble
was asked what the slaves did if their allowance of food ran out before
the end of the week, and he replied in the following manner: "If their
food gave out before the time for another issue they waited until night
and then one or two of them would go to the mill-house where the flour
and the meal was kept. After they had succeeded in getting in they would
take an auger and bore a hole in the barrel containing the meal. One
held the sack while the other took a stick and worked it around in the
opening made by the auger so as to make the meal flow freely. After
their bags were filled the hole was stopped up, and a hasty departure
was made. Sometimes when they wanted meat they either went to the smoke
house and stole a ham or else they would go to the pen where the pigs
were kept and take a small pig out. When they got to the woods with this
animal they proceeded to skin and clean it (it had already been killed
with a blow in the head before they left the pen). All the parts that
they did not want were either buried or thrown in the nearby river.
After going home all of this meat was cooked and hidden. As there was
danger in being caught none of this stolen meat was ever fried because
there was more danger of the odor of frying meat going farther away than
that odor made by meat being boiled." At this point Mr. Womble stated
that the slaves were taught to steal by their masters. Sometimes they
were sent to the nearby plantations to steal chickens, pigs, and other
things that could be carried away easily. At such times the master would
tell them that he was not going to mistreat them and that he was not
going to allow anyone else to mistreat them and that by taking the above
mentioned things they were helping him to be more able to take care of
them.
At breakfast the field hands ate fried meat, corn bread, and molasses.
When they went to the house for dinner they were given some kind of
vegetable along with pot liquor and milk. When the days work was done
and it was time for the evening meal there was the fried meat again with
the molasses and the corn bread. Mr. Womble says that they ate this kind
of food every day in the week. The only variation was on Sunday when
they were given the seconds of the flour and a little more molasses so
that they might make a cake. No other sweetening was used except the
molasses.
As for Mr. Womble and the cook they fared better as they ate the same
kind of food that the master and his family did. He remembers how he
used to take biscuits from the dishes that were being sent to the
masters table. He was the waiter and this was an easy matter. Later he
took some of these biscuits and sold them to the other little boys for a
nickle each. Neither the master or the slaves had real coffee. They all
drank a type of this beverage that had been made by parching bran or
meal and then boiled in water.
The younger children were fed from a trough that was twenty feet in
length. At meal time each day the master would come out and supervise
the cook whose duty it was to fill the trough with food. For breakfast
the milk and bread was all mixed together in the trough by the master
who used his walking cane to stir it with. At dinner and supper the
children were fed pot liquor and bread and sometimes milk that had been
mixed together in the same manner. All stood back until the master had
finished stirring the food and then at a given signal they dashed to the
trough where they began eating with their hands. Some even put their
mouths in the trough and ate. There were times when the master's dogs
and some of the pigs that ran round the yard all came to the trough to
share these meals. Mr. Womble states that they were not permitted to
strike any of these animals so as to drive them away and so they
protected their faces from the tongues of the intruders by placing their
hands on the sides of their faces as they ate. During the meal the
master walked from one end of the trough to the other to see that all
was as it should be. Before Mr. Womble started to work in the master's
house he ate as the other children for a short time. Some of the times
he did not have enough food to eat and so when the time came to feed the
cows he took a part of their food (a mixture of cotton seed, collard
stalks, and small ears of corn) and ate it when night came. When he
started working in the house regularly he always had sufficient food
from then on.
All the food that was eaten was grown on the plantation in the master's
gardens. He did not permit the slaves to have a garden of their own
neither could they raise their own chickens and so the only time that
they got the chance to enjoy the eating of chicken was when they decided
to make a special trip to the master's poultry yard.
The housing facilities varied with the work a slave was engaged in on
the Womble plantation according to Mr. Womble. He slept in the house
under the dining-room table all of the time. The cook also slept in the
house of her owner. For those who worked on the fields log cabins (some
distance behind the master's house.) were provide [sic]. Asked to
describe one of these cabins Mr. Womble replied: "They were two roomed
buildings made out of logs and daubed with mud to keep the weather out.
At one end there was a chimney that was made out of dried mud, sticks
and stones. The fireplace was about five or six feet in length and on
the inside of it there were some hooks to hang the pots from when there
was cooking to be done.
"There was only one door and this was the front one. They would'nt put a
back door in a cabin because it would be easy for a slave to slip out of
the back way if the master or the overseer came to punish an occupant.
There were one or two small openings cut in the back so that they could
get air."
"The furniture was made by the blacksmith", continued Mr. Womble. "In
one corner of the room there was a large bed that had been made out of
heavy wood. Rope that ran from side to side served as the springs while
the mattress was a large bag that had been stuffed with wheat straw. The
only other furnishings were a few cooking utensils and one or two
benches." As many as four families lived in one of these cabins although
the usual number to a cabin was three families. There was one other
house where the young children were kept while their parents worked in
the fields.
Most of the sickness on the Womble plantation was due to colds and
fever. For the treatment of either of these ailments the master always
kept a large can filled with a mixture of turpentine and caster oil.
When anyone complained of a cold a dose of this oil was prescribed. The
master gave this dose from a very large spoon that always hung from the
can. The slaves also had their own home made remedies for the treatment
of different ailments. Yellow root tea and black-hall tea were used in
the treatment of colds while willow tea was used in the treatment of
fever. Another tea made from the droppings of sheep was used as a remedy
for the measles. A doctor was always called when anyone was seriously
ill. He was always called to attend those cases of childbirth. Unless a
slave was too sick to walk he was required to go to the field and work
like the others. If, however, he was confined to his bed a nurse was
provided to attend to his needs.
On Sundays all of the slaves were allowed to attend the white church
where they listened to the services from the rear of the church. When
the white minister was almost through he would walk back to where the
slaves sat and tell them not to steal their master's chickens, eggs, or
his hogs and their backs would not be whipped with many stripes. After
this they were dismissed and they all left the church wondering what the
preacher's sermon meant. Some nights they went to the woods and
conducted their own services. At a certain spot they all knelt and
turned their faces toward the ground and then they began moaning and
praying. Mr. Womble says that by huddling in this circle and turning
their voices toward the ground the sound would not travel very far.
None of them ever had the chance to learn how to read and write. Some
times the young boys who carried the master's children's books to and
from school would ask these children to teach them to write but as they
were afraid of what their father might do they always refused. On the
adjoining plantation the owner caught his son teaching a little slave
boy to write.
He was furious and after giving his son a severe beating he then cut the
thumb and forefinger off of the slave. The only things that were taught
the slaves was the use of their hands. Mr. Womble says that all the
while that he was working in the master's house they still found the
time for him to learn to be a blacksmith.
When a male slave reached the age of twenty-one he was allowed to court.
The same was true of a girl that had reached the age of eighteen. If a
couple wished to marry they had to get permission from the master who
asked each in turn if they wished to be joined as man and wife and if
both answered that they did they were taken into the master's house
where the ceremony was performed. Mr. Womble says that he has actually
seen one of these weddings and that it was conducted in the following
manner: "A broom was placed in the center of the floor and the couple
was told to hold hands. After joining hands they were commanded to jump
over the broom and then to turn around and jump back.
"After this they were pronounced man and wife." A man who was small in
stature was never allowed to marry a large, robust woman. Sometimes when
the male slaves on one plantation were large and healthy looking and the
women slaves on some nearby plantation looked like they might be good
breeders the two owners agreed to allow the men belonging to the one
visit the women belonging to the other, in fact they encouraged this
sort of thing in hopes that they would marry and produce big healthy
children. In such cases passes were given freely.
All of the newly born babies were named by the master. "The only
baptisms that any of us get was with a stick over the head and then we
baptised our cheeks with our tears," stated Mr. Wombly.
Continuing, Mr. Wombly stated that the slaves on the Womble plantation
were treated more like animals rather than like humans. On one or two
occasions some of them were sold. At such a time those to be sold were
put in a large pen and then they were examined by the doctors and
prospective buyers and later sold to the highest bidder the same as a
horse or a mule. They were sold for various reasons says Mr. Womble. His
mother was sold because she was too hard to rule and because she made it
difficult to discipline the other slaves.
Mr. Womble further reported that most of his fellow slaves believed in
signs. They believed that if a screech owl or a "hoot" owl came near a
house and made noises at night somebody was going to die and instead of
going to heaven the devil would get them. "On the night that old Marse
Ridley died the screech owls like to have taken the house away," he
says.
There was always a great amount of whipping on this plantation. This was
practically the only form of punishment used. Most of them were whipped
for being disobedient or for being unruly. Mr. Womble has heard his
master say that he would not have a slave that he could not rule and to
be sure that the slaves held him and his family in awe he even went so
far as to make all of them go and pay their respects to the newly born
white children on the day after their birth. At such a time they were
required to get in line outside of the door and then one by one they
went through the room and bowed their heads as they passed the bed and
uttered the following words: "Young Marster" or if the baby was a girl
they said: "Young Mistress". On one occasion Mr. Womble says that he has
seen his master and a group of other white men beat an unruly slave
until his back was raw and then a red hot iron bar was applied to his
back. Even this did not make the slave submissive because he ran away
immediately afterwards. After this inhuman treatment any number of the
slaves ran away, especially on the Ridley plantation. Some were caught
and some were not. One of the slaves on the Womble plantation took his
wife and ran away. He and his wife lived in a cave that they found in
the woods and there they raised a family. When freedom was declared and
these children saw the light of day for the first time they almost went
blind stated Mr. Womble.
Mr. Womble says that he himself has been whipped to such an extent by
his master, who used a walking cane, that he had no feeling in his legs.
One other time he was sent off by the master and instead of returning
immediately he stopped to eat some persimmons. The master came upon him
at the tree and started beating him on the head with a wagon spoke. By
the time he reached the house his head was covered with knots the size
of hen eggs and blood was flowing from each of them.
The slaves on the Womble plantation seldom if ever came in contact with
the "Paddle-Rollers" who punished those slaves who had the misfortune to
be caught off of their plantations without passes. In those days the
jails were built for the white folks because the masters always punished
the slaves when they broke any of the laws exclaimed Mr. Womble.
Several years before the war Mr. Wombly was sold to Mr. Jim Wombly, the
son of Mr. Enoch Wombly. He was as mean as his father or meaner, Mr.
Wombly says that the first thing that he remembers in regard to the war
was to hear his master say that he was going to join the army and bring
Abe Lincoln's head back for a soap dish. He also said that he would wade
in blood up to his neck to keep the slaves from being freed. The slaves
would go to the woods at night where they sang and prayed. Some used to
say; "I knew that some day we'll be free and if we die before that time
our children will live to see it."
When the Yankees marched through they took all of the silver and gold
that had been hidden in the wall on the Womble plantation. They also
took all of the live stock on the plantation, most of which had been
hidden in the swamps. These soldiers then went into the house and tore
the beds up and poured syrup in the mattresses. At the time all of the
white people who lived on the plantation were hiding in the woods. After
the soldiers had departed (taking these slaves along who wished to
follow) Mrs. Womble went back into the house and continued to make the
clothes and the bandages that were to be used by the Confederate
Soldiers.
After the slaves were set free any number of them were bound over and
kept, says Mr. Womble. He himself was to remain with the Womble family
until he reached the age of twenty-one. When this time came Mr. Womble
refused to let him go. However, Mrs. Womble helped him to escape but he
was soon caught one night at the home of an elderly white lady who had
befriended him. A rope was tied around his neck and he was made to run
the entire way back to the plantation while the others rode on horse
back. After a few more months of cruel treatment he ran away again. This
time he was successful in his escape and after he had gone what he
considered a safe distance he set up a blacksmith shop where he made a
living for quite a few years. Later one of the white men in that
community hired him to work in his store. After a number of years at
this place he decided to come to Atlanta where he has been since.
Mr. Womble concluded by saying that he has been able to reach his
present age because he has never done any smoking or drinking. An old
lady once told him not to use soap on his face and he would not wrinkle.
He accounts for his smooth skin in this manner.
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