John Beckwith
From:
North Carolina
N. C. District: No. 2 [320157]
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 341
Subject: WHEN THE YANKEES CAME
Story Teller: John Beckwith
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[TR: No Date Stamp]
WHEN THE YANKEES CAME
An Interview with John Beckwith 83, of Cary.
I reckon dat I wuz 'bout nine years old at de surrender, but we warn't
happy an' we stayed on dar till my parents died. My pappy wuz named
Green an' my mammy wuz named Molly, an' we belonged ter Mr. Joe Edwards,
Mr. Marion Gully, an' Mr. Hilliard Beckwith, as de missus married all of
'em. Dar wuz twenty-one other slaves, an' we got beat ever' onct in a
while.
When dey told us dat de Yankees wuz comin' we wuz also told dat iffen
we didn't behave dat we'd be shot; an' we believed it. We would'uv
behaved anyhow, case we had good plank houses, good food, an' shoes. We
had Saturday an' Sunday off an' we wuz happy.
De missus, she raised de nigger babies so's de mammies could wuck. I
'members de times when she rock me ter sleep an' put me ter bed in her
own bed. I wuz happy den as I thinks back of it, until dem Yankees
come.
Dey come on a Chuesday; an' dey started by burnin' de cotton house an'
killin' most of de chickens an' pigs. Way atter awhile dey fin's de
cellar an' dey drinks brandy till dey gits wobbly in de legs. Atter dat
dey comes up on de front porch an' calls my missus. When she comes ter
de do' dey tells her dat dey am goin' in de house ter look things over.
My missus dejicts, case ole marster am away at de war, but dat doan do
no good. Dey cusses her scan'lous an' dey dares her ter speak. Dey robs
de house, takin' dere knives an' splittin' mattresses, pillows an' ever'
thing open lookin' fer valerables, an' ole missus dasen't open her
mouth.
Dey camped dar in de grove fer two days, de officers takin' de house
an' missus leavin' home an' goin' ter de neighbor's house. Dey make me
stay dar in de house wid 'em ter tote dere brandy frum de cellar, an'
ter make 'em some mint jelup. Well, on de secon' night dar come de wust
storm I'se eber seed. De lightnin' flash, de thunder roll, an' de house
shook an' rattle lak a earthquake had struck it.
Dem Yankees warn't supposed ter be superstitious, but lemmie tell yo',
dey wuz some skeered dat night; an' I hyard a Captain say dat de witches
wuz abroad. Atter awhile lightnin' struck de Catawba tree dar at de side
of de house an' de soldiers camped round about dat way marched off ter
de barns, slave cabins an' other places whar dey wuz safter dan at dat
place. De next mornin' dem Yankees moved frum dar an' dey ain't come
back fer nothin'.
We wuzn't happy at de surrender an' we cussed ole Abraham Lincoln all
ober de place. We wuz told de disadvantages of not havin' no edercation,
but shucks, we doan need no book larnin' wid ole marster ter look atter
us.
My mammy an' pappy stayed on dar de rest of dere lives, an' I stayed
till I wuz sixteen. De Ku Klux Klan got atter me den' bout fightin' wid
a white boy. Dat night I slipped in de woods an' de nex' day I went ter
Raleigh. I got a job dar an' eber' since den I'se wucked fer myself, but
now I can't wuck an' I wish dat yo' would apply fer my ole aged pension
fer me.
I went back ter de ole plantation long as my pappy, mammy, an' de
marster an' missus lived. Sometimes, when I gits de chanct I goes back
now. Course now de slave cabins am gone, ever' body am dead, an' dar
ain't nothin' familiar 'cept de bent Catawba tree; but it 'minds me of
de happy days.
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John C Bectom
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Alice Baugh
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