From the WPA Slave
Narratives:
Nat Plummer age 96 Jackson County
"Yassum, I was a slave. Dem was de good old days - I had a good master. His
name was J. L. Plummer. We lived in Tennessee and den we moved down heah. Dat
was in de days befo' railroads. Yassum, we came on hoss back and drove ox
teams. Dat's when de steamboats us't dock heah. Dey'd bring all de mail and
provisions. Dey was a wharf, and dere was some tracks on it, with a little car
to run on it. Dey'd hitch a mule to dat car to bring the cargo from the
steamboats to de shore. Den, de ox carts would be loaded to carry it into
town.
"But the most excitin' times was during the war! It was hard too! All de
soljers, dey was camped down on the beach on the W. B. Schmidt place-yassum,
right where dat place is today. You know dem high bluffs? Wall, dat's where
dey kep' a look-out for dem Yankees.
"One day a message come. You see dat house right on de corner? Dat's de old
Godstine house. Wall, dat's where dey got de message dat de Yankees was
comin'. Yassum, can't you see up dere, dat hole where de wires went through?
Dere was a telegraph operator dere who couldn't pay his board, so he swapped
info'mation for vittles.
"And see dat house over yonder? Dat's de old W. R. Stewart house. Well, de
Yankees went dere and got a man what was hidin' dere. Dey called him a
conscript.
"Yassum, my old master was good to me, and when he died, his wife's brother
came to live wid us, and he was my young master. He was good, too. One day I
said, 'Massa Sam, when was I born?' My master's name was Sam Lauderdale. He
said, 'Nat, you was born in 1840.' So dat makes me ninety-six years old. I'se
gettin' old.
"Den, after us niggahs was set free, I stayed on with Missus Plummer. I'd burn
charcoal and cut wood f' de steamboats, and when de trains started comin'
through, I cut wood for dem too. Mrs. Plummer, she give me mos' of de money
too.
"Well, I'se gettin' tired now, from settin' up, but I loves to talk over de
good ole' days - we didn't need no relief den."
Interviewer: Unknown
Transcribed by Ann Allen Geoghegan
Mississippi Narratives
Prepared by
The Federal Writer’s Project of
The Works Progress Administration
For the State of Mississippi
