Heck's-Town, Durham, Durham County.
May 21, 1937.

"My mammy wuz a Free Issue an' my pappy belonged ter de Bells in
Chatham County. Pappy wuz named Edmund Bell, mammy wuz named Polly
Mitchel. My sisters wuz Fanny, Jane, Ann, Josephine, Narcissus, and
Cressie. My brothers wuz Lizah, Hilliard an' another one, but I doan
'member his name.

"Yo' knows dat I doan 'member much, but I does know dat days on de
plantation wuz happy. When my mammy married pappy she moved ter de
Bell's plantation so we chilluns, long wid her, wuz lak de udder
slaves.

"De missus gib us her old hoop skirts ter play in an' we played nigh
'bout all de time. We wuz doin' dis when de Yankees comed by. Dey
drives dere hosses up ter de gate an' dey says dat dey is lookin' fer
Wheeler's Cavalry. We knows dat it done pass dar de day 'fore, but we
is too skeered ter say a thing.

"De Yankees stays 'round dar fer a little while, an' dey gathers
rations, den dey goes on atter Wheeler. We uster sing a song 'bout
Wheeler's Cavalry but I only 'members dat it went lak dis:

"'Wheeler's Wheeler's Cav--al--ry,
Marchin' on de battlefield
Wheeler's Wheeler's Cav--al--ry
Marchin' on de battlefield.'

"It wuz really a game we played, while we marched an' pranced an' beat
on tin pans. De missus ain't carin' case we is bein' true ter de south
she thinks. Shucks we doan care nothin' 'bout Wheeler 'cept what we
hyar, an dat ain't so good. We doan keer 'bout de Yankees nother, case
we is skeered of dem.

"I hyard grown folkses praisen' Lincoln but I doan know much 'bout him.
I doan know nothin' much 'bout none of it, but I does know dat it wuz
on a Sunday dat de picket wuz lookin' fer Wheeler an' dat we wuz
playin' hide an' seek."

N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 848
Subject: WILLIAM SYKES
Person Interviewed: William Sykes
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt

[Illustration: William Sykes]

WILLIAM SYKES

Ex-Slave Story

An interview with William Sykes 78, of State prison, Raleigh, N.C.

"My mammy Martha an' me we 'longed ter Mister Joshua Long in Martin
County, an' my paw, Henry 'longed ter Squire Ben Sykes in Tyrell
County. Squire Sykes lived in what wus called Gum Neck, an' he owned a
hundert slaves or more an' a whole passel of lan'.

"I lived wid my mammy in Martin County from de fust dat I could
'member, me an' my brothers, Henry, Benjamin an' Columbus