of me. I hid in the woods while they
were there. They tore up some things but they did not do much damage.
They camped from Holly Springs to Avant's Ferry on Cape Fear River.
William Cross' plantation was about half the distance. The camp was
about thirty miles long. General Logan,[9] who was an old man, was in
charge.

"I married Martha Sears when I was 23 years old. I married in Raleigh.
My wife died in 1912. We had fourteen children, five are living now.

"When the war closed I stayed on eight years with my marster. I then
went to the N.C. State Hospital for the Insane. I stayed there 28
years. That's where I learned to talk like a white man."

LE

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 9: HW: Maj.-Gen. John A. Logan, Fifteenth Army Corps
(Union.)]

N.C. District: 2
Worker: Mary Hicks
No. Words: 260
Subject: MR. BELL'S PLANTATION
Reference: Jacob Thomas
Editor: George L. Andrews

[TR: Date stamp: AUG 6 1937]

MR. BELL'S PLANTATION

An interview with Jacob Thomas, 97 years of age, of 1300 South
Bloodworth Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.

"I wus borned in Elberton County, Georgia, on de plantation of Marse
Tom Bell. My mammy, Isobel, uster live in North Carolina, but she wus
sold from her husban' an' baby an' carried ter Marse Tom's place in
Georgia. Atter she got dar she wus married agin an' had me. Dat is I
reckin dat she wus married. I never did know my pappy.

"Mammy wus sold in Smithfield on de slave block an' carried off,
chained 'hind a wagin. She turn' roun' an' looks back at her husban'
who cries an' de oberseer's lash cuts his back, 'case dey ain't 'lowed
ter cry at a sale.

"From de time I can fust 'member I wucked on de farm. We planted cane,
cotton, corn, an' rice in de low groun's. We ain't had ter wuck so
powerful hard an' we am 'lowed a heap of pleasures, but some of us boys
wus mean an' we had ter be whupped, lak de time we tied tin cans on de
tail of Jinks, marster's fine huntin' dog. De dog near run hisself ter
death an' Marse Tom had us whupped fer hit.

"He raised fine hosses too, an' he ain't 'lowed us boys ter git clost
ter dem, but one Sunday when Uncle Amos went ter sleep in de shade of
de trees roun' de pasture I gits on Lady, one of de fines' young mares,
an' I flies away on her.

"She ain't used ter nobody ridin' her bareback so she kicks up quite a
rucus but I sets on. Down cross de pasture she goes an' I enjoys hit
fine till she ste