FOLKLORE SUBJECTS
Name of interviewer:  Watt McKinney
Subject:  Ex-Slave and Confederate Soldiers
Story:—­Information

This information given by:  “Uncle” Henry Turner (c)
Place of residence:  Turner, Phillips County, Arkansas
Occupation:  Plantation hand
Age:  93
[TR:  Information moved from bottom of first page.]

  I’m gettin’ old and feeble now and cannot walk no more
  And I’ve laid the rusty-bladed hoe to rest.

  Ole marster and ole missus are sleeping side by side
  And their spirits are a-roamin’ with the blest.

The above lines, had they been composed today, might well have been written with reference to “Uncle” Henry Turner, ninety-three years of age, of Turner, Arkansas, in Phillips County, and among the very few remaining ex-slaves, especially of those who were old enough at the time of their emancipation to have now a clear recollection of conditions, customs, events, and life during those days long past immediately proceeding and following the Civil War.  “Uncle” Henry’s eyes have now grown dim and he totters slightly as, supported by his cane, he slowly shuffles along the path over a short distance between the clean, white-washed cabin where he lives with a daughter and the small, combination store and post office, on the porch of which he is accustomed to sit in an old cane-bottomed chair for a few hours each day and the white folks in passing stop to speak a few words and to buy for him candy, cold drinks, and tobacco.

Though “Uncle” Henry is approaching the century mark in age, his mind is remarkably clear and his recollection is unusually keen.  He was born a slave in northern Mississippi near the small towns of Red Banks and Byhalia, was the property of his owner.  Edmond Turner, and was brought to Phillips County by “his white folks” some months before the war.  Turner, who owned some fifty other slaves besides Henry, settled with his family on a large acreage of land that he had purchased about fifteen miles west of Helena near Trenton.  Both Turner and his wife died soon after taking up residence in Arkansas leaving their estate to their two sons, Bart and Nat, who were by that time grown young men, and being very capable and industrious soon developed their property into one of the most valuable plantations in the County.

As “Uncle” Henry recalls, the Turner place was, it might be said, a world within itself, in the confines of which was produced practically everything essential in the life of its inhabitants and the proper and successful conduct of its operations.  Large herds of cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats provided a bountiful supply of both fresh and salt meats and fats.  Cotton and wool was carded, spun and woven into cloth for clothes, fast colored dyes were made by boiling different kinds of roots and barks, various colored berries were also used for this purpose.  Medicine was prepared from roots, herbs, flowers, and