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Accession no.
W10041
Date received
10/10/40
Consignment no.
1
Shipped from
Wash. Office
Label
Amount 13p.
.hrt-
A L. C. PROJECT Writers' UNIT
Form -3
Folklore
Collection (or Type)
Title Social...customs of the...past..
W.r.s.. C.. .G......Riaharsison
Place of origin
Project worker
Project editor
Remarks
Project #-1655
Chlotilde R. Martin
Beaufort County
31V56
Records of the Past
SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF THE PAST
Mrs. C. G. Ridkardpen was born near what is now Brunson,
Hampton County, but than old Beaufort District, 61 years age.
Her father, Mr. W. E. Brunson, owned a large plantatien and the
present town of Brunson later grew up in what was his cornfield.
Mrs. Richardson, then Hattie Brunson, was very small at the
tine the Civil War began, but she remeebers the day her three
brothers rode off to join the Confederate army. She knew they
were going to war, but that meant nothing to her and she was ex-
cited and happy because when any of her brothers went away on
horseback, he always took her in front of him on the saddle as
far as the gate. She thought she was going to get the usual
ride this time and was very much hurt and disappointed when
none of them even noticed her except to kiss her goodbye. She
was puzzled, too, because her mother was crying and the entire
family looked serious and sad. She remembers, as though it
were yesterday, standing with the rest of the family on the
porch and watching her brothers gallop off down the road, turn
and disappear from sight. In a short while she heard the sound
of the horses returning and was surprised to see her brothers
coming back up the drive. They brought their horses close to
the porch, leaned across the bannisters, kissed their mother
again and galloped away once more. This scone has been like a
vivid picture in her memory all through the years and she says
she had a strange experience sometime ago *kilo watching a mov-
ing picture which had to do with Civil War days. The identical
w1004t
Project #-1655
Chlotilde R. laartin
beaufort County
Page 2
picture was re-enacted so exactly like the one she experienced
that it gave her a distinct shock.
From the time she watched her brothers ride away to war,
Mrs. Richardson says her memory seems to be a blank until the
news came that Sherman's army was on the way. She recalls the
great excitement on the plantation then as slaves and members
of the family scurried about picking valuables and food prepar-
atory to leaving home for the upcountry. The Brunsons had
planned to travel with their neighbors in a sort of caravan to
escape the pith of Sherman's march and the five Brunson chil-
dren were thrilled at the prospect of traveling. The day came
on which they were to start and she remembers the disappoint-
ment they all felt when her mother, sitting at the breakfast
table, announced that she had decided not to leave, but remain
and take her chances with the Yankees right in her own hose.
Their nearest neighbors, the Richardson family, whose planta-
tion adjoined their own and whose son, Dr. C. G. Richardson,
the little nettle Branson later grew up to marry, decided to
remain at home, also.
The change of plans necessitated a lot of work to hide
food and valuables. Food and articles of values were secreted
in the walls of the house and buried in the lot where they
were covered with dirt and manure. Mr. Brunson, who was beyond
the age limit and did not get into the army until toward the
last, divided all the meat and provisions which he was unable
Project #-1655
Chletilde R. Martin
Beaufort County
Page 3
to hide between his slaves, as he did not believe the Yankees
would take food from them. At last, they saw Sherman's army
marching up the road. Five men approached first and searched
Mr. Brunson, but found nothing. he had taken the precaution
of giving his oldest daughter, a girl of about fourteen, his
muck prised watch several days before and Mrs. Richardson
accompanied her sister into the woods *here they kid it be-
neath the gnarled root of a large tree.
The soldiers entered the house and plundered it from
cellar to attic. They ripped open mattresses and pillows,
scattering feathers and cotton everywhere, and took whatever
they fancied. Mrs. Richardson tells how they took the child-
ren's rag dolls and tore them to pieces before their eyes.
However, they saved their best -beloved china dolls by hiding
them on their persons. having wrought havoc to their satis-
faction in the house, the soldiers then proceeded to destroy
what they could on the outside. The gin house, full of
cotton, was just across the road from the house and this they
set on fire. They killed all the chickens, hogs and cattle
for their awn uses, and what they could not use of the flour,
rice and grits, they emptied together on the ground. They
carried off all the horses and mules and left the plantation
bare of all food. Fortunately, they did not burn the house,
and also missed a lot of cotton Which Mr. Brunson had stored
in an empty house on the place.
Project #-1655
Chletilde R. Martin
Beaufort County
Page -4
The oldest Brunson girl was very pretty and several of the
young Northern soldiers were smitten with her disarms and tried
to present her with gifts which they had pilfered from her
father's house. Mrs,. Richardson relates an incident Which was
far from funny to her then, but which, at this distance, often
causes her to sane. She was sitting on the front porch with
her sister when one of the soldiers offered her two hams frem
her father's smokehouse. The older sister refused the hams
and the smaller child was astonished at such behavior for, in
her opinion, hams were not to be spurned at that time when
food was at a premium. The soldier put the hams on the edge
of the porch and told her sister: "Well, I'll just leave them
here for you in case you change your mind." She could scarce-
ly keep from jumping up and grabbing the hams herself, but her
sister rose contesptoutly and kicked them to the ground.
Terrible as the situation was, the Brunson family got at
least one good laugh at the expense of the Yankees. Mr. brim..
son kept bees and one of the soldiers decided he would like to
have some honey. It was obvious that he knew nothing of the
habits of bees, for he marched boldly up to one of the hives
and, stopping, smashed it open. When he raised his head it was
literally black with bees. With a wild yell, he tore off fran-
tically down the road to the accompaniment of the delighted
laughter of the Brunsons.
Sherman's army was throe days in passing the plantation and
Project #-1655
uhlotilde R. Martin
peaufort County
F
Page 5
pitched camp on the Richardson place a mile away. From there,
foraging parties would descend upon the Brunson bone all dur-
ing the day and night. If they found any of the children eat-
ing, they would snatch the food out of their bands and throw
it away. The only food they had while the soldiers were in
the vicinity were potatoes which their mother baked in the
fireplace and they learned to slip the potatoes in their
clothes when they heard soldiers coming. Once five officers
visited their home and looking about at the disorder, inquired
of Mrs. Brunson Whether their soldiers were responsible. Mts.
brunsons a quiet, retiring woman, spoke up with withering sar-
casm: "'You don't think I did it, do you?" They told her that
she could have had a guard around her home if she had asked
for it and she retorted that she bad asked and had been re-
fused. Spying the piano, one of the officers sat down and
played a merry tune while another danced about the room. Mts.
Richardson says she never heard that tune before or since until
recently when she heard it over the radio. It brought back to
her vividly that scene of 73 years ago.
After the Yankees had moved en, they spent trying days in
an effort to bring order out of the chaos. The children thought
they had the hardest task of all separating the rice from the
flour and grits which the Yankees had emptied en the ground.
There were thirty-five or forty slaves on the Brunson plan-
tation. Instead of living in quarters in what was known en
Project i-1655
Chlotilde R. Martin
Beaufort County
Page -6
most plantations as "the street", each family had its own little
cabin located to give as much privacy as possible. With each
cabin went a patch of ground for vegetables and chickens. The
food given them was practically the same which the family ate
and their clothes were made of homespun woven on the plantation.
The house servants, washer women and those whose regular tasks
allowed them a certain amount of free time, made the clothes of
their awn families, but the two sewing women sewed for the field
hands. The health of the slaves was always carefully looked
after for illness meant loss of time. The nearest physician was
twelve miles away, but he was always called when slaves were
sick just as he was for members of the family.
Mr. Brunson never bought slaves when it would mean a separa-
tion of families. "e once came home from a slave sale bringing
a woman with five children and the woman's aged mother. When
asked why be had bought an old woman who could do no work, he
replied that she could look after the children while their mother
was in the field and, besides, he could not bear to separate the
old woman from her daughter and grandchildren. No attempt was
made to educate the slaves, but they were allowed to hold their
own religious meetings and Mr. Brunson saw that all those who
wished to attend his own church, where a place was set apart for
them, got transportation. They could visit neighboring planta-
tions in the evenings and on Sundays. When runaway slaves began
to give trouble, it was necessary to give the slaves passes when
Project #-1655
ahlotilde R. Martin
Beaufort County
Page 7
they left the plantation so that they would not be taken up by
the patrol. During the war it was the custom to hire out
slaves to the army, but Mr. Brunson never hired but one and he
was a man who had frequently run away and who, he was afraid,
would cause trouble among the other slaves.
Several weeks after Sherman's army had gone, the news came
that the slaves were free. Mr. Brunson sent for all his
Negroes and explained the situation to them. They could either
leave and go down to Beaufort where it was reported land was
being divided up for them, or they could work on the plantation
for wages or rent land for a third of what they made. Ile made
it clear, however, that if they chose to leave, they could not
come back. 'The Negroes were wild with enthusiasm over their
freedom and without exception they decided to go to Beaufort,
where they had dreams of becoming land owners. By the next
morning they had all gone, having first carried back to their
former master all the meat and provisions he had given them at
the approach of the Yankees.
Between the slaves and thwir master's family there often
existed a real affection. Such was the case between little
Hattie Brunson and her nurse, Amy. aho died when the little
girl was too small to understand about death and one day she
saw a wagon, in which was a long box, going toward the cemetery.
one of the other Negroes told her that Amy was in the box.
Horrified, the little girl ran after the wagon and when she
Project #-1655
Chlotilde R. Martin
.0eaufort County
Page 6
saw the box being lowered into the graves she ran screaming in
protest and was caught by one of the grave -diggers just in
time to keep her from falling into the grave. She says she
has never forgotten this experience.
After Amy's death, little hattie and her sisters had an-
other nurse, whom she never could love as she did Amy. This
nurse and Hattie were destined to meet in later life when the
little girl had grown up and become Mrs. Richardson and both
of them were living in Beaufort. After the war, the nurse
married a Northern soldier and went to live in Charleston.
She left him after a time and returned to her old home where
she bought a piece of land from her former master and built
herself a house. When She had almost finished paying for it,
her husband appeared and persuaded her to return to Charleston
with him. Not caring to sell or give her home to any of her
Negro friends, the woman made out papers giving it to Mr. Brun-
son. In later years she moved to Port Royal, about five miles
from Beaufort, and often used to stop in to see Mrs. RiChard-
son to talk over old days.
Life was not very easy on the plantation during the war.
Salt gave out and Mr. Brunson had to take slaves to the coast
where they boiled water for the salt. They had plenty of brown
sugar always and her mother also managed to make her supply of
white sugar stretch over the war years for tea and coffee.
When the supply of coffee was exhausted, parched okra seed,
Project #-1655
Chlotilde R. Martin
l'eaufort County
Page -9
grits and rye were used as substitutes. Mrs. Brunson also made
her tea last by alternating it at times with sassafras tea and
a tea made of various herbs. Everything they used had to be
made on the plantation, but at least her older sister get a
treat once. Their father had been to Augusta and came back
with enough calico to make her a dress. He paid one hundred
dollars for the material in Confederate money.
Augusta was only a very small place then, although it seem-
ed to Hattie Brunson When she visited it, very large and thrill-
ing. A steamer ran from Savannah to Augusta and the cotton
from the Brunson plantation was hauled fifteen miles to the
landing where it was shipped to Augusta, where Mr. Branson did
all of his business.
There was very little entertaining during and immediately
following the war, as there was neither time nor money to spare.
however, Mr. Brunson kept open house, for people frequently
passed and stopped for the night. Relatives and friends came
to spend a day or several days at a time but, for the most part,
the Brunson children grew up to themselves. Mrs. Richardson
says they were never lonely, though, for there was always some-
thing interesting going on on the plantation. The railroad be-
tween Port Royal and Augusta was built when she was twelve or
thirteen and went right through her father's plantation. It
brought in a number of people who settled there and built homes
and thus grew up the town of Brunson.
Project #-1655
Chlotilde R, Martin
Beaufort County
Page 10
Mr. Brunson, like all plantation owners, had a hard time af-
ter the slaves were freed. One of his sons was a prisoner at
Fort Delaware for twelve months but after the three boys had
come home, they all set to work to retrieve their fortunes.
Neighbors lent their assistance when it was needed and log -roll
lugs, rail-splittings and wheat -harvesting became popular.
friends would gather to help each other do the work and these
occasions always ended with a big dinner and perhaps a party or
dance in the evening. When women visited they either brought
their own sewing or helped their hostess sew.' Everything had
to be made by hand and the mistress of a large plantation never
had a minute to sit in idleness. Through all the hard times,
however, hp. Brunson never had to mortgage or sell any of his
land.
The Richardsons and Brunsons used to employ a schoolmaster
for the children of both families. The school was situated
about half -way between the two plantations and a house was
built for the schoolmaster and his family. Later, when the
Richardson children had all finished school, Mr. Brunson employ-
ed a governess for his younger children. She was usually a
"Charleston lady" and lived with the family.
The church which the Brunsons attended was three miles
away and services were held twice a month. Preachers were not
very highly educated in those days, most of them having just
Project #-1655
Chlotilde R. Martin
t1/4saufort County
Page 11
been "called to preach." There was no Sunday behool until the
town of Brunson began to grow.
Easter was noted chiefly for hundred of brightly dyed eggs
which the children "pipped". Christmas was not made as much
of then as it is now. There was no Christmas trees and very
few gifts to be exchanged, except for simple things made at
home. There was always extra preparation made in the kitchen,
although there was always so much food on the plantation a
big dinner was nothing to get very much excited over. Turkey
was not just a treat for Christmas and Thanksgiving then, for
instance, for there were droves of turkeys on the Brunson plea-
tation and they were eaten whenever anybody felt like having
turkey. In addition, there were geese, ducks, guineas, chick-
ens, hogs, goats, sheep, cows and plenty of milk, eggs, honey,
etc. The woods were full of birds and game of all kinds and
the rivers were full of fish. No less than six hogs were kill-
ed at a time and "hog -killing" took place many times during
the winter. Indeed, it must have been rather difficult to
have produced an unusual dish at Christmas.
All the cooking was done in the great fireplace in the
kitchen, as stoves were unknown until sometime after the war.
There were all sorts of long-legged skillets, covered cast iron
pots, cranes and the various equipment that went with fireplace
cooking. Mrs. Richardson says the fireplace was always hot and
the children used to play a game in which they would see how
Project #-1655
Chletilde R. Martin
Deaufort County
Page 12
clime they could get to it without being burned. There was a
large brick oven for baking and the bread and cakes and pies
it turned out made the kitchen look like a bakery shop of to-
day.
Mrs. hiChardson does net think people themselves have
changed, but only the circumstances under which they live.
She never told her children: "Girls )or boys) didn't do that
in my day," for, of course, she says, they didn't. The cir-
cumstances under which she and her children lived were vastly
different. Then parents had strict ideas about bringing up
their daughters. There were no automobiles and no places to
go, so when a young man came calling he expected to spend the
time conversing in the parlor. Children were supposed to be
seen and not heard and they always sat quiet and listened in
the presence of their elders. Mrs. Richardson says she some-
times finds it difficult these days to hear the parents for
the children. However, she does not blame the children, for
she says they only behave as they have been allowed to do.
In her home meals were always on time and everybody, unless
he was sick, was expected to be there promptly, properly dress-
ed and in a pleasant frame of mind. Instead of toast and
coffee or perhaps a cereal or fruit, as breakfasts consist of
today in most homes, it was a real meal with eggs, ham, bacon,
hominy, hot biscuits, hot cakes with butter and syrup, and un-
less you ate it all, there was supposed to be something radi-
Project #-1655
Chlotilde B. Martin
zeaufort County
Page 13
cally wrong. liegularity was the order of plantation life
and this habit, in which they were trained in their youth,
was practiced scrupulously and instilled in their children
by Dr. and Mrs. Richardson. If one of then was heard mak-
ing an appointment with a friend and later it seemed not
worthwhile to keep it, the child was obliged to live up to
his word. The next time he would be more careful.
In Mrs. Richardson's opinion, women of today know very
little about actual work. She says she has to smile when
she hears them complaining how hard they have to work in
their homes. Housework in a modern home is no more than
play in her estimation. In her day, children were taught
early to do things and to share the responsibility of the
home. Mrs. Richardson had knitted her first pair of stock-
ings when she was only five years old and when she was nine
she had pieced her first quilt.