Paul Tollefson · · . The following interview is the only historical account of the Burning of Bluffton during the Civil War that I have seen from a freed slave living in the area. From a historical perspective, this first hand account is priceless to the history of the town. Collected from seventeen states between 1936 and 1938 thousands of pages of often times first-hand accounts of those who were enslaved in the years just prior to the Civil War were documented.
Daphney Wright, known affectionately as “Aunt Affie”, claims to be 106 years old.She comes to the door without a cane and greets her guests with accustomed curtsey . She is neatly dressed and still wears a fresh white cap as she did when she worked for the white folks. Save for her wearing glasses and walking slowly, there are no evidences of illness or infirmities. She has a sturdy frame, and a kindly face shows through the wrinkles.”
"I been livin’ in Beaufort when de war fust [first] break out. Mr. Robert Cally [Corley] was my marsa. Dat was in October. De Southern soldiers come through Bluffton on a Wednesday and tell de white folks must get out de way, de Yankees right behind ‘em! De summer place been at Bluffton. De plantation was ten miles away. After we refugee from Bluffton, we spent de fust night at Jonesville. From dere we went to Hardeeville. We got here on Saturday evening. You know we had to ride by horses - in wagons an’ buggies. Dere weren’t no railroads or cars den. Dat why it take so long. I been right here when de Yankees come through. I been in my house asittin’ before de fire, jes’ like I is now.
One of ‘em come up an’ say, ‘…I is come to set you free. You kin stay wid your old owners if you wants to, but dey’ll pay you wages. But dey sure did plenty of mischief while dey was here. Didn’t burn all de houses. Pick out de big handsome house to burn. Burn down Mr. Bill Lawton’ house. Mr. Asbury Lawton had a fine house. Dey burn dat. (He Marse Tom Lawton’ brother.) Burn Mr. Maner’ house. Some had put a poor white woman in de house to keep de place; but it didn’t make no difference.De soldiers say, ‘Dis rich house don’t belong to you. We goin’ to burn [it]. Dey’d go through de house an’ take … anythin’ they could find. Take from de white, an’ take from de colored, too. Take everything out de house! Dey take from my house.
De white folks would bury de silver. But dey couldn’t always find it again. One give her silver to de colored butler to bury but he was kill, an’ nobody else know where he bury it. … Wheeler’s Brigade kill him.
(https://heritagelib.org/wpa-slave-narratives-connected-to.... Special thanks to Ms. A.Manuel)
