Stories About Names
Sorebacks Named
Us as Tar Heels
By BILL SHARPE
Somebody ought to do something
about the term “Tar Heel." At least,
we ought to get together on our story
and stick to it.
In grammar school, a teacher (or
teachers) told that it came about in
this way:
Slaves had a gambling game which
involved picking up coins with their
feet. It seems that money was placed
by the players in a ring on the ground,
and the contestants won all they could
lug out with their toes. Once, on a
Louisiana, or Mississippi, or South
Carolina plantation, two or three Ne¬
groes were winning all the money. It
was discovered that these slaves, all
originally from North Carolina, had
craftily smeared the bottoms of their
feet with tar, and so they were known
henceforth as Tar Heels.
This improbable story was widely
accepted in North Carolina, but I
have not heard it in a long time.
In recent years, most sources quote
a version from R. B. Crcccy’s Grand¬
father Tales. This says that during
a Civil War battle, a North Carolina
regiment was abandoned by supporting
troops. As the North Carolinians later
were passing some soldiers, they were
jocularly hailed thus: “Any tar down
in the Old North State?" Ouick as a
flash came the answer: "Not a bit;
old Jeff's bought it all up." "What's
he going to do with it?" "He's going to
put it on you'uns heels to make you
stick better in the next fight."
Crcccy says that when General Lee
heard of the banter, he said: "God
bless the Tar Heel boys."
This — or something like this — may
well have taken place. But Hugh Lef-
lcr, of Chapel Hill, a historian well-
qualified to say so. tells me that the
term Tar Heel was in use long before
the Civil War. and so Crcccy’s anec¬
dote has nothing to do with the origi¬
nal of the term.
A version from Nash County has it
that Cornwallis' soldiers, crossing the
Tar River, stepped into tar which had
been poured in. and the nicknames
came from derisive remarks of their
comrades. This is a little too pat. The
river actually was named the Tau and
had nothing to do with tar. pitch and
turpentine.
Mr. Tom Holton, a former North
Carolinian now living in Coral Gables.
Fla., sends in a story entirely new
and I hasten to put it in the running.
"Way back in the 80's," says Mr.
Holton, "when I was only a boy, the
ex-slaves of my paternal grandpar¬
ents told me the origin of Tar Heels
and ‘Sorebacks.’ It went like this:
"Long before the war the people
who lived near the Virginia-Carolina
line employed patrolmen to keep their
slaves from roaming the countryside
for visiting, courting, or running away.
When a Carolina patrolman caught a
Virginia slave he would turn him over
to the Virginia patrolman, and vice
versa. The patrolman would return
the errant slave to his master for pun¬
ishment. Penalty in Virginia for violat¬
ing the curfew was a severe flogging;
penalty on the North Carolina side was
to put tar on his heels.
"Hence, North Carolina slaves
called Virginians Sorebacks; Virginia
slaves called North Carolinians Tar
Heels.
"Often did 1 hear the ex-slave mam¬
mies say to their little ones: *1 he pat¬
ter-rollers will git you if you don't
watch out; and then, they'll put tar
all over your heels’."
I am indebted to Mr. Holton for
this story. We have often heard Vir¬
ginians called Sorebacks. It is a nick¬
name. incidentally, which none of them
relish, and its use in polite intercourse
with our noble cousins to the North-
'ards is not advised.
But one thing puzzles me. Putting
tar on ones heel doesn't seem to be
much of a punishment, unless the
tar were so hot as to inflict severe
burns. And it would be a rather im¬
provident planter who would incapac¬
itate a valuable field hand.
now MANY CAN
YOU ANSWER?
You might call this a fish story be¬
cause all of the questions have to do
with fish.
If you get 17 or more correct, ex¬
cellent. 14, 15 or 16 right, good. 11,
1 2 or 1 3 is fair.
1. What fish is part of a shoe?
2. What fish is used in a duel?
3. What fish is inclined to be mel¬
ancholy?
4. What fish is a Communist?
5. What fish is a resting place for
birds?
6. What fish is a kind of staff?
7. What fish has the same name as
a colloquialism for an expert?
8. What fish is a planet?
9. What fish is a feline?
10. What fish is an easy mark: a
ready victim?
1 1 . Take part of a shoe, remove
the first letter and what fish do you
gel?
12. What fish is found in a band?
(I)on t worry about bass in connection
with this: it won’t work.)
13. What fish represents royally?
14. What fish is rather frail?
15. What fish has the same name as
a well-known cape?
16. To struggle; as a horse in the
mire.
17. The foremost part of a Shrop¬
shire.
IS. What fish might be considered
a glutton, according to its name?
19. What fish has the same name
as a boy's nickname?
20. A lot of people sec this before
their eyes.
(Answers on page 32)
AZALEAS - CAMELLIAS
HOLLIES - SASANQUAS
Over 500 Varieties
Open Every Day
No Admission Charge
Free Picnic Grounds
*
LAUREL LAKE GARDENS
AND NURSERY
On N.C. 242
SALEM BURG. N. C.
THE STATE. FeORUARY 28. 1953
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