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diff --git a/8432-h/8432-h.htm b/8432-h/8432-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..63552b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/8432-h/8432-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4397 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Black Rebellion: Five Slave Revolts, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Black Rebellion, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Black Rebellion + Five Slave Revolts + +Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson + + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8432] +This file was first posted on July 9, 2003 +Last updated: April 29, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK REBELLION *** + + + + +Text file produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + BLACK REBELLION: FIVE SLAVE REVOLTS + </h1> + <h3> + From "Travellers and Outlaws" <br /> <br /> Episodes In American History + </h3> + <h2> + By Thomas Wentworth Higginson + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + With An Appendix Of Authorities + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + [TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: This text contains five chapters of T.W. Higgison's + 'Travellers and Outlaws'. This collection is commonly referred to as + 'Black Rebellion: five slave revolts'.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AUTHOR'S NOTE: + </h2> + <p> + The author would express his thanks to the proprietors and editors of the + <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, <i>Harper's Magazine</i>, and the <i>Century</i>, + for their permission to reprint such portions of this volume as were + originally published in those periodicals. + </p> + <p> + CAMBRIDGE, MASS. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> AUTHOR'S NOTE: </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> THE MAROONS OF JAMAICA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE MAROONS OF SURINAM. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> GABRIEL'S DEFEAT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> DENMARK VESEY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> NAT TURNER'S INSURRECTION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> APPENDIX OF AUTHORITIES </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE MAROONS OF JAMAICA + </h2> + <p> + The Maroons! it was a word of peril once; and terror spread along the + skirts of the blue mountains of Jamaica when some fresh foray of those + unconquered guerrillas swept down from the outlying plantations, startled + the Assembly from its order, Gen. Williamson from his billiards, and Lord + Balcarres from his diplomatic ease,—endangering, according to the + official statement, "public credit," "civil rights," and "the prosperity, + if not the very existence, of the country," until they were "persuaded to + make peace" at last. They were the Circassians of the New World, but they + were black, instead of white; and as the Circassians refused to be + transferred from the Sultan to the Czar, so the Maroons refused to be + transferred from Spanish dominion to English, and thus their revolt began. + The difference is, that while the white mountaineers numbered four hundred + thousand, and only defied Nicholas, the black mountaineers numbered less + than two thousand, and defied Cromwell; and while the Circassians, after + years of revolt, were at last subdued, the Maroons, on the other hand, who + rebelled in 1655, were never conquered, but only made a compromise of + allegiance, and exist as a separate race to-day. + </p> + <p> + When Admirals Penn and Venables landed in Jamaica, in 1655, there was not + a remnant left of the sixty thousand natives whom the Spaniards had found + there a century and a half before. Their pitiful tale is told only by + those caves, still known among the mountains, where thousands of human + skeletons strew the ground. In their place dwelt two foreign races,—an + effeminate, ignorant, indolent white community of fifteen hundred, with a + black slave population quite as large and infinitely more hardy and + energetic. The Spaniards were readily subdued by the English: the negroes + remained unsubdued. The slaveholders were banished from the island: the + slaves only exiled themselves to the mountains; thence the English could + not dislodge them, nor the buccaneers whom the English employed. And when + Jamaica subsided into a British colony, and peace was made with Spain, and + the children of Cromwell's Puritan soldiers were beginning to grow rich by + importing slaves for Roman-Catholic Spaniards, the Maroons still held + their own wild empire in the mountains, and, being sturdy heathens every + one, practised Obeah rites in approved pagan fashion. + </p> + <p> + The word Maroon is derived, according to one etymology, from the Spanish + word <i>Marrano</i>, a wild boar,—these fugitives being all + boar-hunters; according to another, from <i>Marony</i>, a river separating + French and Dutch Guiana, where a colony of them dwelt and still dwells; + and by another still, from <i>Cimarron</i>, a word meaning untamable, and + used alike for apes and runaway slaves. But whether these rebel marauders + were regarded as monkeys or men, they made themselves equally formidable. + As early as 1663, the Governor and Council of Jamaica offered to each + Maroon, who should surrender, his freedom and twenty acres of land; but + not one accepted the terms. During forty years, forty-four Acts of + Assembly were passed in respect to them, and at least a quarter of a + million pounds sterling were expended in the warfare against them. In + 1733, the force employed in this service consisted of two regiments of + regular troops, and the whole militia of the island; but the Assembly said + that "the Maroons had within a few years greatly increased, + notwithstanding all the measures that had been concerted for their + suppression," "to the great terror of his Majesty's subjects," and "to the + manifest weakening and preventing the further increase of strength and + inhabitants of the island." + </p> + <p> + The special affair in progress, at the time of these statements, was + called Cudjoe's War. Cudjoe was a gentleman of extreme brevity and + blackness, whose full-length portrait can hardly be said to adorn Dallas's + History of the Maroons; but he was as formidable a guerrilla as Marion. + Under his leadership, the various bodies of fugitives were consolidated + into one force, and thoroughly organized. Cudjoe, like Schamyl, was + religious as well as military head of his people; by Obeah influence he + established a thorough freemasonry among both slaves and insurgents; no + party could be sent forth, by the government, but he knew it in time to + lay an ambush, or descend with fire and sword on the region left + unprotected. He was thus always supplied with arms and ammunition; and as + his men were perfect marksmen, never wasted a shot, and never risked a + battle, his forces naturally increased, while those of his opponents were + decimated. His men were never captured, and never took a prisoner; it was + impossible to tell when they were defeated; in dealing with them, as + Pelissier said of the Arabs, "peace was not purchased by victory;" and the + only men who could obtain the slightest advantage against them were the + imported Mosquito Indians, or the "Black Shot," a company of Government + negroes. For nine full years this particular war continued unchecked, Gen. + Williamson ruling Jamaica by day and Cudjoe by night. + </p> + <p> + The rebels had every topographical advantage, for they held possession of + the "Cockpits." Those highlands are furrowed through and through, as by an + earthquake, with a series of gaps or ravines, resembling the California + cañons, or those similar fissures in various parts of the Atlantic States, + known to local fame either poetically as ice-glens, or symbolically as + purgatories. These Jamaica chasms vary from two hundred yards to a mile in + length; the rocky walls are fifty or a hundred feet high, and often + absolutely inaccessible, while the passes at each end admit but one man at + a time. They are thickly wooded, wherever trees can grow; water flows + within them; and they often communicate with one another, forming a series + of traps for an invading force. Tired and thirsty with climbing, the weary + soldiers toil on, in single file, without seeing or hearing an enemy, up + the steep and winding path they traverse one "cockpit," then enter + another. Suddenly a shot is fired from the dense and sloping forest on the + right, then another and another, each dropping its man; the startled + troops face hastily in that direction, when a more murderous volley is + poured from the other side; the heights above flash with musketry, while + the precipitous path by which they came seems to close in fire behind + them. By the time the troops have formed in some attempt at military + order, the woods around them are empty, and their agile and noiseless foes + have settled themselves into ambush again, farther up the defile, ready + for a second attack, if needed. But one is usually sufficient; disordered, + exhausted, bearing their wounded with them, the soldiers retreat in panic, + if permitted to escape at all, and carry fresh dismay to the barracks, the + plantations, and the Government House. + </p> + <p> + It is not strange, then, that high military authorities, at that period, + should have pronounced the subjugation of the Maroons a thing more + difficult than to obtain a victory over any army in Europe. Moreover, + these people were fighting for their liberty, with which aim no form of + warfare seemed to them unjustifiable; and the description given by + Lafayette of the American Revolution was true of this one,—"the + grandest of causes, won by contests of sentinels and outposts." The utmost + hope of a British officer, ordered against the Maroons, was to lay waste a + provision-ground, or cut them off from water. But there was little + satisfaction in this: the wild-pine leaves and the grapevine-withes + supplied the rebels with water; and their plantation-grounds were the wild + pineapple and the plantain-groves, and the forests, where the wild boars + harbored, and the ringdoves were as easily shot as if they were + militiamen. Nothing but sheer weariness of fighting seems to have brought + about a truce at last, and then a treaty, between those high contracting + parties, Cudjoe and Gen. Williamson. + </p> + <p> + But how to execute a treaty between these wild Children of the Mist and + respectable diplomatic Englishmen? To establish any official relations + without the medium of a preliminary bullet, required some ingenuity of + manoeuvring. Cudjoe was willing, but inconveniently cautious: he would not + come halfway to meet any one; nothing would content him but an interview + in his own chosen cockpit. So he selected one of the most difficult + passes, posting in the forests a series of outlying parties, to signal + with their horns, one by one, the approach of the plenipotentiaries, and + then to retire on the main body. Through this line of dangerous sentinels, + therefore, Col. Guthrie and his handful of men bravely advanced; horn + after horn they heard sounded, but there was no other human noise in the + woods, and they had advanced till they saw the smoke of the Maroon huts + before they caught a glimpse of a human form. + </p> + <p> + A conversation was at last opened with the invisible rebels. On their + promise of safety, Dr. Russell advanced alone to treat with them; then + several Maroons appeared, and finally Cudjoe himself. The formidable chief + was not highly military in appearance, being short, fat, humpbacked, + dressed in a tattered blue coat without skirts or sleeves, and an old felt + hat without a rim. But if he had blazed with regimental scarlet, he could + not have been treated with more distinguished consideration; indeed, in + that case, "the exchange of hats" with which Dr. Russell finally + volunteered, in Maroon fashion, to ratify negotiations, might have been a + less severe test of good fellowship. This fine stroke of diplomacy had its + effect, however; the rebel captains agreed to a formal interview with Col. + Guthrie and Capt. Sadler, and a treaty was at last executed with all due + solemnity, under a large cotton-tree at the entrance of Guthrie's Defile. + This treaty recognized the military rank of "Capt. Cudjoe," "Capt. + Accompong," and the rest; gave assurance that the Maroons should be + "forever hereafter in a perfect state of freedom and liberty;" ceded to + them fifteen hundred acres of land; and stipulated only that they should + keep the peace, should harbor no fugitive from justice or from slavery, + and should allow two white commissioners to remain among them, simply to + represent the British Government. + </p> + <p> + During the following year a separate treaty was made with another large + body of insurgents, called the Windward Maroons. This was not effected, + however, until after an unsuccessful military attempt, in which the + mountaineers gained a signal triumph. By artful devices,—a few fires + left burning with old women to watch them,—a few provision-grounds + exposed by clearing away the bushes,—they lured the troops far up + among the mountains, and then surprised them by an ambush. The militia all + fled, and the regulars took refuge under a large cliff in a stream, where + they remained four hours up to their waists in water, until finally they + forded the river, under full fire, with terrible loss. Three months after + this, however, the Maroons consented to an amicable interview, exchanging + hostages first. The position of the white hostage, at least, was not the + most agreeable; he complained that he was beset by the women and children + with indignant cries of "Buckra, Buckra," while the little boys pointed + their fingers at him as if stabbing him, and that with evident relish. + However, Capt. Quao, like Capt. Cudjoe, made a treaty at last; and hats + were interchanged, instead of hostages. + </p> + <p> + Independence being thus won and acknowledged, there was a suspension of + hostilities for some years. Among the wild mountains of Jamaica, the + Maroons dwelt in a savage freedom. So healthful and beautiful was the + situation of their chief town, that the English Government has erected + barracks there of late years, as being the most salubrious situation on + the island. They breathed an air ten degrees cooler than that inhaled by + the white population below; and they lived on a daintier diet, so that the + English epicures used to go up among them for good living. The + mountaineers caught the strange land-crabs, plodding in companies of + millions their sidelong path from mountain to ocean, and from ocean to + mountain again. They hunted the wild boars, and prepared the flesh by + salting and smoking it in layers of aromatic leaves, the delicious "jerked + hog" of buccaneer annals. They reared cattle and poultry, cultivated corn + and yams, plantains and cocoas, guavas, and papaws and mameys, and + avocados, and all luxurious West-Indian fruits; the very weeds of their + orchards had tropical luxuriance in their fragrance and in their names; + and from the doors of their little thatched huts they looked across these + gardens of delight to the magnificent lowland forests, and over those + again to the faint line of far-off beach, the fainter ocean-horizon, and + the illimitable sky. + </p> + <p> + They had senses like those of American Indians; tracked each other by the + smell of the smoke of fires in the air, and called to each other by horns, + using a special note to designate each of their comrades, and + distinguishing it beyond the range of ordinary hearing. They spoke English + diluted with Spanish and African words, and practised Obeah rites quite + undiluted with Christianity. Of course they associated largely with the + slaves, without any very precise regard to treaty stipulations; sometimes + brought in fugitives, and sometimes concealed them; left their towns and + settled on the planters lands when they preferred them: but were quite + orderly and luxuriously happy. During the formidable insurrection of the + Koromantyn slaves, in 1760, they played a dubious part. When left to go on + their own way, they did something towards suppressing it; but when placed + under the guns of the troops, and ordered to fire on those of their own + color, they threw themselves on the ground without discharging a shot. + Nevertheless, they gradually came up into reputable standing; they grew + more and more industrious and steady; and after they had joined very + heartily in resisting D'Estaing's threatened invasion of the island in + 1779, it became the fashion to speak of "our faithful and affectionate + Maroons." + </p> + <p> + In 1795, their position was as follows: Their numbers had not materially + increased, for many had strayed off and settled on the outskirts of + plantations; nor materially diminished, for many runaway slaves had joined + them; while there were also separate settlements of fugitives, who had + maintained their freedom for twenty years. The white superintendents had + lived with the Maroons in perfect harmony, without the slightest official + authority, but with a great deal of actual influence. But there was an + "irrepressible conflict" behind all this apparent peace, and the slightest + occasion might, at any moment, revive all the old terror. That occasion + was close at hand. + </p> + <p> + Capt. Cudjoe and Capt. Accompong, and the other founders of Maroon + independence, had passed away; and "Old Montagu" reigned in their stead, + in Trelawney Town. Old Montagu had all the pomp and circumstance of Maroon + majesty: he wore a laced red coat, and a hat superb with gold lace and + plumes; none but captains could sit in his presence; he was helped first + at meals, and no woman could eat beside him; he presided at councils as + magnificently as at table, though with less appetite; and possessed, + meanwhile, not an atom of the love or reverence of any human being. The + real power lay entirely with Major James, the white superintendent, who + had been brought up among the Maroons by his father (and predecessor), and + who was the idol of this wild race. In an evil hour, the Government + removed him, and put a certain unpopular Capt. Craskell in his place; and + as there happened to be, about the same time, a great excitement + concerning a hopeful pair of young Maroons, who had been seized and + publicly whipped on a charge of hog-stealing, their kindred refused to + allow the new superintendent to remain in the town. A few attempts at + negotiation only brought them to a higher pitch of wrath, which ended in + their despatching the following peculiar diplomatic note to the Earl of + Balcarres: "The Maroons wishes nothing else from the country but battle, + and they desires not to see Mr. Craskell up here at all. So they are + waiting every moment for the above on Monday. Mr. David Schaw will see you + on Sunday morning for an answer. They will wait till Monday, nine o'clock, + and if they don't come up, they will come down themselves." Signed, "Col. + Montagu and all the rest." + </p> + <p> + It turned out, at last, that only two or three of the Maroons were + concerned in this remarkable defiance; but meanwhile it had its effect. + Several ambassadors were sent among the insurgents, and were so favorably + impressed by their reception as to make up a subscription of money for + their hosts, on departing; only the "gallant Col. Gallimore," a Jamaica + Camillus, gave iron instead of gold, by throwing some bullets into the + contribution-box. And it was probably in accordance with his view of the + subject, that, when the Maroons sent ambassadors in return, they were at + once imprisoned, most injudiciously and unjustly; and when Old Montagu + himself and thirty-seven others, following, were seized and imprisoned + also, it is not strange that the Maroons, joined by many slaves, were soon + in open insurrection. + </p> + <p> + Martial law was instantly proclaimed throughout the island. The fighting + men among the insurgents were not, perhaps, more than five hundred; + against whom the Government could bring nearly fifteen hundred regular + troops and several thousand militiamen. Lord Balcarres himself took the + command, and, eager to crush the affair, promptly marched a large force up + to Trelawney Town, and was glad to march back again as expeditiously as + possible. In his very first attack, he was miserably defeated, and had to + fly for his life, amid a perfect panic of the troops, in which some forty + or fifty were killed,—including Col. Sandford, commanding the + regulars, and the bullet-loving Col. Gallimore, in command of the militia,—while + not a single Maroon was even wounded, so far as could be ascertained. + </p> + <p> + After this a good deal of bush-fighting took place. The troops gradually + got possession of several Maroon villages, but not till every hut had been + burnt by its owner. It was in the height of the rainy season; and, between + fire and water, the discomfort of the soldiers was enormous. Meanwhile the + Maroons hovered close around them in the woods, heard all their orders, + picked off their sentinels, and, penetrating through their lines at night, + burned houses and destroyed plantations far below. The only man who could + cope with their peculiar tactics was Major James, the superintendent just + removed by Government; and his services were not employed, as he was not + trusted. On one occasion, however, he led a volunteer party farther into + the mountains than any of the assailants had yet penetrated, guided by + tracks known to himself only, and by the smell of the smoke of Maroon + fires. After a very exhausting march, including a climb of a hundred and + fifty feet up the face of a precipice, he brought them just within the + entrance of Guthrie's Defile. "So far," said he, pointing to the entrance, + "you may pursue, but no farther; no force can enter here; no white man + except myself, or some soldier of the Maroon establishment, has ever gone + beyond this. With the greatest difficulty I have penetrated four miles + farther, and not ten Maroons have gone so far as that. There are two other + ways of getting into the defile, practicable for the Maroons, but not for + any one of you. In neither of them can I ascend or descend with my arms, + which must be handed to me, step by step, as practised by the Maroons + themselves. One of the ways lies to the eastward, and the other to the + westward; and they will take care to have both guarded, if they suspect + that I am with you; which, from the route you have come to-day, they will. + They now see you, and if you advance fifty paces more, they will convince + you of it." At this moment a Maroon horn sounded the notes indicating his + name; and, as he made no answer, a voice was heard, inquiring if he were + among them. "If he is," said the voice, "let him go back, we do not wish + to hurt him, but as for the rest of you, come on and try battle if you + choose." But the gentlemen did not choose. + </p> + <p> + In September the House of Assembly met. Things were looking worse and + worse. For five months a handful of negroes and mulattoes had defied the + whole force of the island, and they were defending their liberty by + precisely the same tactics through which their ancestors had won it. Half + a million pounds sterling had been spent within this time, besides the + enormous loss incurred by the withdrawal of so many able-bodied men from + their regular employments. "Cultivation was suspended," says an + eye-witness; "the courts of law had long been shut up; and the island at + large seemed more like a garrison under the power of law-martial, than a + country of agriculture and commerce, of civil judicature, industry, and + prosperity." Hundreds of the militia had died of fatigue, large numbers + had been shot down, the most daring of the British officers had fallen; + while the insurgents had been invariably successful, and not one of them + was known to have been killed. Capt. Craskell, the banished + superintendent, gave it to the Assembly as his opinion, that the whole + slave population of the island was in sympathy with the Maroons, and would + soon be beyond control. More alarming still, there were rumors of French + emissaries behind the scenes; and though these were explained away, the + vague terror remained. Indeed, the lieutenant-governor announced in his + message that he had satisfactory evidence that the French Convention was + concerned in the revolt. A French prisoner, named Murenson, had testified + that the French agent at Philadelphia (Fauchet) had secretly sent a + hundred and fifty emissaries to the island, and threatened to land fifteen + hundred negroes. And though Murenson took it all back at last, yet the + Assembly was moved to make a new offer of three hundred dollars for + killing or taking a Trelawney Maroon, and a hundred and fifty dollars for + killing or taking any fugitive slave who had joined them. They also voted + five hundred pounds as a gratuity to the Accompong tribe of Maroons, who + had thus far kept out of the insurrection; and various prizes and + gratuities were also offered by the different parishes, with the same + object of self-protection. + </p> + <p> + The commander-in-chief being among the killed, Col. Walpole was promoted + in his stead, and brevetted as general, by way of incentive. He found a + people in despair, a soldiery thoroughly intimidated, and a treasury not + empty, but useless. But the new general had not served against the Maroons + for nothing, and was not ashamed to go to school to his opponents. First, + he waited for the dry season; then he directed all his efforts towards + cutting off his opponents from water, and, most effectual move of all, he + attacked each successive cockpit by dragging up a howitzer, with immense + labor, and throwing in shells. Shells were a visitation not dreamed of in + Maroon philosophy, and their quaint compliments to their new opponent + remain on record. "Damn dat little buckra!" they said, "he cunning more + dan dem toder. Dis here da new fashion for fight: him fire big ball arter + you, and when big ball 'top, de damn sunting [something] fire arter you + again." With which Parthian arrows of rhetoric the mountaineers retreated. + </p> + <p> + But this did not last long. The Maroons soon learned to keep out of the + way of the shells, and the island relapsed into terror again. It was + deliberately resolved at last, by a special council convoked for the + purpose, "to persuade the rebels to make peace." But as they had not as + yet shown themselves very accessible to softer influences, it was thought + best to combine as many arguments as possible, and a certain Col. Quarrell + had hit upon a wholly new one. His plan simply was, since men, however + well disciplined, had proved powerless against Maroons, to try a Spanish + fashion against them, and use dogs. The proposition was met, in some + quarters, with the strongest hostility. England, it was said, had always + denounced the Spaniards as brutal and dastardly for hunting down the + natives of that very soil with hounds; and should England now follow the + humiliating example? On the other side, there were plenty who eagerly + quoted all known instances of zoölogical warfare: all Oriental nations, + for instance, used elephants in war, and, no doubt, would gladly use lions + and tigers also, but for their extreme carnivorousness, and their painful + indifference to the distinction between friend and foe; why not, then, use + these dogs, comparatively innocent and gentle creatures? At any rate, + "something must be done;" the final argument always used, when a bad or + desperate project is to be made palatable. So it was voted at last to send + to Havana for an invoice of Spanish dogs, with their accompanying + chasseurs; and the efforts at persuading the Maroons were postponed till + the arrival of these additional persuasives. And when Col. Quarrell + finally set sail as commissioner to obtain the new allies, all scruples of + conscience vanished in the renewal of public courage and the chorus of + popular gratitude; a thing so desirable must be right; thrice they were + armed who knew their Quarrell just. + </p> + <p> + But after the parting notes of gratitude died away in the distance, the + commissioner began to discover that he was to have a hard time of it. He + sailed for Havana in a schooner manned with Spanish renegadoes, who + insisted on fighting every thing that came in their way,—first a + Spanish schooner, then a French one. He landed at Batabano, struck across + the mountains towards Havana, stopped at Besucal to call on the wealthy + Marquesa de San Felipe y San Jorge, grand patroness of dogs and chasseurs, + and finally was welcomed to Havana by Don Luis de las Casas, who + overlooked, for this occasion only, an injunction of his court against + admitting foreigners within his government; "the only accustomed exception + being," as Don Luis courteously assured him, "in favor of foreign traders + who came with new negroes." To be sure, the commissioner had not brought + any of these commodities; but then he had come to obtain the means of + capturing some, and so might pass for an irregular practitioner of the + privileged profession. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, Don Guillermo Dawes Quarrell (so ran his passport) found no + difficulty in obtaining permission from the governor to buy as many dogs + as he desired. When, however, he carelessly hinted at the necessity of + taking, also, a few men who should have care of the dogs,—this + being, after all, the essential part of his expedition,—Don Luis de + las Casas put on instantly a double force of courtesy, and assured him of + the entire impossibility of recruiting a single Spaniard for English + service. Finally, however, he gave permission and passports for six + chasseurs. Under cover of this, the commissioner lost no time in enlisting + forty; he got them safe to Batabano; but at the last moment, learning the + state of affairs, they refused to embark on such very irregular authority. + When he had persuaded them, at length, the officer of the fort interposed + objections. This was not to be borne, so Don Guillermo bribed him and + silenced him; a dragoon was, however, sent to report to the governor; Don + Guillermo sent a messenger after him, and bribed him too; and thus at + length, after myriad rebuffs, and after being obliged to spend the last + evening at a puppet-show in which the principal figure was a burlesque on + his own personal peculiarities, the weary Don Guillermo, with his crew of + renegadoes, and his forty chasseurs and their one hundred and four muzzled + dogs, set sail for Jamaica. + </p> + <p> + These new allies were certainly something formidable, if we may trust the + pictures and descriptions in Dallas's History. The chasseur was a tall, + meagre, swarthy Spaniard or mulatto, lightly clad in cotton shirt and + drawers, with broad straw hat, and moccasins of raw-hide; his belt + sustaining his long, straight, flat sword or <i>machete</i>, like an iron + bar sharpened at one end; and he wore by the same belt three cotton + leashes for his three dogs, sometimes held also by chains. The dogs were a + fierce breed, crossed between hound and mastiff, never unmuzzled but for + attack, and accompanied by smaller dogs called <i>finders</i>. It is no + wonder, when these wild and powerful creatures were landed at Montego Bay, + that terror ran through the town, doors were everywhere closed, and + windows crowded; not a negro dared to stir; and the muzzled dogs, + infuriated by confinement on shipboard, filled the silent streets with + their noisy barking and the rattling of their chains. + </p> + <p> + How much would have come of all this in actual conflict, does not appear. + The Maroons had already been persuaded to make peace upon certain + conditions and guaranties,—a decision probably accelerated by the + terrible rumors of the bloodhounds, though they never saw them. It was the + declared opinion of the Assembly, confirmed by that of Gen. Walpole, that + "nothing could be clearer than that, if they had been off the island, the + rebels could not have been induced to surrender." Nevertheless, a treaty + was at last made, without the direct intervention of the quadrupeds. Again + commissioners went up among the mountains to treat with negotiators at + first invisible; again were hats and jackets interchanged, not without coy + reluctance on the part of the well-dressed Englishmen; and a solemn + agreement was effected. The most essential part of the bargain was a + guaranty of continued independence, demanded by the suspicious Maroons. + Gen. Walpole, however, promptly pledged himself that no such unfair + advantage should be taken of them as had occurred with the hostages + previously surrendered, who were placed in irons; nor should any attempt + be made to remove them from the island. It is painful to add, that this + promise was outrageously violated by the Colonial Government, to the + lasting grief of Gen. Walpole, on the ground that the Maroons had violated + the treaty by a slight want of punctuality in complying with its terms, + and by remissness in restoring the fugitive slaves who had taken refuge + among them. As many of the tribe as surrendered, therefore, were at once + placed in confinement, and ultimately shipped from Port Royal to Halifax, + to the number of six hundred, on the 6th of June, 1796. For the credit of + English honor, we rejoice to know that Gen. Walpole not merely protested + against this utter breach of faith, but indignantly declined the sword of + honor which the Assembly had voted him, in its gratitude, and then retired + from military service forever. + </p> + <p> + The remaining career of this portion of the Maroons is easily told. They + were first dreaded by the inhabitants of Halifax, then welcomed when seen, + and promptly set to work on the citadel, then in process of + reconstruction, where the "Maroon Bastion" still remains,—their only + visible memorial. Two commissioners had charge of them, one being the + redoubtable Col. Quarrell; and twenty-five thousand pounds were + appropriated for their temporary support. Of course they did not prosper; + pensioned colonists never do, for they are not compelled into habits of + industry. After their delicious life in the mountains of Jamaica, it + seemed rather monotonous to dwell upon that barren soil,—for theirs + was such that two previous colonies had deserted it,—and in a + climate where winter lasts seven months in the year. They had a + schoolmaster, and he was also a preacher; but they did not seem to + appreciate that luxury of civilization, utterly refusing, on grounds of + conscience, to forsake polygamy, and, on grounds of personal comfort, to + listen to the doctrinal discourses of their pastor, who was an ardent + Sandemanian. They smoked their pipes during service time, and left Old + Montagu, who still survived, to lend a vicarious attention to the sermon. + One discourse he briefly reported as follows, very much to the point: + "Massa parson say no mus tief, no mus meddle wid somebody wife, no mus + quarrel, mus set down softly." So they sat down very softly, and showed an + extreme unwillingness to get up again. But, not being naturally an idle + race,—at least, in Jamaica the objection lay rather on the other + side,—they soon grew tired of this inaction. Distrustful of those + about them, suspicious of all attempts to scatter them among the community + at large, frozen by the climate, and constantly petitioning for removal to + a milder one, they finally wearied out all patience. A long dispute ensued + between the authorities of Nova Scotia and Jamaica, as to which was + properly responsible for their support; and thus the heroic race, that for + a century and a half had sustained themselves in freedom in Jamaica, were + reduced to the position of troublesome and impracticable paupers, + shuttlecocks between two selfish parishes. So passed their unfortunate + lives, until, in 1800, their reduced population was transported to Sierra + Leone, at a cost of six thousand pounds; since which they disappear from + history. + </p> + <p> + It was judged best not to interfere with those bodies of Maroons which had + kept aloof from the late outbreak, at the Accompong settlement, and + elsewhere. They continued to preserve a qualified independence, and retain + it even now. In 1835, two years after the abolition of slavery in Jamaica, + there were reported sixty families of Maroons as residing at Accompong + Town, eighty families at Moore Town, one hundred and ten families at + Charles Town, and twenty families at Scott Hall, making two hundred and + seventy families in all,—each station being, as of old, under the + charge of a superintendent. But there can be little doubt, that, under the + influences of freedom, they are rapidly intermingling with the mass of + colored population in Jamaica. + </p> + <p> + The story of the exiled Maroons attracted attention in high quarters, in + its time: the wrongs done to them were denounced in Parliament by + Sheridan, and mourned by Wilberforce; while the employment of bloodhounds + against them was vindicated by Dundas, and the whole conduct of the + Colonial Government defended, through thick and thin, by Bryan Edwards. + This thorough partisan even had the assurance to tell Mr. Wilberforce, in + Parliament, that he knew the Maroons, from personal knowledge, to be + cannibals, and that, if a missionary were sent among them in Nova Scotia, + they would immediately eat him; a charge so absurd that he did not venture + to repeat it in his History of the West Indies, though his injustice to + the Maroons is even there so glaring as to provoke the indignation of the + more moderate Dallas. But, in spite of Mr. Edwards, the public indignation + ran quite high in England, against the bloodhounds and their employers, so + that the home ministry found it necessary to send a severe reproof to the + Colonial Government. For a few years the tales of the Maroons thus emerged + from mere colonial annals, and found their way into annual registers and + parliamentary debates; but they have long since vanished from popular + memory. Their record still retains its interest, however, as that of one + of the heroic races of the world; and all the more, because it is with + their kindred that the American nation has to deal, in solving one of the + most momentous problems of its future career. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE MAROONS OF SURINAM. + </h2> + <p> + When that eccentric individual, Capt. John Gabriel Stedman, resigned his + commission in the English Navy, took the oath of abjuration, and was + appointed ensign in the Scots brigade employed for two centuries by + Holland, he little knew that "their High Mightinesses the States of the + United Provinces" would send him out, within a year, to the forests of + Guiana, to subdue rebel negroes. He never imagined that the year 1773 + would behold him beneath the rainy season in a tropical country, wading + through marshes and splashing through lakes, exploring with his feet for + submerged paths, commanding impracticable troops, and commanded by an + insufferable colonel, feeding on greegree worms and fed upon by mosquitos, + howled at by jaguars, hissed at by serpents, and shot at by those + exceedingly unattainable gentlemen, "still longed for, never seen," the + Maroons of Surinam. + </p> + <p> + Yet, as our young ensign sailed up the Surinam River, the world of tropic + beauty came upon him with enchantment. Dark, moist verdure was close + around him, rippling waters below; the tall trees of the jungle and the + low mangroves beneath were all hung with long vines and lianas, a maze of + cordage, like a fleet at anchor; lithe monkeys travelled ceaselessly up + and down these airy paths, in armies, bearing their young, like knapsacks, + on their backs; macaws and humming-birds, winged jewels, flew from tree to + tree. As they neared Paramaribo, the river became a smooth canal among + luxuriant plantations; the air was perfumed music, redolent of + orange-blossoms and echoing with the songs of birds and the sweet plash of + oars; gay barges came forth to meet them; "while groups of naked boys and + girls were promiscuously playing and flouncing, like so many tritons and + mermaids, in the water." And when the troops disembarked,—five + hundred fine young men, the oldest not thirty, all arrayed in new uniforms + and bearing orange-flowers in their caps, a bridal wreath for beautiful + Guiana,—it is no wonder that the Creole ladies were in ecstasy; and + the boyish recruits little foresaw the day, when, reduced to a few dozens, + barefooted and ragged as filibusters, their last survivors would gladly + re-embark from a country beside which even Holland looked dry and even + Scotland comfortable. + </p> + <p> + For over all that earthly paradise there brooded not alone its terrible + malaria, its days of fever and its nights of deadly chill, but the worse + shadows of oppression and of sin, which neither day nor night could + banish. The first object which met Stedman's eye, as he stepped on shore, + was the figure of a young girl stripped to receive two hundred lashes, and + chained to a hundred-pound weight. And the few first days gave a glimpse + into a state of society worthy of this exhibition,—men without + mercy, women without modesty, the black man a slave to the white man's + passions, and the white man a slave to his own. The later West-Indian + society in its worst forms is probably a mere dilution of the utter + profligacy of those early days. Greek or Roman decline produced nothing + more debilitating or destructive than the ordinary life of a Surinam + planter, and his one virtue of hospitality only led to more unbridled + excesses and completed the work of vice. No wonder that Stedman himself, + who, with all his peculiarities, was essentially simple and manly, soon + became disgusted, and made haste to get into the woods and cultivate the + society of the Maroons. + </p> + <p> + The rebels against whom this expedition was sent were not the original + Maroons of Surinam, but a later generation. The originals had long since + established their independence, and their leaders were flourishing their + honorary silver-mounted canes in the streets of Paramaribo. Fugitive + negroes had begun to establish themselves in the woods from the time when + the colony was finally ceded by the English to the Dutch, in 1674. The + first open outbreak occurred in 1726, when the plantations on the Seramica + River revolted; it was found impossible to subdue them, and the government + very imprudently resolved to make an example of eleven captives, and thus + terrify the rest of the rebels. They were tortured to death, eight of the + eleven being women: this drove the others to madness, and plantation after + plantation was visited with fire and sword. After a long conflict, their + chief, Adoe, was induced to make a treaty, in 1749. The rebels promised to + keep the peace, and in turn were promised freedom, money, tools, clothes, + and, finally, arms and ammunition. + </p> + <p> + But no permanent peace was ever made upon a barrel of gunpowder as a + basis; and, of course, an explosion followed this one. The colonists + naturally evaded the last item of the bargain; and the rebels, receiving + the gifts, and remarking the omission of the part of Hamlet, asked + contemptuously if the Europeans expected negroes to subsist on combs and + looking-glasses? New hostilities at once began; a new body of slaves on + the Ouca River revolted; the colonial government was changed in + consequence, and fresh troops shipped from Holland; and after four + different embassies had been sent into the woods, the rebels began to + listen to reason. The black generals, Capt. Araby and Capt. Boston, agreed + upon a truce for a year, during which the colonial government might decide + for peace or war, the Maroons declaring themselves indifferent. Finally + the government chose peace, delivered ammunition, and made a treaty, in + 1761; the white and black plenipotentiaries exchanged English oaths and + then negro oaths, each tasting a drop of the other's blood during the + latter ceremony, amid a volley of remarkable incantations from the black + <i>gadoman</i> or priest. After some final skirmishes, in which the rebels + almost always triumphed, the treaty was at length accepted by all the + various villages of Maroons. Had they known that at this very time five + thousand slaves in Berbice were just rising against their masters, and + were looking to them for assistance, the result might have been different; + but this fact had not reached them, nor had the rumors of insurrection in + Brazil among negro and Indian slaves. They consented, therefore, to the + peace. "They write from Surinam," says the "Annual Register" for Jan. 23, + 1761, "that the Dutch governor, finding himself unable to subdue the rebel + negroes of that country by force, hath wisely followed the example of Gov. + Trelawney at Jamaica, and concluded an amicable treaty with them; in + consequence of which, all the negroes of the woods are acknowledged to be + free, and all that is passed is buried in oblivion." So ended a war of + thirty-six years; and in Stedman's day the original three thousand Ouca + and Seramica Maroons had multiplied, almost incredibly, to fifteen + thousand. + </p> + <p> + But for those slaves not sharing in this revolt it was not so easy to + "bury the whole past in oblivion." The Maroons had told some very plain + truths to the white ambassadors, and had frankly advised them, if they + wished for peace, to mend their own manners and treat their chattels + humanely. But the planters learned nothing by experience,—and, + indeed, the terrible narrations of Stedman were confirmed by those of + Alexander, so lately as 1831. Of course, therefore, in a colony comprising + eighty thousand blacks to four thousand whites, other revolts were + stimulated by the success of this one. They reached their highest point in + 1772, when an insurrection on the Cottica River, led by a negro named + Baron, almost gave the finishing blow to the colony; the only adequate + protection being found in a body of slaves liberated expressly for that + purpose,—a dangerous and humiliating precedent. "We have been + obliged to set three or four hundred of our stoutest negroes free to + defend us," says an honest letter from Surinam, in the "Annual Register" + for Sept. 5, 1772. Fortunately for the safety of the planters, Baron + presumed too much upon his numbers, and injudiciously built a camp too + near the seacoast, in a marshy fastness, from which he was finally ejected + by twelve hundred Dutch troops, though the chief work was done, Stedman + thinks, by the "black rangers" or liberated slaves. Checked by this + defeat, he again drew back into the forests, resuming his guerrilla + warfare against the plantations. Nothing could dislodge him; blood-hounds + were proposed, but the moisture of the country made them useless: and thus + matters stood when Stedman came sailing, amid orange-blossoms and music, + up the winding Surinam. + </p> + <p> + Our young officer went into the woods in the condition of Falstaff, + "heinously unprovided." Coming from the unbounded luxury of the + plantations, he found himself entering "the most horrid and impenetrable + forests, where no kind of refreshment was to be had,"—he being + provisioned only with salt pork and pease. After a wail of sorrow for this + inhuman neglect, he bursts into a gush of gratitude for the private + generosity which relieved his wants at the last moment by the following + list of supplies: "24 bottles best claret, 12 ditto Madeira, 12 ditto + porter, 12 ditto cider, 12 ditto rum, 2 large loaves white sugar, 2 + gallons brandy, 6 bottles muscadel, 2 gallons lemon-juice, 2 gallons + ground coffee, 2 large Westphalia hams, 2 salted bullocks' tongues, 1 + bottle Durham mustard, 6 dozen spermaceti candles." The hams and tongues + seem, indeed, rather a poor halfpennyworth to this intolerable deal of + sack; but this instance of Surinam privation in those days may open some + glimpse at the colonial standards of comfort. "From this specimen," + moralizes our hero, "the reader will easily perceive, that, if some of the + inhabitants of Surinam show themselves the disgrace of the creation by + their cruelties and brutality, others, by their social feelings, approve + themselves an ornament to the human species. With this instance of virtue + and generosity I therefore conclude this chapter." + </p> + <p> + But the troops soon had to undergo worse troubles than those of the + commissariat. The rainy season had just set in. "As for the negroes," said + Mr. Klynhaus, the last planter with whom they parted, "you may depend on + never seeing a soul of them, unless they attack you off guard; but the + climate, the climate, will murder you all." Bringing with them + constitutions already impaired by the fevers and dissipation of + Paramaribo, the poor boys began to perish long before they began to fight. + Wading in water all day, hanging their hammocks over water at night, it + seemed a moist existence, even compared with the climate of England and + the soil of Holland. It was a case of "Invent a shovel, and be a + magistrate," even more than Andrew Marvell found it in the United + Provinces. In fact, Raynal evidently thinks that nothing but Dutch + experience in hydraulics could ever have cultivated Surinam. + </p> + <p> + The two gunboats which held one division of the expedition were merely old + sugar-barges, roofed over with boards, and looking like coffins. They were + pleasantly named the "Charon" and the "Cerberus," but Stedman thought that + the "Sudden Death" and the "Wilful Murder" would have been titles more + appropriate. The chief duty of the troops consisted in lying at anchor at + the intersections of wooded streams, waiting for rebels who never came. It + was dismal work, and the raw recruits were full of the same imaginary + terrors which have haunted other heroes less severely tested: the monkeys + never rattled the cocoa-nuts against the trees, but they all heard the + axes of Maroon wood-choppers; and when a sentinel declared, one night, + that he had seen a negro go down the river in a canoe, with his pipe + lighted, the whole force was called to arms—against a firefly. In + fact, the insect race brought by far the most substantial dangers. The + rebels eluded the military, but the chigres, locusts, scorpions, and + bush-spiders were ever ready to come half-way to meet them; likewise + serpents and alligators proffered them the freedom of the forests, and + exhibited a hospitality almost excessive. Snakes twenty feet long hung + their seductive length from the trees; jaguars volunteered their society + through almost impenetrable marshes; vampire bats perched by night with + lulling endearments upon the toes of the soldiers. When Stedman describes + himself as killing thirty-eight mosquitoes at one stroke, we must perhaps + pardon something to the spirit of martyrdom. But when we add to these the + other woes of his catalogue,—prickly-heat, ringworm, putrid-fever, + "the growling of Col. Fougeaud, dry sandy savannas, unfordable marshes, + burning hot days, cold and damp nights, heavy rains, and short allowance,"—we + can hardly wonder that three captains died in a month, and that in two + months his detachment of forty-two was reduced to a miserable seven. + </p> + <p> + Yet, through all this, Stedman himself kept his health. His theory of the + matter almost recalls the time-honored prescription of "A light heart and + a thin pair of breeches," for he attributes his good condition to his + keeping up his spirits and kicking off his shoes. Daily bathing in the + river had also something to do with it; and, indeed, hydropathy was first + learned of the West-India Maroons,—who did their "packing" in wet + clay,—and was carried by Dr. Wright to England. But his + extraordinary personal qualities must have contributed most to his + preservation. Never did a "meagre, starved, black, burnt, and ragged + tatterdemalion," as he calls himself, carry about him such a fund of + sentiment, philosophy, poetry, and art. He had a great faculty for + sketching, as the engravings in his volumes, with all their odd + peculiarities, show; his deepest woes he coined always into couplets, and + fortified himself against hopeless despair with Ovid and Valerius Flaccus, + Pope's Homer and Thomson's "Seasons." Above all reigned his passion for + natural history, a ready balm for every ill. Here he was never wanting to + the occasion; and, to do justice to Dutch Guiana, the occasion never was + wanting to him. Were his men sickening, the peccaries were always healthy + without the camp, and the cockroaches within; just escaping from a + she-jaguar, he satisfies himself, ere he flees, that the print of her + claws on the sand is precisely the size of a pewter dinner-plate; bitten + by a scorpion, he makes sure of a scientific description in case he should + expire of the bite; is the water undrinkable, there is at least some + rational interest in the number of legs possessed by the centipedes which + pre-occupy it. This is the highest triumph of man over his accidents, when + he thus turns his pains to gains, and becomes an entomologist in the + tropics. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the rebels kept their own course in the forests, and + occasionally descended upon plantations beside the very river on whose + upper waters the useless troops were sickening and dying. Stedman himself + made several campaigns, with long intervals of illness, before he came any + nearer to the enemy than to burn a deserted village or destroy a + rice-field. Sometimes they left the "Charon" and the "Cerberus" moored by + grape-vines to the pine-trees, and made expeditions into the woods, single + file. Our ensign, true to himself, gives the minutest schedule of the + order of march, and the oddest little diagram of manikins with cocked + hats, and blacker manikins bearing burdens. First, negroes with bill-hooks + to clear the way; then the van-guard; then the main body, interspersed + with negroes bearing boxes of ball-cartridges; then the rear-guard, with + many more negroes, bearing camp-equipage, provisions, and new rum, + surnamed "kill-devil," and appropriately followed by a sort of palanquin + for the disabled. Thus arrayed, they marched valorously forth into the + woods, to some given point; then they turned, marched back to the boats, + then rowed back to camp, and straightway went into the hospital. + Immediately upon this, the coast being clear, Baron and his rebels marched + out again, and proceeded to business. + </p> + <p> + In the course of years, these Maroons had acquired their own peculiar + tactics. They built stockaded fortresses on marshy islands, accessible by + fords which they alone could traverse. These they defended further by + sharp wooden pins, or crows'-feet, concealed beneath the surface of the + miry ground,—and, latterly, by the more substantial protection of + cannon, which they dragged into the woods, and learned to use. Their + bush-fighting was unique. Having always more men than weapons, they + arranged their warriors in threes,—one to use the musket, another to + take his place if wounded or slain, and a third to drag away the body. + They had Indian stealthiness and swiftness, with more than Indian + discipline; discharged their fire with some approach to regularity, in + three successive lines, the signals being given by the captain's horn. + They were full of ingenuity: marked their movements for each other by + scattered leaves and blazed trees; ran zigzag, to dodge bullets; gave + wooden guns to their unarmed men, to frighten the plantation negroes on + their guerrilla expeditions; and borrowed the red caps of the black + rangers whom they slew, to bewilder the aim of the others. One of them, + finding himself close to the muzzle of a ranger's gun, threw up his hand + hastily. "What!" he exclaimed, "will you fire on one of your own party?" + "God forbid!" cried the ranger, dropping his piece, and was instantly shot + through the body by the Maroon, who the next instant had disappeared in + the woods. + </p> + <p> + These rebels were no saints: their worship was obi-worship; the women had + not far outgrown the plantation standard of chastity, and the men drank + "kill-devil" like their betters. Stedman was struck with the difference + between the meaning of the word "good" in rebellious circles and in + reputable. "It must, however, be observed, that what we Europeans call a + good character was by the Africans looked upon as detestable, especially + by those born in the woods, whose only crime consisted in avenging the + wrongs done to their forefathers." But if martial virtues be virtues, such + were theirs. Not a rebel ever turned traitor or informer, ever flinched in + battle or under torture, ever violated a treaty or even a private promise. + But it was their power of endurance which was especially astounding; + Stedman is never weary of paying tribute to this, or of illustrating it in + sickening detail; indeed, the records of the world show nothing to surpass + it; "the lifted axe, the agonizing wheel," proved powerless to subdue it; + with every limb lopped, every bone broken, the victims yet defied their + tormentors, laughed, sang, and died triumphant. + </p> + <p> + Of course they repaid these atrocities in kind. If they had not, it would + have demonstrated the absurd paradox, that slavery educates higher virtues + than freedom. It bewilders all the relations of human responsibility, if + we expect the insurrectionary slave to commit no outrages; if slavery has + not depraved him, it has done him little harm. If it be the normal + tendency of bondage to produce saints like Uncle Tom, let us all offer + ourselves at auction immediately. It is Cassy and Dred who are the normal + protest of human nature against systems which degrade it. Accordingly, + these poor, ignorant Maroons, who had seen their brothers and sisters + flogged, burned, mutilated, hanged on iron hooks, broken on the wheel, and + had been all the while solemnly assured that this was paternal government, + could only repay the paternalism in the same fashion, when they had the + power. Stedman saw a negro chained to a red-hot distillery-furnace; he saw + disobedient slaves, in repeated instances, punished by the amputation of a + leg, and sent to boat-service for the rest of their lives; and of course + the rebels borrowed these suggestions. They could bear to watch their + captives expire under the lash, for they had previously watched their + parents. If the government rangers received twenty-five florins for every + rebel right-hand which they brought in, of course they risked their own + right hands in the pursuit. The difference was, that the one brutality was + that of a mighty state, and the other was only the retaliation of the + victims. And after all, Stedman never ventures to assert that the + imitation equalled the original, or that the Maroons had inflicted nearly + so much as they had suffered. + </p> + <p> + The leaders of the rebels, especially, were men who had each his own story + of wrongs to tell. Baron, the most formidable, had been the slave of a + Swedish gentleman, who had taught him to read and write, taken him to + Europe, promised to manumit him on his return—and then, breaking his + word, sold him to a Jew. Baron refused to work for his new master, was + publicly flogged under the gallows, fled to the woods next day, and became + the terror of the colony. Joli Coeur, his first captain, was avenging the + cruel wrongs of his mother. Bonny, another leader, was born in the woods, + his mother having taken refuge there just previously, to escape from his + father, who was also his master. Cojo, another, had defended his master + against the insurgents until he was obliged by ill usage to take refuge + among them; and he still bore upon his wrist, when Stedman saw him, a + silver band, with the inscription,—"True to the Europeans." In + dealing with wrongs like these, Mr. Carlyle would have found the despised + negroes quite as ready as himself to take the total-abstinence pledge + against rose-water. + </p> + <p> + In his first two-months' campaign, Stedman never saw the trace of a + Maroon; in the second, he once came upon their trail; in the third, one + captive was brought in, two surrendered themselves voluntarily, and a + large party was found to have crossed a river within a mile of the camp, + ferrying themselves on palm-trunks, according to their fashion. Deep + swamps and scorching sands, toiling through briers all day, and sleeping + at night in hammocks suspended over stagnant water, with weapons supported + on sticks crossed beneath,—all this was endured for two years and a + half, before Stedman personally came in sight of the enemy. + </p> + <p> + On Aug. 20, 1775, the troops found themselves at last in the midst of the + rebel settlements. These villages and forts bore a variety of expressive + names, such as "Hide me, O thou surrounding verdure," "I shall be taken," + "The woods lament for me," "Disturb me, if you dare," "Take a tasting, if + you like it," "Come, try me, if you be men," "God knows me, and none + else," "I shall moulder before I shall be taken." Some were only + plantation-grounds with a few huts, and were easily laid waste; but all + were protected more or less by their mere situations. Quagmires surrounded + them, covered by a thin crust of verdure, sometimes broken through by one + man's weight, when the victim sank hopelessly into the black and + bottomless depths below. In other directions there was a solid bottom, but + inconveniently covered by three or four feet of water, through which the + troops waded breast-deep, holding their muskets high in the air, unable to + reload them when once discharged, and liable to be picked off by rebel + scouts, who ingeniously posted themselves in the tops of palm-trees. + </p> + <p> + Through this delectable region Col. Fougeaud and his followers slowly + advanced, drawing near the fatal shore where Capt. Meyland's detachment + had just been defeated, and where their mangled remains still polluted the + beach. Passing this point of danger without attack, they suddenly met a + small party of rebels, each bearing on his back a beautifully woven hamper + of snow-white rice: these loads they threw down, and disappeared. Next + appeared an armed body from the same direction, who fired upon them once, + and swiftly retreated; and in a few moments the soldiers came upon a large + field of standing rice, beyond which lay, like an amphitheatre, the rebel + village. But between the village and the field had been piled successive + defences of logs and branches, behind which simple redoubts the Maroons + lay concealed. A fight ensued, lasting forty minutes, during which nearly + every soldier and ranger was wounded; but, to their great amazement, not + one was killed. This was an enigma to them until after the skirmish, when + the surgeon found that most of them had been struck, not by bullets, but + by various substitutes, such as pebbles, coat-buttons, and bits of silver + coin, which had penetrated only skin deep. "We also observed that several + of the poor rebel negroes, who had been shot, had only the shards of + Spa-water cans instead of flints, which could seldom do execution; and it + was certainly owing to these circumstances that we came off so well." + </p> + <p> + The rebels at length retreated, first setting fire to their village; a + hundred or more lightly built houses, some of them two stories high, were + soon in flames; and as this conflagration occupied the only neck of land + between two impassable morasses, the troops were unable to follow, and the + Maroons had left nothing but rice-fields to be pillaged. That night the + military force was encamped in the woods; their ammunition was almost + gone, so they were ordered to lie flat on the ground, even in case of + attack; they could not so much as build a fire. Before midnight an attack + was made on them, partly with bullets, and partly with words. The Maroons + were all around them in the forest, but their object was a puzzle; they + spent most of the night in bandying compliments with the black rangers, + whom they alternately denounced, ridiculed, and challenged to single + combat. At last Fougeaud and Stedman joined in the conversation, and + endeavored to make this midnight volley of talk the occasion for a treaty. + This was received with inextinguishable laughter, which echoed through the + woods like a concert of screech-owls, ending in a <i>charivari</i> of + horns and hallooing. The colonel, persisting, offered them "life, liberty, + victuals, drink, and all they wanted;" in return, they ridiculed him + unmercifully. He was a half-starved Frenchman, who had run away from his + own country, and would soon run away from theirs; they profoundly pitied + him and his soldiers; they would scorn to spend powder on such scarecrows; + they would rather feed and clothe them, as being poor white slaves, hired + to be shot at, and starved for fourpence a day. But as for the planters, + overseers, and rangers, they should die, every one of them, and Bonny + should be governor of the colony. "After this, they tinkled their + bill-hooks, fired a volley, and gave three cheers; which, being answered + by the rangers, the clamor ended, and the rebels dispersed with the rising + sun." + </p> + <p> + Very aimless nonsense it certainly appeared. But the next day put a new + aspect on it; for it was found, that, under cover of all this noise, the + Maroons had been busily occupied all night, men, women, and children, in + preparing and filling great hampers of the finest rice, yams, and cassava, + from the adjacent provision-grounds, to be used for subsistence during + their escape, leaving only chaff and refuse for the hungry soldiers. "This + was certainly such a masterly trait of generalship in a savage people, + whom we affected to despise, as would have done honor to any European + commander." + </p> + <p> + From this time the Maroons fulfilled their threats. Shooting down without + mercy every black ranger who came within their reach,—one of these + rangers being, in Stedman's estimate, worth six white soldiers,—they + left Col. Fougeaud and his regulars to die of starvation and fatigue. The + enraged colonel, "finding himself thus foiled by a naked negro, swore he + would pursue Bonny to the world's end." But he never got any nearer than + to Bonny's kitchen-gardens. He put the troops on half-allowance, sent back + for provisions and ammunition,—and within ten days changed his mind, + and retreated to the settlements in despair. Soon after, this very body of + rebels, under Bonny's leadership, plundered two plantations in the + vicinity, and nearly captured a powder-magazine, which was, however, + successfully defended by some armed slaves. + </p> + <p> + For a year longer these expeditions continued. The troops never gained a + victory, and they lost twenty men for every rebel killed; but they + gradually checked the plunder of plantations, destroyed villages and + planting-grounds, and drove the rebels, for the time at least, into the + deeper recesses of the woods, or into the adjacent province of Cayenne. + They had the slight satisfaction of burning Bonny's own house, a two-story + wooden hut, built in the fashion of our frontier guardhouses. They often + took single prisoners,—some child, born and bred in the woods, and + frightened equally by the first sight of a white man and of a cow,—or + some warrior, who, on being threatened with torture, stretched forth both + hands in disdain, and said, with Indian eloquence, "These hands have made + tigers tremble." As for Stedman, he still went barefooted, still + quarrelled with his colonel, still sketched the scenery and described the + reptiles, still reared greegree worms for his private kitchen, still + quoted good poetry and wrote execrable, still pitied all the sufferers + around him, black, white, and red, until finally he and his comrades were + ordered back to Holland in 1776. + </p> + <p> + Among all that wasted regiment of weary and broken-down men, there was + probably no one but Stedman who looked backward with longing as they + sailed down the lovely Surinam. True, he bore all his precious collections + with him,—parrots and butterflies, drawings on the backs of old + letters, and journals kept on bones and cartridges. But he had left behind + him a dearer treasure; for there runs through all his eccentric narrative + a single thread of pure romance, in his love for his beautiful quadroon + wife and his only son. + </p> + <p> + Within a month after his arrival in the colony, our susceptible ensign + first saw Joanna, a slave-girl of fifteen, at the house of an intimate + friend. Her extreme beauty and modesty first fascinated him, and then her + piteous narrative,—for she was the daughter of a planter, who had + just gone mad and died in despair from the discovery that he could not + legally emancipate his own children from slavery. Soon after, Stedman was + dangerously ill, was neglected and alone; fruits and cordials were + anonymously sent to him, which proved at last to have come from Joanna; + and she came herself, ere long, and nursed him, grateful for the visible + sympathy he had shown to her. This completed the conquest; the passionate + young Englishman, once recovered, loaded her with presents which she + refused; talked of purchasing her, and educating her in Europe, which she + also declined as burdening him too greatly; and finally, amid the ridicule + of all good society in Paramaribo, surmounted all legal obstacles, and was + united to the beautiful girl in honorable marriage. He provided a cottage + for her, where he spent his furloughs, in perfect happiness, for four + years. + </p> + <p> + The simple idyl of their loves was unbroken by any stain or + disappointment, and yet always shadowed with the deepest anxiety for the + future. Though treated with the utmost indulgence, she was legally a + slave, and so was the boy of whom she became the mother. Cojo, her uncle, + was a captain among the rebels against whom her husband fought. And up to + the time when Stedman was ordered back to Holland, he was unable to + purchase her freedom; nor could he, until the very last moment, procure + the emancipation of his boy. His perfect delight at this last triumph, + when obtained, elicited some satire from his white friends. "While the + well-thinking few highly applauded my sensibility, many not only blamed + but publicly derided me for my paternal affection, which was called a + weakness, a whim." "Nearly forty beautiful boys and girls were left to + perpetual slavery by their parents of my acquaintance, and many of them + without being so much as once inquired after at all." + </p> + <p> + But Stedman was a true-hearted fellow, if his sentiment did sometimes run + to rodomontade; he left his Joanna only in the hope that a year or two in + Europe would repair his ruined fortunes, and he could return to treat + himself to the purchase of his own wedded wife. He describes, with + unaffected pathos, their parting scene,—though, indeed, there were + several successive partings,—and closes the description in a + characteristic manner: "My melancholy having surpassed all description, I + at last determined to weather one or two painful years in her absence; and + in the afternoon went to dissipate my mind at a Mr. Roux' cabinet of + Indian curiosities; where, as my eye chanced to fall on a rattlesnake, I + will, before I leave the colony, describe this dangerous reptile." + </p> + <p> + It was impossible to write the history of the Maroons of Surinam except + through the biography of our ensign (at last promoted captain), because + nearly all we know of them is through his quaint and picturesque + narrative, with its profuse illustrations by his own hand. It is not fair, + therefore, to end without chronicling his safe arrival in Holland, on June + 3, 1777. It is a remarkable fact, that, after his life in the woods, even + the Dutch looked slovenly to his eyes. "The inhabitants, who crowded about + us, appeared but a disgusting assemblage of ill-formed and ill-dressed + rabble,—so much had my prejudices been changed by living among + Indians and blacks: their eyes seemed to resemble those of a pig; their + complexions were like the color of foul linen; they seemed to have no + teeth, and to be covered over with rags and dirt. This prejudice, however, + was not against these people only, but against all Europeans in general, + when compared to the sparkling eyes, ivory teeth, shining skin, and + remarkable cleanliness of those I had left behind me." Yet, in spite of + these superior attractions, he never recrossed the Atlantic; for his + Joanna died soon after, and his promising son, being sent to the father, + was educated in England, became a midshipman in the navy, and was lost at + sea. With his elegy, in which the last depths of bathos are sadly sounded + by a mourning parent,—who is induced to print them only by "the + effect they had on the sympathetic and ingenious Mrs. Cowley,"—the + "Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition" closes. + </p> + <p> + The war, which had cost the government forty thousand pounds a year, was + ended, and left both parties essentially as when it began. The Maroons + gradually returned to their old abodes, and, being unmolested themselves, + left others unmolested thenceforward. Originally three thousand,—in + Stedman's time, fifteen thousand,—they were estimated at seventy + thousand by Capt. Alexander, who saw Guiana in 1831; and a later American + scientific expedition, having visited them in their homes, reported them + as still enjoying their wild freedom, and multiplying, while the Indians + on the same soil decay. The beautiful forests of Surinam still make the + morning gorgeous with their beauty, and the night deadly with their chill; + the stately palm still rears, a hundred feet in air, its straight gray + shaft and its head of verdure; the mora builds its solid, buttressed + trunk, a pedestal for the eagle; the pine of the tropics holds out its + myriad hands with water-cups for the rain and dews, where all the birds + and the monkeys may drink their fill; the trees are garlanded with + epiphytes and convolvuli, and anchored to the earth by a thousand vines. + High among their branches, the red and yellow mocking-birds still build + their hanging nests, uncouth storks and tree-porcupines cling above, and + the spotted deer and the tapir drink from the sluggish stream below. The + night is still made noisy with a thousand cries of bird and beast; and the + stillness of the sultry noon is broken by the slow tolling of the <i>campañero</i>, + or bell-bird, far in the deep, dark woods, like the chime of some lost + convent. And as Nature is unchanged there, so apparently is man; the + Maroons still retain their savage freedom, still shoot their wild game and + trap their fish, still raise their rice and cassava, yams and plantains,—still + make cups from the gourd-tree and hammocks from the silk-grass plant, wine + from the palm-tree's sap, brooms from its leaves, fishing-lines from its + fibres, and salt from its ashes. Their life does not yield, indeed, the + very highest results of spiritual culture; its mental and moral results + may not come up to the level of civilization, but they rise far above the + level of slavery. In the changes of time, the Maroons may yet elevate + themselves into the one, but they will never relapse into the other. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GABRIEL'S DEFEAT + </h2> + <p> + In exploring among dusty files of newspapers for the true records of + Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner, I have caught occasional glimpses of a plot + perhaps more wide in its outlines than that of either, which has lain + obscure in the darkness of half a century, traceable only in the political + events which dated from it, and the utter incorrectness of the scanty + traditions which assumed to preserve it. And though researches in public + libraries have only proved to me how rapidly the materials for American + history are vanishing,—since not one of our great institutions + possessed, a few years since, a file of any Southern newspaper of the year + 1800,—yet the little which I have gained may have an interest that + makes it worth preserving. Three times, at intervals of thirty years, did + a wave of unutterable terror sweep across the Old Dominion, bringing + thoughts of agony to every Virginian master, and of vague hope to every + Virginian slave. Each time did one man's name become a spell of dismay and + a symbol of deliverance. Each time did that name eclipse its predecessor, + while recalling it for a moment to fresher memory: John Brown revived the + story of Nat Turner, as in his day Nat Turner recalled the vaster schemes + of Gabriel. + </p> + <p> + On Sept. 8, 1800, a Virginia correspondent wrote thus to the Philadelphia + <i>United-States Gazette:</i>— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "For the week past, we have been under momentary expectation of a + rising among the negroes, who have assembled to the number of + nine hundred or a thousand, and threatened to massacre all the + whites. They are armed with desperate weapons, and secrete + themselves in the woods. God only knows our fate: we have strong + guards every night under arms." +</pre> + <p> + It was no wonder, if there were foundation for such rumors. Liberty was + the creed or the cant of the day. France was being disturbed by + revolution, and England by Clarkson. In America, slavery was habitually + recognized as a misfortune and an error, only to be palliated by the + nearness of its expected end. How freely anti-slavery pamphlets had been + circulated in Virginia, we know from the priceless volumes collected and + annotated by Washington, and now preserved in the Boston Athenaeum. + Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia," itself an anti-slavery tract, had passed + through seven editions. Judge St. George Tucker, law-professor in William + and Mary College, had recently published his noble work, "A Dissertation + on Slavery, with a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State + of Virginia." From all this agitation, a slave insurrection was a mere + corollary. With so much electricity in the air, a single flash of + lightning foreboded all the terrors of the tempest. Let but a single armed + negro be seen or suspected, and at once, on many a lonely plantation, + there were trembling hands at work to bar doors and windows that seldom + had been even closed before, and there was shuddering when a gray squirrel + scrambled over the roof, or a shower of walnuts came down clattering from + the overhanging boughs. + </p> + <p> + Early in September, 1800, as a certain Mr. Moseley Sheppard, of Henrico + County in Virginia, was one day sitting in his counting-room, two negroes + knocked at the door, and were let in. They shut the door themselves, and + began to unfold an insurrectionary plot, which was subsequently repeated + by one of them, named Ben Woodfolk or Woolfolk, in presence of the court, + on the 15th of the same month. + </p> + <p> + He stated, that about the first of the preceding June, he had been asked + by a negro named Colonel George whether he would like to be made a Mason. + He refused; but George ultimately prevailed on him to have an interview + with a certain leading man among the blacks, named Gabriel. Arrived at the + place of meeting, he found many persons assembled, to whom a preliminary + oath was administered, that they would keep secret all which they might + hear. The leaders then began, to the dismay of this witness, to allude to + a plan of insurrection, which, as they stated, was already far advanced + toward maturity. Presently a man named Martin, Gabriel's brother, proposed + religious services, caused the company to be duly seated, and began an + impassioned exposition of Scripture, bearing upon the perilous theme. The + Israelites were glowingly portrayed as a type of successful resistance to + tyranny; and it was argued, that now, as then, God would stretch forth his + arm to save, and would strengthen a hundred to overthrow a thousand. Thus + passed, the witness stated, this preparatory meeting. At a subsequent + gathering the affair was brought to a point; and the only difficult + question was, whether to rise in rebellion upon a certain Saturday, or + upon the Sunday following. Gabriel said that Saturday was the day already + fixed, and that it must not be altered; but George was for changing it to + Sunday, as being more convenient for the country negroes, who could travel + on that day without suspicion. Gabriel, however, said decisively that they + had enough to carry Richmond without them; and Saturday was therefore + retained as the momentous day. + </p> + <p> + This was the confession, so far as it is now accessible; and on the + strength of it, Ben Woolfolk was promptly pardoned by the court for all + his sins, past, present, or to come, and they proceeded with their + investigation. Of Gabriel little appeared to be known, except that he had + been the property of Thomas Prosser, a young man who had recently + inherited a plantation a few miles from Richmond, and who had the + reputation among his neighbors of "behaving with great barbarity to his + slaves." Gabriel was, however, reported to be "a fellow of courage and + intellect above his rank in life," to be about twenty-five years of age, + and to be guiltless of the alphabet. + </p> + <p> + Further inquiry made it appear that the preparations of the insurgents + were hardly adequate to any grand revolutionary design,—at least, if + they proposed to begin with open warfare. The commissariat may have been + well organized, for black Virginians are apt to have a prudent eye to the + larder; but the ordnance department and the treasury were as low as if + Secretary Floyd had been in charge of them. A slave called "Prosser's Ben" + testified that he went with Gabriel to see Ben Woolfolk, who was going to + Caroline County to enlist men, and that "Gabriel gave him three shillings + for himself and three other negroes, to be expended in recruiting men." + Their arms and ammunition, so far as reported, consisted of a peck of + bullets, ten pounds of powder, and twelve scythe-swords, made by Gabriel's + brother Solomon, and fitted with handles by Gabriel himself. "These + cutlasses," said subsequently a white eye-witness, "are made of scythes + cut in two and fixed into well-turned handles. I have never seen arms so + murderous. Those who still doubt the importance of the conspiracy which + has been so fortunately frustrated would shudder with horror at the sight + of these instruments of death." And as it presently appeared that a + conspirator named Scott had astonished his master by accidentally pulling + ten dollars from a ragged pocket which seemed inadequate to the custody of + ten cents, it was agreed that the plot might still be dangerous, even + though the resources seemed limited. + </p> + <p> + And indeed, as was soon discovered, the effective weapon of the insurgents + lay in the very audacity of their plan. If the current statements of all + the Virginia letter-writers were true, "nothing could have been better + contrived." It was to have taken effect on the first day of September. The + rendezvous for the blacks was to be a brook six miles from Richmond. + Eleven hundred men were to assemble there, and were to be divided into + three columns, their officers having been designated in advance. All were + to march on Richmond,—then a town of eight thousand inhabitants,—under + cover of night. The right wing was instantly to seize upon the + penitentiary building, just converted into an arsenal; while the left wing + was to take possession of the powder-house. These two columns were to be + armed chiefly with clubs, as their undertaking depended for success upon + surprise, and was expected to prevail without hard fighting. But it was + the central force, armed with muskets, cutlasses, knives, and pikes, upon + which the chief responsibility rested; these men were to enter the town at + both ends simultaneously, and begin a general carnage, none being excepted + save the French inhabitants, who were supposed for some reason to be + friendly to the negroes. In a very few hours, it was thought, they would + have entire control of the metropolis. And that this hope was not in the + least unreasonable, was shown by the subsequent confessions of weakness + from the whites. "They could scarcely have failed of success," wrote the + Richmond correspondent of the Boston <i>Chronicle</i>; "for, after all, we + could only muster four or five hundred men, of whom not more than thirty + had muskets." + </p> + <p> + For the insurgents, if successful, the penitentiary held several thousand + stand of arms; the powder-house was well stocked; the Capitol contained + the State treasury; the mills would give them bread; the control of the + bridge across James River would keep off enemies from beyond. Thus secured + and provided, they planned to issue proclamations summoning to their + standard "their fellow-negroes and the friends of humanity throughout the + continent." In a week, it was estimated, they would have fifty thousand + men on their side, with which force they could easily possess themselves + of other towns; and, indeed, a slave named John Scott—possibly the + dangerous possessor of the ten dollars—was already appointed to head + the attack on Petersburg. But in case of final failure, the project + included a retreat to the mountains, with their new-found property. John + Brown was therefore anticipated by Gabriel, sixty years before, in + believing the Virginia mountains to have been "created, from the + foundation of the world, as a place of refuge for fugitive slaves." + </p> + <p> + These are the statements of the contemporary witnesses; they are repeated + in many newspapers of the year 1800, and are in themselves clear and + consistent. Whether they are on the whole exaggerated or under-stated, it + is now impossible to say. It is certain that a Richmond paper of Sept. 12 + (quoted in the New-York <i>Gazette</i> of Sept. 18) declares that "the + plot has been entirely exploded, which was shallow; and, had the attempt + been made to carry it into execution, but little resistance would have + been required to render the scheme entirely abortive." But it is necessary + to remember that this is no more than the Charleston newspapers said at + the very crisis of Denmark Vesey's formidable plot. "Last evening," wrote + a lady from Charleston in 1822, "twenty-five hundred of our citizens were + under arms to guard our property and lives. But it is a subject <i>not to + be mentioned</i> [so underscored]; and unless you hear of it elsewhere, + say nothing about it." Thus it is always hard to know whether to assume + the facts of an insurrection as above or below the estimates. This + Virginian excitement also happened at a period of intense political + agitation, and was seized upon as a boon by the Federalists. The very + article above quoted is ironically headed "Holy Insurrection," and takes + its motto from Jefferson, with profuse capital letters: "The Spirit of the + Master is abating, that of the Slave rising from the dust, his condition + mollifying." + </p> + <p> + In view of the political aspect thus given to the plot, and of its + ingenuity and thoroughness likewise, the Virginians were naturally + disposed to attribute to white men some share in it; and speculation + presently began to run wild. The newspapers were soon full of theories, no + two being alike, and no one credible. The plot originated, some said, in + certain handbills written by Jefferson's friend Callender, then in prison + at Richmond on a charge of sedition; these were circulated by two French + negroes, aided by a "United Irishman" calling himself a Methodist + preacher, and it was in consideration of these services that no Frenchman + was to be injured by the slaves. When Gabriel was arrested, the editor of + the <i>United-States Gazette</i> affected much diplomatic surprise that no + letters were <i>yet</i> found upon his person "from Fries, Gallatin, or + Duane, nor was he at the time of his capture accompanied by any United + Irishman." "He, however, acknowledges that there are others concerned, and + that he is not the principal instigator." All Federalists agreed that the + Southern Democratic talk was constructive insurrection,—which it + certainly was,—-and they painted graphic pictures of noisy + "Jacobins" over their wine, and eager dusky listeners behind their chairs. + "It is evident that the French principles of liberty and equality have + been effused into the minds of the negroes, and that the incautious and + intemperate use of the words by some whites among us have inspired them + with hopes of success." "While the fiery Hotspurs of the State vociferate + their <i>French babble</i> of the natural equality of man, the insulted + negro will be constantly stimulated to cast away his cords, and to sharpen + his pike." "It is, moreover, believed, though not positively known, that a + great many of our profligate and abandoned whites (who are distinguished + by the burlesque appellation of <i>Democrats</i>) are implicated with the + blacks, and would have joined them if they had commenced their + operations.... The Jacobin printers and their friends are panic-struck. + Never was terror more strongly depicted in the countenances of men." These + extracts from three different Federalist newspapers show the amiable + emotions of that side of the house; while Democratic Duane, in the <i>Aurora</i>, + could find no better repartee than to attribute the whole trouble to the + policy of the administration in renewing commercial intercourse with San + Domingo. + </p> + <p> + I have discovered in the Norfolk <i>Epitome of the Times</i>, for Oct. 9, + 1800, a remarkable epistle written from Richmond Jail by the unfortunate + Callender himself. He indignantly denies the charges against the + Democrats, of complicity in dangerous plots, boldly retorting them upon + the Federalists. "An insurrection at this critical moment by the negroes + of the Southern States would have thrown every thing into confusion, and + consequently it was to have prevented the choice of electors in the whole + or the greater part of the States to the south of the Potomac. Such a + disaster must have tended directly to injure the interests of Mr. + Jefferson, and to promote the slender possibility of a second election of + Mr. Adams." And, to be sure, the <i>United-States Gazette</i> followed up + the thing with a good, single-minded party malice which cannot be + surpassed in these present days, ending in such altitudes of sublime + coolness as the following: "The insurrection of the negroes in the + Southern States, which appears to be organized on the true French plan, + must be decisive, with every reflecting man in those States, of the + election of Mr. Adams and Gen. Pinckney. The military skill and approved + bravery of the general must be peculiarly valuable to his countrymen at + these trying moments." Let us have a military Vice-President, by all + means, to meet this formidable exigency of Gabriel's peck of bullets, and + this unexplained three shillings in the pocket of "Prosser's Ben"! + </p> + <p> + But Gabriel's campaign failed, like that of the Federalists; and the + appointed day brought disasters more fatal than even the sword of Gen. + Pinckney. The affrighted negroes declared that "the stars in their courses + fought against Sisera." The most furious tempest ever known in Virginia + burst upon the land that day, instead of an insurrection. Roads and + plantations were submerged. Bridges were carried away. The fords, which + then, as now, were the frequent substitutes for bridges in that region, + were rendered wholly impassable. The Brook Swamp, one of the most + important strategic points of the insurgents, was entirely inundated, + hopelessly dividing Prosser's farm from Richmond; the country negroes + could not get in, nor those from the city get out. The thousand men + dwindled to a few hundred, and these half paralyzed by superstition; there + was nothing to do but to dismiss them, and before they could re-assemble + they were betrayed. + </p> + <p> + That the greatest alarm was instantly created throughout the community, + there is no question. All the city of Richmond was in arms, and in all + large towns of the State the night-patrol was doubled. It is a little + amusing to find it formally announced, that "the Governor, impressed with + the magnitude of the danger, has appointed for himself three + aides-de-camp." A troop of United-States cavalry was ordered to Richmond. + Numerous arrests were made. Men were convicted on one day, and hanged on + the next,—five, six, ten, fifteen at a time, almost without + evidence. Three hundred dollars were offered by Gov. Monroe for the arrest + of Gabriel; as much more for another chief named Jack Bowler, <i>alias</i> + Ditcher; whereupon Bowler <i>alias</i> Ditcher surrendered himself, but it + took some weeks to get upon the track of Gabriel. He was finally captured + at Norfolk, on board a schooner just arrived from Richmond, in whose hold + he had concealed himself for eleven days, having thrown overboard a + bayonet and bludgeon, which were his only arms. Crowds of people collected + to see him, including many of his own color. He was arrested on Sept. 24, + convicted on Oct. 3, and executed on Oct. 7; and it is known of him + further, only, that, like almost all leaders of slave insurrections, he + showed a courage which his enemies could not gainsay. "When he was + apprehended, he manifested the greatest marks of firmness and confidence, + showing not the least disposition to equivocate, or screen himself from + justice,"—but making no confession that could implicate any one + else. "The behavior of Gabriel under his misfortunes," said the Norfolk <i>Epitome</i> + of Sept. 25, "was such as might be expected from a mind capable of forming + the daring project which he had conceived." The <i>United-States Gazette</i> + for Oct. 9 states, more sarcastically, that "the general is said to have + manifested the utmost composure, and with the true spirit of heroism seems + ready to resign his high office, and even his life, rather than gratify + the officious inquiries of the Governor." + </p> + <p> + Some of these newspapers suggest that the authorities found it good policy + to omit the statement made by Gabriel, whatever it was. At any rate, he + assured them that he was by no means the sole instigator of the affair; he + could name many, even in Norfolk, who were more deeply concerned. To his + brother Solomon he is said to have stated that the real head of the plot + was Jack Bowler. Still another leader was "Gen. John Scott," already + mentioned, the slave of Mr. Greenhow, hired by Mr. McCrea. He was captured + by his employer in Norfolk, just as he was boldly entering a public + conveyance to escape; and the Baltimore <i>Telegraphe</i> declared that he + had a written paper directing him to apply to Alexander Biddenhurst or + Weddenhurst in Philadelphia, "corner of Coats Alley and Budd Street, who + would supply his needs." What became of this military individual, or of + his Philadelphia sympathizers, does not appear. But it was noticed, as + usually happens in such cases, that all the insurgents had previously + passed for saints. "It consists within my knowledge," says one + letter-writer, "that many of these wretches who were or would have been + partakers in the plot have been treated with the utmost tenderness by + their masters, and were more like children than slaves." + </p> + <p> + These appear to be all the details now accessible of this once famous + plot. They were not very freely published, even at the time. "The minutiae + of the conspiracy have not been detailed to the public," said the Salem + (Mass.) <i>Gazette</i> of Oct. 7, "and perhaps, through a mistaken notion + of prudence and policy, will not be detailed in the Richmond papers." The + New-York <i>Commercial Advertiser</i> of Oct. 13 was still more explicit. + "The trials of the negroes concerned in the late insurrection are + suspended until the opinions of the Legislature can be had on the subject. + This measure is said to be owing to the immense numbers who are interested + in the plot, whose death, should they all be found guilty and be executed, + will nearly produce the annihilation of the blacks in this part of the + country." And in the next issue of the same journal a Richmond + correspondent makes a similar statement, with the following addition: "A + conditional amnesty is perhaps expected. At the next session of the + Legislature [of Virginia], they took into consideration the subject + referred to them, in secret session, with closed doors. The whole result + of their deliberations has never yet been made public, as the injunction + of secrecy has never been removed. To satisfy the court, the public, and + themselves, they had a task so difficult to perform, that it is not + surprising that their deliberations were in secret." + </p> + <p> + It is a matter of historical interest to know that in these mysterious + sessions lay the germs of the American Colonization Society. A + correspondence was at once secretly commenced between the Governor of + Virginia and the President of the United States, with a view to securing a + grant of land whither troublesome slaves might be banished. Nothing came + of it then; but in 1801, 1802, and 1804, these attempts were renewed. And + finally, on Jan. 22, 1805, the following vote was passed, still in secret + session: "<i>Resolved</i>, that the Senators of this State in the Congress + of the United States be instructed, and the Representatives be requested, + to use their best efforts for the obtaining from the General Government a + competent portion of territory in the State of Louisiana, to be + appropriated to the residence of such people of color as have been or + shall be emancipated, or hereafter may become dangerous to the public + safety," etc. But of all these efforts nothing was known till their record + was accidentally discovered by Charles Fenton Mercer in 1816. He at once + brought the matter to light, and moved a similar resolution in the + Virginia Legislature; it was almost unanimously adopted, and the first + formal meeting of the Colonization Society, in 1817, was called "in aid" + of this Virginia movement. But the whole correspondence was never made + public until the Nat Turner insurrection of 1831 recalled the previous + excitement; and these papers were demanded by Mr. Summers, a member of the + Legislature, who described them as "having originated in a convulsion + similar to that which had recently, but more terribly, occurred." + </p> + <p> + But neither these subsequent papers, nor any documents which now appear + accessible, can supply any authentic or trustworthy evidence as to the + real extent of the earlier plot. It certainly was not confined to the mere + environs of Richmond. The Norfolk <i>Epitome</i> of Oct. 6 states that on + the 6th and 7th of the previous month one hundred and fifty blacks, + including twenty from Norfolk, were assembled near Whitlock's Mills in + Suffolk County, and remained in the neighborhood till the failure of the + Richmond plan became known. Petersburg newspapers also had letters + containing similar tales. Then the alarm spread more widely. Near Edenton, + N.C., there was undoubtedly a real insurrection, though promptly + suppressed; and many families ultimately removed from that vicinity in + consequence. In Charleston, S.C., there was still greater excitement, if + the contemporary press may be trusted; it was reported that the + freeholders had been summoned to appear in arms, on penalty of a fine of + fifteen pounds, which many preferred to pay rather than risk taking the + fever which then prevailed. These reports were, however, zealously + contradicted in letters from Charleston, dated Oct. 8; and the Charleston + newspapers up to Sept. 17 had certainly contained no reference to any + especial excitement. This alone might not settle the fact, for reasons + already given. But the omission of any such affair from the valuable + pamphlet published in 1822 by Edwin C. Holland, containing reminiscences + of insurrections in South Carolina, is presumptive evidence that no very + extended agitation occurred. + </p> + <p> + But wherever there was a black population, slave or emancipated, men's + startled consciences made cowards of them all, and recognized the negro as + a dangerous man, because an injured one. In Philadelphia it was seriously + proposed to prohibit the use of sky-rockets for a time, because they had + been employed as signals in San Domingo. "Even in Boston," said the + New-York <i>Daily Advertiser</i> of Sept. 20, "fears are expressed, and + measures of prevention adopted." This probably refers to a singular + advertisement which appeared in some of the Boston newspapers on Sept. 16, + and runs as follows:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "NOTICE TO BLACKS. + + "The officers of the police having made returns to the subscriber + of the names of the following persons who are Africans or + negroes, not subjects of the Emperor of Morocco nor citizens of + any of the United States, the same are hereby warned and directed + to depart out of this Commonwealth before the tenth day of + October next, as they would avoid the pains and penalties of the + law in that case provided, which was passed by the Legislature + March 26, 1788. + + "CHARLES BULFINCH, Superintendent. + + "By order and direction of the Selectmen." +</pre> + <p> + The names annexed are about three hundred, with the places of their + supposed origin, and they occupy a column of the paper. So at least + asserts the <i>United-States Gazette</i> of Sept. 23. "It seems probable," + adds the editor, "from the nature of the notice, that some suspicion of + the design of the negroes is entertained; and we regret to say there is + too much cause." The law of 1788 above mentioned was "An Act for + suppressing rogues, vagabonds, and the like," which forbade all persons of + African descent, unless citizens of some one of the United States or + subjects of the Emperor of Morocco, from remaining more than two months + within the Commonwealth, on penalty of imprisonment and hard labor. This + singular statute remained unrepealed until 1834. + </p> + <p> + Amid the general harmony in the contemporary narratives of Gabriel's + insurrection, it would be improper to pass by one exceptional legend, + which by some singular fatality has obtained more circulation than all the + true accounts put together. I can trace it no farther back than Nat + Turner's time, when it was published in the Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>; + thence transferred to the <i>Liberator</i> of Sept. 17, 1831, and many + other newspapers; then refuted in detail by the <i>Richmond Enquirer</i> + of Oct. 21; then resuscitated in the John-Brown epoch by the Philadelphia + <i>Press</i>, and extensively copied. It is fresh, spirited, and full of + graphic and interesting details, nearly every one of which is altogether + false. + </p> + <p> + Gabriel in this narrative becomes a rather mythical being, of vast + abilities and life-long preparations. He bought his freedom, it is stated, + at the age of twenty-one, and then travelled all over the Southern States, + enlisting confederates and forming stores of arms. At length his plot was + discovered, in consequence of three negroes having been seen riding out of + a stable-yard together; and the Governor offered a reward of ten thousand + dollars for further information, to which a Richmond gentleman added as + much more. Gabriel concealed himself on board the "Sally Ann," a vessel + just sailing for San Domingo, and was revealed by his little nephew, whom + he had sent for a jug of rum. Finally, the narrative puts an eloquent + dying speech into Gabriel's mouth, and, to give a properly tragic + consummation, causes him to be torn to death by four wild horses. The last + item is, however, omitted in the more recent reprints of the story. + </p> + <p> + Every one of these statements appears to be absolutely erroneous. Gabriel + lived and died a slave, and was probably never out of Virginia. His plot + was voluntarily revealed by accomplices. The rewards offered for his + arrest amounted to three hundred dollars only. He concealed himself on + board the schooner "Mary," bound to Norfolk, and was discovered by the + police. He died on the gallows, with ten associates, having made no + address to the court or the people. All the errors of the statement were + contradicted when it was first made public, but they have proved very hard + to kill. + </p> + <p> + Some of these events were embodied in a song bearing the same title with + this essay, "Gabriel's Defeat," and set to a tune of the same name, both + being composed by a colored man. Several witnesses have assured me of + having heard this sung in Virginia, as a favorite air at the dances of the + white people, as well as in the huts of the slaves. It is surely one of + history's strange parallelisms, that this fatal enterprise, like that of + John Brown afterwards, should thus have embalmed itself in music. And + twenty-two years after these events, their impression still remained vivid + enough for Benjamin Lundy, in Tennessee, to write: "So well had they + matured their plot, and so completely had they organized their system of + operations, that nothing but a seemingly miraculous intervention of the + arm of Providence was supposed to have been capable of saving the city + from pillage and flames, and the inhabitants thereof from butchery. So + dreadful was the alarm and so great the consternation produced on this + occasion, that a member of Congress from that State was some time after + heard to express himself in his place as follows: 'The night-bell is never + heard to toll in the city of Richmond, but the anxious mother presses her + infant more closely to her bosom.'" The Congressman was John Randolph of + Roanoke, and it was Gabriel who had taught him the lesson. + </p> + <p> + And longer than the melancholy life of that wayward statesman,—down + even to the beginning of the American civil war,—there lingered in + Richmond a memorial of those days, most peculiar and most instructive. + Before the days of secession, when the Northern traveller in Virginia, + after traversing for weary leagues its miry ways, its desolate fields, and + its flowery forests, rode at last into its metropolis, he was sure to be + guided ere long to visit its stately Capitol, modelled by Jefferson, when + French minister, from the Maison Carrée. Standing before it, he might + admire undisturbed the Grecian outline of its exterior; but he found + himself forbidden to enter, save by passing an armed and uniformed + sentinel at the doorway. No other State of the Union then found it + necessary to protect its State House by a permanent cordon of bayonets. + Yet there for half a century stood sentinel the "Public Guard" of + Virginia; and when the traveller asked the origin of the precaution, he + was told that it was the lasting memorial of Gabriel's Defeat. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DENMARK VESEY + </h2> + <p> + On Saturday afternoon, May 25, 1822, a slave named Devany, belonging to + Col. Prioleau of Charleston, S.C., was sent to market by his mistress,—the + colonel being absent in the country. After doing his errands, he strolled + down upon the wharves in the enjoyment of that magnificent wealth of + leisure which usually characterized the former "house-servant" of the + South, when beyond hail of the street-door. He presently noticed a small + vessel lying in the stream, with a peculiar flag flying; and while looking + at it, he was accosted by a slave named William, belonging to Mr. John + Paul, who remarked to him, "I have often seen a flag with the number 76, + but never one with the number 96 upon it before." After some further + conversation on this trifling point, William suddenly inquired, "Do you + know that something serious is about to take place?" Devany disclaiming + the knowledge of any graver impending crisis than the family dinner, the + other went on to inform him that many of the slaves were "determined to + right themselves." "We are determined," he added, "to shake off our + bondage, and for that purpose we stand on a good foundation; many have + joined, and if you will go with me, I will show you the man who has the + list of names, and who will take yours down." + </p> + <p> + This startling disclosure was quite too much for Devany: he was made of + the wrong material for so daring a project; his genius was culinary, not + revolutionary. Giving some excuse for breaking off the conversation, he + went forthwith to consult a free colored man, named Pensil or Pencell, who + advised him to warn his master instantly. So he lost no time in telling + the secret to his mistress and her young son; and on the return of Col. + Prioleau from the country, five days afterward, it was at once revealed to + him. Within an hour or two he stated the facts to Mr. Hamilton, the + intendant, or, as he would now be called, mayor; Mr. Hamilton at once + summoned the corporation, and by five o'clock Devany and William were + under examination. + </p> + <p> + This was the first warning of a plot which ultimately filled Charleston + with terror. And yet so thorough and so secret was the organization of the + negroes, that a fortnight passed without yielding the slightest + information beyond the very little which was obtained from these two. + William Paul was, indeed, put in confinement, and soon gave evidence + inculpating two slaves as his employers,—Mingo Harth and Peter + Poyas. But these men, when arrested, behaved with such perfect coolness, + and treated the charge with such entire levity;—their trunks and + premises, when searched, were so innocent of all alarming contents;—that + they were soon discharged by the wardens. William Paul at length became + alarmed for his own safety, and began to let out further facts piecemeal, + and to inculpate other men. But some of those very men came voluntarily to + the intendant, on hearing that they were suspected, and indignantly + offered themselves for examination. Puzzled and bewildered, the municipal + government kept the thing as secret as possible, placed the city guard in + an efficient condition, provided sixteen hundred rounds of ball + cartridges, and ordered the sentinels and patrols to be armed with loaded + muskets. "Such had been our fancied security, that the guard had + previously gone on duty without muskets, and with only sheathed bayonets + and bludgeons." + </p> + <p> + It has since been asserted, though perhaps on questionable authority, that + the Secretary of War was informed of the plot, even including some details + of the plan and the leader's name, before it was known in Charleston. If + so, he utterly disregarded it; and, indeed, so well did the negroes play + their part, that the whole report was eventually disbelieved, while—as + was afterwards proved—they went on to complete their secret + organization, and hastened by a fortnight the appointed day of attack. + Unfortunately for their plans, however, another betrayal took place at the + very last moment, from a different direction. A class-leader in a + Methodist church had been persuaded or bribed by his master to procure + further disclosures. He at length came and stated, that, about three + months before, a man named Rolla, slave of Gov. Bennett, had communicated + to a friend of his the fact of an intended insurrection, and had said that + the time fixed for the outbreak was the following Sunday night, June 16. + As this conversation took place on Friday, it gave but a very short time + for the city authorities to act, especially as they wished neither to + endanger the city nor to alarm it. + </p> + <p> + Yet so cautiously was the game played on both sides that the whole thing + was still kept a secret from the Charleston public; and some members of + the city government did not fully appreciate their danger till they had + passed it. "The whole was concealed," wrote the governor afterwards, + "until the time came; but secret preparations were made. Saturday night + and Sunday morning passed without demonstrations; doubts were excited, and + counter orders issued for diminishing the guard." It afterwards proved + that these preparations showed to the slaves that their plot was betrayed, + and so saved the city without public alarm. Newspaper correspondence soon + was full of the story, each informant of course hinting plainly that he + had been behind the scenes all along, and had withheld it only to gratify + the authorities in their policy of silence. It was "now no longer a + secret," they wrote; adding, that, for five or six weeks, but little + attention had been paid by the community to these rumors, the city council + having kept it carefully to themselves until a number of suspicious slaves + had been arrested. This refers to ten prisoners who were seized on June + 18, an arrest which killed the plot, and left only the terrors of what + might have been. The investigation, thus publicly commenced, soon revealed + a free colored man named Denmark Vesey as the leader of the enterprise,—among + his chief coadjutors being that innocent Peter and that unsuspecting Mingo + who had been examined and discharged nearly three weeks before. + </p> + <p> + It is matter of demonstration, that, but for the military preparations on + the appointed Sunday night, the attempt would have been made. The + ringleaders had actually met for their final arrangements, when, by + comparing notes, they found themselves foiled; and within another week + they were prisoners on trial. Nevertheless, the plot which they had laid + was the most elaborate insurrectionary project ever formed by American + slaves, and came the nearest to a terrible success. In boldness of + conception and thoroughness of organization there has been nothing to + compare with it; and it is worth while to dwell somewhat upon its details, + first introducing the <i>dramatis personae</i>. + </p> + <p> + Denmark Vesey had come very near figuring as a revolutionist in Hayti, + instead of South Carolina. Capt. Vesey, an old resident of Charleston, + commanded a ship that traded between St. Thomas and Cape Français, during + our Revolutionary War, in the slave-transportation line. In the year 1781 + he took on board a cargo of three hundred and ninety slaves, and sailed + for the Cape. On the passage, he and his officers were much attracted by + the beauty and intelligence of a boy of fourteen, whom they unanimously + adopted into the cabin as a pet. They gave him new clothes, and a new + name, Télémaque, which was afterwards gradually corrupted into Telmak and + Denmark. They amused themselves with him until their arrival at Cape + Français, and then, "having no use for the boy," sold their pet as if he + had been a macaw or a monkey. Capt. Vesey sailed for St. Thomas; and, + presently making another trip to Cape Français, was surprised to hear from + his consignee that Télémaque would be returned on his hands as being + "unsound,"—not in theology nor in morals, but in body,—subject + to epileptic fits, in fact. According to the custom of that place, the boy + was examined by the city physician, who required Capt. Vesey to take him + back; and Denmark served him faithfully, with no trouble from epilepsy, + for twenty years, travelling all over the world with him, and learning to + speak various languages. In 1800 he drew a prize of fifteen hundred + dollars in the East Bay-street Lottery, with which he bought his freedom + from his master for six hundred dollars,—much less than his market + value. From that time, the official report says, he worked as a carpenter + in Charleston, distinguished for physical strength and energy. "Among + those of his color he was looked up to with awe and respect. His temper + was impetuous and domineering in the extreme, qualifying him for the + despotic rule of which he was ambitious. All his passions were + ungovernable and savage; and to his numerous wives and children he + displayed the haughty and capricious cruelty of an Eastern bashaw." + </p> + <p> + "For several years before he disclosed his intentions to any one, he + appears to have been constantly and assiduously engaged in endeavoring to + imbitter the minds of the colored population against the white. He + rendered himself perfectly familiar with all those parts of the Scriptures + which he thought he could pervert to his purpose, and would readily quote + them to prove that slavery was contrary to the laws of God; that slaves + were bound to attempt their emancipation, however shocking and bloody + might be the consequences; and that such efforts would not only be + pleasing to the Almighty, but were absolutely enjoined, and their success + predicted, in the Scriptures. His favorite texts when he addressed those + of his own color were Zech. xiv. 1-3, and Josh. vi. 21; and in all his + conversations he identified their situation with that of the Israelites. + The number of inflammatory pamphlets on slavery brought into Charleston + from some of our sister States within the last four years (and once from + Sierra Leone), and distributed amongst the colored population of the city, + for which there was a great facility, in consequence of the unrestricted + intercourse allowed to persons of color between the different States in + the Union, and the speeches in Congress of those opposed to the admission + of Missouri into the Union, perhaps garbled and misrepresented, furnished + him with ample means for inflaming the minds of the colored population of + the State; and by distorting certain parts of those speeches, or selecting + from them particular passages, he persuaded but too many that Congress had + actually declared them free, and that they were held in bondage contrary + to the laws of the land. Even whilst walking through the streets in + company with another, he was not idle; for if his companion bowed to a + white person, he would rebuke him, and observe that all men were born + equal, and that he was surprised that any one would degrade himself by + such conduct; that he would never cringe to the whites, nor ought any one + who had the feelings of a man. When answered, 'We are slaves,' he would + sarcastically and indignantly reply, 'You deserve to remain slaves;' and + if he were further asked, 'What can we do?' he would remark, 'Go and buy a + spelling-book, and read the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner,' which he + would then repeat, and apply it to their situation. He also sought every + opportunity of entering into conversation with white persons, when they + could be overheard by negroes near by, especially in grog-shops,—during + which conversation he would artfully introduce some bold remark on + slavery; and sometimes, when, from the character he was conversing with, + he found he might still be bolder, he would go so far, that, had not his + declarations in such situations been clearly proved, they would scarcely + have been credited. He continued this course until some time after the + commencement of the last winter; by which time he had not only obtained + incredible influence amongst persons of color, but many feared him more + than their owners, and, one of them declared, even more than his God." + </p> + <p> + It was proved against him, that his house had been the principal place of + meeting for the conspirators, that all the others habitually referred to + him as the leader, and that he had shown great address in dealing with + different temperaments and overcoming a variety of scruples. One witness + testified that Vesey had read to him from the Bible about the deliverance + of the children of Israel; another, that he had read to him a speech which + had been delivered "in Congress by a Mr. King" on the subject of slavery, + and Vesey had said that "this Mr. King was the black man's friend; that + he, Mr. King, had declared he would continue to speak, write, and publish + pamphlets against slavery the longest day he lived, until the Southern + States consented to emancipate their slaves, for that slavery was a great + disgrace to the country." But among all the reports there are only two + sentences which really reveal the secret soul of Denmark Vesey, and show + his impulses and motives. "He said he did not go with Creighton to Africa, + because he had not a will; he wanted to stay and see what he could do for + his fellow-creatures." The other takes us still nearer home. Monday Gell + stated in his confession, that Vesey, on first broaching the plan to him, + said "he was satisfied with his own condition, being free; but, as all his + children were slaves, he wished to see what could be done for them." + </p> + <p> + It is strange to turn from this simple statement of a perhaps intelligent + preference, on the part of a parent, for seeing his offspring in a + condition of freedom, to the <i>naïve</i> astonishment of his judges. "It + is difficult to imagine," says the sentence finally passed on Denmark + Vesey, "what infatuation could have prompted you to attempt an enterprise + so wild and visionary. You were a free man, comparatively wealthy, and + enjoyed every comfort compatible with your situation. You had, therefore, + much to risk and little to gain." Yet one witness testified: "Vesey said + the negroes were living such an abominable life, they ought to rise. I + said, I was living well; he said, though I was, others were not, and that + 'twas such fools as I that were in the way and would not help them, and + that after all things were well he would mark me." "His general + conversation," said another witness, a white boy, "was about religion, + which he would apply to slavery; as, for instance, he would speak of the + creation of the world, in which he would say all men had equal rights, + blacks as well as whites, etc.; all his religious remarks were mingled + with slavery." And the firmness of this purpose did not leave him, even + after the betrayal of his cherished plans. "After the plot was + discovered," said Monday Gell, in his confession, "Vesey said it was all + over, unless an attempt were made to rescue those who might be condemned, + by rushing on the people and saving the prisoners, or all dying together." + </p> + <p> + The only person to divide with Vesey the claim of leadership was Peter + Poyas. Vesey was the missionary of the cause, but Peter was the organizing + mind. He kept the register of "candidates," and decided who should or + should not be enrolled. "We can't live so," he often reminded his + confederates; "we must break the yoke." "God has a hand in it; we have + been meeting for four years, and are not yet betrayed." Peter was a + ship-carpenter, and a slave of great value. He was to be the military + leader. His plans showed some natural generalship: he arranged the + night-attack; he planned the enrolment of a mounted troop to scour the + streets; and he had a list of all the shops where arms and ammunition were + kept for sale. He voluntarily undertook the management of the most + difficult part of the enterprise,—the capture of the main + guard-house,—and had pledged himself to advance alone and surprise + the sentinel. He was said to have a magnetism in his eyes, of which his + confederates stood in great awe; if he once got his eye upon a man, there + was no resisting it. A white witness has since narrated, that, after his + arrest, he was chained to the floor in a cell, with another of the + conspirators. Men in authority came, and sought by promises, threats, and + even tortures, to ascertain the names of other accomplices. His companion, + wearied out with pain and suffering, and stimulated by the hope of saving + his own life, at last began to yield. Peter raised himself, leaned upon + his elbow, looked at the poor fellow, saying quietly, "Die like a man," + and instantly lay down again. It was enough; not another word was + extorted. + </p> + <p> + One of the most notable individuals in the plot was a certain Jack + Purcell, commonly called Gullah Jack,—Gullah signifying Angola, the + place of his origin. A conjurer by profession and by lineal heritage in + his own country, he had resumed the practice of his vocation on this side + the Atlantic. For fifteen years he had wielded in secret an immense + influence among a sable constituency in Charleston; and as he had the + reputation of being invulnerable, and of teaching invulnerability as an + art, he was very good at beating up recruits for insurrection. Over those + of Angolese descent, especially, he was a perfect king, and made them join + in the revolt as one man. They met him monthly at a place called Bulkley's + Farm, selected because the black overseer on that plantation was one of + the initiated, and because the farm was accessible by water, thus enabling + them to elude the patrol. There they prepared cartridges and pikes, and + had primitive banquets, which assumed a melodramatic character under the + inspiriting guidance of Jack. If a fowl was privately roasted, that mystic + individual muttered incantations over it; and then they all grasped at it, + exclaiming, "Thus we pull Buckra to pieces!" He gave them parched corn and + ground-nuts to be eaten as internal safeguards on the day before the + outbreak, and a consecrated <i>cullah</i>, or crab's claw, to be carried + in the mouth by each, as an amulet. These rather questionable means + secured him a power which was very unquestionable; the witnesses examined + in his presence all showed dread of his conjurations, and referred to him + indirectly, with a kind of awe, as "the little man who can't be shot." + </p> + <p> + When Gullah Jack was otherwise engaged, there seems to have been a sort of + deputy seer employed in the enterprise, a blind man named Philip. He was a + preacher; was said to have been born with a caul on his head, and so + claimed the gift of second-sight. Timid adherents were brought to his + house for ghostly counsel. "Why do you look so timorous?" he said to + William Garner, and then quoted Scripture, "Let not your heart be + troubled." That a blind man should know how he looked, was beyond the + philosophy of the visitor; and this piece of rather cheap ingenuity + carried the day. + </p> + <p> + Other leaders were appointed also. Monday Gell was the scribe of the + enterprise; he was a native African, who had learned to read and write. He + was by trade a harness-maker, working chiefly on his own account. He + confessed that he had written a letter to President Boyer of the new black + republic; "the letter was about the sufferings of the blacks, and to know + if the people of St. Domingo would help them if they made an effort to + free themselves." This epistle was sent by the black cook of a Northern + schooner, and the envelope was addressed to a relative of the bearer. + </p> + <p> + Tom Russell was the armorer, and made pikes "on a very improved model," + the official report admits. Polydore Faber fitted the weapons with + handles. Bacchus Hammett had charge of the fire-arms and ammunition, not + as yet a laborious duty. William Garner and Mingo Harth were to lead the + horse-company. Lot Forrester was the courier, and had done, no one ever + knew how much, in the way of enlisting country negroes, of whom Ned + Bennett was to take command when enlisted. Being the governor's servant, + Ned was probably credited with some official experience. These were the + officers: now for the plan of attack. + </p> + <p> + It was the custom then, as later, for the country negroes to flock largely + into Charleston on Sunday. More than a thousand came, on ordinary + occasions, and a far larger number might at any time make their appearance + without exciting any suspicion. They gathered in, especially by water, + from the opposite sides of Ashley and Cooper Rivers, and from the + neighboring islands; and they came in a great number of canoes of various + sizes,—many of which could carry a hundred men,—which were + ordinarily employed in bringing agricultural products to the Charleston + market. To get an approximate knowledge of the number, the city government + once ordered the persons thus arriving to be counted,—and that + during the progress of the trials, at a time when the negroes were rather + fearful of coming into town; and it was found, that, even then, there were + more than five hundred visitors on a single Sunday. This fact, then, was + the essential point in the plan of insurrection. Whole plantations were + found to have been enlisted among the "candidates," as they were termed; + and it was proved that the city negroes, who lived nearest the place of + meeting, had agreed to conceal these confederates in their houses to a + large extent, on the night of the proposed outbreak. + </p> + <p> + The details of the plan, however, were not rashly committed to the mass of + the confederates; they were known only to a few, and were finally to be + announced only after the evening prayer-meetings on the appointed Sunday. + But each leader had his own company enlisted, and his own work marked out. + When the clock struck twelve, all were to move. Peter Poyas was to lead a + party ordered to assemble at South Bay, and to be joined by a force from + James's Island; he was then to march up and seize the arsenal and + guard-house opposite St. Michael's Church, and detach a sufficient number + to cut off all white citizens who should appear at the alarm-posts. A + second body of negroes, from the country and the Neck, headed by Ned + Bennett, was to assemble on the Neck, and seize the arsenal there. A third + was to meet at Gov. Bennett's Mills, under command of Rolla, and, after + putting the governor and intendant to death, to march through the city, or + be posted at Cannon's Bridge, thus preventing the inhabitants of + Cannonsborough from entering the city. A fourth, partly from the country, + and partly from the neighboring localities in the city, was to rendezvous + on Gadsden's Wharf, and attack the upper guard-house. A fifth, composed of + country and Neck negroes, was to assemble at Bulkley's Farm, two miles and + a half from the city, seize the upper powder-magazine, and then march + down; and a sixth was to assemble at Denmark Vesey's, and obey his orders. + A seventh detachment, under Gullah Jack, was to assemble in Boundary + Street, at the head of King Street, to capture the arms of the Neck + company of militia, and to take an additional supply from Mr. Duquercron's + shop. The naval stores on Mey's Wharf were also to be attacked. Meanwhile, + a horse-company, consisting of many draymen, hostlers, and butcher-boys, + was to meet at Lightwood's Alley, and then scour the streets to prevent + the whites from assembling. Every white man coming out of his own door was + to be killed; and, if necessary, the city was to be fired in several + places,—slow-match for this purpose having been purloined from the + public arsenal, and placed in an accessible position. + </p> + <p> + Beyond this, the plan of action was either unformed or undiscovered; some + slight reliance seems to have been placed on English aid,—more on + assistance from St. Domingo. At any rate, all the ships in the harbor were + to be seized; and in these, if the worst came to the worst, those most + deeply inculpated could set sail, bearing with them, perhaps, the spoils + of shops and of banks. It seems to be admitted by the official narrative, + that they might have been able, at that season of the year, and with the + aid of the fortifications on the Neck and around the harbor, to retain + possession of the city for some time. + </p> + <p> + So unsuspicious were the authorities, so unprepared the citizens, so open + to attack lay the city, that nothing seemed necessary to the success of + the insurgents except organization and arms. Indeed, the plan of + organization easily covered a supply of arms. By their own contributions + they had secured enough to strike the first blow,—a few hundred + pikes and daggers, together with swords and guns for the leaders. But they + had carefully marked every place in the city where weapons were to be + obtained. On King-street Road, beyond the municipal limits, in a common + wooden shop, were left unguarded the arms of the Neck company of militia, + to the number of several hundred stand; and these were to be secured by + Bacchus Hammett, whose master kept the establishment. In Mr. Duquercron's + shop there were deposited for sale as many more weapons; and they had + noted Mr. Schirer's shop in Queen Street, and other gunsmiths' + establishments. Finally, the State arsenal in Meeting Street, a building + with no defences except ordinary wooden doors, was to be seized early in + the outbreak. Provided, therefore, that the first moves proved successful, + all the rest appeared sure. + </p> + <p> + Very little seems to have been said among the conspirators in regard to + any plans of riot or debauchery, subsequent to the capture of the city. + Either their imaginations did not dwell on them, or the witnesses did not + dare to give testimony, or the authorities to print it. Death was to be + dealt out, comprehensive and terrible; but nothing more is mentioned. One + prisoner, Rolla, is reported in the evidence to have dropped hints in + regard to the destiny of the women; and there was a rumor in the + newspapers of the time, that he or some other of Gov. Bennett's slaves was + to have taken the governor's daughter, a young girl of sixteen, for his + wife, in the event of success; but this is all. On the other hand, Denmark + Vesey was known to be for a war of immediate and total extermination; and + when some of the company opposed killing "the ministers and the women and + children," Vesey read from the Scriptures that all should be cut off, and + said that "it was for their safety not to leave one white skin alive, for + this was the plan they pursued at St. Domingo." And all this was not a + mere dream of one lonely enthusiast, but a measure which had been maturing + for four full years among several confederates, and had been under + discussion for five months among multitudes of initiated "candidates." + </p> + <p> + As usual with slave-insurrections, the best men and those most trusted + were deepest in the plot. Rolla was the only prominent conspirator who was + not an active church-member. "Most of the ringleaders," says a Charleston + letter-writer of that day, "were the rulers or class-leaders in what is + called the African Society, and were considered faithful, honest fellows. + Indeed, many of the owners could not be convinced, till the fellows + confessed themselves, that they were concerned, and that the first object + of all was to kill their masters." And the first official report declares + that it would not be difficult to assign a motive for the + insurrectionists, "if it had not been distinctly proved, that, with + scarcely an exception, they had no individual hardship to complain of, and + were among the most humanely treated negroes in the city. The facilities + for combining and confederating in such a scheme were amply afforded by + the extreme indulgence and kindness which characterize the domestic + treatment of our slaves. Many slave-owners among us, not satisfied with + ministering to the wants of their domestics by all the comforts of + abundant food and excellent clothing, with a misguided benevolence have + not only permitted their instruction, but lent to such efforts their + approbation and applause." + </p> + <p> + "I sympathize most sincerely," says the anonymous author of a pamphlet of + the period, "with the very respectable and pious clergyman whose heart + must still bleed at the recollection that his confidential class-leader, + but a week or two before his just conviction, had received the communion + of the Lord's Supper from his hand. This wretch had been brought up in his + pastor's family, and was treated with the same Christian attention as was + shown to their own children." "To us who are accustomed to the base and + proverbial ingratitude of these people, this ill return of kindness and + confidence is not surprising; but they who are ignorant of their real + character will read and wonder." + </p> + <p> + One demonstration of this "Christian attention" had lately been the + closing of the African Church,—of which, as has been stated, most of + the leading revolutionists were members,—on the ground that it + tended to spread the dangerous infection of the alphabet. On Jan. 15, + 1821, the city marshal, John J. Lafar, had notified "ministers of the + gospel and others who keep night—and Sunday-schools for slaves, that + the education of such persons is forbidden by law, and that the city + government feel imperiously bound to enforce the penalty." So that there + were some special as well as general grounds for disaffection among these + ungrateful favorites of fortune, the slaves. Then there were fancied + dangers. An absurd report had somehow arisen,—since you cannot keep + men ignorant without making them unreasonable also,—that on the + ensuing Fourth of July the whites were to create a false alarm, and that + every black man coming out was to be killed, "in order to thin them;" this + being done to prevent their joining an imaginary army supposed to be on + its way from Hayti. Others were led to suppose that Congress had ended the + Missouri Compromise discussion by making them all free, and that the law + would protect their liberty if they could only secure it. Others, again, + were threatened with the vengeance of the conspirators, unless they also + joined; on the night of attack, it was said, the initiated would have a + countersign, and all who did not know it would share the fate of the + whites. Add to this the reading of Congressional speeches, and of the + copious magazine of revolution to be found in the Bible,—and it was + no wonder, if they for the first time were roused, under the energetic + leadership of Vesey, to a full consciousness of their own condition. + </p> + <p> + "Not only were the leaders of good character, and very much indulged by + their owners; but this was very generally the case with all who were + convicted,—many of them possessing the highest confidence of their + owners, and not one of bad character." In one case it was proved that + Vesey had forbidden his followers to trust a certain man, because he had + once been seen intoxicated. In another case it was shown that a slave + named George had made every effort to obtain their confidence, but was + constantly excluded from their meetings as a talkative fellow who could + not be trusted,—a policy which his levity of manner, when examined + in court, fully justified. They took no women into counsel,—not from + any distrust apparently, but in order that their children might not be + left uncared-for in case of defeat and destruction. House-servants were + rarely trusted, or only when they had been carefully sounded by the chief + leaders. Peter Poyas, in commissioning an agent to enlist men, gave him + excellent cautions: "Don't mention it to those waiting-men who receive + presents of old coats, etc., from their masters, or they'll betray us; I + will speak to them." When he did speak, if he did not convince them, he at + least frightened them. But the chief reliance was on those slaves who were + hired out, and therefore more uncontrolled,—and also upon the + country negroes. + </p> + <p> + The same far-sighted policy directed the conspirators to disarm suspicion + by peculiarly obedient and orderly conduct. And it shows the precaution + with which the thing was carried on, that, although Peter Poyas was proved + to have had a list of some six hundred persons, yet not one of his + particular company was ever brought to trial. As each leader kept to + himself the names of his proselytes, and as Monday Gell was the only one + of these leaders who turned traitor, any opinion as to the numbers + actually engaged must be altogether conjectural. One witness said nine + thousand; another, six thousand six hundred. These statements were + probably extravagant, though not more so than Gov. Bennett's assertion, on + the other side, that "all who were actually concerned had been brought to + justice,"—unless by this phrase he designates only the ringleaders. + The avowed aim of the governor's letter, indeed, is to smooth the thing + over, for the credit and safety of the city; and its evasive tone + contrasts strongly with the more frank and thorough statements of the + judges, made after the thing could no longer be hushed up. These high + authorities explicitly acknowledge that they had failed to detect more + than a small minority of those concerned in the project, and seem to + admit, that, if it had once been brought to a head, the slaves generally + would have joined in. + </p> + <p> + "We cannot venture to say," says the intendant's pamphlet, "to how many + the knowledge of the intended effort was communicated, who without + signifying their assent, or attending any of the meetings, were yet + prepared to profit by events. That there are many who would not have + permitted the enterprise to have failed at a critical moment, for the want + of their co-operation, we have the best reason for believing." So believed + the community at large; and the panic was in proportion, when the whole + danger was finally made public. "The scenes I witnessed," says one who has + since narrated the circumstances, "and the declaration of the impending + danger that met us at all times and on all occasions, forced the + conviction that never were an entire people more thoroughly alarmed than + were the people of Charleston at that time.... During the excitement, and + the trial of the supposed conspirators, rumor proclaimed all, and + doubtless more than all, the horrors of the plot. The city was to be fired + in every quarter; the arsenal in the immediate vicinity was to be broken + open, and the arms distributed to the insurgents, and a universal massacre + of the white inhabitants to take place. Nor did there seem to be any doubt + in the mind of the people, that such would actually have been the result + had not the plot fortunately been detected before the time appointed for + the outbreak. It was believed, as a matter of course, that every black in + the city would join in the insurrection, and that if the original design + had been attempted, and the city taken by surprise, the negroes would have + achieved a complete and easy victory. Nor does it seem at all impossible + that such might have been, or yet may be, the case, if any well-arranged + and resolute rising should take place." + </p> + <p> + Indeed, this universal admission, that all the slaves were ready to take + part in any desperate enterprise, was one of the most startling aspects of + the affair. The authorities say that the two principal State's evidence + declared that "they never spoke to any person of color on the subject, or + knew of any one who had been spoken to by the other leaders, who had + withheld his assent." And the conspirators seem to have been perfectly + satisfied that all the remaining slaves would enter their ranks upon the + slightest success. "Let us assemble a sufficient number to commence the + work with spirit, and we'll not want men; they'll fall in behind us fast + enough." And as an illustration of this readiness, the official report + mentions a slave who had belonged to one master for sixteen years, + sustaining a high character for fidelity and affection, who had twice + travelled with him through the Northern States, resisting every + solicitation to escape, and who yet was very deeply concerned in the + insurrection, though knowing it to involve the probable destruction of the + whole family with whom he lived. + </p> + <p> + One singular circumstance followed the first rumors of the plot. Several + white men, said to be of low and unprincipled character, at once began to + make interest with the supposed leaders among the slaves, either from + genuine sympathy, or with the intention of betraying them for money, or by + profiting by the insurrection, should it succeed. Four of these were + brought to trial; but the official report expresses the opinion that many + more might have been discovered but for the inadmissibility of slave + testimony against whites. Indeed, the evidence against even these four was + insufficient for a capital conviction, although one was overheard, through + stratagem, by the intendant himself, and arrested on the spot. This man + was a Scotchman, another a Spaniard, a third a German, and the fourth a + Carolinian. The last had for thirty years kept a shop in the neighborhood + of Charleston; he was proved to have asserted that "the negroes had as + much right to fight for their liberty as the white people," had offered to + head them in the enterprise, and had said that in three weeks he would + have two thousand men. But in no case, it appears, did these men obtain + the confidence of the slaves; and the whole plot was conceived and + organized, so far as appears, without the slightest co-operation from any + white man. + </p> + <p> + The trial of the conspirators began on Wednesday, June 19. At the request + of the intendant, Justices Kennedy and Parker summoned five freeholders + (Messrs. Drayton, Heyward, Pringle, Legaré, and Turnbull) to constitute a + court, under the provisions of the Act "for the better ordering and + governing negroes and other slaves." The intendant laid the case before + them, with a list of prisoners and witnesses. By a vote of the court, all + spectators were excluded, except the owners and counsel of the slaves + concerned. No other colored person was allowed to enter the jail, and a + strong guard of soldiers was kept always on duty around the building. + Under these general arrangements the trials proceeded with elaborate + formality, though with some variations from ordinary usage,—as was, + indeed, required by the statute. + </p> + <p> + For instance, the law provided that the testimony of any Indian or slave + could be received, without oath, against a slave or free colored person, + although it was not valid, even under oath, against a white. But it is + best to quote the official language in respect to the rules adopted: "As + the court had been organized under a statute of a peculiar and local + character, and intended for the government of a distinct class of persons + in the community, they were bound to conform their proceedings to its + provisions, which depart in many essential features from the principles of + the common law and some of the settled rules of evidence. The court, + however, determined to adopt those rules, whenever they were not repugnant + to nor expressly excepted by that statute, nor inconsistent with the local + situation and policy of the State; and laid down for their own government + the following regulations: First, that no slave should be tried except in + the presence of his owner or his counsel, and that notice should be given + in every case at least one day before the trial; second, that the + testimony of one witness, unsupported by additional evidence or by + circumstances, should lead to no conviction of a capital nature; third, + that the witnesses should be confronted with the accused and with each + other in every case, except where testimony was given under a solemn + pledge that the names of the witnesses should not be divulged,—as + they declared, in some instances, that they apprehended being murdered by + the blacks, if it was known that they had volunteered their evidence; + fourth, that the prisoners might be represented by counsel, whenever this + was requested by the owners of the slaves, or by the prisoners themselves + if free; fifth, that the statements or defences of the accused should be + heard in every case, and they be permitted themselves to examine any + witness they thought proper." + </p> + <p> + It is singular to observe how entirely these rules seem to concede that a + slave's life has no sort of value to himself, but only to his master. His + master, not he himself, must choose whether it be worth while to employ + counsel. His master, not his mother or his wife, must be present at the + trial. So far is this carried, that the provision to exclude "persons who + had no particular interest in the slaves accused" seems to have excluded + every acknowledged relative they had in the world, and admitted only those + who had invested in them so many dollars. And yet the very first section + of that part of the statute under which they were tried lays down an + explicit recognition of their humanity: "And whereas natural justice + forbids that any <i>person</i>, of what condition soever, should be + condemned unheard." So thoroughly, in the whole report, are the ideas of + person and chattel intermingled, that when Gov. Bennett petitions for + mitigation of sentence in the case of his slave Batteau, and closes, "I + ask this, gentlemen, as an individual incurring a severe and distressing + loss," it is really impossible to decide whether the predominant emotion + be affectional or financial. + </p> + <p> + It is a matter of painful necessity to acknowledge that the proceedings of + most slave-tribunals have justified the honest admission of Gov. Adams of + South Carolina, in his legislative message of 1855: "The administration of + our laws, in relation to our colored population, by our courts of + magistrates and freeholders, as these courts are at present constituted, + calls loudly for reform. Their decisions are rarely in conformity with + justice or humanity." This trial, as reported by the justices themselves, + seems to have been no worse than the average,—perhaps better. In + all, thirty-five were sentenced to death, thirty-four to transportation, + twenty-seven acquitted by the court, and twenty-five discharged without + trial, by the Committee of Vigilance,—making in all one hundred and + twenty-one. + </p> + <p> + The sentences pronounced by Judge Kennedy upon the leading rebels, while + paying a high tribute to their previous character, of course bring all law + and all Scripture to prove the magnitude of their crime. "It is a + melancholy fact," he says, "that those servants in whom we reposed the + most unlimited confidence have been the principal actors in this wicked + scheme." Then he rises into earnest appeals. "Are you incapable of the + heavenly influence of that gospel, all whose paths are peace? It was to + reconcile us to our destiny on earth, and to enable us to discharge with + fidelity all our duties, whether as master or servant, that those inspired + precepts were imparted by Heaven to fallen man." + </p> + <p> + To these reasonings the prisoners had, of course, nothing to say; but the + official reports bear the strongest testimony to their fortitude. "Rolla, + when arraigned, affected not to understand the charge against him, and, + when it was at his request further explained to him, assumed, with + wonderful adroitness, astonishment and surprise. He was remarkable, + throughout his trial, for great presence and composure of mind. When he + was informed he was convicted, and was advised to prepare for death, + though he had previously (but after his trial) confessed his guilt, he + appeared perfectly confounded, but exhibited no signs of fear. In Ned's + behavior there was nothing remarkable; but his countenance was stern and + immovable, even whilst he was receiving the sentence of death: from his + looks it was impossible to discover or conjecture what were his feelings. + Not so with Peter: for in his countenance were strongly marked + disappointed ambition, revenge, indignation, and an anxiety to know how + far the discoveries had extended; and the same emotions were exhibited in + his conduct. He did not appear to fear personal consequences, for his + whole behavior indicated the reverse; but exhibited an evident anxiety for + the success of their plan, in which his whole soul was embarked. His + countenance and behavior were the same when he received his sentence; and + his only words were, on retiring, 'I suppose you'll let me see my wife and + family before I die?' and that not in a supplicating tone. When he was + asked, a day or two after, if it was possible he could wish to see his + master and family murdered, who had treated him so kindly, he only replied + to the question by a smile. Monday's behavior was not peculiar. When he + was before the court, his arms were folded; he heard the testimony given + against him, and received his sentence, with the utmost firmness and + composure. But no description can accurately convey to others the + impression which the trial, defence, and appearance of Gullah Jack made on + those who witnessed the workings of his cunning and rude address. When + arrested and brought before the court, in company with another African + named Jack, the property of the estate of Pritchard, he assumed so much + ignorance, and looked and acted the fool so well, that some of the court + could not believe that this was the necromancer who was sought after. This + conduct he continued when on his trial, until he saw the witnesses and + heard the testimony as it progressed against him; when, in an instant, his + countenance was lighted up as if by lightning, and his wildness and + vehemence of gesture, and the malignant glance with which he eyed the + witnesses who appeared against him, all indicated the savage, who indeed + had been <i>caught</i>, but not <i>tamed</i>. His courage, however, soon + forsook him. When he received sentence of death, he earnestly implored + that a fortnight longer might be allowed him, and then a week longer, + which he continued earnestly to solicit until he was taken from the + court-room to his cell; and when he was carried to execution, he gave up + his spirit without firmness or composure." + </p> + <p> + Not so with Denmark Vesey. The plans of years were frustrated; his own + life and liberty were thrown away; many others were sacrificed through his + leadership; and one more was added to the list of unsuccessful + insurrections. All these disastrous certainties he faced calmly, and gave + his whole mind composedly to the conducting of his defence. With his arms + tightly folded, and his eyes fixed on the floor, he attentively followed + every item of the testimony. He heard the witnesses examined by the court, + and cross-examined by his own counsel; and it is evident from the + narrative of the presiding judge, that he showed no small skill and policy + in the searching cross-examination which he then applied. The fears, the + feelings, the consciences, of those who had betrayed him, all were in turn + appealed to; but the facts were quite overpowering, and it was too late to + aid his comrades or himself. Then turning to the court, he skilfully + availed himself of the point which had so much impressed the community: + the intrinsic improbability that a man in his position of freedom and + prosperity should sacrifice every thing to free other people. If they + thought it so incredible, why not give him the benefit of the + incredibility? The act being, as they stated, one of infatuation, why + convict him of it on the bare word of men who, by their own showing, had + not only shared the infatuation, but proved traitors to it? An ingenious + defence,—indeed, the only one which could by any possibility be + suggested, anterior to the days of Choate and somnambulism; but in vain. + He was sentenced; and it was not, apparently, till the judge reproached + him for the destruction he had brought on his followers, that he showed + any sign of emotion. Then the tears came into his eyes. But he said not + another word. + </p> + <p> + The executions took place on five different days; and, bad as they were, + they might have been worse. After the imaginary Negro Plot of New York, in + 1741, thirteen negroes had been judicially burned alive; two had suffered + the same sentence at Charleston in 1808; and it was undoubtedly some mark + of progress, that in this case the gallows took the place of the flames. + Six were hanged on July 2, upon Blake's lands, near Charleston,—Denmark + Vesey, Peter Poyas, Jesse, Ned, Rolla, and Batteau,—the last three + being slaves of the governor himself. Gullah Jack and John were executed + "on the Lines," near Charleston, on July 12; and twenty-two more on July + 26. Four others suffered their fate on July 30; and one more, William + Garner, effected a temporary escape, was captured, and tried by a + different court, and was finally executed on Aug. 9. + </p> + <p> + The self-control of these men did not desert them at their execution. When + the six leaders suffered death, the report says, Peter Poyas repeated his + charge of secrecy: "Do not open your lips; die silent, as you shall see me + do;" and all obeyed. And though afterwards, as the particulars of the plot + became better known, there was less inducement to conceal, yet every one + of the thirty-five seems to have met his fate bravely, except the + conjurer. Gov. Bennett, in his letter, expresses much dissatisfaction at + the small amount learned from the participators. "To the last hour of the + existence of several who appeared to be conspicuous actors in the drama, + they were pressingly importuned to make further confessions,"—this + "importuning" being more clearly defined in a letter of Mr. Ferguson, + owner of two of the slaves, as "having them severely corrected." Yet so + little was obtained, that the governor was compelled to admit at last that + the really essential features of the plot were not known to any of the + informers. + </p> + <p> + It is to be remembered, that the plot failed because a man unauthorized + and incompetent, William Paul, undertook to make enlistments on his own + account. He happened on one of precisely that class of men,—favored + house-servants,—whom his leaders had expressly reserved for more + skilful manipulations. He being thus detected, one would have supposed + that the discovery of many accomplices would at once have followed. The + number enlisted was counted by thousands; yet for twenty-nine days after + the first treachery, and during twenty days of official examination, only + fifteen of the conspirators were ferreted out. Meanwhile the informers' + names had to be concealed with the utmost secrecy; they were in peril of + their lives from the slaves,—William Paul scarcely dared to go + beyond the doorstep,—and the names of important witnesses examined + in June were still suppressed in the official report published in October. + That a conspiracy on so large a scale should have existed in embryo during + four years, and in an active form for several months, and yet have been so + well managed, that, after actual betrayal, the authorities were again + thrown off their guard, and the plot nearly brought to a head again,—this + certainly shows extraordinary ability in the leaders, and a talent for + concerted action on the part of slaves generally, with which they have + hardly been credited. + </p> + <p> + And it is also to be noted, that the range of the conspiracy extended far + beyond Charleston. It was proved that Frank, slave of Mr. Ferguson, living + nearly forty miles from the city, had boasted of having enlisted four + plantations in his immediate neighborhood. It was in evidence that the + insurgents "were trying all round the country, from Georgetown and Santee + round about to Combahee, to get people;" and, after the trials, it was + satisfactorily established that Vesey "had been in the country as far + north as South Santee, and southwardly as far as the Euhaws, which is + between seventy and eighty miles from the city." Mr. Ferguson himself + testified that the good order of any gang was no evidence of their + ignorance of the plot, since the behavior of his own initiated slaves had + been unexceptionable, in accordance with Vesey's directions. + </p> + <p> + With such an organization and such materials, there was nothing in the + plan which could be pronounced incredible or impracticable. There is no + reason why they should not have taken the city. After all the governor's + entreaties as to moderate language, the authorities were obliged to admit + that South Carolina had been saved from a "horrible catastrophe." "For, + although success could not possibly have attended the conspirators, yet, + before their suppression, Charleston would probably have been wrapped in + flames, many valuable lives would have been sacrificed, and an immense + loss of property sustained by the citizens, even though no other + distressing occurrences were experienced by them; while the plantations in + the lower country would have been disorganized, and the agricultural + interests have sustained an enormous loss." The Northern journals had + already expressed still greater anxieties. "It appears," said the New-York + <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, "that, but for the timely disclosure, the + whole of that State would in a few days have witnessed the horrid + spectacle once witnessed in St. Domingo." + </p> + <p> + My friend, David Lee Child, has kindly communicated to me a few memoranda + of a conversation held long since with a free colored man who had worked + in Vesey's shop during the time of the insurrection; and these generally + confirm the official narratives. "I was a young man then," he said; "and, + owing to the policy of preventing communication between free colored + people and slaves, I had little opportunity of ascertaining how the slaves + felt about it. I know that several of them were abused in the street, and + some put in prison, for appearing in sackcloth. There was an ordinance of + the city, that any slave who wore a badge of mourning should be imprisoned + and flogged. They generally got the law, which is thirty-nine lashes; but + sometimes it was according to the decision of the court." "I heard, at the + time, of arms being buried in coffins at Sullivan's Island." "In the time + of the insurrection, the slaves were tried in a small room in the jail + where they were confined. No colored person was allowed to go within two + squares of the prison. Those two squares were filled with troops, five + thousand of whom were on duty day and night. I was told, Vesey said to + those that tried him, that the work of insurrection would go on; but as + none but white persons were permitted to be present, I cannot tell whether + he said it." + </p> + <p> + During all this time there was naturally a silence in the Charleston + journals, which strongly contrasts with the extreme publicity at last + given to the testimony. Even the <i>National Intelligencer</i>, at + Washington, passed lightly over the affair, and deprecated the publication + of particulars. The Northern editors, on the other hand, eager for items, + were constantly complaining of this reserve, and calling for further + intelligence. "The Charleston papers," said the Hartford <i>Courant</i> of + July 16, "have been silent on the subject of the insurrection; but letters + from this city state that it has created much alarm, and that two brigades + of troops were under arms for some time to suppress any risings that might + have taken place." "You will doubtless hear," wrote a Charleston + correspondent of the same paper, just before, "many reports, and some + exaggerated ones." "There was certainly a disposition to revolt, and some + preparations made, principally by the plantation negroes, to take the + city." "We hoped they would progress so far as to enable us to ascertain + and punish the ringleaders." "Assure my friends that we feel in perfect + security, although the number of nightly guards, and other demonstrations, + may induce a belief among strangers to the contrary." + </p> + <p> + The strangers would have been very blind strangers, if they had not been + more influenced by the actions of the Charleston citizens than by their + words. The original information was given on May 25, 1822. The time + passed, and the plot failed on June 16. A plan for its revival on July 2 + proved abortive. Yet a letter from Charleston, in the Hartford <i>Courant</i> + of Aug. 6, represented the panic as unabated: "Great preparations are + making, and all the military are put in preparation to guard against any + attempt of the same kind again; but we have no apprehension of its being + repeated." On Aug. 10, Gov. Bennett wrote the letter already mentioned, + which was printed and distributed as a circular, its object being to + deprecate undue alarm. "Every individual in the State is interested, + whether in regard to his own property, or the reputation of the State, in + giving no more importance to the transaction than it justly merits." Yet, + five days after this,—two months after the first danger had passed,—a + re-enforcement of United-States troops arrived at Fort Moultrie; and, + during the same month, several different attempts were made by small + parties of armed negroes to capture the mails between Charleston and + Savannah, and a reward of two hundred dollars was offered for their + detection. + </p> + <p> + The first official report of the trials was prepared by the intendant, by + request of the city council. It passed through four editions in a few + months,—the first and fourth being published in Charleston, and the + second and third in Boston. Being, however, but a brief pamphlet, it did + not satisfy the public curiosity; and in October of the same year (1822), + a larger volume appeared at Charleston, edited by the magistrates who + presided at the trials,—Lionel H. Kennedy and Thomas Parker. It + contains the evidence in full, and a separate narrative of the whole + affair, more candid and lucid than any other which I have found in the + newspapers or pamphlets of the day. It exhibits that rarest of all + qualities in a slave-community, a willingness to look facts in the face. + This narrative has been faithfully followed, with the aid of such + cross-lights as could be secured from many other quarters, in preparing + the present history. + </p> + <p> + The editor of the first official report racked his brains to discover the + special causes of the revolt, and never trusted himself to allude to the + general one. The negroes rebelled because they were deluded by + Congressional eloquence; or because they were excited by a church + squabble; or because they had been spoilt by mistaken indulgences, such as + being allowed to learn to read,—"a misguided benevolence," as he + pronounces it. So the Baptist Convention seems to have thought it was + because they were not Baptists; and an Episcopal pamphleteer, because they + were not Episcopalians. It never seems to occur to any of these + spectators, that these people rebelled simply because they were slaves, + and wished to be free. + </p> + <p> + No doubt, there were enough special torches with which a man so skilful as + Denmark Vesey could kindle up these dusky powder-magazines; but, after + all, the permanent peril lay in the powder. So long as that existed, every + thing was incendiary. Any torn scrap in the street might contain a + Missouri-Compromise speech, or a report of the last battle in St. Domingo, + or one of those able letters of Boyer's which were winning the praise of + all, or one of John Randolph's stirring speeches in England against the + slave-trade. The very newspapers which reported the happy extinction of + the insurrection by the hanging of the last conspirator, William Garner, + reported also, with enthusiastic indignation, the massacre of the Greeks + at Constantinople and at Scio; and then the Northern editors, breaking + from their usual reticence, pointed out the inconsistency of Southern + journals in printing, side by side, denunciations of Mohammedan + slave-sales, and advertisements of those of Christians. + </p> + <p> + Of course the insurrection threw the whole slavery question open to the + public. "We are sorry to see," said the <i>National Intelligencer</i> of + Aug. 31, "that a discussion of the hateful Missouri question is likely to + be revived, in consequence of the allusions to its supposed effect in + producing the late servile insurrection in South Carolina." A member of + the Board of Public Works of South Carolina published in the Baltimore <i>American + Farmer</i> an essay urging the encouragement of white laborers, and + hinting at the ultimate abolition of slavery "if it should ever be thought + desirable." More boldly still, a pamphlet appeared in Charleston, under + the signature of "Achates," arguing with remarkable sagacity and force + against the whole system of slave-labor <i>in towns</i>; and proposing + that all slaves in Charleston should be sold or transferred to the + plantations, and their places supplied by white labor. It is interesting + to find many of the facts and arguments of Helper's "Impending Crisis" + anticipated in this courageous tract, written under the pressure of a + crisis which had just been so narrowly evaded. The author is described in + the preface as "a soldier and patriot of the Revolution, whose name, did + we feel ourselves at liberty to use it, would stamp a peculiar weight and + value on his opinions." It was commonly attributed to Gen. Thomas + Pinckney. + </p> + <p> + Another pamphlet of the period, also published in Charleston, recommended + as a practical cure for insurrection the copious administration of + Episcopal-Church services, and the prohibition of negroes from attending + Fourth-of-July celebrations. On this last point it is more consistent than + most pro-slavery arguments. "The celebration of the Fourth of July belongs + <i>exclusively</i> to the white population of the United States. The + American Revolution was <i>a family quarrel among equals</i>. In this the + negroes had no concern; their condition remained, and must remain, + unchanged. They have no more to do with the celebration of that day than + with the landing of the Pilgrims on the rock at Plymouth. It therefore + seems to me improper to allow these people to be present on these + occasions. In our speeches and orations, much, and sometimes more than is + politically necessary, is said about personal liberty, which negro + auditors know not how to apply except by running the parallel with their + own condition. They therefore imbibe false notions of their own personal + rights, and give reality in their minds to what has no real existence. The + peculiar state of our community must be steadily kept in view. This, I am + gratified to learn, will in some measure be promoted by the institution of + the South Carolina Association." + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, more stringent laws became obviously necessary to keep + down the advancing intelligence of the Charleston slaves. Dangerous + knowledge must be excluded from without and from within. For the first + purpose the South Carolina Legislature passed, in December, 1822, the Act + for the imprisonment of Northern colored seamen, which afterwards produced + so much excitement. For the second object, the Grand Jury, about the same + time, presented as a grievance "the number of schools which are kept + within the city by persons of color," and proposed their prohibition. This + was the encouragement given to the intellectual progress of the slaves; + while, as a reward for betraying them, Pensil, the free colored man who + advised with Devany, received a present of one thousand dollars; and + Devany himself had what was rightly judged to be the higher gift of + freedom, and was established in business, with liberal means, as a + drayman. He lived long in Charleston, thriving greatly in his vocation, + and, according to the newspapers, enjoyed the privilege of being the only + man of property in the State whom a special statute exempted from + taxation. + </p> + <p> + More than half a century has passed since the incidents of this true story + closed. It has not vanished from the memories of South Carolinians, though + the printed pages which once told it have gradually disappeared from + sight. The intense avidity which at first grasped at every incident of the + great insurrectionary plot was succeeded by a prolonged distaste for the + memory of the tale; and the official reports which told what slaves had + once planned and dared have now come to be among the rarest of American + historical documents. In 1841, a friend of the writer, then visiting South + Carolina, heard from her hostess, for the first time, the events which are + recounted here. On asking to see the reports of the trials, she was + cautiously told that the only copy in the house, after being carefully + kept for years under lock and key, had been burnt at last, lest it should + reach the dangerous eyes of the slaves. The same thing had happened, it + was added, in many other families. This partially accounts for the great + difficulty now to be found in obtaining a single copy of either + publication; and this is why, to the readers of American history, Denmark + Vesey and Peter Poyas have commonly been but the shadows of names. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NAT TURNER'S INSURRECTION + </h2> + <p> + During the year 1831, up to the 23d of August, the Virginia newspapers + seem to have been absorbed in the momentous problems which then occupied + the minds of intelligent American citizens: What Gen. Jackson should do + with the scolds, and what with the disreputables? should South Carolina be + allowed to nullify? and would the wives of cabinet ministers call on Mrs. + Eaton? It is an unfailing opiate to turn over the drowsy files of the + Richmond <i>Enquirer</i>, until the moment when those dry and dusty pages + are suddenly kindled into flame by the torch of Nat Turner. Then the + terror flared on increasing, until the remotest Southern States were found + shuddering at nightly rumors of insurrection; until far-off European + colonies—Antigua, Martinique, Caraccas, Tortola—recognized by + some secret sympathy the same epidemic alarms; until the very boldest + words of freedom were reported as uttered in the Virginia House of + Delegates with unclosed doors; until an obscure young man named Garrison + was indicted at common law in North Carolina, and had a price set upon his + head by the Legislature of Georgia. + </p> + <p> + Near the south-eastern border of Virginia, in Southampton County, there is + a neighborhood known as "The Cross Keys." It lies fifteen miles from + Jerusalem, the county-town, or "court-house," seventy miles from Norfolk, + and about as far from Richmond. It is some ten or fifteen miles from + Murfreesborough in North Carolina, and about twenty-five from the Great + Dismal Swamp. Up to Sunday, the 21st of August, 1831, there was nothing to + distinguish it from any other rural, lethargic, slipshod Virginia + neighborhood, with the due allotment of mansion-houses and log huts, + tobacco-fields and "old-fields," horses, dogs, negroes, "poor white + folks," so called, and other white folks, poor without being called so. + One of these last was Joseph Travis, who had recently married the widow of + one Putnam Moore, and had unfortunately wedded to himself her negroes + also. + </p> + <p> + In the woods on the plantation of Joseph Travis, upon the Sunday just + named, six slaves met at noon for what is called in the Northern States a + picnic, and in the Southern a barbecue. The bill of fare was to be simple: + one brought a pig, and another some brandy, giving to the meeting an + aspect so cheaply convivial that no one would have imagined it to be the + final consummation of a conspiracy which had been for six months in + preparation. In this plot four of the men had been already initiated—Henry, + Hark or Hercules, Nelson, and Sam. Two others were novices, Will and Jack + by name. The party had remained together from twelve to three o'clock, + when a seventh man joined them,—a short, stout, powerfully built + person, of dark mulatto complexion, and strongly marked African features, + but with a face full of expression and resolution. This was Nat Turner. + </p> + <p> + He was at this time nearly thirty-one years old, having been born on the + 2d of October, 1800. He had belonged originally to Benjamin Turner,—from + whom he took his last name, slaves having usually no patronymic;—had + then been transferred to Putnam Moore, and then to his present owner. He + had, by his own account, felt himself singled out from childhood for some + great work; and he had some peculiar marks on his person, which, joined to + his mental precocity, were enough to occasion, among his youthful + companions, a superstitious faith in his gifts and destiny. He had some + mechanical ingenuity also; experimentalized very early in making paper, + gunpowder, pottery, and in other arts, which, in later life, he was found + thoroughly to understand. His moral faculties appeared strong, so that + white witnesses admitted that he had never been known to swear an oath, to + drink a drop of spirits, or to commit a theft. And, in general, so marked + were his early peculiarities that people said "he had too much sense to be + raised; and, if he was, he would never be of any use as a slave." This + impression of personal destiny grew with his growth: he fasted, prayed, + preached, read the Bible, heard voices when he walked behind his plough, + and communicated his revelations to the awe-struck slaves. They told him, + in return, that, "if they had his sense, they would not serve any master + in the world." + </p> + <p> + The biographies of slaves can hardly be individualized; they belong to the + class. We know bare facts; it is only the general experience of human + beings in like condition which can clothe them with life. The outlines are + certain, the details are inferential. Thus, for instance, we know that Nat + Turner's young wife was a slave; we know that she belonged to a different + master from himself; we know little more than this, but this is much. For + this is equivalent to saying, that, by day or by night, her husband had no + more power to protect her than the man who lies bound upon a plundered + vessel's deck has power to protect his wife on board the pirate schooner + disappearing in the horizon. She may be well treated, she may be outraged; + it is in the powerlessness that the agony lies. There is, indeed, one + thing more which we do know of this young woman: the Virginia newspapers + state that she was tortured under the lash, after her husband's execution, + to make her produce his papers: this is all. + </p> + <p> + What his private experiences and special privileges or wrongs may have + been, it is therefore now impossible to say. Travis was declared to be + "more humane and fatherly to his slaves than any man in the county;" but + it is astonishing how often this phenomenon occurs in the contemporary + annals of slave insurrections. The chairman of the county court also + stated, in pronouncing sentence, that Nat Turner had spoken of his master + as "only too indulgent;" but this, for some reason, does not appear in his + printed Confession, which only says, "He was a kind master, and placed the + greatest confidence in me." It is very possible that it may have been so, + but the printed accounts of Nat Turner's person look suspicious: he is + described in Gov. Floyd's proclamation as having a scar on one of his + temples, also one on the back of his neck, and a large knot on one of the + bones of his right arm, produced by a blow; and although these were + explained away in Virginia newspapers as having been produced by fights + with his companions, yet such affrays are entirely foreign to the admitted + habits of the man. It must therefore remain an open question, whether the + scars and the knot were produced by black hands or by white. + </p> + <p> + Whatever Nat Turner's experiences of slavery might have been, it is + certain that his plans were not suddenly adopted, but that he had brooded + over them for years. To this day there are traditions among the Virginia + slaves of the keen devices of "Prophet Nat." If he was caught with lime + and lampblack in hand, conning over a half-finished county-map on the + barn-door, he was always "planning what to do if he were blind"; or, + "studying how to get to Mr. Francis's house." When he had called a meeting + of slaves, and some poor whites came eavesdropping, the poor whites at + once became the subjects for discussion: he incidentally mentioned that + the masters had been heard threatening to drive them away; one slave had + been ordered to shoot Mr. Jones's pigs, another to tear down Mr. Johnson's + fences. The poor whites, Johnson and Jones, ran home to see to their + homesteads, and were better friends than ever to Prophet Nat. + </p> + <p> + He never was a Baptist preacher, though such vocation has often been + attributed to him. The impression arose from his having immersed himself, + during one of his periods of special enthusiasm, together with a poor + white man named Brantley. "About this time," he says in his Confession, "I + told these things to a white man, on whom it had a wonderful effect; and + he ceased from his wickedness, and was attacked immediately with a + cutaneous eruption, and the blood oozed from the pores of his skin, and + after praying and fasting nine days he was healed. And the Spirit appeared + to me again, and said, as the Saviour had been baptized, so should we be + also; and when the white people would not let us be baptized by the + church, we went down into the water together, in the sight of many who + reviled us, and were baptized by the Spirit. After this I rejoiced + greatly, and gave thanks to God." + </p> + <p> + The religious hallucinations narrated in his Confession seem to have been + as genuine as the average of such things, and are very well expressed. The + account reads quite like Jacob Behmen. He saw white spirits and black + spirits contending in the skies; the sun was darkened, the thunder rolled. + "And the Holy Ghost was with me, and said, 'Behold me as I stand in the + heavens!' And I looked, and saw the forms of men in different attitudes. + And there were lights in the sky, to which the children of darkness gave + other names than what they really were; for they were the lights of the + Saviour's hands, stretched forth from east to west, even as they were + extended on the cross on Calvary, for the redemption of sinners." He saw + drops of blood on the corn: this was Christ's blood, shed for man. He saw + on the leaves in the woods letters and numbers and figures of men,—the + same symbols which he had seen in the skies. On May 12, 1828, the Holy + Spirit appeared to him, and proclaimed that the yoke of Jesus must fall on + him, and he must fight against the serpent when the sign appeared. Then + came an eclipse of the sun in February, 1831: this was the sign; then he + must arise and prepare himself, and slay his enemies with their own + weapons; then also the seal was removed from his lips, and then he + confided his plans to four associates. + </p> + <p> + When he came, therefore, to the barbecue on the appointed Sunday, and + found not these four only, but two others, his first question to the + intruders was, how they came thither. To this Will answered manfully, that + his life was worth no more than the others, and "his liberty was as dear + to him." This admitted him to confidence; and as Jack was known to be + entirely under Hark's influence, the strangers were no bar to their + discussion. Eleven hours they remained there, in anxious consultation: one + can imagine those dusky faces, beneath the funereal woods, and amid the + flickering of pine-knot torches, preparing that stern revenge whose + shuddering echoes should ring through the land so long. Two things were at + last decided: to begin their work that night; and to begin it with a + massacre so swift and irresistible as to create in a few days more terror + than many battles, and so spare the need of future bloodshed. "It was + agreed that we should commence at home on that night, and, until we had + armed and equipped ourselves and gained sufficient force, neither age nor + sex was to be spared: which was invariably adhered to." + </p> + <p> + John Brown invaded Virginia with nineteen men, and with the avowed + resolution to take no life but in self-defence. Nat Turner attacked + Virginia from within, with six men, and with the determination to spare no + life until his power was established. John Brown intended to pass rapidly + through Virginia, and then retreat to the mountains. Nat Turner intended + to "conquer Southampton County as the white men did in the Revolution, and + then retreat, if necessary, to the Dismal Swamp." Each plan was + deliberately matured; each was in its way practicable; but each was + defeated by a single false step, as will soon appear. + </p> + <p> + We must pass over the details of horror, as they occurred during the next + twenty-four hours. Swift and stealthy as Indians, the black men passed + from house to house,—not pausing, not hesitating, as their terrible + work went on. In one thing they were humaner than Indians, or than white + men fighting against Indians: there was no gratuitous outrage beyond the + death-blow itself, no insult, no mutilation; but in every house they + entered, that blow fell on man, woman, and child,—nothing that had a + white skin was spared. From every house they took arms and ammunition, and + from a few money. On every plantation they found recruits: those dusky + slaves, so obsequious to their master the day before, so prompt to sing + and dance before his Northern visitors, were all swift to transform + themselves into fiends of retribution now; show them sword or musket, and + they grasped it, though it were an heirloom from Washington himself. The + troop increased from house to house,—first to fifteen, then to + forty, then to sixty. Some were armed with muskets, some with axes, some + with scythes, some came on their masters' horses. As the numbers + increased, they could be divided, and the awful work was carried on more + rapidly still. The plan then was for an advanced guard of horsemen to + approach each house at a gallop, and surround it till the others came up. + Meanwhile, what agonies of terror must have taken place within, shared + alike by innocent and by guilty! what memories of wrongs inflicted on + those dusky creatures, by some,—what innocent participation, by + others, in the penance! The outbreak lasted for but forty-eight hours; + but, during that period, fifty-five whites were slain, without the loss of + a single slave. + </p> + <p> + One fear was needless, which to many a husband and father must have + intensified the last struggle. These negroes had been systematically + brutalized from childhood; they had been allowed no legalized or permanent + marriage; they had beheld around them an habitual licentiousness, such as + can scarcely exist except under slavery; some of them had seen their wives + and sisters habitually polluted by the husbands and the brothers of these + fair white women who were now absolutely in their power. Yet I have looked + through the Virginia newspapers of that time in vain for one charge of an + indecent outrage on a woman against these triumphant and terrible slaves. + Wherever they went, there went death, and that was all. It is reported by + some of the contemporary newspapers, that a portion of this abstinence was + the result of deliberate consultation among the insurrectionists; that + some of them were resolved on taking the white women for wives, but were + overruled by Nat Turner. If so, he is the only American slave-leader of + whom we know certainly that he rose above the ordinary level of slave + vengeance; and Mrs. Stowe's picture of Dred's purposes is then precisely + typical of his: "Whom the Lord saith unto us, 'Smite,' them will we smite. + We will not torment them with the scourge and fire, nor defile their women + as they have done with ours. But we will slay them utterly, and consume + them from off the face of the earth." + </p> + <p> + When the number of adherents had increased to fifty or sixty, Nat Turner + judged it time to strike at the county-seat, Jerusalem. Thither a few + white fugitives had already fled, and couriers might thence be despatched + for aid to Richmond and Petersburg, unless promptly intercepted. Besides, + he could there find arms, ammunition, and money; though they had already + obtained, it is dubiously reported, from eight hundred to one thousand + dollars. On the way it was necessary to pass the plantation of Mr. Parker, + three miles from Jerusalem. Some of the men wished to stop here and enlist + some of their friends. Nat Turner objected, as the delay might prove + dangerous; he yielded at last, and it proved fatal. + </p> + <p> + He remained at the gate with six or eight men; thirty or forty went to the + house, half a mile distant. They remained too long, and he went alone to + hasten them. During his absence a party of eighteen white men came up + suddenly, dispersing the small guard left at the gate; and when the main + body of slaves emerged from the house, they encountered, for the first + time, their armed masters. The blacks halted; the whites advanced + cautiously within a hundred yards, and fired a volley; on its being + returned, they broke into disorder, and hurriedly retreated, leaving some + wounded on the ground. The retreating whites were pursued, and were saved + only by falling in with another band of fresh men from Jerusalem, with + whose aid they turned upon the slaves, who in their turn fell into + confusion. Turner, Hark, and about twenty men on horseback retreated in + some order; the rest were scattered. The leader still planned to reach + Jerusalem by a private way, thus evading pursuit; but at last decided to + stop for the night, in the hope of enlisting additional recruits. + </p> + <p> + During the night the number increased again to forty, and they encamped on + Major Ridley's plantation. An alarm took place during the darkness,—whether + real or imaginary, does not appear,—and the men became scattered + again. Proceeding to make fresh enlistments with the daylight, they were + resisted at Dr. Blunt's house, where his slaves, under his orders, fired + upon them; and this, with a later attack from a party of white men near + Capt. Harris's, so broke up the whole force that they never re-united. The + few who remained together agreed to separate for a few hours to see if any + thing could be done to revive the insurrection, and meet again that + evening at their original rendezvous. But they never reached it. + </p> + <p> + Gloomily came Nat Turner at nightfall into those gloomy woods where + forty-eight hours before he had revealed the details of his terrible plot + to his companions. At the outset all his plans had succeeded; every thing + was as he predicted: the slaves had come readily at his call; the masters + had proved perfectly defenceless. Had he not been persuaded to pause at + Parker's plantation, he would have been master before now of the arms and + ammunition at Jerusalem; and with these to aid, and the Dismal Swamp for a + refuge, he might have sustained himself indefinitely against his pursuers. + </p> + <p> + Now the blood was shed, the risk was incurred, his friends were killed or + captured, and all for what? Lasting memories of terror, to be sure, for + his oppressors; but, on the other hand, hopeless failure for the + insurrection, and certain death for him. What a watch he must have kept + that night! To that excited imagination, which had always seen spirits in + the sky and blood-drops on the corn and hieroglyphic marks on the dry + leaves, how full the lonely forest must have been of signs and solemn + warnings! Alone with the fox's bark, the rabbit's rustle, and the + screech-owl's scream, the self-appointed prophet brooded over his despair. + Once creeping to the edge of the wood, he saw men stealthily approach on + horseback. He fancied them some of his companions; but before he dared to + whisper their ominous names, "Hark" or "Dred,"—for the latter was + the name, since famous, of one of his more recent recruits,—he saw + them to be white men, and shrank back stealthily beneath his covert. + </p> + <p> + There he waited two days and two nights,—long enough to satisfy + himself that no one would rejoin him, and that the insurrection had + hopelessly failed. The determined, desperate spirits who had shared his + plans were scattered forever, and longer delay would be destruction for + him also. He found a spot which he judged safe, dug a hole under a pile of + fence-rails in a field, and lay there for six weeks, only leaving it for a + few moments at midnight to obtain water from a neighboring spring. Food he + had previously provided, without discovery, from a house near by. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile an unbounded variety of rumors went flying through the State. + The express which first reached the governor announced that the militia + were retreating before the slaves. An express to Petersburg further fixed + the number of militia at three hundred, and of blacks at eight hundred, + and invented a convenient shower of rain to explain the dampened ardor of + the whites. Later reports described the slaves as making three desperate + attempts to cross the bridge over the Nottoway between Cross Keys and + Jerusalem, and stated that the leader had been shot in the attempt. Other + accounts put the number of negroes at three hundred, all well mounted and + armed, with two or three white men as leaders. Their intention was + supposed to be to reach the Dismal Swamp, and they must be hemmed in from + that side. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, the most formidable weapon in the hands of slave insurgents is + always this blind panic they create, and the wild exaggerations which + follow. The worst being possible, every one takes the worst for granted. + Undoubtedly a dozen armed men could have stifled this insurrection, even + after it had commenced operations; but it is the fatal weakness of a rural + slaveholding community, that it can never furnish men promptly for such a + purpose. "My first intention was," says one of the most intelligent + newspaper narrators of the affair, "to have attacked them with thirty or + forty men; but those who had families here were strongly opposed to it." + </p> + <p> + As usual, each man was pinioned to his own hearth-stone. As usual, aid had + to be summoned from a distance; and, as usual, the United-States troops + were the chief reliance. Col. House, commanding at Fort Monroe, sent at + once three companies of artillery under Lieut.-Col. Worth, and embarked + them on board the steamer "Hampton" for Suffolk. These were joined by + detachments from the United States ships "Warren" and "Natchez," the whole + amounting to nearly eight hundred men. Two volunteer companies went from + Richmond, four from Petersburg, one from Norfolk, one from Portsmouth, and + several from North Carolina. The militia of Norfolk, Nansemond, and + Princess Anne Counties, and the United States troops at Old Point Comfort, + were ordered to scour the Dismal Swamp, where it was believed that two or + three thousand fugitives were preparing to join the insurgents. It was + even proposed to send two companies from New York and one from New London + to the same point. + </p> + <p> + When these various forces reached Southampton County, they found all labor + paralyzed and whole plantations abandoned. A letter from Jerusalem, dated + Aug. 24, says, "The oldest inhabitant of our county has never experienced + such a distressing time as we have had since Sunday night last.... Every + house, room, and corner in this place is full of women and children, + driven from home, who had to take the woods until they could get to this + place." "For many miles around their track," says another "the county is + deserted by women and children." Still another writes, "Jerusalem is full + of women, most of them from the other side of the river,—about two + hundred at Vix's." Then follow descriptions of the sufferings of these + persons, many of whom had lain night after night in the woods. But the + immediate danger was at an end, the short-lived insurrection was finished, + and now the work of vengeance was to begin. In the frank phrase of a North + Carolina correspondent, "The massacre of the whites was over, and the + white people had commenced the destruction of the negroes, which was + continued after our men got there, from time to time, as they could fall + in with them, all day yesterday." A postscript adds, that "passengers by + the Fayetteville stage say, that, by the latest accounts, one hundred and + twenty negroes had been killed,"—this being little more than one + day's work. + </p> + <p> + These murders were defended as Nat Turner defended his: a fearful blow + must be struck. In shuddering at the horrors of the insurrection, we have + forgotten the far greater horrors of its suppression. + </p> + <p> + The newspapers of the day contain many indignant protests against the + cruelties which took place. "It is with pain," says a correspondent of the + <i>National Intelligencer</i>, Sept. 7, 1831, "that we speak of another + feature of the Southampton Rebellion; for we have been most unwilling to + have our sympathies for the sufferers diminished or affected by their + misconduct. We allude to the slaughter of many blacks without trial and + under circumstances of great barbarity.... We met with an individual of + intelligence who told us that he himself had killed between ten and + fifteen.... We [the Richmond troop] witnessed with surprise the sanguinary + temper of the population, who evinced a strong disposition to inflict + immediate death on every prisoner." + </p> + <p> + There is a remarkable official document from Gen. Eppes, the officer in + command, to be found in the Richmond <i>Enquirer</i> for Sept. 6, 1831. It + is an indignant denunciation of precisely these outrages; and though he + refuses to give details, he supplies their place by epithets: "revolting,"—"inhuman + and not to be justified,"—"acts of barbarity and cruelty,"—"acts + of atrocity,"—"this course of proceeding dignifies the rebel and the + assassin with the sanctity of martyrdom." And he ends by threatening + martial law upon all future transgressors. Such general orders are not + issued except in rather extreme cases. And in the parallel columns of the + newspaper the innocent editor prints equally indignant descriptions of + Russian atrocities in Lithuania, where the Poles were engaged in active + insurrection, amid profuse sympathy from Virginia. + </p> + <p> + The truth is, it was a Reign of Terror. Volunteer patrols rode in all + directions, visiting plantations. "It was with the greatest difficulty," + said Gen. Brodnax before the House of Delegates, "and at the hazard of + personal popularity and esteem, that the coolest and most judicious among + us could exert an influence sufficient to restrain an indiscriminate + slaughter of the blacks who were suspected." A letter from the Rev. G. W. + Powell declares, "There are thousands of troops searching in every + direction, and many negroes are killed every day: the exact number will + never be ascertained." Petition after petition was subsequently presented + to the Legislature, asking compensation for slaves thus assassinated + without trial. + </p> + <p> + Men were tortured to death, burned, maimed, and subjected to nameless + atrocities. The overseers were called on to point out any slaves whom they + distrusted, and if any tried to escape they were shot down. Nay, worse + than this. "A party of horsemen started from Richmond with the intention + of killing every colored person they saw in Southampton County. They + stopped opposite the cabin of a free colored man, who was hoeing in his + little field. They called out, 'Is this Southampton County?' He replied, + 'Yes, sir, you have just crossed the line, by yonder tree.' They shot him + dead, and rode on." This is from the narrative of the editor of the + Richmond <i>Whig</i>, who was then on duty in the militia, and protested + manfully against these outrages. "Some of these scenes," he adds, "are + hardly inferior in barbarity to the atrocities of the insurgents." + </p> + <p> + These were the masters' stories. If even these conceded so much, it would + be interesting to hear what the slaves had to report. I am indebted to my + honored friend, Lydia Maria Child, for some vivid recollections of this + terrible period, as noted down from the lips of an old colored woman, once + well known in New York, Charity Bowery. "At the time of the old Prophet + Nat," she said, "the colored folks was afraid to pray loud; for the whites + threatened to punish 'em dreadfully, if the least noise was heard. The + patrols was low drunken whites; and in Nat's time, if they heard any of + the colored folks praying, or singing a hymn, they would fall upon 'em and + abuse 'em, and sometimes kill 'em, afore master or missis could get to + 'em. The brightest and best was killed in Nat's time. The whites always + suspect such ones. They killed a great many at a place called Duplon. They + killed Antonio, a slave of Mr. J. Stanley, whom they shot; then they + pointed their guns at him, and told him to confess about the insurrection. + He told 'em he didn't know any thing about any insurrection. They shot + several balls through him, quartered him, and put his head on a pole at + the fork of the road leading to the court." (This is no exaggeration, if + the Virginia newspapers may be taken as evidence.) "It was there but a + short time. He had no trial. They never do. In Nat's time, the patrols + would tie up the free colored people, flog 'em, and try to make 'em lie + against one another, and often killed them before anybody could interfere. + Mr. James Cole, high sheriff, said, if any of the patrols came on his + plantation, he would lose his life in defence of his people. One day he + heard a patroller boasting how many niggers he had killed. Mr. Cole said, + 'If you don't pack up, as quick as God Almighty will let you, and get out + of this town, and never be seen in it again, I'll put you where dogs won't + bark at you.' He went off, and wasn't seen in them parts again." + </p> + <p> + These outrages were not limited to the colored population; but other + instances occurred which strikingly remind one of more recent times. An + Englishman, named Robinson, was engaged in selling books at Petersburg. An + alarm being given, one night, that five hundred blacks were marching + towards the town, he stood guard, with others, on the bridge. After the + panic had a little subsided, he happened to remark, that "the blacks, as + men, were entitled to their freedom, and ought to be emancipated." This + led to great excitement, and he was warned to leave town. He took passage + in the stage, but the stage was intercepted. He then fled to a friend's + house; the house was broken open, and he was dragged forth. The civil + authorities, being applied to, refused to interfere. The mob stripped him, + gave him a great number of lashes, and sent him on foot, naked, under a + hot sun, to Richmond, whence he with difficulty found a passage to New + York. + </p> + <p> + Of the capture or escape of most of that small band who met with Nat + Turner in the woods upon the Travis plantation, little can now be known. + All appear among the list of convicted, except Henry and Will. Gen. Moore, + who occasionally figures as second in command, in the newspaper narratives + of that day, was probably the Hark or Hercules before mentioned; as no + other of the confederates had belonged to Mrs. Travis, or would have been + likely to bear her previous name of Moore. As usual, the newspapers state + that most, if not all the slaves, were "the property of kind and indulgent + masters." + </p> + <p> + The subordinate insurgents sought safety as they could. A free colored + man, named Will Artist, shot himself in the woods, where his hat was found + on a stake and his pistol lying by him; another was found drowned; others + were traced to the Dismal Swamp; others returned to their homes, and tried + to conceal their share in the insurrection, assuring their masters that + they had been forced, against their will, to join,—the usual defence + in such cases. The number shot down at random must, by all accounts, have + amounted to many hundreds, but it is past all human registration now. The + number who had a formal trial, such as it was, is officially stated at + fifty-five; of these, seventeen were convicted and hanged, twelve + convicted and transported, twenty acquitted, and four free colored men + sent on for further trial and finally acquitted. "Not one of those known + to be concerned escaped." Of those executed, one only was a woman, "Lucy, + slave of John T. Barrow." + </p> + <p> + There is one touching story, in connection with these terrible + retaliations, which rests on good authority, that of the Rev. M. B. Cox, a + Liberian missionary, then in Virginia. In the hunt which followed the + massacre, a slaveholder went into the woods, accompanied by a faithful + slave, who had been the means of saving his life during the insurrection. + When they had reached a retired place in the forest, the man handed his + gun to his master, informing him that he could not live a slave any + longer, and requesting him either to free him or shoot him on the spot. + The master took the gun, in some trepidation, levelled it at the faithful + negro, and shot him through the heart. It is probable that this + slaveholder was a Dr. Blunt,—his being the only plantation where the + slaves were reported as thus defending their masters. "If this be true," + said the Richmond <i>Enquirer</i>, when it first narrated this instance of + loyalty, "great will be the desert of these noble-minded Africans." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the panic of the whites continued; for, though all others might + be disposed of, Nat Turner was still at large. We have positive evidence + of the extent of the alarm, although great efforts were afterwards made to + represent it as a trifling affair. A distinguished citizen of Virginia + wrote, three months later, to the Hon. W. B. Seabrook of South Carolina, + "From all that has come to my knowledge during and since that affair, I am + convinced most fully that every black preacher in the country east of the + Blue Ridge was in the secret." "There is much reason to believe," says the + Governor's Message on Dec. 6, "that the spirit of insurrection was not + confined to Southampton. Many convictions have taken place elsewhere, and + some few in distant counties." The withdrawal of the United States troops, + after some ten days' service, was a signal for fresh excitement; and an + address, numerously signed, was presented to the United States Government, + imploring their continued stay. More than three weeks after the first + alarm, the governor sent a supply of arms into Prince William, Fauquier, + and Orange Counties. "From examinations which have taken place in other + counties," says one of the best newspaper historians of the affair (in the + Richmond <i>Enquirer</i> of Sept. 6), "I fear that the scheme embraced a + wider sphere than I at first supposed." Nat Turner himself, intentionally + or otherwise, increased the confusion by denying all knowledge of the + North Carolina outbreak, and declaring that he had communicated his plans + to his four confederates within six months; while, on the other hand, a + slave-girl, sixteen or seventeen years old, belonging to Solomon Parker, + testified that she had heard the subject discussed for eighteen months, + and that at a meeting held during the previous May some eight or ten had + joined the plot. + </p> + <p> + It is astonishing to discover, by laborious comparison of newspaper files, + how vast was the immediate range of these insurrectionary alarms. Every + Southern State seems to have borne its harvest of terror. On the eastern + shore of Maryland, great alarm was at once manifested, especially in the + neighborhood of Easton and Snowhill; and the houses of colored men were + searched for arms even in Baltimore. In Delaware, there were similar + rumors through Sussex and Dover Counties; there were arrests and + executions; and in Somerset County great public meetings were held, to + demand additional safeguards. On election-day in Seaford, Del., some young + men, going out to hunt rabbits, discharged their guns in sport; the men + being absent, all the women in the vicinity took to flight; the alarm + spread like the "Ipswich Fright"; soon Seaford was thronged with armed + men; and when the boys returned from hunting, they found cannon drawn out + to receive them. + </p> + <p> + In North Carolina, Raleigh and Fayetteville were put under military + defence, and women and children concealed themselves in the swamps for + many days. The rebel organization was supposed to include two thousand. + Forty-six slaves were imprisoned in Union County, twenty-five in Sampson + County, and twenty-three at least in Duplin County, some of whom were + executed. The panic also extended into Wayne, New Hanover, and Lenoir + Counties. Four men were shot without trial in Wilmington,—Nimrod, + Abraham, Prince, and "Dan the Drayman," the latter a man of seventy,—and + their heads placed on poles at the four corners of the town. Nearly two + months afterwards the trials were still continuing; and at a still later + day, the governor in his proclamation recommended the formation of + companies of volunteers in every county. + </p> + <p> + In South Carolina, Gen. Hayne issued a proclamation "to prove the + groundlessness of the existing alarms,"—thus implying that serious + alarms existed. In Macon, Ga., the whole population were roused from their + beds at midnight by a report of a large force of armed negroes five miles + off. In an hour, every woman and child was deposited in the largest + building of the town, and a military force hastily collected in front. The + editor of the Macon <i>Messenger</i> excused the poor condition of his + paper, a few days afterwards, by the absorption of his workmen in patrol + duties and describes "dismay and terror" as the condition of the people of + "all ages and sexes." In Jones, Twiggs, and Monroe Counties, the same + alarms were reported; and in one place "several slaves were tied to a + tree, while a militia captain hacked at them with his sword." + </p> + <p> + In Alabama, at Columbus and Fort Mitchell, a rumor was spread of a joint + conspiracy of Indians and negroes. At Claiborne the panic was still + greater: the slaves were said to be thoroughly organized through that part + of the State, and multitudes were imprisoned; the whole alarm being + apparently founded on one stray copy of the Boston <i>Liberator</i>. + </p> + <p> + In Tennessee, the Shelbyville <i>Freeman</i> announced that an + insurrectionary plot had just been discovered, barely in time for its + defeat, through the treachery of a female slave. In Louisville, Ky., a + similar organization was discovered or imagined, and arrests were made in + consequence. "The papers, from motives of policy, do not notice the + disturbance," wrote one correspondent to the Portland <i>Courier</i>. + "Pity us!" he added. + </p> + <p> + But the greatest bubble burst in Louisiana. Capt. Alexander, an English + tourist, arriving in New Orleans at the beginning of September, found the + whole city in tumult. Handbills had been issued, appealing to the slaves + to rise against their masters, saying that all men were born equal, + declaring that Hannibal was a black man, and that they also might have + great leaders among them. Twelve hundred stand of weapons were said to + have been found in a black man's house; five hundred citizens were under + arms, and four companies of regulars were ordered to the city, whose + barracks Alexander himself visited. + </p> + <p> + If such was the alarm in New Orleans, the story, of course, lost nothing + by transmission to other slave States. A rumor reached Frankfort, Ky., + that the slaves already had possession of the coast, both above and below + New Orleans. But the most remarkable circumstance is, that all this seems + to have been a mere revival of an old terror once before excited and + exploded. The following paragraph had appeared in the Jacksonville, Ga., + <i>Observer</i>, during the spring previous:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "FEARFUL DISCOVERY.—We were favored, by yesterday's mail, with a + letter from New Orleans, of May 1, in which we find that an + important discovery had been made a few days previous in that + city. The following is an extract: 'Four days ago, as some + planters were digging under ground, they found a square room + containing eleven thousand stand of arms and fifteen thousand + cartridges, each of the cartridges containing a bullet.' It is + said the negroes intended to rise as soon as the sickly season + began, and obtain possession of the city by massacring the white + population. The same letter states that the mayor had prohibited + the opening of Sunday schools for the instruction of blacks, + under a penalty of five hundred dollars for the first offence, + and, for the second, death." +</pre> + <p> + Such were the terrors that came back from nine other slave States, as the + echo of the voice of Nat Turner. And when it is also known that the + subject was at once taken up by the legislatures of other States, where + there was no public panic, as in Missouri and Tennessee; and when, + finally, it is added that reports of insurrection had been arriving all + that year from Rio Janeiro, Martinique, St. Jago, Antigua, Caraccas, and + Tortola,—it is easy to see with what prolonged distress the + accumulated terror must have weighed down upon Virginia during the two + months that Nat Turner lay hid. + </p> + <p> + True, there were a thousand men in arms in Southampton County, to inspire + security. But the blow had been struck by only seven men before; and + unless there were an armed guard in every house, who could tell but any + house might at any moment be the scene of new horrors? They might kill or + imprison negroes by day, but could they resist their avengers by night? + "The half cannot be told," wrote a lady from another part of Virginia, at + this time, "of the distresses of the people. In Southampton County, the + scene of the insurrection, the distress beggars description. A gentleman + who has been there says that even here, where there has been great alarm, + we have no idea of the situation of those in that county.... I do not + hesitate to believe that many negroes around us would join in a massacre + as horrible as that which has taken place, if an opportunity should + offer." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the cause of all this terror was made the object of desperate + search. On Sept. 17 the governor offered a reward of five hundred dollars + for his capture; and there were other rewards, swelling the amount to + eleven hundred dollars,—but in vain. No one could track or trap him. + On Sept. 30 a minute account of his capture appeared in the newspapers, + but it was wholly false. On Oct. 7 there was another, and on Oct. 18 + another; yet all without foundation. Worn out by confinement in his little + cave, Nat Turner grew more adventurous, and began to move about stealthily + by night, afraid to speak to any human being, but hoping to obtain some + information that might aid his escape. Returning regularly to his retreat + before daybreak, he might possibly have continued this mode of life until + pursuit had ceased, had not a dog succeeded where men had failed. The + creature accidentally smelt out the provisions hid in the cave, and + finally led thither his masters, two negroes, one of whom was named + Nelson. On discovering the formidable fugitive, they fled precipitately, + when he hastened to retreat in an opposite direction. This was on Oct. 15; + and from this moment the neighborhood was all alive with excitement, and + five or six hundred men undertook the pursuit. + </p> + <p> + It shows a more than Indian adroitness in Nat Turner to have escaped + capture any longer. The cave, the arms, the provisions, were found; and, + lying among them, the notched stick of this miserable Robinson Crusoe, + marked with five weary weeks and six days. But the man was gone. For ten + days more he concealed himself among the wheat-stacks on Mr. Francis's + plantation, and during this time was reduced almost to despair. Once he + decided to surrender himself, and walked by night within two miles of + Jerusalem before his purpose failed him. Three times he tried to get out + of that neighborhood, but in vain: travelling by day was of course out of + the question, and by night he found it impossible to elude the patrol. + Again and again, therefore, he returned to his hiding-place; and, during + his whole two months' liberty, never went five miles from the Cross Keys. + On the 25th of October, he was at last discovered by Mr. Francis as he was + emerging from a stack. A load of buckshot was instantly discharged at him, + twelve of which passed through his hat as he fell to the ground. He + escaped even then; but his pursuers were rapidly concentrating upon him, + and it is perfectly astonishing that he could have eluded them for five + days more. + </p> + <p> + On Sunday, Oct. 30, a man named Benjamin Phipps, going out for the first + time on patrol duty, was passing at noon a clearing in the woods where a + number of pine-trees had long since been felled. There was a motion among + their boughs; he stopped to watch it; and through a gap in the branches he + saw, emerging from a hole in the earth beneath, the face of Nat Turner. + Aiming his gun instantly, Phipps called on him to surrender. The fugitive, + exhausted with watching and privation, entangled in the branches, armed + only with a sword, had nothing to do but to yield,—sagaciously + reflecting, also, as he afterwards explained, that the woods were full of + armed men, and that he had better trust fortune for some later chance of + escape, instead of desperately attempting it then. He was correct in the + first impression, since there were fifty armed scouts within a circuit of + two miles. His insurrection ended where it began; for this spot was only a + mile and a half from the house of Joseph Travis. + </p> + <p> + Tom, emaciated, ragged, "a mere scarecrow," still wearing the hat + perforated with buckshot, with his arms bound to his sides, he was driven + before the levelled gun to the nearest house, that of a Mr. Edwards. He + was confined there that night; but the news had spread so rapidly that + within an hour after his arrival a hundred persons had collected, and the + excitement became so intense "that it was with difficulty he could be + conveyed alive to Jerusalem." The enthusiasm spread instantly through + Virginia; M. Trezvant, the Jerusalem postmaster, sent notices of it far + and near; and Gov. Floyd himself wrote a letter to the Richmond <i>Enquirer</i> + to give official announcement of the momentous capture. + </p> + <p> + When Nat Turner was asked by Mr. T. R. Gray, the counsel assigned him, + whether, although defeated, he still believed in his own Providential + mission, he answered, as simply as one who came thirty years after him, + "Was not Christ crucified?" In the same spirit, when arraigned before the + court, "he answered, 'Not guilty,' saying to his counsel that he did not + feel so." But apparently no argument was made in his favor by his counsel, + nor were any witnesses called,—he being convicted on the testimony + of Levi Waller, and upon his own confession, which was put in by Mr. Gray, + and acknowledged by the prisoner before the six justices composing the + court, as being "full, free, and voluntary." He was therefore placed in + the paradoxical position of conviction by his own confession, under a plea + of "Not guilty." The arrest took place on the 30th of October, 1831, the + confession on the 1st of November, the trial and conviction on the 5th, + and the execution on the following Friday, the 11th of November, precisely + at noon. He met his death with perfect composure, declined addressing the + multitude assembled, and told the sheriff in a firm voice that he was + ready. Another account says that he "betrayed no emotion, and even hurried + the executioner in the performance of his duty." "Not a limb nor a muscle + was observed to move. His body, after his death, was given over to the + surgeons for dissection." + </p> + <p> + The confession of the captive was published under authority of Mr. Gray, + in a pamphlet, at Baltimore. Fifty thousand copies of it are said to have + been printed; and it was "embellished with an accurate likeness of the + brigand, taken by Mr. John Crawley, portrait-painter, and lithographed by + Endicott & Swett, at Baltimore." The newly established <i>Liberator</i> + said of it, at the time, that it would "only serve to rouse up other + leaders, and hasten other insurrections," and advised grand juries to + indict Mr. Gray. I have never seen a copy of the original pamphlet; it is + not easily to be found in any of our public libraries; and I have heard of + but one as still existing, although the Confession itself has been + repeatedly reprinted. Another small pamphlet, containing the main features + of the outbreak, was published at New York during the same year, and this + is in my possession. But the greater part of the facts which I have given + were gleaned from the contemporary newspapers. + </p> + <p> + Who now shall go back thirty years, and read the heart of this + extraordinary man, who, by the admission of his captors, "never was known + to swear an oath, or drink a drop of spirits"; who, on the same authority, + "for natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension was surpassed by + few men," "with a mind capable of attaining any thing"; who knew no book + but his Bible, and that by heart; who devoted himself soul and body to the + cause of his race, without a trace of personal hope or fear; who laid his + plans so shrewdly that they came at last with less warning than any + earthquake on the doomed community around; and who, when that time + arrived, took the life of man, woman, and child, without a throb of + compunction, a word of exultation, or an act of superfluous outrage? Mrs. + Stowe's "Dred" seems dim and melodramatic beside the actual Nat Turner, + and De Quincey's "Avenger" is his only parallel in imaginative literature. + Mr. Gray, his counsel, rises into a sort of bewildered enthusiasm with the + prisoner before him. "I shall not attempt to describe the effect of his + narrative, as told and commented on by himself, in the condemned-hole of + the prison. The calm, deliberate composure with which he spoke of his late + deeds and intentions, the expression of his fiend-like face when excited + by enthusiasm, still bearing the stains of the blood of helpless innocence + about him, clothed with rags and covered with chains, yet daring to raise + his manacled hands to heaven, with a spirit soaring above the attributes + of man,—I looked on him, and the blood curdled in my veins." + </p> + <p> + But, the more remarkable the personal character of Nat Turner, the greater + the amazement felt that he should not have appreciated the extreme + felicity of his position as a slave. In all insurrections, the standing + wonder seems to be that the slaves most trusted and best used should be + most deeply involved. So in this case, as usual, men resorted to the most + astonishing theories of the origin of the affair. One attributed it to + Free-Masonry, and another to free whiskey,—liberty appearing + dangerous, even in these forms. The poor whites charged it upon the free + colored people, and urged their expulsion; forgetting that in North + Carolina the plot was betrayed by one of this class, and that in Virginia + there were but two engaged, both of whom had slave wives. The slaveholding + clergymen traced it to want of knowledge of the Bible, forgetting that Nat + Turner knew scarcely any thing else. On the other hand, "a distinguished + citizen of Virginia" combined in one sweeping denunciation "Northern + incendiaries, tracts, Sunday schools, religion, reading, and writing." + </p> + <p> + But whether the theories of its origin were wise or foolish, the + insurrection made its mark; and the famous band of Virginia + emancipationists, who all that winter made the House of Delegates ring + with unavailing eloquence,—till the rise of slave-exportation to new + cotton regions stopped their voices,—were but the unconscious + mouthpieces of Nat Turner. In January, 1832, in reply to a member who had + called the outbreak a "petty affair," the eloquent James McDowell thus + described the impression it left behind:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Now, sir, I ask you, I ask gentlemen in conscience to say, was + that a 'petty affair' which startled the feelings of your whole + population; which threw a portion of it into alarm, a portion of + it into panic; which wrung out from an affrighted people the + thrilling cry, day after day, conveyed to your executive, '<i>We + are in peril of our lives; send us an army for defence</i>'? Was + that a 'petty affair' which drove families from their + homes,—which assembled women and children in crowds, without + shelter, at places of common refuge, in every condition of + weakness and infirmity, under every suffering which want and + terror could inflict, yet willing to endure all, willing to meet + death from famine, death from climate, death from hardships, + preferring any thing rather than the horrors of meeting it from a + domestic assassin? Was that a 'petty affair' which erected a + peaceful and confiding portion of the State into a military camp; + which outlawed from pity the unfortunate beings whose brothers + had offended; which barred every door, penetrated every bosom + with fear or suspicion; which so banished every sense of security + from every man's dwelling, that, let but a hoof or horn break + upon the silence of the night, and an aching throb would be + driven to the heart, the husband would look to his weapon, and + the mother would shudder and weep upon her cradle? Was it the + fear of Nat Turner, and his deluded, drunken handful of + followers, which produced such effects? Was it this that induced + distant counties, where the very name of Southampton was strange, + to arm and equip for a struggle? No, sir: it was the suspicion + eternally attached to the slave himself,—the suspicion that a + Nat Turner might be in every family; that the same bloody deed + might be acted over at any time and in any place; that the + materials for it were spread through the land, and were always + ready for a like explosion. Nothing but the force of this + withering apprehension,—nothing but the paralyzing and deadening + weight with which it falls upon and prostrates the heart of every + man who has helpless dependants to protect,—nothing but this + could have thrown a brave people into consternation, or could + have made any portion of this powerful Commonwealth, for a single + instant, to have quailed and trembled." +</pre> + <p> + While these things were going on, the enthusiasm for the Polish Revolution + was rising to its height. The nation was ringing with a peal of joy, on + hearing that at Frankfort the Poles had killed fourteen thousand Russians. + The <i>Southern Religious Telegraph</i> was publishing an impassioned + address to Kosciuszko; standards were being consecrated for Poland in the + larger cities; heroes like Skrzynecki, Czartoryski, Rozyski, Raminski, + were choking the trump of Fame with their complicated patronymics. These + are all forgotten now; and this poor negro, who did not even possess a + name, beyond one abrupt monosyllable,—for even the name of Turner + was the master's property,—still lives, a memory of terror, and a + symbol of wild retribution. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPE" id="link2H_APPE"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + APPENDIX OF AUTHORITIES + </h2> + <h3> + THE MAROONS OF JAMAICA + </h3> + <p> + 1. Dallas, R. C. "The History of the Maroons, from their origin to the + establishment of their chief tribe at Sierra Leone: including the + expedition to Cuba, for the purpose of procuring Spanish chasseurs; and + the state of the Island of Jamaica for the last ten years, with a succinct + history of the island previous to that period." In two volumes. London, + 1803. [8vo.] + </p> + <p> + 2. Edwards, Bryan. "The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British + Colonies in the West Indies. To which is added a general description of + the Bahama Islands, by Daniel M'Kinnen, Esq." In four volumes. + Philadelphia, 1806. [8vo.] + </p> + <p> + 3. Edwards, Bryan. "Proceedings of the Governor and Associates of Jamaica + in regard to the Maroon Negroes, with an account of the Maroons." London, + 1796. 8vo. + </p> + <p> + 4. Edwards, Bryan. "Historical Survey of St. Domingo, with an account of + the Maroon Negroes, a history of the war in the West Indies, 1793-94" + [etc.]. London, 1801. 4to. + </p> + <p> + 5. <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, ii. 376. [Review of Dallas and Edwards, by + Henry Lord Brougham.] + </p> + <p> + Also Annual Register, Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, etc. + </p> + <p> + [There appeared in <i>Once a Week</i> (1865) a paper entitled "The Maroons + of Jamaica," and reprinted in <i>Every Saturday</i> (i. 50, Jan. 31, + 1866), in which Gov. Eyre is quoted as having said, in the London <i>Times</i>, + "To the fidelity and loyalty of the Maroons it is due that the negroes did + not commit greater devastation" in the recent insurrection; thus curiously + repeating the encomium given by Lord Balcarres seventy years before.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + THE MAROONS OF SURINAM + </h3> + <p> + 1. "Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition against the revolted negroes of + Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America, from the year 1772 + to 1777 ... by Capt. J. G. Stedman." London. Printed for J. Johnson, St. + Paul's Churchyard, and J. Edwards, Pall Mall. 1790. [2 vols. 4to.] + </p> + <p> + 2. "Transatlantic Sketches, comprising visits to the most interesting + scenes in North and South America and the West Indies. With notes on negro + slavery and Canadian emigration. By Capt. J. E. Alexander, 42 Royal + Highlanders." London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington St., 1833. [2 vols. + 8vo.] + </p> + <p> + Also Annual Register, etc. + </p> + <p> + [The best account of the present condition of the Maroons, or, as they are + now called, bush-negroes, of Surinam, is to be found in a graphic + narrative of a visit to Dutch Guiana, by W. G. Palgrave, in the <i>Fortnightly + Review</i>, xxiv. 801; xxv. 194, 536. These papers are reprinted in <i>Littell's + Living Age</i>, cxxviii. 154, cxxix. 409. He estimates the present numbers + of these people as approaching thirty thousand. The "Encyclopaedia + Britannica" gives the names of several publications relating to their + peculiar dialect, popularly known as Negro-English, but including many + Dutch words.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + GABRIEL'S DEFEAT + </h3> + <p> + The materials for the history of Gabriel's revolt are still very + fragmentary, and must be sought in the contemporary newspapers. No + continuous file of Southern newspapers for the year 1800 was to be found, + when this narrative was written, in any Boston or New-York library, though + the Harvard-College Library contained a few numbers of the Baltimore <i>Telegraphe</i> + and the Norfolk <i>Epitome of the Times</i>. My chief reliance has + therefore been the Southern correspondence of the Northern newspapers, + with the copious extracts there given from Virginian journals. I am + chiefly indebted to the Philadelphia <i>United-States Gazette</i>, the + Boston <i>Independent Chronicle</i>, the Salem <i>Gazette</i> and <i>Register</i>, + the New-York <i>Daily Advertiser</i>, and the Connecticut <i>Courant</i>. + The best continuous narratives that I have found are in the <i>Courant</i> + of Sept. 29, 1800, and the Salem <i>Gazette</i> of Oct. 7, 1800; but even + these are very incomplete. Several important documents I have been unable + to discover,—the official proclamation of the governor, the + description of Gabriel's person, and the original confession of the slaves + as given to Mr. Sheppard. The discovery of these would no doubt have + enlarged, and very probably corrected, my narrative. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + DENMARK VESEY + </h3> + <p> + 1. "Negro Plot. An Account of the late intended insurrection among a + portion of the blacks of the city of Charleston, S.C. Published by the + Authority of the Corporation of Charleston." Second edition. Boston: + printed and published by Joseph W. Ingraham. 1822. 8vo, pp. 50. + </p> + <p> + [A third edition was printed at Boston during the same year, a copy of + which is in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The first + and fourth editions, which were printed at Charleston, S.C., I have never + seen.] + </p> + <p> + 2. "An Official Report of the trials of sundry negroes, charged with an + attempt to raise an insurrection in the State of South Carolina: preceded + by an introduction and narrative; and in an appendix, a report of the + trials of four white persons, on indictments for attempting to excite the + slaves to insurrection. Prepared and published at the request of the + court. By Lionel H. Kennedy and Thomas Parker, members of the Charleston + bar, and the presiding magistrates of the court." Charleston: printed by + James R. Schenck, 23 Broad St. 1822. 8vo, pp. 188x4. + </p> + <p> + 3. "Reflections occasioned by the late disturbances in Charleston, by + Achates." Charleston: printed and sold by A. E. Miller, No. 4 Broad St. + 1822. 8vo, pp. 30. + </p> + <p> + 4. "A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated against the Southern and + Western States, respecting the institution and existence of slavery among + them. To which is added a minute and particular account of the actual + state and condition of their Negro Population, together with Historical + Notices of all the Insurrections that have taken place since the + settlement of the country.—Facts are stubborn things.—<i>Shakspeare</i>. + By a South Carolinian." [Edwin C. Holland.] Charleston: printed by A. E. + Miller, No. 4 Broad St. 1822. 8vo, pp. 86. + </p> + <p> + 5. "Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the views of the Baptists + relative to the colored population in the United States, in a + communication to the Governor of South Carolina." Second edition. + Charleston: printed by A. E. Miller, No. 4 Broad St. 1833. 8vo, pp. 16. + </p> + <p> + [The first edition appeared in 1823. It relates to a petition offered by a + Baptist Convention for a day of thanksgiving and humiliation, in reference + to the insurrection, and to a violent hurricane which had just occurred.] + </p> + <p> + 6. "Practical Considerations, founded on the Scriptures, relative to the + Slave Population of South Carolina. Respectfully dedicated to the South + Carolina Association. By a South Carolinian." Charleston: printed and sold + by A. E. Miller, No. 4 Broad St. 1823. 8vo, pp. 38. + </p> + <p> + 7. [The letter of Gov. Bennett, dated Aug. 10, 1822, was evidently printed + originally as a pamphlet or circular, though I have not been able to find + it in that form. It may be found reprinted in the <i>Columbian Centinel</i> + (Aug. 31, 1822), <i>Connecticut Courant</i> (Sept. 3), and Worcester <i>Spy</i> + (Sept. 18). It is also printed in Lundy's <i>Genius of Universal + Emancipation</i> for September, 1822 (ii. 42), and reviewed in subsequent + numbers (pp. 81, 131, 142).] + </p> + <p> + 8. "The Liberty Bell, by Friends of Freedom. Boston: Anti-Slavery Bazaar. + 1841. 12mo." [This contains an article on p. 158, entitled "Servile + Insurrections," by Edmund Jackson, including brief personal reminiscences + of the Charleston insurrection, during which he resided in that city.] + </p> + <p> + [Of the above-named pamphlets, all now rare, Nos. 1 and 2 are in my own + possession. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, are in the Wendell Phillips collection of + pamphlets in the Boston Public Library.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + NAT TURNER'S INSURRECTION + </h3> + <p> + 1. "The Confessions of Nat Turner, the leader of the late Insurrection in + Southampton, Va., as fully and voluntarily made to Thomas R. Gray, in the + prison where he was confined, and acknowledged by him to be such when read + before the Court of Southampton, with the certificate under seal of the + court convened at Jerusalem, Nov. 5, 1831, for this trial. Also an + authentic account of the whole insurrection, with lists of the whites who + were murdered, and of the negroes brought before the Court of Southampton, + and there sentenced, etc." New York: printed and published by C. Brown, + 211 Water Street, 1831. + </p> + <p> + [This pamphlet was reprinted in the <i>Anglo-African Magazine</i> (New + York), December, 1859. Whether it is identical with the work said by the + newspapers of the period to have been published at Baltimore, I have been + unable to ascertain. But if, as was alleged, forty thousand copies of the + Baltimore pamphlet were issued, it seems impossible that they should have + become so scarce. The first reprint of the Confession, so far as I know, + was a partial one in Abdy's "Journal in the United States." London. 1835. + 3 vols. 8vo.] + </p> + <p> + 2. "Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene which was + witnessed in Southhampton County (Va.), on Monday, the 22d of August last, + when Fifty-five of its inhabitants (mostly women and children) were + inhumanly massacred by the blacks! Communicated by those who were + eye-witnesses of the bloody scene, and confirmed by the confessions of + several of the Blacks, while under Sentence of Death." [By Samuel Warner, + New York.] Printed for Warner & West. 1831. 12mo, pp. 36 [or more, + copy incomplete. With a frontispiece]. Among the Wendell Phillips tracts + in the Boston Public Library. + </p> + <p> + 3. "Slave Insurrection in 1831, in Southampton County, Va., headed by Nat + Turner. Also a conspiracy of slaves in Charleston, S.C., in 1822." New + York: compiled and published by Henry Bibb, 9 Spruce St. 1849. 12mo, pp. + 12. + </p> + <p> + [The contemporary newspaper narratives may be found largely quoted in the + first volume of the <i>Liberator</i> (1831), and in Lundy's <i>Genius of + Universal Emancipation</i> (September, 1831). The files of the Richmond <i>Enquirer</i> + have also much information on the subject.] + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Black Rebellion, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK REBELLION *** + +***** This file should be named 8432-h.htm or 8432-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/4/3/8432/ + + +Text file produced by Eric Eldred, Thomas Berger, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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