The Great Stain

by Noel Rae

  Meanwhile, back in this country, Gabriel Prosser was planning his own uprising. An imposing figure, well over six feet tall, very dark and with a “bony face,” Gabriel would also have developed powerful arms and shoulders from his trade as a blacksmith. To add to his formidable appearance, two of his front teeth were missing, he had scars on his head and he was known to be a ferocious fighter—when caught by his overseer stealing a pig, Gabriel attacked him with such ferocity that he bit off most of the white man’s ear. Normally this would have caused him to be hanged, but he got off with branding on his left hand and a month in jail. This leniency was probably due to the intercession of his owner, Thomas Prosser, for Gabriel was a skilled worker and was usually hired out for good wages (which his owner of course kept), to one of the iron foundries in Richmond. Like other members of the conspiracy, he was literate, and often quoted the Bible—indeed one of their meetings began with a sermon before getting down to more sanguinary matters.

  According to the testimony of another of Prosser’s slaves, Ben Woolfolk, who had been pardoned on condition that he testify against the others, after the sermon Gabriel said he wanted “to bring on the business as soon as possible,” while it was still late summer. His brother, Martin, said “there was this expression in the Bible, delay breeds danger”; also that “five of you shall conquer an hundred, and a hundred a thousand of our enemies.”

  Also according to Woolfolk, “The plan was to be as follows: we were all to meet at the briery spot on the Brook; one hundred men were to stand at the Brook bridge; Gabriel was to take a hundred more and go to Gregory’s tavern and take the arms which were there; fifty more were to be sent to Rocketts [a riverside district of Richmond] to set that on fire, in order to alarm the upper part of the town and induce the people to go down there; while they were employed in extinguishing the fire Gabriel and the other officers and soldiers were to take the Capitol, seize all the arms they could find and be ready to slaughter the people on their return from Rocketts. Sam Bird was to have a pass as a free man and was to go to the nation of Indians called Catawbas to persuade them to join the Negroes to fight the white people. As far as I understood, all the whites were to be massacred, except the Quakers, the Methodists and the Frenchmen, and they were to be spared on account as they conceived of their being friendly to liberty … They intended also to spare all the poor white women who had no slaves.” Another witness for the prosecution (there were none for the defense) declared that after the massacre they would “take the treasury and divide the money.”

  Other testimony raises the question of whether the plot was much more than wishful thinking and wild talk—there are several mentions of “money to buy liquor” and meeting “to drink grog,” and when arrested a slave called Isaac was said to be “much intoxicated.” There were also weird statements like Ben Woolfolk’s testimony that following the massacre, “if the white people agreed to their freedom they would then hoist a white flag, and he [Gabriel] would dine and drink with the merchants of the city.” Then there was the matter of weaponry. Again according to Woolfolk, they would “commence the fight with scythe blades until they could procure arms from the white people,” and when arrested, Gabriel was armed only with a bayonet fixed on a stick. But if their weapons were few, their numbers were supposed to be enormous. “Gabriel said he had nearly ten thousand men; he had one thousand in Richmond, about six hundred in Caroline, and nearly five hundred at the coal pits, besides others at different places, and that he expected the poor white people would also join him.”

  But before anything could happen, the alarm was given when two slaves warned their masters, who in turn warned the governor, James Monroe. The militia was called out and cannon were posted in the streets. More importantly, “that very evening, just about sunset, there came on the most terrible thunder accompanied with an enormous rain, that I ever witnessed in this State. Between Prosser’s and Richmond there is a place called Brook Swamp which runs across the high road, and over which there was a bridge. By this the Africans were of necessity to pass, and the rain had made the passage impracticable.” (The journalist James Callender to Thomas Jefferson.) The trials that followed were exceptionally hasty—seven men were condemned on a Thursday and hanged on Friday. All in all, about thirty-five were condemned to death, and many others banished. Gabriel himself escaped but was soon captured, tried, convicted and hanged. Monroe interviewed him before his execution but got little out of him. “He seemed to have made up his mind to die, and to have resolved to say but little on the subject of the conspiracy.”

  Chronologically, the next instance of organized armed resistance came in 1816 and took place outside the then borders of the United States, in Florida. Ever since 1704, when Governor Zuniga y Cera had proclaimed that “any Negro of Carolina, Christian or not, free or slave, who wishes to come fugitive, will be given complete liberty,” that colony had been a thorn in the side of American slave-owners. During the War of 1812, the British had established a fort on a cliff above the Apalachicola River, fifteen miles from its mouth, and a mere sixty miles from the American border. When the war ended, probably looking to make trouble for the victorious Americans, the British stocked the fort with a large supply of guns and ammunition, and then handed it over to a force of several hundred fugitive slaves and their Choctaw allies. It then became known as the Negro Fort.

  In June, 1816, the Georgia Journal summarized the situation: “It was not to be expected that an establishment so pernicious to the Southern States, holding out to a part of their population temptations to insubordination, would have been suffered to exist after the close of the war. In the course of the last winter several slaves from this neighborhood fled to that fort; others have lately gone from Tennessee and the Mississippi Territory. How long shall this evil, requiring immediate remedy, be permitted to exist?”

  The fact that Florida was a Spanish colony, and Spain and the United States were at peace, was not a consideration of much importance to General Andrew Jackson, who ordered General Gaines to destroy the Negro Fort. General Gaines passed the order on to Colonel Clinch, and on August 2, 1816, Colonel Clinch submitted his report, part of which ran:

  “On the 17th [July] I left this place [Camp Crawford in Georgia]] with one hundred and sixteen chosen men, in boats, and commenced descending the river. On the same evening I was joined by Major M’Intosh, with one hundred and fifty Indians, and on the 18th by an old chief called Captain Isaacs, and the celebrated chief Koteha-haigo (or Mad Tiger,) at the head of a large body of Indians. Their object was to capture the Negroes within the fort and restore them [i.e. sell them back] to their proper owners. We held a council, and an agreement was entered into. I ordered the chiefs to keep parties in advance, and to secure every Negro they fell in with, and to join me near the fort.”

  The fort “was situated on a beautiful and commanding bluff”—sometimes known as Prospect Bluff, and sometimes as Bloody Bluff—“with the river in front, a large creek just below, a swamp in the rear, and a small creek just above.” On arrival Colonel Clinch landed his force in a nearby wood and waited for his artillery to come up. Meanwhile, his Indian allies surrounded the fort and kept up an irregular fire. “In the evening a deputation of chiefs went into the fort and demanded its surrender; but they were abused and treated with the utmost contempt. The black chief heaped much abuse on the Americans, and said he had been left in command of the fort by the British government, and that he would sink any American vessels that should attempt to pass it; and would blow up the fort if he could not defend it. The chiefs also informed me that the Negroes had hoisted a red flag, and that the English jack was flying over it.”

  Early the next morning the riverboats carrying the artillery “came up in handsome style, and made fast along side of the intended battery. In a few minutes we received a shot from a 32 pounder, which was returned in a gallant manner. The contest was momentary. The fifth discharge (a hot shot) from gun vessel No. 154, commanded by Sailing Master Bassett, entered
the magazine, and blew up the fort. The explosion”—which was said to have been heard in Pensacola, a hundred miles away—“was awful, and the scene horrible beyond description.

  “Our first care, on arriving at the scene of destruction, was to rescue and relieve the unfortunate beings that survived the explosion. The war yells of the Indians, the cries and lamentations of the wounded, compelled the soldier to pause in the midst of victory to drop a tear for the sufferings of his fellow beings, and to acknowledge that the great Ruler of the Universe must have used us as his instruments in chastising the blood-thirsty and murderous wretches that defended the fort.” Following this pious observation, Colonel Clinch reverted to facts and figures. “The fort contained about one hundred effective men, including twenty-five Choctaws, and about two hundred women and children, not more than one sixth of which number were saved. The greater part of the Negroes belonged to the Spanish and Indians. The American Negroes had principally settled on the river, and a number of them had left their fields and gone over to the Seminoles on hearing of our approach. Their corn fields extended nearly fifty miles up the river, and their numbers were daily increasing. The chiefs passed sentence of death on the outlawed Choctaw chief and the black commandant (Garson), for the murder of the four Americans, and the sentence was immediately carried into execution. The Spanish Negroes were delivered to Mr. Hambly, agent for the house of Messrs. Forbes & Co., and the American Negroes are confined at this post.”

  This was the beginning of the long and bloody Seminole Wars, which were waged as much against the fugitive slaves as against the Indians—“this is a Negro, not an Indian war,” wrote General Thomas Jesup, in 1836. In the end, both groups were forced out, the Seminoles winding up in Oklahoma, and many of the blacks eventually finding refuge in Mexico.

  The next major domestic conspiracy was that of Denmark Vesey in 1822. Most of what is known about it comes from An Official Report of the Trials of Sundry Negroes Charged in an Attempt to Raise an Insurrection in the State of South Carolina, written by Lionel Kennedy and Thomas Parker, judges who had presided at the trials. Though biased, it is the principal account of the insurrection, since by tacit consent the Charleston papers mostly suppressed the story. Here is some of the report:

  “At the head of this conspiracy stood Denmark Vesey, a free Negro; with him the idea undoubtedly originated. For several years before he disclosed his intentions to anyone he appears to have been constantly and assiduously engaged in endeavoring to embitter 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.”

  Along with perverting the Scriptures, Vesey was accused of distributing “inflammatory pamphlets on slavery brought into Charleston from some of our sister states within the last four years,” and of spreading reports of “the speeches in Congress of those opposed to the admission of Missouri [as a slave state] into the Union.” Nor was that all.

  “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 anyone would degrade himself by such conduct, that he would never cringe to the whites, nor ought anyone else 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.” [In the fable, Hercules comes across a wagoner praying for divine help in getting his wagon out of a rut; Hercules tells him to stop praying and put his shoulder to the wheel.] “He also sought every opportunity of entering into conversation with white persons when they could be overheard by Negroes nearby, 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 be still bolder, he would go so far that had not his declarations in such situations been clearly proved, they would scarcely have been credited.”

  When he was about thirty, Vesey had won $1500 in a city lottery and used $600 of it to buy his freedom, but for some reason was unable to do the same for his wife and children. He set up a carpentry shop and prospered, but was said to have been embittered by the fate of his family. In 1817 he helped found a local branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was repeatedly closed down by the white authorities. As a class leader, Denmark taught a small group of believers at his home, focusing on the Book of Exodus and claiming that slaves were the New Israelites who would one day be freed from their bondage, and that God was on their side. (This was the sort of thing the official report had in mind when it spoke of his attempts “to embitter the minds of the colored population” and “pervert” the Scriptures to his purpose.)

  Denmark’s next step was to recruit an inner circle: Rolla and Ned, slaves belonging to Governor Bennett, Peter Poyas, Gullah Jack, also known as Cooter Jack, and Monday Gell. With their help “he engaged great numbers to join in the intended insurrection. He also at his house held nocturnal meetings for the purpose of interchanging opinions, maturing the plan, and collecting and giving information, at which meetings numbers of the insurgents, both from country and town attended, and where collections were made for the purpose of providing arms and ammunition.” Also, “In order to induce the colored population to join them, every principle which could operate on the mind of man was artfully employed: religion, hope, fear and deception were resorted to as occasion required. All were told, and many believed, that God approved of their design; those whose fears would have restrained them were forced to yield by threats of death; those whose prudence and foresight induced them to pause were cheered with the assurance that assistance from Santo Domingo and Africa were at hand.” Also, “vast numbers firmly believed that Gullah Jack was a sorcerer; that he could neither be killed nor taken; and that whilst they retained the charms which he had distributed they would themselves be invulnerable.” (“A little man, a Gullah Negro, with small hands and feet,” who was also “artful, cruel, bloody,” Jack distributed crab-claws to the insurrectionists, telling them to keep them in their mouths “and you can’t then be wounded.”)

  “In enlisting men the great caution observed by the leaders was remarkable. Few if any domestic servants were spoken to, as they were distrusted, and all who were consulted were told that death would certainly await them if they informed … The enlistments appear to have been principally confined to Negroes hired or working out, such as carters, draymen, sawyers, porters, laborers, stevedores, mechanics, those employed in lumber yards, and, in short, to those who had certain allotted hours at their own disposal.”

  It was also noted that “This was about the time that the African Congregation was formed, and their church built.” All the ringleaders were members and some were class leaders. Meetings were held at night “avowedly for religious instruction and worship” but in fact to propagate “inflammatory and insurrectionary doctrines.” The meetings were also “rallying points for communicating to all the exact night and hour on which the first blow was to be struck.”

  This was to be “at twelve o’clock on the night of Saturday the 16th of June, at which hour everyone was to move, and the attack at every point to be made at the same moment. Peter was to lead a party which was to assemble on South Bay, and to be joined by a force from James’ Island; he was then to march up and seize the Arsenal and Guard House opposite St. Michael’s Church and secure the arms.” Other arsenals and gun-shops
were to be raided, and “arms thus being provided from these different sources, the city was to have been fired, and an indiscriminate slaughter of the whites to commence, and also those of their own color who had not joined them, or did not immediately do so.” Plans for what would happen after the insurgents had taken Charleston were vague, though some said that “Vesey, after robbing the banks of specie and plundering the city of all that was most valuable, intended to sail for Santo Domingo with his principal adherents.”

  But before any of that could happen the plot was “crushed in the bud.” On May 30, the Intendant, or mayor, received an urgent message from “a gentleman of great respectability who that morning had returned from the country. This gentleman stated ‘that a favorite and confidential slave of his had communicated to him, on his arrival in town, a conversation which had taken place at the market on the Saturday preceding between himself and a black man, which afforded strong reasons for believing that a revolt and insurrection were in contemplation.’”

  Soon after, the Intendant received a visit from another gentleman, “advantageously known in the community,” who reported that “a faithful slave belonging to his family” had told him that another slave, who was a friend, had been told by yet another slave, “who had been trusted by the conspirators with the secret,” that an insurrection was to take place on Sunday the 16th; and since this day was Friday the 14th, “not a moment should be lost.” As a result, “such measures were taken by his Excellency the Governor as the occasion required,” and “on the night appointed for the attack, the insurgents found a very strong guard on duty, and by ten o’clock the whole town was surrounded by the most vigilant patrols.”