35 In fact . . . declaring war: Thornton, “African Dimensions of the Stono Rebellion,” 1112.
35 In 1812 . . . “but dead”: Childs, 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba, 123.
36 “headmen” . . . “primal powers of thunder and lightening”: Linebaugh and Rediker, The Many-Headed Hydra, 184–85.
3. A Revolutionary Forge
39 123 million pounds . . . and rum: James, The Black Jacobins, 45.
40 The island accounted for . . . refined goods: James, The Black Jacobins, 48–49.
41 “How can we make . . . men and animals”: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 93.
42 “One has to hear . . . surrounds him”: James, The Black Jacobins, 18.
42 “Eh! Eh! . . . this vow”: James, The Black Jacobins, 18.
42 On the night . . . “spread like a torrent”: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 94.
43 “strange eyes . . . hearts of all of us”: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 100.
43 In the first eight . . . 80,000: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 113.
44 “There is a motor . . . come to know”: Pierre Mossut to Marquis de Gallifet, September 19, 1791 (Archives Nationales, 107 AP 128), in Dubois and Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 94.
44 In control of France . . . 42,000 battle-hardened men: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 251, 260.
45 “war of extermination”: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 290.
45 “ignorant of color prejudice”: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 292–93.
45 Over 80 percent: Paul Lachance, “Repercussions of the Haitian Revolution in Louisiana,” in Geggus, Impact of the Haitian Revolution, 210.
46 “Let us imitate . . . territory of liberty”: Jean-Jacques Dessalines, “The Haitian Declaration of Independence,” in Dubois and Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 188–91.
46 In 1789 . . . only 9,000: Paul Lachance, “Repercussions of the Haitian Revolution in Louisiana,” in Geggus, Impact of the Haitian Revolution, 211.
46 “Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies”: Robert Paquette, “Revolutionary Saint Domingue in the Making of Territorial Louisiana,” in Gaspar and Geggus, A Turbulent Time, 209.
47 41 percent of the North American continent: Barry, Rising Tide, 21.
47 By 1802 . . . sugar per year: Paul Lachance, “Repercussions of the Haitian Revolution in Louisiana,” in Geggus, Impact of the Haitian Revolution, 211.
48 As Americans and Europeans . . . raw sugar: Mintz, Sweetness and Power, 120.
48 In a few short years . . . revolved around sugar: Berlin, Many Thousands Gone, 199, 325.
4. Empire’s Emissary
52 “We have lived long . . . first rank”: Geer, The Louisiana Purchase, 197.
53 “puny force . . . subject for ridicule”: Young, “The United States Army in the South,” 99, 105.
53 “The prejudices . . . American”: Orleans Gazette for the Country, June 6, 1811.
53 devoted to a single, slave-made staple crop: Berlin, Many Thousands Gone, 325.
53 “guide the rising generation . . . virtue”: Hatfield, William Claiborne, 112.
54 “glowing colours”: N. H. Claiborne, Notes on the War, 92.
54 “do nothings” . . . “American liberty”: Hatfield, William Claiborne, 4.
54 “Dear my country . . . my country”: N. H. Claiborne, Notes on the War, 93.
54 imperial colony of alien people: Meinig, The Shaping of America, 15.
55. “The very trees . . . first proprietors”: N. H. Claiborne, Notes on the War, 102.
55 “This would not sweeten . . . as well as theirs”: Meinig, The Shaping of America, 15.
55 “All Louisianians are Frenchmen at heart”: de Laussat, Memoirs of My Life, 18.
55 chacas, catchoupines, catchumas, and kaintucks: Crété, Daily Life in Louisiana, 70.
55 When Claiborne arrived . . . meant to be American: Hatfield, William Claiborne, 114.
56 “mischiefs . . . every other passion”: Hatfield, William Claiborne, 120.
56 “Hail Columbia” . . . “attended my administration”: Kinser, Carnival, American Style, 29.
57 “the insignificant part he acted in the circle”: Hatfield, William Claiborne, 153–154.
57 “oppressive and degrading” . . . “enjoy it with safety”: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4:59.
57 “who neither” . . . “could personally communicate”: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4:63.
58 “to whose conversation . . . devoted”: N. H. Claiborne, Notes on the War, 97.
58 “We were among . . . composed it”: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4:60.
58 “Annexed to your country . . . allegiance of citizens”: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4:64.
58 “The people . . . better ascertained”: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4:67.
59 “a hazardous experiment”: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4:68.
59 “the lowest Indian tribes . . . lower Louisiana”: Harvey, Roger, and D’Oliveira, To Reach Afar, 42.
59 “Renegadoes . . . subject of accusation”: N. H. Claiborne, Notes on the War, 110.
60 “pecuniary difficulty” . . . “graves of Louisiana”: Hatfield, William Claiborne, 156–57.
5. Conquering the Frontier
61 “We should have . . . self government”: Jefferson, Life and Writings, 185.
62 “intruder king”: Weber, The Spanish Frontier in North America, 296.
64 “It would be . . . such a request?”: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 31.
64 “friendly disposition . . . decided measures”: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 32.
64 “lose no time . . . right direction”: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 32.
64 “Endowed . . . bone and muscle”: Kennedy, Mr. Jefferson’s Lost Cause, 218.
65 “more satisfactory” . . . “to the palate of the administration”: Kennedy, Mr. Jefferson’s Lost Cause, 224.
65 Before dawn . . . Louis de Grand Pré: Arthur, The Story of the West Florida Rebellion, 103.
66 “Hurrah Washington!”: Arthur, The Story of the West Florida Rebellion, 105–6.
66 “Betrayed . . . independent State”: Kennedy, Mr. Jefferson’s Lost Cause, 225.
67 “the intrigues . . . and fortunes”: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 35.
67 “protect them . . . and religion”: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 49.
68 “the association of the Individuals” . . . “towards Spain”: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 61.
69 “absolute anarchy”: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 85.
69 A gentleman . . . the territory: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 91.
69 Reports . . . of Carnival: W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 88.
6. Masks and Motives
71 “For it is the same . . . and advise them”: Robert Paquette, “The Drivers Shall Lead Them: Image and Reality in Slave Resistance,” in Paquette and Ferleger, Slavery, Secession, and Southern History, 31.
71 set back a short distance . . . summer sun: Bernhard, Travels Through North America, 2:80.
72 thirty to forty yards . . . travelers and traders: Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, 176–77.
72 Docks . . . transportation systems: Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, 120.
72 Property lines . . . swamps: Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, 120.
72 Irrigation ditches . . . rectangles: Rehder, Delta Sugar, 158.
72 The Mississippi . . . vegetable mold: Sitterson, Sugar Country, 14.
73 As was standard . . . survive and work: Kane, Plantation Parade, 160–61.
73 “whether actually in the field . . . on the watch”: Northup/Eakin and Logsdon, Twelve Years a Slave, 172.
73 By keeping constant watch . . . over their actions: “Thanks to the techniques of surveillance, the ‘physics’ of power, the hold over the body, operate according to the laws of optics and me
chanics, according to a whole play of spaces, lines, screens, beams, degrees and without recourse, in principle at least, to excess, force or violence.” Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 177.
74 “It is fair to say . . . insolence of their authority”: Quoted in Robert Paquette, “The Drivers Shall Lead Them: Image and Reality in Slave Resistance,” in Paquette and Ferleger, Slavery, Secession, and Southern History, 33.
74 “human bloodhounds”: Robert Paquette, “The Drivers Shall Lead Them: Image and Reality in Slave Resistance,” in Paquette and Ferleger, Slavery, Secession, and Southern History, 37.
75 industrial expertise on a level with that of Northern factories: Mintz, Sweetness and Power, 47.
76 sixteen or more hours per day, seven days a week: McDonald, Economy and Material Culture of Slaves, 14–15.
76 sweet, juicy stalks . . . fifteen feet: Mintz, Sweetness and Power, 21.
76 Working round the clock . . . into January: Moody, Slavery on Louisiana Sugar Plantations, 48–49.
77 “by a wise distribution . . . any of them”: Colonial prefect Clement de Laussat, quoted in Follett, The Sugar Masters, 18.
77 tropical disease: Sitterson, Sugar Country, 92.
77 “From June to the beginning of October . . . in the country”: Latrobe, Impressions Respecting New Orleans, 141–42.
78 “More than once . . . voice against it”: Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, 104–5.
78 The complexity . . . management styles: Follett, The Sugar Masters, 92.
78 “The feelings of humanity . . . whips in hand”: de Laussat, Memoirs of My Life, 54.
78 A first punishment . . . recalcitrant slaves”: Sitterson, Sugar Country, 89.
79 “Three stakes . . . every stroke”: Rothman, Slave Country, 95–96.
80 Sugar work was too grueling . . . natural reproduction: “A perception prevailed, true or not, that it was cheaper to work field slaves to death in five years or so and replace them by purchase than to see to their long-term maintenance and reproduction,” wrote historian Robert Paquette about Cuban sugar plantations. Paquette, Sugar Is Made with Blood, 55.
80 In 1800 . . . less important: Sitterson, Sugar Country, 158.
80 first on the Atlantic slave trade and then on the internal slave trade: An illegal Atlantic slave trade did continue. “Like elsewhere throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean, in Jamaica slaves put to cultivating sugar died faster than they bore progeny,” wrote historian Roderick McDonald. “Only the slave trade, the Black Mother, could maintain and increase the size of slave populations. While Jamaica relied on slave traffic across the Atlantic, for Louisiana the Black Mother was interstate traffic, the slave states of the Old South supplying the men, women and children the sugar planters needed.” McDonald, Economy and Material Culture of Slaves, 15.
80 Those who complied . . . extra food: Robert Paquette, “The Drivers Shall Lead Them: Image and Reality in Slave Resistance,” in Paquette and Ferleger, Slavery, Secession, and Southern History, 33.
7. The Rebels’ Pact
84 take up with a woman: Kaye, Joining Places, 60.
84 he was the son of a white planter: Unlike most slaves, who bore only a first name, Charles used his deceased master’s name, Deslondes. This likely indicates that Deslondes was his father.
84 “one great brothel”: W. Phillips, Speeches, Lectures, and Letters, 108.
86 As the white planters . . . on the German Coast: Conrad, The German Coast, 108.
86 to kill all the whites: Conrad, The German Coast, 106.
87 Posting a spy . . . organize the uprising: Thrasher, On to New Orleans!, 3.
87 A twenty-five-year-old carpenter . . . closest to New Orleans: Harry was a “rough carpenter” who was “well-acquainted with the business of a sugar plantation.” “Sound and healthy” at the age of twenty-five, he was valued at $800. He was executed after being tried at the St. Charles Parish Tribunal. American Uprising Slave Database.
87 During their free time . . . in the marketplaces: McDonald, Economy and Material Culture of Slaves, 69.
89 “Woe to the white” . . . for the German Coast slaves: Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, 213, 220, 230, 232.
89 In 1795, the Spanish discovered . . . in the marketplaces: Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, 358.
89 “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”: Declaration of the Rights of Man.
89 The plot was discovered . . . Puerto Rico, and Cuba: Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, 344.
90 The residents . . . relief to the planters: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4:118.
90 20,000 African slaves: Berlin, Many Thousands Gone, 344.
90 Kongo had been . . . warrior knowledge: Thornton, “African Dimensions of the Stono Rebellion,” 1108–9.
90 The Kongolese had developed . . . their abilities: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 109.
90 They used flags . . . the field of battle: Thornton, “African Dimensions of the Stono Rebellion,” 1111.
8. Revolt
97 a powerful rainstorm: “The wind being from the Northward and westward blowing at the same time fresh with considerable rain would have been directly ahead for vessels attempting to ascend the river.” John Shaw to Paul Hamilton, New Orleans, 18 January 1811.
97 “half leg deep in Mud”: Wade Hampton to the Secretary of War, New Orleans, January 16, 1811, in Thrasher, On to New Orleans!, 269.
97 Rain meant . . . from the swamps: Sitterson, Sugar Country, 19.
98 “This is how . . . stomachs of the whites”: Childs, 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba, 117.
99 A high roof . . . gallery from the rain: Bernhard, Travels Through North America, 2:80.
99 three long cuts: Bernhard, Travels Through North America, 2:81.
100 the stores in the basement of Andry’s mansion: The Louisiana Gazette reported that the slaves seized “the public arms that was in one of Mr. Andry’s stores.” Louisiana Gazette (New Orleans), January 17, 1811.
101 “On to New Orleans!”: Thrasher, On to New Orleans!, 51.
102 Live oaks . . . marshy cypress swamps: Bernhard, Travels Through North America, 2:54.
103 knee-deep in mud: Wade Hampton to the Secretary of War, New Orleans, January 16, 1811, in Thrasher, On to New Orleans!, 269.
103 A group of ten slaves: One of these slaves, Theodore, was tried in the court at New Orleans, where he received mercy for “having made important discoveries, touching the late insurrection.” American Uprising Slave Database; Yoes, Louisiana’s German Coast, 67.
103 Waving his saber in the air: Denunciations.
103 Achille Trouard . . .to hide: Perret to Fontaine, January 13, 1811, Moniteur de la Louisiane (New Orleans), January 17, 1811, translated by Robert Paquette and Seymour Drescher, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette, Slavery, 324–26.
104 The slave Pierre . . . his life: Labranche recognized the dual nature of these slaves’ presence in the swamps, adding a note of distrust to his reporting of his slave driver Pierre’s sources. “These slaves having fled into the swamp back of the Labranche place to save themselves from the rebels, or so they told Pierre,” he emphasized. Labranche was well aware that this was an information network not entirely under his control, and that the information he received through it must be necessarily understood as colored by the intentions and motives of those creating it. Conrad, The German Coast, 107.
104 “flee immediately . . . [the] farm”: Conrad, The German Coast, 107.
104 All knew . . . that much clear: Freehling, The Road to Disunion, 79.
105 In a panic . . .blazed by escaping slaves: Conrad, The German Coast, 107.
105 “torrent of rain and the frigid cold”: Perret, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette, Slavery, 324.
105 “Freedom or death”: Dubois, Avengers of the New World, 116.
106 half of James Brown’s slaves: American Uprising Slave Database.
106 the average height . . . inches: Kiple, The Caribbean Slave, 58
.
107 “The Assianthes . . . cold blood”: Fynn, Asante and Its Neighbours, 143.
107 Drawn in small groups . . . Anglo-Americans: American Uprising Slave Database; Denunciations.
108 “there was a large number . . . killing whites”: Labranche testified that Dominique told slaves along the way to warn their masters of the uprising. “Labranche added that he knew that while Dominique, Bernard Bernoudy’s slave, was on his way home to alert his master, he stopped at Pierre Pain’s farm and instructed Pain’s slave Denys to warn as many whites as possible of the impending danger,” read the court testimony. Conrad, The German Coast, 107.
108 When Dominique arrived . . . along the way: Conrad, The German Coast, 107.
108 Local legend . . . a black child: Kane, Plantation Parade, 128.
108 Trépagnier did not think . . . for the slaves to arrive: Charles Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 4: 267–68.
109 Kook led a party . . . to pieces: Denunciations; American Uprising Slave Database.
9. A City in Chaos
115 In the dense neighborhood . . . plantations of the German Coast: Bernhard, Travels Through North America, 2:54–55, 71.
116 Slaves formed the great . . . one side to the other: Bernhard, Travels Through North America, 2:56.
117 They had heard the stories . . . children alike: Langley, The Americas in the Age of Revolution, 112–13.
117 “miniature representation of the horrors of St. Domingo”: Baltimore American and Commercial Party Advertiser, February 20, 1811.
117 “Sometime before noon . . . West Florida”: Claiborne to General Wade Hampton, New Orleans, January 7, 1811, in W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 92.
117 He feared . . . slaves and free black people: “Message from the Mayor, January 12, 1811,” in Thrasher, On to New Orleans!, 274.
118 “Sir . . . repass the same”: Claiborne to General Wade Hampton, New Orleans, January 9, 1811, in W. C. C. Claiborne, Official Letter Books, 93.
118 “All the Cabarets . . . immediately closed”: Claiborne, “General Orders,” January 9, 1811, in Thrasher, On to New Orleans!, 267.
118 “People of color . . . under mask”: Kinser, Carnival, American Style, 25.
118 “No male Negro . . . 6 o’clock”: Claiborne, “General Orders,” January 9, 1811, in Thrasher, On to New Orleans!, 267.
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