_Denmark Vesey, Peter Poyas, and their Companions.--The
deep-laid Plans.--Religious Fanaticism.--The Discovery.--The
Trials.--Convictions.--Executions._
Human bondage is ever fruitful of insurrection, wherever it exists, and
under whatever circumstances it may be found.
An undeveloped discontent always pervaded the black population of the
South, bond and free. Many attempts at revolt were made: two only,
however, proved of a serious and alarming character. The first was in
1812, the leader of which was Denmark Vesey, a free colored man, who had
purchased his liberty in the year 1800, and who resided in Charleston,
S.C. A carpenter by trade, working among the blacks, Denmark gained
influence with them, and laid a plan of insurrection which showed
considerable generalship. Like most men who take the lead in revolts, he
was deeply imbued with a religious duty; and his friends claimed that
he had “a magnetism in his eye, of which his confederates stood in great
awe: if he once got his eye on a man, there was no resisting it.”
After resolving to incite the slaves to rebellion, Denmark began taking
into his confidence such persons as he could trust, and instructing them
to gain adherents from among the more reliable of both bond and free.
Peter Poyas, a slave of more than ordinary foresight and ability, was
selected by him as his lieutenant; and to him was committed the arduous
duty of arranging the mode of attack, and of acting as the military
leader. Poyas 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. Gullah
Jack, Tom Russell, and Ned Bennett,--the last two were not less
valuable than Peter Poyas; for Tom was an ingenious mechanic, and made
battle-axes, pikes, and other instruments of death with which to carry
on the war,--all of the above were to be generals of brigades, and
were let into every secret of the intended rising. It had long been the
custom in Charleston for the country slaves to visit the city in great
numbers on Sunday, and return to their homes in time to commence work
on the following morning. It was, therefore, determined by Vesey to have
the rising take place on Sunday. The slaves of nearly every plantation
in the neighborhood were enlisted, and were to take part. 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 have
been announced after the evening prayer-meeting 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. Poyas was to lead a
party ordered to assemble at 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 detach a sufficient
number to cut off all white citizens who should appear at the
alarm-posts. A second body of blacks, 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 Governor Bennett’s Mills under the
command of Rolla, another leader, 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 Cannons-borough 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 blacks, 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 Vesey’s, and obey his orders. A seventh detachment, under
Gullah Jack, was to come together in Boundry 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. Duguereron’s shop. The naval stores
on Meg’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; a slow match for
this purpose having been purloined from the public arsenal, and placed
in an accessible position. The secret and plan of attack, however,
were incautiously divulged to a slave named Devany, belonging to Col.
Prioleau; and he at once informed his master’s family. The mayor, on
getting possession of the facts, called the city council together for
consultation. The investigation elicited nothing new, for the slaves
persisted in their ignorance of the matter; and the authorities began to
feel that they had been imposed upon by Devany and his informants, when
another of the conspirators, being bribed, revealed what he knew. Arrest
after arrest was made, and the mayor’s court held daily examinations for
weeks. After several weeks of incarceration, the accused, one hundred
and twenty in number, were brought to trial: thirty-four were sentenced
to transportation, twenty-seven acquitted by the court, twenty-five
discharged without trial, and thirty-five condemned to death. With but
two or three exceptions, all of the conspirators went to the gallows
feeling that they had acted right, and died like men giving their lives
for the cause of freedom. A report of the trial, written soon after,
says of Denmark Vesey, “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 whites. He rendered himself perfectly familiar
with those parts of the Scriptures which he could use to show 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 Joshua vi. 21; and, in all his conversations, he
identified their situation with that of the Israelites. Even while
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 sought every opportunity of entering into conversation with white
persons, when they could be overheard by slaves near by, especially in
grog-shops, during which conversation, he would artfully introduce some
bold remark on slavery; and sometimes, when from the character of the
person 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. He continued
this course till 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 they did their masters, and one
of them declared, even more than his God.”
The excitement which the revelations of the trial occasioned, and
the continual fanning of the flame by the newspapers, was beyond
description. Double guard in the city, the country patrol on horseback
and on foot, the watchfulness that was observed on all plantations,
showed the deep feeling of fear pervading the hearts of the
slave-holders, not only in South Carolina, but the fever extended to the
other Southern States, and all seemed to feel that a great crisis had
been passed. And, indeed, their fears appear not to have been without
ground; for a more complicated plan for an insurrection could scarcely
have been conceived.
Many were of opinion, that, the rising once begun, they would have taken
the city, and held it, and might have sealed the fate of slavery in the
South. The best account of this whole matter is to be found in an able
article in the “Atlantic Monthly” for June, 1861, from the pen of Col.
T. W. Higginson, and to which I am indebted for the extracts contained
in this sketch.