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 _cullah_, 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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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."
"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."
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.
"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.
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.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
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."
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 _person_, 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.