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.
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."
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 _caught_, but not _tamed_. 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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 _Commercial Advertiser_, "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."
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."
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 _National Intelligencer_, 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 _Courant_ 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."
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 _Courant_
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.
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.
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.
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.
Of course the insurrection threw the whole slavery question open to the
public. "We are sorry to see," said the _National Intelligencer_ 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
_American Farmer_ 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 _in towns_; 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.
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 _exclusively_ to the white population of the United States. The
American Revolution was _a family quarrel among equals_. 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."
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.
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.
NAT TURNER'S INSURRECTION