gabriel's rebellion of 1800gabriel's rebellion of 1800

General Gabriel, meanwhile, became a name revered in story and song. Because their plan to overrun the guards did not require that most men be equipped with firearms at the outset, blacksmiths like Gabriel, his brother Solomon, and Thornton, who worked at a forge at Hanover Court House, refashioned scythe blades into swords; one witness claimed that twelve dozen such weapons were created. Gabriel's Rebellion, 1800. (June 29, 2023). As an occupational group, they were among the Revolution's biggest winners. Musket balls and 50 spears were created. Jack Bowler, meanwhile, surrendered on October 9, was convicted on October 29, and was transported out of state. In 1799, Gabriel, his brother Soloman, and a man named Jupiter, tried to steal a pig from Absalom Johnson. This, then, was a song slaves could sing in front of Whites. Eight enslaved men were moved or sold outside of Virginia. Although their plan did not require the conspirators to be fully armed when they rushed into Richmond, it did demand a force large enough to overwhelm the guards and hold the town. As they returned from Rocketts, the armed rebels would then attack the whites and spread the word. Edited by Giles Gunn, SLAVE INSURRECTIONS. James, an enslaved man owned by Elisha Price, and Scipio, an enslaved man owned by Paul Thilman, both of whom have been convicted for their involvement in Gabriel's Conspiracy, are pardoned. The article printed in the Liberator mentioned an African American song called Gabriels Defeat, and set to the tune of the same name, reportedly heard in Virginia. Reprinted in Early American Writing Several years later, on December 3, 1797, Richmond authorities charged Jacob Valentine, a white man who had been an officer during the Revolutionary War, with committing and encouraging an Insurrection among the Slaves of the City of Richmond. When he couldnt produce a bond on December 11 to guarantee his good behavior, the court incarcerated him for several months, but nothing else seems to have come of this incident. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. He lived on Brookfield Plantation (2) in Henrico County. UNAUTHORIZED REPUBLICATION IS A COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONContent Usage Permissions. Monroe proposed to his council that condemned men be reprieved until the next meeting of the assembly, but the council refused. [14], During the spring and summer of 1800, Gabriel began to plan a revolt that intended to end slavery in Virginia. He found sympathetic ears among George Smith, an enslaved man of another widow, Ann Smith; Gilbert, who was held by William Young; and Ben Woolfolk, a hired enslaved man who also worked at Youngs plantation. Later that month a conversation was overheard in Richmond among several Black men who, it was alleged, were discussing what property would soon be theirs; their purported reference to Saint-Domingue stirred up authorities in the capital. A charismatic blacksmith named Gabriel, who was owned by Thomas Prosser, of Henrico County, planned to enter Richmond with force, capture the Capitol and the Virginia State Armory, and hold Governor James Monroe hostage to bargain for freedom for Virginia's slaves. Douglas Egerton illuminates the complex motivations that underlay two related Virginia slave revolts: the first, in 1800, led by the slave known as Gabriel; and the second, called the 'Easter Plot,' instigated in 1802 by one of his followers. Gabriel was born a slave in 1776 on the tobacco plantation of Thomas Prosser, in Henrico County, southwest of Richmond, Virginia. Perhaps the charismatic and talented Gabriel could have become a successful black political leader like Toussaint L'Ouverture. 1. It appeared to focus on exactly what authorities hoped slaves would remember about the conspiracy, but it did not accept a White version of the story. Douglas Egerton illuminates the complex motivations that underlay two related Virginia slave revolts: the first, in 1800, led by the slave known as Gabriel; and the second, called the 'Easter Plot, ' instigated in 1802 by one of his followers. Gabriel's Conspiracy was a plan by enslaved African American men to attack Richmond and destroy slavery in Virginia. Gabriel's planned uprising was notable not because of its resultsthe rebellion was quelled before it could beginbut because of its potential for mass chaos and widespread violence. While the men already secretly possessed a handful of firearms, they also planned to seize a small cache of militia muskets stored at a neighborhood tavern. Two Black menone enslaved, the other a freemanwere given small rewards for their roles in securing Gabriel and Jack Bowler. The plot's leaders, Gabriel and Jack Bowler, disappear. Largely excluded from the plot were enslaved women, though recruiters did not explain why. Sheppard warned Governor Monroe, who called out the state militia. As the conspiracy unfolded and was then crushed, it became part of the larger political struggle between Federalists and Republicans. The judges, not a jury, decided guilt and innocence, and a unanimous verdict was required for conviction. Federalists charged that if Jefferson and his party came to power, Americas future would be marked by enslaved laborers revolting under the banner of French revolutionary ideals. Both Gabriel and Jack Bowler were among those captured and tried. In 2007, Governor Tim Kaine gave Gabriel and his followers an informal pardon, in recognition that his cause, "the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality for all peoplehas prevailed in the light of history". Douglas Egerton illuminates the complex motivations that underlay two related Virginia slave revolts: the first, in 1800, led by the slave known as Gabriel; and the second, called the 'Easter Plot, ' instigated in 1802 by one of his followers. Three enslaved men connected to Gabriel's Conspiracy are pardoned: Solomon, Dick, and Randolph. During the summer of 1800, as part of his evaluation of the state's military preparedness, Governor Monroe compelled the county militias to collect all weapons and turn them in for reconditioning to the Richmond penitentiary, which was temporarily transformed into an arsenal. The warrant described Gabriel as "a Negro of brown complexion about 6 feet 3 or 4 inches high, a bony face, well made and very active, has two or three scars on his head, his hair is very short. They hoped to incite similar slave rebellions in Norfolk and Petersburg, After the rebellion, many slaveholders greatly restricted the slaves' ability to travel after a second conspiracy was discovered in 1802 among enslaved boatmen along the Appomattox and Roanoke Rivers. This attempted insurrection near Richmond was organized during the Haitian Revolution and the undeclared naval war between the U.S. and France. "Of those who have been executed, no one has betrayed his cause. In 1800 Gabriel Prosser, a skilled and literate slave blacksmith, used his permission to travel regularly throughout the Richmond area to organize a rebellion of skilled slave artisans in the city and surrounding areas. "Enslaved African Rebellions in Virginia. a person who, Woolman, John Men from the Brook were soon taken up and placed in the public jail and penitentiary, and more were arrested as the evidence mounted. Some confusion had arisen over the admissibility of the testimony of enslaved people against free blacksit had been permitted in one case but not in othersand it was now allowed. University Press of Florida, 2017). The alleged involvement of two Frenchmen in the plot provided fodder for Federalist attacks on Thomas Jeffersons candidacy for the presidency that year. 1800] . Gabriel's Rebellion tells the dramatic story of what was perhaps the most extensive slave conspiracy in the history of the American South. Historian Douglas R. Egerton and author of Gabriel's Rebellion, states: "He was physically big, he was literate, he's a fighter, he's a skilled artisan. Published in 1994 Similarly, the Virginia legislature attempted to prevent enslaved people from piloting boats, a position from which they could travel too freely and learn about changes in the outside world that threatened white masters. The third, Ben Woolfolk, was enslaved by Paul Graham of Caroline and Hanover, but had been hired to William Young. Furthermore he had sailed to North America in 1837, noting in his diary his interest in the shanties he repeatedly heard: 'The seamen, as usual lightened their labour with the song and chorusThe one they sung was particularly musical, though not refined; and the chorus of Oh! Although thwarted, it remains one of the half-dozen most important insurrection plots in the history of North American slavery. Gabriel), Gabrieli, Andrea (also known as Andrea di Cannategio), https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gabriels-rebellion, Slavery in the Upper South (AR, NC, TN, VA). Local patrols submitted larger than normal claims for pay to county courts. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Starting as early as 1663, slaves were organizing revolts to regain their freedom. (Real Audiencia of Panama, New Spain, suppressed), (British Province of New York, suppressed), (British Chesapeake Colonies, suppressed), (British Province of South Carolina, suppressed), (off the Southern U.S. coast, victorious). Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802. ." Testimony in the Trial of Gabriel, 6 October 1800. On 1 August 1789, after hearing of the events in France, the slaves rose up in a rebellion that was brutally put down by the authorities after the rebels burned 6000 coffee estates and 200 sugar plantations. Enslaved and free Black-American men in Virginia taught their metalwork skills to their sons. Gabriel often spoke of creating a silk flag bearing the motto "Death or Liberty," as an echo of both Patrick Henry and of the Whiskey Rebellion, which had raged across the frontiers of Virginia in 1790. A Failed Insurrection. At the same time Gabriel also shows how fully African Americans embraced central currents of American politics and culture. [6] In addition, two slaves told their owner, Mosby Sheppard, about the plans. The activities of a literate slave named Gabriel in Richmond, Virginia, present a final critical view of Jeffersonian America. The reinvigorated slave societies of the south thrived in the 19th century and only ended with the massive violence of the Civil War. On September 23, in Norfolk, one of the vessels enslaved crewmen turned Gabriel in. Lured by the bounty, however, two men on the Mary, a slave named Isham and a free black named Billy, alerted authorities when the boat docked in Norfolk. A torrential rainstorm hit the area in the afternoon, washing out bridges and making it impossible for the rebels to travel from Henrico County into Richmond. '[the] song subvertsby exaggerating the reward and by foregrounding the extent of state repression aimed at a single man. Leader of Gabriel's Rebellion in Virginia, United States (1800). 5 (1997): 598-614. When Johnson caught the brothers, he fought with Gabriel, who beat him and also bit off part of Johnson's left ear. In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, Governor James Monroe seeks advice on how best to punish those slaves arrested in connection with Gabriel's Conspiracy. Emigrants from Haiti, both white and black, came to Virginia to spread the word of this successful slave rebellion and black government. The reimbursement of owners for executed enslaved laborers represented only part of the states financial costs in suppressing the conspiracy. - The Virginia Argus, October 14, 1800. Gabriel's Rebellion Historic Highway Marker Virginia Department of Historic Resources . The trials of enslaved men suspected of participating in Gabriel's Conspiracy begin in Henrico County. Toward sundown a massive storm of wind and rain made any gathering of conspirators impossible, so the leaders, unaware of the betrayal, postponed the attack for one night. He can read and write and perhaps will forge himself a pass, or certificate of his freedom.". This was especially true when, in June, the federal regiment demobilized, an event the conspirators noted. Douglas Egerton illuminates the complex motivations that underlay two related Virginia slave revolts: the first, in 1800, led by the slave known as Gabriel; and the second, called the 'Easter. Activists have met at the site, which later became Lumpkin's Slave Jail, on Aug. 30 for the past five or six years to remember Gabriel and his planned rebellion. The state of Virginia was seething with the presidential campaign between native son Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in a campaign to define the "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" promised by the American Revolution. I know that you have pre-determined to shed my blood, why then all this mockery of a trial?". There is, however, no evidence to support the thesis that the plot was "led by Nancy [sic] Prosser and her husband, Gabriel." Slaveholders feared such violent excesses as those related to the French Revolution after 1789 and the rebellion of slaves in Saint-Domingue. However, public references to Gabriel were few until Nat Turners Revolt in 1831 prompted an essay titled Gabriels Defeat, which was published first in the Albany Evening Journaland then in some other northern newspapers, including the Boston Liberator, which printed the piece on September 17, 1831. Twenty five were acquitted. His execution was advertised as occurring at the usual place, however in 1800 that may have been a location other than the Burial Ground for Negroes. Johnson. Jack Bowler, alias Jack Ditcher, an enslaved man owned by the estate of the late William Bowler, is tried and convicted of conspiring to lead a slave insurrection. James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson were concerned about the optics of having so many people executed. Thomas Jefferson, who owned 185 slaves, used money and favors to bribe some slaves to act as spies; other slave owners publicly offered freedom to slaves who betrayed plans for rebellion. His long and "bony face, well made", was marred by the loss of his two front teeth and "two or three scars on his head". A series of "trials" began in the Oyer and Terminer Court on 11 September. Monroe broadened the inquiry to include the subject of colonization in general, and TJ replied later that year, on 24 Nov. (Egerton, Gabriel's Rebellion description begins Douglas R. Egerton, Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802, Chapel Hill, 1993. description ends , 151, 186-7; CVSP description begins . He was hanged on 10 October 1800. //]]>. Plantations, which had once been isolated and self-sufficient entities, now shipped and bought commodities from Richmond. Peter, an enslaved man owned by the estate of W. P. Claiborne, is executed in Dinwiddie County for conspiracy, possibly in connection with Gabriel's plot. Gabriel even hopedincorrectly, as it turned outthat Governor Monroe might be sympathetic to a movement by the slaves to free themselves. [13] Hundreds of slaves from central Virginia[d] expected to march into Richmond and take control of the Virginia State Armory and the Virginia State Capitol. I have adventured my life in endeavoring to obtain the liberty of my countrymen, and am willing to sacrifice to their cause; and I beg as a favour, that I may be immediately led to execution. Charged with "committing and encouraging an Insurrection among the Slaves of the City of Richmond," Jacob Valentine, a white man, appears in a Richmond court but is unable to post a bond. The aborted uprising also provoked refinements in the states slave laws at the next meeting of the General Assembly, including the adoption of transportation as an alternative to capital punishment for some enslaved offenders and calls for an end to private manumissions and for the deportation of free Blacks. On the day the attack was to begin, Solomon said he expected 1,000 men to gather that night, a figure that still would have required a large portion of the able-bodied men in the area. There was also some hope that the rebellion would be joined by poor whites in Richmond and by the Catawba Indians, who lived on the frontiers, and even a distant possibility that the French might provide military assistance. Vesey's rebellion (1822) was to have involved, according to some accounts, as many as 9,000 slaves from the surrounding area, but the conspiracy was betrayed in June before the plan could be effected. But if enslavers believed their enslaved people were better off and that the institution was generally secure, the uprisings and rebellion that began in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue increased anxieties over its potential influence on Virginias enslaved population, especially after hundreds of white refugees, some with their enslaved property, began arriving in Virginia in July 1793. Five slaves are pardoned: Abraham, Dick, Peter, and two men named Billy. $39.95 (cloth); $13.95 (paper). Woolfolk was found guilty, but in exchange for a pardon he confessed and surrendered many names. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Gabriel was tried and convicted on October 6 and hanged in Richmond on October 10. Ten enslaved men connected to Gabriel's Conspiracy are executed in and about Richmond: Gabriel, Sam Byrd Jr., Isaac, Laddis, George, Gilbert, Tom, Michael, William, and Sam Graham. Seven others, though, were taken that day to two other sites outside of Richmond, most likely to serve as warnings to the areas larger enslaved populations. 1. The costs involved drained state coffers. In 2004, the Virginia Board of Historic Resources approved a historic highway marker at the spot where Gabriel was then believed to have been hanged on October 10, 1800. Because he was a valuable bondsman for Prosser, the judge sentenced him to jail for one month and had his thumb branded. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"0Kb5vzI7dQRMHYKpik2YWsnaCjV0k8C3mcfsZWArPe8-86400-0"}; [1][5] White people as well as black people regarded the literate young man as "a fellow of great courage and intellect above his rank in life".[5]. Although elsewhere in his fiction Marryat sometimes invents lyrics to songs, this is unlikely to be the case with the shanty about Gabriel. More important, in late morning on 30 August, two slaves of Mosby Shepherd named Pharaoh and Tom confessed to their master about the planned rebellion. Gabriel remains a difficult figure to fully reconstruct from surviving historical evidence. They patrolled the area and began picking up conspirators. Some rebels were "transported," or sold south, and a few were declared innocent. Ploughshares into Swords: Race, Rebellion, and Identity in Gabriel's Virginia, 1730-1810. Jacob, an enslaved man belonging to Thomas Woodfin and convicted in connection with Gabriel's Conspiracy, is pardoned. [12][b] Their number was augmented by free black refugees from the Haitian Revolution, many of whom had been slaveowners themselves. [17][13] Gabriel escaped downriver to Norfolk, but he was spotted and betrayed there by another slave named Will "Billy" King. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993. xiii + 262 pp. [13] Two men received their freedom for informing their slaveholder of the plot. The Revolution: Whites fought over who would get the slaves to fight with them 1800 Election: Civil war was going to erupt Skip to main content These boatmen were so important that, during the rebellion, Governor James Monroe was reluctant to ship weapons to outlying areas on the skiffs because he feared that the pilots would turn over the weapons to the rebels. Gabriel also secretly met with two Frenchmen who seemed to have promised him international assistance. Two of them were not prosecuted: Ben, who was enslaved by Thomas Henry Prosser and who worked with Gabriel; and John, enslaved by Sally Price but hired out in Richmond. Born on Oct. 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Va., the week before Gabriel was hanged, Nat Turner impressed family and friends with an unusual sense of purpose, even . Too small a group would be suicidal, so recruits needed to be assured that they were part of a substantial force. They have uniformly met death with fortitude.". To enslaved men in the area, the undeclared, so-called Quasi-War with France (17981800) and the divisive nature of politics as reflected in the political campaigns of 1800 may well have made it seem an opportune time to rebel. Late in the spring of 1800 a group of enslaved men who were held on plantations in the neighborhood of the Brook, north of Richmond, initiated a plot to obtain their freedom. Gabriel ultimately attracted a following estimated at five to six hundred. . Images: Transcripts: Page 1 Page 2 "Anonymus" to Governor John Floyd, 28 August 1831. [6], But on August 30, 1800, the planned day of attack, heavy rain flooded the streets of Richmond and the creeks in central Virginia. Two Virginians, Ferdinando Fairfax and St. George Tucker, had presented plans for the gradual elimination of the institution, but both tied their schemes to expectations that freed people of color would be forced out of the state. In 1802, rumors of a planned insurrection circulated again in Henrico County, and in two separate incidents, four men were tried for conspiracy and three convicted.