Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 44, June, 1861 by Various

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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 January 15th,
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 the slaves 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 who turned traitor, any opinion as to the numbers
actually engaged must appear altogether conjectural. One witness said
nine thousand; another, six thousand six hundred. These statements
were probably extravagant, though not more so than Governor 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 best 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 cooeperation, 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 an
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
of 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 cooeperation from any white man.

The trial of the conspirators began on Wednesday, June 19th. At the
request of the Intendant, Justices Kennedy and Parker summoned five
freeholders (Messrs. Drayton, Heyward, Pringle, Legare, 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 Governor
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.

It is a matter of painful necessity to acknowledge that the proceedings
of all slave-tribunals justify the honest admission of Governor 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." And so on.

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 leader ship; and one more 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 too 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 everything 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 2d, upon Blake's lands, near
Charleston,--Denmark Vesey, Peter Poyas, Jess, 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
12th, and twenty-two more on July 26th. Four others suffered their fate
on July 30th; and one more, William Garner, effected a temporary escape,
was captured and tried by a different court, and was finally executed on
August 9th.

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. Governor 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
farther 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 blundered 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 door-step,--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 sack-cloth. 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."

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