Gabriel’s Rebellion

Richmond, VA

1800

Background

• Gabriel was born in 1776, on Thomas Prosser's tobacco

plantation in Henrico County, Virginia. When he was about ten,

Gabriel and his brother Solomon began training as blacksmiths.

• Although almost nothing is known about Gabriel's parents, it is

likely that his father was a blacksmith, because skills were

typically passed from generation to generation in Virginia slave

families. As a child, Gabriel was also taught to read and write.

Physical Aspects

• Gabriel was unusually intelligent, and unusually large; by the age of 20 he

was six feet, two or three inches tall, and was enormously strong from his

years of smithing.

• Even older slaves saw him as a leader.

Situation

• Prosser died in 1798, and his son Thomas Henry Prosser, at the age of 22, became the new master of the Brookfield Plantation. Thomas Henry was a cruel and economically ambitious master, and it is likely that he pushed his slaves too hard.

• He also hired out some of his skilled slaves, including Gabriel and Solomon, a practice that was common in Virginia at the time -- and one that allowed slaves more freedom than some Virginians were comfortable with.

• Although the state legislature made laws attempting to curtail hiring out, they were not enforced, largely because local merchants and artisans relied heavily on the cheap labor that they could get from hiring slaves, as opposed to white tradesmen.

Access

• Thomas Henry allowed Gabriel to hire

himself out to masters in and around

Richmond, giving him access to a certain

amount of freedom, as well as money.

• Gabriel also met fellow hired slaves, free

blacks, and white laborers, with whom he

shared work and leisure time.

Melting Pot

• Many free blacks, though they faced overwhelming discrimination, managed to prosper as small business owners in the Richmond economy.

• Even more threatening to city authorities were the bonds that were formed among slaves, free blacks and working class whites, who worked and socialized together, especially in a city in which whites, and especially wealthy whites, were in the minority.

• Laws were passed curtailing socializing between slaves and free blacks, and interracial grog shops were raided.

Air of Independence

• Gabriel experienced several strong influences: the rhetoric of the American Revolution; the uprising in Saint Dominque (Haiti), the radical words of white artisans who championed the working class; the success exhibited by free blacks; his own hatred of the merchants who routinely cheated the slaves they hired; his desire to be free and to prosper.

• He was moving toward a revolutionary stance that Solomon described in his court confession: "My brother Gabriel was the person who influenced me to join him and others in order that (as he said) we might conquer the white people and possess ourselves of their property."

Lessons Learned

• In September of 1799, Gabriel, Solomon, and a fellow slave named Jupiter stole a

pig. When caught by white overseer Absalom Johnson, Gabriel wrestled him to the

ground and bit off most of his ear. In court, he was found guilty of maiming a

white man, a capital offense, but Gabriel escaped execution through a loophole

called "benefit of clergy," that allowed him to choose public branding over

execution, if he could recite a verse from the Bible.

• Gabriel recited his verse, and then was branded in his left hand in open court. The

branding, as well as the month he spent in jail, was the last in a long chain of

offenses that pushed him toward open rebellion.

Allies

• Inspired by Saint Dominque (Haiti) and spurred on by working-class talk of a truly egalitarian society, Gabriel decided it was time to act. He believed that if the slaves rose and fought for their rights, the poor white people would join them. His plan involved seizing Capitol Square in Richmond and taking Governor James Monroe as a hostage, in order to bargain with city authorities.

• According to later testimony, one of the conspirators also "was to go to the nation of Indians called Catawbas to persuade them to join the negroes to fight the white people." It was also believed that a French "army was landed at South Key, which they hoped would assist them." Their banner would bear the motto "death or Liberty," the battle cry of Saint Dominque.

Recruitment

• Gabriel conveyed his plan to Solomon and Ben, another of Prosser's slaves, and the

men began recruiting soldiers. They were later joined by other recruiters.

• The rebels did not include women in their army. While the majority of the men were

slaves, the conspirators also drew free blacks and a few white workers to their cause,

especially as they began recruiting in Richmond. Two Frenchmen and militant

abolitionists, Charles Quersey and Alexander Beddenhurst, joined the ranks as leaders.

• A slave recruit named King, when told of the plot, said, "I was never so glad to hear

anything in my life. I am ready to join them at any moment. I could slay the white

people like sheep."

Planning

• The conspirators continued recruiting from Richmond and other Virginia

towns, including Petersburg, Norfolk and Albemarle, and from the counties

of Caroline and Louisa.

• After some difficulty, they were also successful in recruiting slaves from the

Henrico County countryside. In this way they were preparing for the most

far-reaching slave revolt ever planned in U.S. history. They also amassed

weapons and began hammering swords out of scythes and molding bullets.

“Death or Liberty”

• By August of 1800, Gabriel's army was ready. Their plan, necessarily more elaborate now, included the taking of Norfolk and Petersburg by the men living there.

• Gabriel announced that they would move on the night of Saturday, August 30. As the lieutenants delivered news of the date to the outlying areas, a rumor of insurrection surfaced among Richmond whites, who reported it to Governor Monroe, who ignored it.

Problems

• On August 30, a torrential rain began, described by James

Callender, a person in jail for violating the sedition law, as "the

most terrible thunder Storm... that I ever witnessed in this State."

• A handful of men gathered at the appointed meeting spot, but it

soon became clear that the quickly rising water would make key

roads and bridges impassable.

Betrayal

• The conspirators decided to postpone until Sunday evening, August 31.

But before they had a chance to carry out their plan, slaves in two

different locations cracked under the pressure and told their masters.

• Soon Governor Monroe was alerted, and white patrols, later joined by

the state militia, began roaming the countryside searching for rebels.

Gabriel and Jack Ditcher disappeared. Others eluded capture for several

days, but by September 9, almost 30 slaves were in jail awaiting trial in

the court of "Oyer and Terminer," a special court in which slaves were

tried without benefit of jury.

On the Run

• When the trials began on September 11, Gabriel

and Ditcher were still at large, and white

authorities had no idea of how extensive the

insurrection had been.

• White Virginians were terrified at the thought of

how close the danger had come. One white fear,

typical in times of black rebellion, was that black

men were out to get white women.

Interrogations

• One strategy that the white authorities used was to offer a full pardon to a handful

of slaves who were willing to give testimony against the other conspirators. Gervas

Storrs and Joseph Seldon, two of the court magistrates, found two key witnesses in

this way: Ben, one of Prosser's slaves, and Ben Woolfolk.

• Prosser's Ben came forward first, and his testimony sent a number of slaves from

his area to the gallows, including Gabriel's brothers Solomon and Martin. But

Prosser's Ben did not have enough contact with slaves from the outlying areas, and

so the court looked to Ben Woolfolk to give the damning evidence. Other slaves

provided further testimony.

“Holy Insurrection"

• On September 14, Gabriel swam to a schooner called Mary on the James River. He asked to see the captain, a white man named Richardson Taylor. Two black men on board, Taylor's former slave Isham and a slave named Billy, identified Gabriel as the leader of the plot.

• Though a former overseer, Taylor had apparently had a change of heart about slavery. He attempted to take Gabriel to freedom. However, when the ship docked in Norfolk, Billy alerted white authorities to Gabriel's presence on board, no doubt thinking of the $300 reward being offered for Gabriel's capture. Gabriel and Taylor were both arrested. Billy was rewarded, but not what he had expected. He received $50, far below what he needed to purchase his freedom.

Execution

• On October 6, Gabriel was put on trial. Several witnesses came forward, but

Gabriel himself refused to make a statement. He was sentenced to be

executed the next day, but asked that his sentence not be carried out until

October 10, so that he could be executed along with six other slaves who

were to hang on that day.

• The court agreed, but on October 10 they hanged the slaves in three

different locations; Gabriel was hanged alone on the town gallows.

Aftermath

• In all, the trials lasted almost two months, and 26 slaves were executed by hanging; one more died by hanging while in custody. At least 65 slaves were tried; of those not hanged, some were transported to other states, some were found not guilty, and a few were pardoned.

• By law, slaveholders had to be reimbursed by the state for lost property, so in cases where slaves were executed or transported, their masters were reimbursed for their total worth declared by the court. Virginia paid over $8900 to slaveholders for the executed slaves.

Newspaper Accounts

The public mind has been much involved in dangerous apprehensions, concerning an insurrection of the negroes in several of the adjacent counties. Such a thing has been in agitation among the blacks, principally instigated by an ambitious and insidious fellow, a slave, by the name of GABRIEL, the property of Mr. Thomas Prosser, of the county of Henrico. This villain, assuming to himself the appellation of General, through his artfulness, has caused some disturbance, having induced many poor, ignorant, and unfortunate creatures to share in his nefarious and horrid design (Columbian Mirror, September 16,1800).

Trials

• Although most of the suspects were tried in Richmond, blacks captured in other counties were tried in those locations. Many of them shared the same fates as the Richmond slaves. However, in Hanover County, two slaves escaped with the help of blacks outside the prison and were never recovered.

• In Norfolk County, the magistrates questioned slaves and working-class whites alike, trying to find witnesses. But no one, including the accused slaves, would come forward with evidence, and the slaves were released.

• In Petersburg, four free blacks were arrested, but they too were released after the frustrated authorities could find no viable witnesses. There were slaves willing to give condemning evidence, but the testimony of slaves against free people was inadmissible in Virginia courts.

Columbian Mirror, Saturday, 4

October, 1800.

President Jefferson’s Letter to

Governor Monroe

• On September 15, 1800, after ten of the rebels convicted of taking part in Gabriel's Conspiracy had been executed,

Governor James Monroe wrote a letter to Vice President and fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson. In it, he asked for

Jefferson's advice: "When to arrest the hand of the Executioner is a question of great importance."

• Five days later Jefferson replied: "[T]here is a strong sentiment that there has been hanging enough. The other states

& the world at large will forever condemn us if we indulge in a principle of revenge, or go one step beyond absolute

necessity." While cautioning that he was "unwilling to be quoted in the case," Jefferson suggested that the men in

question be imprisoned in a "fort & garrison" to allow the legislature time to "pass a law for their exportation, the

proper measure on this & all similar occasions[.]"

• With twenty-five slaves by now executed, Governor Monroe looked for an alternative solution, eventually deciding

to transport some of the condemned rebels out of state by selling them to slave traders. Many of them, including

Jack Ditcher, one of the leaders, were eventually sold in Spanish New Orleans.

Gov. 'pardons' Gabriel's Rebellion slave

According to the USA Today (2007), in 2007 Virginia Governor Tim Kaine

pardons Gabriel Prosser. Kaine said “Gabriel's cause -- the end of slavery and

the furtherance of equality of all people -- has prevailed in the light of history,"

Kaine wrote to the Virginia chapter of the NAACP, which sought the pardon.

"It is important to acknowledge that history favorably regards Gabriel's cause

while consigning legions who sought to keep him and others in chains to be

forgotten (USA Today, 2007)”.

Confession of Solomon

• Solomon, Gabriel's brother and a leader in the unsuccessful rebellion of 1800, was one of nearly 30 slaves captured near Brookfield Plantation and imprisoned in Richmond in the week following discovery of the conspiracy.

• With Gabriel and other leaders still at large, Solomon was the first to be tried. On September 11, 1800, he was convicted on the basis of testimony offered by Pharoah and by Ben, a young Prosser slave who become involved early in the conspiracy.

• In his confession, recorded by court magistrates Gervas Storrs and Joseph Seldon, Solomon described the plan "conquer the white people and possess ourselves of their property." Solomon's testimony gave indication of how ambitious the plan was: "Gabriel informed me, in case of success, that they intended to subdue the whole of the country where slavery was permitted, but no further.“ Solomon was found guilty of conspiracy and insurrection and sentenced to be hanged the following morning.

Rebel's statement from Gabriel's Conspiracy

• On September 25, 1804, several years after the trials and executions of Gabriel and his fellow conspirators, Robert Sutcliff, a visitor to Virginia, noted the lingering specter of the insurrection.

• Sutcliff recorded in his journal a story conveyed to him by a local lawyer. In the midst of his trial, an unnamed conspirator was said to have told his accusers, "I have nothing more to than what General Washington would have had to offer, had he been taken by the British and put to trial by them."

• Sutcliff's journal, "Travels in Some Parts of North America, in the Years 1804, 1805, & 1806" was published in Philadelphia in 1812.

Reference:

Columbian Mirror. (1800). Tuesday September 16. http://www.executedtoday.com/2010/10/10/1800-gabriel-prosser-rebellion-virginia/

Gabriel Prosser. (1998). In Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale.

Nicholls, M. L. (2012). "Holy insurrection": spinning the news of Gabriel's conspiracy. Journal of Southern History, 78(1), 37+.

PBS, 2014. Gabriel’s conspiracy. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1576.html

USA Today, (2007). Gov pardons Gabriel‘s rebellion slave. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-31-569227313_x.htm