Slave Revolts

Uprisings among enslaved people, with the goal of winning freedom. More than 100 slave insurrections occurred during the history of slavery in the United States. Although most slave revolts were small and quickly put down, there were three major revolts that are still remembered today. Led by Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, and Nat Turner, these revolts all occurred between 1800 and 1831. All three were inspired by the slave revolts in Haiti, which had begun in 1791, and the American and French Revolutions, with their ideals of equality.

On August 30, 1800, a twenty-four-year-old slave named Gabriel Prosser led a revolt that was intended to culminate in an attack on Richmond, Virginia. If the citizens of Richmond would not surrender, the rebels planned to kill all of the whites, with the exception of Quakers, Methodists, Frenchmen, and poor people, who were regarded as sympathetic to blacks. Unfortunately for the plotters, on the day the insurrection was to begin, a severe storm struck Virginia, wiping out roads and bridges. This forced the rebels to delay their progress toward Richmond. In the meantime, two slaves betrayed the plot, and the government took swift action. Thirty-five of the participants, including Prosser, were executed. Because the leaders refused to divulge any details of their plans, the exact number of rebels involved in the plot remains unknown.

When a slave named Denmark Vesey won $1,500 in a lottery in 1800, he spent $600 of his winnings to purchase his freedom. Once free, Vesey worked as a carpenter in Charleston, South Carolina. Concerned over the plight of those still languishing in slavery, Vesey formed a plan for an insurrection to win freedom for other African Americans in and around Charleston. The revolt was scheduled for [Page 758]June 14, 1822, but before the plans could be put into motion, a slave informed on the rebels. Around 9,000 people had been involved in the planned revolt, which would have likely succeeded in capturing Charleston had it not been for the informants. More than a hundred individuals were arrested, including four whites who had provided support and encouragement. Thirty-five of the leaders, including Vesey, were executed.

The bloodiest slave revolt, in which some sixty whites were murdered, occurred in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831. The leader of the revolt, Nat Turner, a slave and self-proclaimed prophet, believed that he had seen a series of signs urging him to lead his people, as had Moses, away from slavery. As Turner's conviction deepened, he interpreted a solar eclipse that occurred in February 1831 as a sign that the day of vengeance was at hand. In the following months, he collected a small group of followers, and on August 21, 1831, they began a rebellion. Unlike Prosser and Vesey, Turner conveyed his plans to just a few individuals, which lessened his chance of betrayal. As the rebellion began, the group moved from farm to farm, slaughtering white slaveowners. They were joined in their progress by many of the slaves who were freed when their masters were killed. On August 22, near the town of Jerusalem, the rebels were met with armed resistance. Turner escaped but was recaptured on October 30, and he was executed on November 11, 1831.

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