The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-11-11
Insurrections at the South.

ohA0u az. uc OTSd0lZdIlOuS vi Iuc ldQC
are too strong, and the resources of insur
gents too feeble, ever to command success
Besides, cOnspirators have some conscience
left, and cannot always be reliable. Their
dreadful secret cannot be kept long. II
leaked out in Charleston, in 1922, and the
Secretary of War was informed of the late
plot in good time, though he chose to disre.
gard it. The very name of the ringleadel
in the Charleston plot was made known tc
the Secretary of War, and some of the
movements were pointed out. The ring.
leader OF the plot bore the name of Den
mark Vezey. He was a free mulatto
cunning, active, restless, and possessing a
talent of influencing Legroes. which he piled
with dexerity. The negroes, long indul ged
held secret meetings, some of which were
prOfessedly religious, and the exhorters
among them participated in them. They
could not be said to complain of oppression
for many of them were trusted, and even
petted servants in the households of their
masters, carrying the keys, and enjoying
liberty compatible with their stations yet
they devised one of the most diabolical plots
of blood and murder that ever stained the
annals of instruction. The progress of
their trial by court of magistrates and
freeho,ders was fearful, and fruitful in the
disclosures. 1t was in evidence that the
plan was to murder the masters, appropriate
the desirable females to their own british
uses, burn the city, and in the midst of the
panic and confagration, rseize the ships in
port, and push for the Island of St. Domin-
go. One of the praying negroes, smitten
probably by his conscience, for he had been
greatly INDUCED in the pious and respecta
BILE family of his master, gave the clue to
the conspiracy, and after a long and full
trial, some thirty or forty were sentenced to
death, which sentence was thoroughly carried
into execution by hanging. We have never
heard of any subsequent attempt in that
quarter to repeat this style of self-emanci-
patton. We suspect the tradition of that
awful retributiOn has been faithfully handed
down to this generation, and that the exam
pie has been powerful to deter all like
minded servants from adventuring upon the
repetition of the crime.
A more successful attempt was maze in
Virginia in 1881. The scene of massacre
was in the county of Southampton. near the
North Carolina border. One Nat Turner,
a slave Of Benjamin Turner, about thirty
years of age, ignorant and fanatical, ina
gined himself a prophet, sent of God to do
a great work. His grandmother and moth
er had long deluded him that he was born
for some extraordinary need, and he was
weak and foolish enough to embrace the de-
fusion. He succeeded in persuadng gang
of his fellow slaves to rise upon their owners
and perpetrate an indiscriminate massacre.
1t was sudden outbreak, of which none
were forewarned, for which none were pre-
pared. No such thing had been known in
the history of the region. All was quiet
and peaceful. Nothing was suspected.
The patrios were scarcely in existence. The
men had mostly gone to the camp meeting
or its vicinity. All looked fair without,
while volcano was seething beneath. 1t
was the month of August, month in which
the ear becomes accustomed to the loud
sounds of the negroes, gathered to the har-
vests singing in concert, and often hallooing
at their work or play, as suits their taste,
for they have special love for nocturnal
revelry.
Suddenly, On the 2ist and 22d August,
1881, this band of desperate fellows rose
upon the whites, and commenced the massa-
ere Of men, women and children. Among
the murdered were Mr.. Travers' wife and
three children; Mrs. Whitehead, her son,
four daughters, and one grandchild; Mrs.
Waller and TEN children; Mrs. Williams,
her husband, and their two SONS Mrs. ia
cob Williams, and three children, with others,
masters and overseers; in all, FIFTY-FIvE
fell, pleading for mercy from the inhuman
monsters. Guns, axes and swords were the
weapons used in this murderous work.
compared with the destruction wrought by
which, the scene at Harper's Ferry was one
of mercy. The insurgent slaves had all
been destroyed, or apprehended, tried and
executed, with the exception of the ring
leader, without revealing anything at all
satisfactory as to the motives which urged
them on and the means by which they ex.
pected to accomplish their object. All was
wrapped in mystery. until Nat Turner, the
leader of the gang, who succeeded in hiding
himself for two months, was at length cap.
tured in a cave by one man, Benjamin
Phipps, who was armed with shotgun, and
to whom Nat sullenly surrendered without
offering any resistance, though armed with a
sword. He appeared to anticipate his
doom, and to yield to it as matter of ne.
cessity. He was thoroughly examined, and
made free confessions both of his deeds and
motives, which were those of finished fan.
attic. Nat was hung on the Friday after
his trial, which commenced Nov. 5.
He did not attempt, like the others, to ex-
culpate himself, but confessed his full
participation in the guilt of the transaction
He planned the insurrection, and struck the
first blow. He never complained OF ill.
treatment from his master, bnt rather said
he was an INDUCED servant. There was nc
extensive ramifcations to the conspiracy, as
at Harper's Ferry, but it was quite local
the offspring of ignorance, superstition, and
fanaticism, combined 10 the most repulsive
forms. He had received no sudden offenst
requiring satisfaction; he had no spirit o.
revenge to crafty. 1t was cool and
deliberately calculated massacre. Nat talked
freely of bis early impressions, pretending
that be had been called by secret power
to some important work; that his precociou
abilities were so obvious to his fellow
negroes, that they were in the habit o
saying, "such child never be raised
thus tickling his vanity and stimulating hi