I met Charles Drayton on the 1st of July in the streets, when he said, now get ready, we must break out at once, for we will not let six lives be taken. I asked him, where they would begin? He said, in Boundary street, directly as the patrol and light horse turned in. I said, had you not better wait till after the 4th of July. He said, no, because in the mean time the people would be hanged. Charles said, they had force enough, and we parted. I met him in Market, betwixt 8 and 9 o’clock, on the 2d of July, and said to him, now the people are hanged, I suppose you are sorry you joined in the business. He said yes, and we parted. Peter Poyas told me also, that they had force enough, that some would come from James’ and John’s islands, and some from Christ’s Church Parish, where he generally went over to a meeting to have a talk, and that he had some about and in town, the number of which he would show me from the Society books, if I would only come to the Society. He said, they were to fight the whites, and keep on fighting, till the English came to help them. Harry told me the same thing. Jack being the head man, I asked him about the plan, he told me the same thing; that the English were to come here to help them, that the Americans could do nothing against the English, and that the English would carry them off to St. Domingo. Monday and Charles were very great together. John, Mr. Horry’s coachman, came to me one day, and asked me what I thought? Every one is ready, said John, to fight the whites, are you ready? He said, I am ready. This took place sometime before the 16th June, and every day he asked me the same questions.—About this time George Vanderhorst came to me and said, they were going to take the country, and he had joined; that he was ready whenever the blacks broke out. He requested me to let him sleep at my wife’s house near Boundary street; I saw him almost every day after the 16th June, and he always said, he was ready whenever the troops were ready. On the 16th June, Jack requested me to let twelve men sleep at my wife’s, as they were to break out that night, and he wanted them to be near Boundary street. On being refused, he departed in anger, and reproached me. George called on me yesterday morning, and asked, if I knew that Charles Drayton was taken up, and said, he was afraid Charles would name him, not because he was on his list, for he had joined Jack’s company, but because Charles had met him at Gullah Jack’s, when they were consulting on the subject; that, if he could near that Charles had named him, he would run off. On Monday, 1st July, Charles Drayton told me, that there would be an insurrection on the morning of the 6th July, as soon as the Guard turned in; he said, he commanded the country born company. Jack told me on the 1st July the same thing, and in addition, that they were to rush in with their dirks, guns and swords, &c. they had got, kill the City Guard, and take all the arms in the arsenals; he also said, there were some arms in King street, beyond Boundary street, in possession of a white man, which they intended to take, (alluding to the arms of the Charleston Neck Company, deposited at Wharton’s, in King street). Charles Drayton said, he had prepared for himself a gun and a sword. John Horry came to me very often, and once said, he had a sword, and that, as soon as it broke out, he would go up stairs and kill his master and family. On the 17th of June, on his carriage box, he expressed himself to me in the same manner he had done previous to the 16th. The blacks would have risen on the night of the 16th, had the Guards not been so strong; this I know from Gullah Jack and Harry Haig, who said, that if the Guards were not too strong, they would get the arms near the Lines, but if the Guards were out, they could not get them to break out with.
(F.)
Confession of Harry Haig.
Julius Forrest, and myself, always worked together. Gullah Jack calls himself a negro doctor, he induced Julius and myself to join at last, but at first we refused; before the 16th June, Jack appointed to meet us at Bulkley’s Farm; when we got there, Jack was not there, but Peter Poyas came; we broke up at day-light. Not quite a month before the 16th June, Jack met me, and talked about war. I asked Jack, how he would do for arms? Bye and bye, said Jack, we will have arms; he said, he would have some arms made at the blacksmiths. Jack was going to give * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Until Jack was taken up and condemned to death, I was just like I was bound up, and had not the power to speak one word about it. Jack charmed Julius and myself at last, and we then consented to join. Tom Russell, the blacksmith and Jack are partners, (in conjuring) Jack learnt him to be a doctor. Tom talked to Jack about the fighting, and agreed to join, and those two brought Julius and myself to agree to it. Jack said, Tom was his second, and “when you don’t see me, and see Tom, you see one.” Jack said, Tom was making arms for the black people; Jack said, he would not be killed, nor could a white man take him.
(H.)
Confession of Jesse, the slave of Thomas Blackwood, Esqr.; furnished to the Court by the Rev. Dr. D. Hall.
I was invited to Denmark Vesey’s house, and when I went, I found several men met together, among whom was Ned Bennett, Peter Poyas, and others, whom I did not know. Denmark opened the meeting by saying, he had an important secret to communicate to us, which we must not disclose to any one, and if we did, we should be put to instant death. He said, we were deprived of our rights and privileges by the white people, and that our church was shut up, so that we could not use it, and that it was high time for us to seek for our rights, and that we were fully able to conquer the whites, if we were only unanimous and courageous, as the St. Domingo people were. He then proceeded to explain his plan, by saying, that they intended to make the attack by setting the governor’s mills on fire, and also some houses near the water, and as soon as the bells began to ring for fire, that they should kill every man, as he came out of his door, and that the servants in the yards should do it, and that it should be done with axes and clubs, and afterwards they should murder the women and children, for he said, God had so commanded it in the Scriptures. At another meeting at Denmark’s, Ned Bennett and Peter Poyas, and several others were present in conversation, some said, they thought it was cruel to kill the ministers, and the women and children, but Denmark Vesey said, he thought it was for our safety, not to spare one white skin alive, for this was the plan they pursued in St. Domingo. He then said to me, Jesse, I want you to go into the country, to enlist as many of the country negroes as possible, to be in readiness to come down to assist us. I told him, I had no horse, and no money to hire one; he then took out two dollars, and gave them to me to hire a horse, and told me to enlist as many as possible. I got the horse the next Sabbath, and started, but the guard was so strict, I could not pass them without being taken up; so I returned, and told Denmark, at which he expressed his sorrow, and said, the business was urgent, for they wanted the country people to be armed, that they might attack the Forts at the same time, and also to take every ship and vessel in the harbor, and to put every man to death, except the captains. For, said he, it will not be safe to stay in Charleston, for as soon as they had got all the money out of the banks, and the goods out of the stores on board, they intended to sail for St. Domingo; for he had a promise, that they would receive and protect them. This Jesse asserted to me, was the truth, whilst the tears were running down his cheeks, and he appeared truly penitent; and I have reason to hope, that he obtained pardon from God, through the merits of Christ, and was prepared to meet his fate with confidence, and that he was accepted of God. At 4 o’clock on the morning of the execution, I visited all the prisoners condemned, and found Jesse at prayers. He told me, his mind was placid and calm; he then assured me, that what he had told me was the truth, and that he was prepared to meet his God.
(K.)
Confession of Monday Gell.
I come out as a man who knows he is about to die—some time after Christmas Vesey passed my door, he called in and said to me, that he was trying to gather the blacks to try and see if any thing could be done to overcome the whites; he asked me to join; I asked him his plan and his numbers; he said he had Peter Poyas, Ned Bennett, and Jack Purcell; he asked me to join; I said no; he left me and I saw him not for some time. About four or five weeks ago as I went up Wentworth street, Frank Ferguson met me, and said he had four plantation’s of people who he was to go for on Saturday, 15th June. How, said I, will you bring them down; he said through the woods; he asked me if I was going towards Vesey’s to ask Vesey to be at home that evening, and he would be there to tell him his success. I asked Jack Purcell to carry this message, he said he would; that same evening at my house I met Vesey’s mulatto boy, he told me Vesey wished to see me, I went with him; when I went into Vesey’s I met Ned Bennett, Peter Poyas, and Frank Ferguson, and Adam, and Gullah Jack; they were consulting about the plan; Frank told Vesey on Saturday, 15th, he would go and bring down the people and lodge them near town in the woods; the plan was to arm themselves by breaking open the stores with arms. I then told Vesey I would join them, after sometime I told them I had some business of my own and asked them to excuse me, I went away, and only then was I ever there. One evening, Perault Strohecker, and Bacchus Hammett brought to my shop a keg, and asked me to let it stay there till they sent for it; I said yes, but did not know the contents; the next evening Gullah Jack came and took away the keg, this was before the 16th June; since I have been in prison I learnt that the keg contained powder.