In 1732, Captain John Major, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was murdered, with all his crew, and the schooner and cargo seized by the slaves.
In 1741, there was a formidable insurrection among the slaves in New York. At that time the population consisted of twelve thousand whites, and two thousand blacks. Of the conspirators, thirteen were burned alive, eighteen hung, and eighty transported.
Those who were transported were sent to the West India islands. As a specimen of the persons who were suitable for transportation, I give the following from the “Boston Gazette,” Aug. 17, 1761:—
“To be sold, a parcel of likely young Negroes, imported from Africa, cheap for cash. Inquire of John Avery. Also, if any person have any negro men, strong and hearty, though not of the best moral character, which are proper subjects of transportation, they may have an exchange for small negroes.”
In 1747, the slaves on board of a Rhode Island ship commanded by Captain Beers, rose, when off Cape Coast Castle, and murdered the captain and all the crew, except the two mates, who swam ashore.
In 1754, C. Croft, Esq., of Charleston, South Carolina, had his buildings burned by his female negroes, two of whom were burned alive!!
In September, 1755, Mark and Phillis, slaves, were put to death at Cambridge (Mass.,) for poisoning their master, Mr. John Codman of Charlestown. Mark was hanged, and Phillis burned alive. Having ascertained that their master had, by his will, made them free at his death, they poisoned him in order to obtain their liberty so much the sooner.
In the year 1800, the city of Richmond, Virginia, and indeed the whole slave-holding country were thrown into a state of intense excitement, consternation and alarm, by the discovery of an intended insurrection among the slaves. The plot was laid by a slave named Gabriel, who was claimed as the property of Mr. Thomas Prosser. A full and true account of this General Gabriel, and of the proceedings consequent on the discovery of the plot, has never yet been published. In 1831, a short account which is false in almost every particular, appeared in the Albany “Evening Journal,” under the head of “Gabriel’s Defeat.”
The following is the copy of a letter dated September 21, 1800, written by a gentleman of Richmond, Virginia, published in the “Boston Gazette,” October 6th:—
“By this time, you have no doubt heard of the conspiracy formed in this country by the negroes, which, but for the interposition of Providence, would have put the metropolis of the State, and even the State itself, into their possession. A dreadful storm, with a deluge of rain, which carried away the bridges, and rendered the water-courses everywhere impassable, prevented the execution of their plot. It was extensive and vast in its design. Nothing could have been better contrived. The conspirators were to have seized on the magazine, the treasury, the mills, and the bridges across James River. They were to have entered the city of Richmond in three places with fire and sword, to commence an indiscriminate slaughter, the French only excepted. They were then to have called on their fellow-negroes and the friends of humanity throughout the continent, by proclamation, to rally round their standard. The magazine, which was defenceless, would have supplied them with arms for many thousand men.