Not having time to consult Virginia newspapers for the period to look for local accounts, and surprised that no other list members have yet commented publicly on this request, let me react this way in hopes of stimulating some more discussion: Rumors or fears of subversive activities by enslaved people seem to have been quite common during the colonial period and right up through the Civil War. Sometimes rumors or news showed up in the newspapers, and sometimes there are records of prosecutions in the county court records or letters from local magistrates or militia commanders sent to the governor asking for arms to put down or guard against an uprising. We did a small exhibition at the Library of Virginia not long ago on this very topic, for which see http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whoweare/exhibits/DeathLiberty/index.htm So far as I know, nobody has made an attempt to catalog these episodes, if that is what they should be called. Some were no doubt baseless fears or rumors. But enough prosecutions of enslaved people for crimes that could be termed insurrection took place (see Phil Schwarz's TWICE CONDEMNED) to suggest to me that a good many white people could be legitimately worried about what enslaved people might be up to. The memory in Virginia of large-scale elopements of enslaved people during the American Revolution was doubtless still fresh, and with a British force coming back to Virginia, white Virginians would easily have imagined that a tactic of war would be for the British to encite revolts or mass running away. It had happened before, already. All of which is to say, I'd be surprised if a New York newspaper had to make up something. Brent Tarter The Library of Virginia [log in to unmask] Visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us -----Original Message----- From: John Weiss [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 9:41 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Rumoured insurrection near Hampton, early 1813 In 1813, soon after the first appearance of the British fleet in the Chesapeake in the War of 1812, issue no 427 of 'The War' contained this item on page 180: << NEW-YORK TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 6, 1813 Latest from the Chesapeake. It is said that an intended insurrection among the Negroes in the vicinity of Hampton has been frustrated. Two thousand were embodied and partly organised, when a captain of a vessel discovered them exercising near the shores of the Chesapeake. The ringleaders are secure, and all suspected Negroes committed to prison. >> I have found no other reference to this intended insurrection - does anyone know of local reports? The first British first ships had appeared around February 8th, and the main squadron in the following month, on March 4th, anchored in Lynhaven Bay (i.e. Lynhaven Roads). There were plenty of slaves anxious to take their freedom by way of the Royal Navy, and there is evidence of a long-standing belief that the British King would one day come to liberate them; and apart from documented help given by Blacks to the British as guides and pilots, the flow of refugees to British ships started on March 10th, amounting by the end of June to nearly, and I should say merely in view of the size of the rumoured insurrection, two hundred. I should welcome any information on what event might have inspired this news item. After all, there were barely more than 2000 slaves in the whole of Princess Anne county in 1810, and even if you take in Norfolk and Nansemond as well, would not the movement of 2000 towards a gathering have been somewhat noticeable, and not just by the captain of a vessel? It might have been good to be able to link this to the burning of The Pleasure House, for which my enquiry last month produced a wide range of helpful responses, but that event was late in 1813 (and not in 1814 as mis-stated in my subject line for that enquiry). And as for the sacking of Hampton, in which the British apparently "invited escaped slaves who had flocked into Hampton from the surrounding area to join in the festivities", this did not happen until June 1813, so there is no connection there. [Donald E Graves, "Worthless is the laurel steeped in female tears; an investigation into the outrages committed by British troops at Hampton, Virginia, in 1813", Journal of the War of 1812, VII, 1, p11.] If the New York paper did not invent the whole story, what was its foundation? John Weiss Independent scholar, London To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html