with every reflecting man in those States, of the election of Mr. Adams
and Gen. Pinckney. The military skill and approved bravery of the general
must be peculiarly valuable to his countrymen at these trying moments."
Let us have a military Vice-President, by all means, to meet this
formidable exigency of Gabriel's peck of bullets, and this unexplained
three shillings in the pocket of "Prosser's Ben"!

But Gabriel's campaign failed, like that of the Federalists; and the
appointed day brought disasters more fatal than even the sword of Gen.
Pinckney. The affrighted negroes declared that "the stars in their
courses fought against Sisera." The most furious tempest ever known in
Virginia burst upon the land that day, instead of an insurrection. Roads
and plantations were submerged. Bridges were carried away. The fords,
which then, as now, were the frequent substitutes for bridges in that
region, were rendered wholly impassable. The Brook Swamp, one of the most
important strategic points of the insurgents, was entirely inundated,
hopelessly dividing Prosser's farm from Richmond; the country negroes
could not get in, nor those from the city get out. The thousand men
dwindled to a few hundred, and these half paralyzed by superstition;
there was nothing to do but to dismiss them, and before they could
re-assemble they were betrayed.

That the greatest alarm was instantly created throughout the community,
there is no question. All the city of Richmond was in arms, and in all
large towns of the State the night-patrol was doubled. It is a little
amusing to find it formally announced, that "the Governor, impressed with
the magnitude of the danger, has appointed for himself three
aides-de-camp." A troop of United-States cavalry was ordered to Richmond.
Numerous arrests were made. Men were convicted on one day, and hanged on
the next,--five, six, ten, fifteen at a time, almost without evidence.