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Black Rebellion - Five Slave Revolts by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
page 51 of 122 (41%)
mere environs of Richmond. The Norfolk _Epitome_ of Oct. 6 states that on
the 6th and 7th of the previous month one hundred and fifty blacks,
including twenty from Norfolk, were assembled near Whitlock's Mills in
Suffolk County, and remained in the neighborhood till the failure of the
Richmond plan became known. Petersburg newspapers also had letters
containing similar tales. Then the alarm spread more widely. Near
Edenton, N.C., there was undoubtedly a real insurrection, though promptly
suppressed; and many families ultimately removed from that vicinity in
consequence. In Charleston, S.C., there was still greater excitement, if
the contemporary press may be trusted; it was reported that the
freeholders had been summoned to appear in arms, on penalty of a fine of
fifteen pounds, which many preferred to pay rather than risk taking the
fever which then prevailed. These reports were, however, zealously
contradicted in letters from Charleston, dated Oct. 8; and the Charleston
newspapers up to Sept. 17 had certainly contained no reference to any
especial excitement. This alone might not settle the fact, for reasons
already given. But the omission of any such affair from the valuable
pamphlet published in 1822 by Edwin C. Holland, containing reminiscences
of insurrections in South Carolina, is presumptive evidence that no very
extended agitation occurred.

But wherever there was a black population, slave or emancipated, men's
startled consciences made cowards of them all, and recognized the negro
as a dangerous man, because an injured one. In Philadelphia it was
seriously proposed to prohibit the use of sky-rockets for a time, because
they had been employed as signals in San Domingo. "Even in Boston," said
the New-York _Daily Advertiser_ of Sept. 20, "fears are expressed, and
measures of prevention adopted." This probably refers to a singular
advertisement which appeared in some of the Boston newspapers on Sept.
16, and runs as follows:--
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