Denmark Vesey had come very near figuring as a revolutionist in Hayti,
instead of South Carolina. Capt. Vesey, an old resident of Charleston,
commanded a ship that traded between St. Thomas and Cape Francais, during
our Revolutionary War, in the slave-transportation line. In the year 1781
he took on board a cargo of three hundred and ninety slaves, and sailed
for the Cape. On the passage, he and his officers were much attracted by
the beauty and intelligence of a boy of fourteen, whom they unanimously
adopted into the cabin as a pet. They gave him new clothes, and a new
name, Telemaque, which was afterwards gradually corrupted into Telmak and
Denmark. They amused themselves with him until their arrival at Cape
Francais, and then, "having no use for the boy," sold their pet as if he
had been a macaw or a monkey. Capt. Vesey sailed for St. Thomas; and,
presently making another trip to Cape Francais, was surprised to hear
from his consignee that Telemaque would be returned on his hands as being
"unsound,"--not in theology nor in morals, but in body,--subject to
epileptic fits, in fact. According to the custom of that place, the boy
was examined by the city physician, who required Capt. Vesey to take him
back; and Denmark served him faithfully, with no trouble from epilepsy,
for twenty years, travelling all over the world with him, and learning to
speak various languages. In 1800 he drew a prize of fifteen hundred
dollars in the East Bay-street Lottery, with which he bought his freedom
from his master for six hundred dollars,--much less than his market
value. From that time, the official report says, he worked as a carpenter
in Charleston, distinguished for physical strength and energy. "Among
those of his color he was looked up to with awe and respect. His temper
was impetuous and domineering in the extreme, qualifying him for the
despotic rule of which he was ambitious. All his passions were
ungovernable and savage; and to his numerous wives and children he
displayed the haughty and capricious cruelty of an Eastern bashaw."