, and the situation, plans, etc.,
of the Negroes were admirable.

"... the penitentiary held several thousand stand of arms; the
powder-house was well-stocked; the capitol contained the State
treasury; the mills would give them bread; the control of the
bridge across James River would keep off enemies from beyond.
Thus secured and provided, they planned to issue proclamations
summoning to their standard 'their fellow-negroes and the friends
of humanity throughout the continent.' In a week, it was
estimated, they would have fifty thousand men on their side, with
which force they could easily possess themselves of other towns;
and, indeed, a slave named John Scott--possibly the dangerous
possessor of ten dollars--was already appointed to head the
attack on Petersburg. But in case of final failure, the project
included a retreat to the mountains, with their newfound
property. John Brown was therefore anticipated by Gabriel sixty
years before, in believing the Virginia mountains to have been
'created, from the foundation of the world, as a place of refuge
for fugitive slaves.'"[30]

The plot failed, but everybody, and the newspapers also, said the plan
was well conceived.

In 1822 another Negro insurrection was planned in Charleston, S. C.
The leader of this affair was Denmark Vesey.[31] This plot for an
insurrection extended for forty-five or fifty miles around Charleston,
and intrusted its secrets to thousands. Denmark Vesey, assisted by
several other intelligent and trusty Negroes, had conceived the idea
of slaughtering the whites in and about Charleston, and thus securing
liberty for the blacks. A recruiting committee was formed, and every
slave enlisted was sworn to secrecy. Household servants were rarely
trusted. Talkative and intemperate slaves were not enlisted. Women
were excluded from the affair that they might take care of the
children. Peter Poyas, it was said, had enlisted six hundred without
assistance. There were various opinions respecting the number
enlisted. Some put it at hundreds, others thousands; one witness at
the trial said there were nine thousand, another six thousand. But no
white person ever succeeded in gaining the confidence of the black
conspirators. Never was a plot so carefully guarded for so long a
time.

"During the excitement and the trial of the supposed
conspirators, rumor proclaimed all