Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / Nov. 10, 1907, edition 1 / Page 17
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. -,-.-... . 1111, X r. ( ft 1 . ' W L SULOll kiiii lllUJii UhU P. ST. GEORGE TUCKER, . , .:, Xresident. ALVAH H. BL1RTTN, a Director GcncraL T. S. SOCniGATE, v Governor of Exhibits. is ''V ' v- "''j; , ": -: v-'---'" '' -'i--s"-' - ;-;: ei "a , '. .' t i v . : . . ' - - ' ' '4a ' - , , . ,y " . - - - ' , y, - - 1 ' r"- i ' - ' V ' , , v .- ' ' f - ' - , . . ' 4 " ' ' ' i :,,"'t;- .';-A:.-''Tt''!-v."j --": V--V--.-' v".-.!' ' :-X ! i'k;..- '7 r ' " ' !.;-'r,:" "' :-5!"..v. 1U The Nat 'Turner; Insurrection Pirst Detailed Record of an Incident Tha-l Made His-, . f tory For North Carolina. , BY RED toflenU of North Carolina history ; : ,will recall (he short paragraph In :i ' State - historiea of what Is known aa ' the , Nat Turner Insurrection, which look place ; in - Southampton county, Virginia, on the t of August,.' 1831. " ' Fifty-flve . men, women - and children - were ' killed, by .a band of -negro , ' slaves, i and in turn. . negroee , were ' ." slaughtered like so many dogs. - ' Southampton county being on the North Carolina border line the: peo ' pie in: Halifax and .Northampton ' counties were .very much excited and wrought up over . the", rumors and re - " jxirte - that were abroad in the land. Military companies were sent to the ecene - of trouble and towns were guarded,- by day and nlghi. ; Several years ago when In the town of Hall- fax. I became Interested in the stor r les . of the s fearful days that Nat t- Tnrnr, the ifanatlcal nesro t)reacb er, and' his allies - brought and Mr. . Norwood Hill helped me to secure the following facts from records andi old papers.. "f'". . " RUMORS . OF DREADFTJIi WAR. The .first story of the insurrection, 'v printed 4n The Roanoke Advocate, of Halifax, ? J read: v"Qwlng to ' rumors ' .reaching vhere from Virginia, of an Insurrection of the, slaves in; South Ampton county, our town ha?; been, for three days, under arms, and busi ness of every kind suspended for the time. The Roanoke Blues, com ma nded by Col. Jesse IL' Simmons. - left here on Tuesday evening last for " - Southampton to assist our neighbors ' In suppresfilng the negroes. j We are ' nappy to learn, however,; by repeated " ' "expresses; - that - thr ruin haa been t "t- partial and circumscribed. As usual fn auch cases we have had all sorts ' MfS false' alarms, without, we' think, i.vien the, color of ' truth. Too. : much nralse cahnot be given Colonel .John aton for calling out themllitig, and s the seal and promptness with which he responded to the , calls- of an anxious and excited community. We 'are now ' all 'quiet V - : v - c - -r .t "We regret to learn that by, an un 1 1 fortunate accident Mr. Shepard Lee, ' of the Blues, was ehot iq the leg dur " Ing an alarm, and such was the na ture of the wound that all hope of . his recovery Is yllspalred of. ' Mr. Lee haa resided but a. ehort time among " , us, 'buft was highly esteemed tor his ; mlableand gentlemanly deportmerrt and we know of no event that has - excited so much;fynipathy and re - trret." .rv , r The' foregoing appeared on the 25th ' . of August, 1831, A . week later, on the 1st of September, It , was followed by this: '"On Monday -evening, the J2d an express reached this place - from Northampton, bringing 7 the startling Intelligence of . an Insurrec tion of slaves in Virginia, Just "across ' ' the line from thl State, telling of fearful murder of men, women.; and children without discrimination. The ' ' ' etorles were - so alarming "that some dmibted" them,-The Roonoke Ulues were called out, an .t a meeting of , the ---.cltlsens held. for. the purpose of, tak ing some action.. A committee of " , " ; ; M Charlotte, North Carolina BUCK. safety was .appointed and every fit citizen . of the. community . called out and placed under the command of Carot Henry - Garrett, t The court house was made a depot of arms and ammunition, art rict and efficient patrols were sent out to scour the neighbor Ling country and the .town was sur rounded by sentinels and guarded at every pass. We have rarely witness ou pucn ueciaion na oruer, . 'K)ur town, for three days and nights, was a garrison and every cit izen, a " soldier. On Tuesday evening the Blues left, for Southampton. Ex presses . Were v constantly , arriving, giving exaggerated accounts of the murders and the progress of the in surgents. -The soldiers reached, that night, the home of Mr. Absalom P. Smith,' of: Northampton, Where, they were received with great hospitality. and remained there , until the - next morning,' s..iV:.'-v-.ti;;Ji;(,.r-; SHEPARD LEB IS SHOT. It was here that an unfortunate accident happened. - During the night the sentinels, hearing the tread of horses, which proved to be an express from Virginia, gave me alarm to their comrades, who were sleeping on their! arms, and owing to (he timidity of some "and the. general confusion that prevailed Jt was thought that . they were. surprised by the enemy, " who were known to be in the neighborhood, a member of the company, In thr ex citement of the moment, supposing the negroes had entered the house and were then engaged In a hand-to-hand fight,- seised his musket and fired at Mr. Shepard Lee, who was in the act of grasping his gun. The load entered the leg just below the knee.' The sur geon was. called but the hemorrhage was so great that the case was regard ed as hopeless. Mr. Lee lingered until Thursday about 10 o'clock, and -died. His remains were brought to town Fri day morning and , Interred with mili tary honors." . Capt Simmons, of the Roanolte Blues, made the following report of the experience of his company: , . "To correct any misrepresentations In circulation us to the visit, of our company to Cross Keys, Southampton county, Virginia, and to ,give to the public a Just and' true account of the same, Is the object of this report, ' "On konday afternoon, the J2d Instant, Information to the effect that the negroes In Southampton were In insurrection and had murdered sever al entire families without; regard to age or sex or condition, reached Hali fax.: About 11 o'clock; the same even ing, we received a eecond express, stating that the insurgents were still In progress, and had increased their numbers, having 'about between ZOO and 800 la their army Tuesday morn ing a third express arrived from Vir ginia with further accounts of increas ing numbers and the dreadful depre dations, and praying our aid for as plxtonre. A town meotlng was' lm.me diutcly oiled snd it was gred thu.t we should repair to th scene of ac JAMES L. FARMER, ) , ' 6ecretrjr . a f'S,:?C.:,'Sfti,:r JX-. ?.'4'ti,;fjA - 1 , . , ; NorfolkV.a.i';U.-.S;i.;Nov-2,-1907.T "Mr. Chas; M. StiefE, ' ' ' v " : ' - . .. . Baltimore, Md. . v -V ' - ,' ' . V' : '' - . 1 I have the honor to addse you that . the Jury of Awards for the Jamestown Exposition has examined your Exhibit and awarded you a DIPLOM. of a GOLD. MEDAL toT . - J CONCERT GRAND, PARLOR GRAND, BABY GRAND, , UPRIGHT 'AND SELF-PLAYER PIANOS. J. - ' The Exposition Company will forward to you in due : season the 'Awar'd Diploma above mentioned, together with replica in bronze of the medal. t 1 By direction of the President of the Jury. v , : - ' - - , . JA1MES L. FARMER, : ' -r " J' Secretary of the Jury. , -Note: The design of the Diploma and Medal will not be available ' until about December 1st, ,1907. , , ; , . , mm Southern Wareroom 5 West tion. Accordinglyi that afternoon, at 4 'o'clock; the company left .'Halifax.1 At the river, we 'were met by a fourth express, from highly respectable gentlemen, of Southampton, : stating thatt the " negroes had increased to about, 1,000 or 1,600 and were sttll rapidly Increasing. , fS''ih COMPANY TARrtlBD AND SLEPT. "Wa arrived at Jackson about sun set the same evening, where jwe re mained until 10 o'clock, and then pro ceeded with a determination to reach the State line by daybreak. At 3 o'clock 1-Wednesday. morning we took nap at the home of Mr. Absolom P. Smith, 12 miles from Jackson, where nre found a ' guard ' stktioned. Wa were Informed here that from circumstan ces and reports combined It was very probable that a party of negroes had Iprossed the Meherrln river near Ha- lV UllUftV) RI1U ITUUIU VVUIV IU Ul. road about the Smith place, ' on ac count of this information, and being considerably fatigued, having ridden all night, we concluded to remain there until daylight, the guard we found there acting as sentinels. Fear ing a surprise we gave strict orders previous to lying down that each man should lie on his arms so that in case of such an event we might be ready at a moment s notice. About 4. o'clock, one of the company had occasion to leave the room; and hearing the tramping of horses' feet, approaching, ran back Into thehouse, and observed In a low voice that someonewas com lng. From this a general alarm was given, and while In a state of great ex citement, every person got up prepar ing for an immediate attack.' One of our men mistook the busts for a sur prise and grabbed his gun and fired on Mr. Shepard Lee, who did hot wear a oinirorm and was in the act or rais ing hta right hand, as If to stab some one. The wound received by Mr. Lee caused his death after IS hours. . Hav ing rendered every possible assistance tq our wounded comrade we left him under the are of our surgeon, Dr, W. A. Vlllcoxcand three members of the company, ajid again took up the line of march. t We arrived at Cross Keys. Va., about 15 mites away, at 10 o'clock that morning. 1 , THIS SITUATION A CROSS KEYS. 'The alarm and excitement ' there was great ' The scenes and distress were heart-rending. It is beyond the power of me to tell . what ; we saw. Some were lamenting the loss of com panions and others a father, a mother, or a child. The negroes had run riot and shed blood without regard to per son or place. In many Instances en tire' families had been killed, s Some had made miraculous escapes, from the blood-thirsty assasins. I "At Cross Keys we (were told that all of the rioting negroes were either killed or' routed. We learned that about 60 white people had been slain. their bodies being mutilated In the most shocking way. k ' . ' ' We wera Informed that the trouble began at negro church, on Sunday, the 21st, the clergyman himself being the originator of the plot. . The 1m mediate cause of the rupture is said to be the chastising or three or four ne groes by some white gentlemen: the whipped negroes had been fighting. The whipping administered " ty the whites Infuriated the negroes and they started out on their dreadful march to work hvoc among the white po. pie. Oa t:an..y, the cay on Which A5 of Jury.' ;;'.',"',, 5 .!;.. C " most of the slaughtering was done, the leaders collected about 40 negroes. Thirty negroes had tbeen killed, and a large number committed to Jail. , "uwaing a large number of troops there,: under arms, end fresh troops arriving almost every hour, and noth ing to do, we decided to return as far as Mr. Smith's 'that afternoon. Accord ingly, about 2 o'clock, we departed, reaching our destination three hours later iWe arrived here the next day. , ' '"In volunteering ourselves to assist our distressed neighbors, ' though of another State, we claim no credit, hav ing done only no mbre-than our duty as men, as cjtlzens of North Carolina and the, Union. It was call such as every patriot would respond to, and such an one as we feel ourselves ever ready to heed." .-- MANY' EXAOOERATED ; REPORTS Th following account Is from John H. Pleasant, editor of The Whig, of 'Richmond, Va.: r "We have been astonished since our return from Southampton (whither we went In Capt. Harrison's Troop of Horse),- In looking over the mass of exchange papers, accumulated In our absence, to see the number of false, absurd and Idle rumors circulated by the press, touching, the Insurrection in that county.- Editors seem to have ap plied themselves to the task of alarm ing the public mind as much as pos sible and of 7ursuadlng the slaves to entertain a high opinion" of their' strength and consequence. While truth Is always the best policy, and heat ; remedy, the exaggerations, to which we have alluded, are calculated to give the slaves false conceptions of their V number and capacity by exhib iting the terror and confusion of the whites and to induce them to think that practicable which they see is so much reared by their superiors, we have little to say of the Southampton tragedy beyond what we already know. - The origin of the conspiracy, Its extent and direction Is a matter of conjecture. The universal opinion la that part: of the country is that Nat, the slave, a preacher and a pretend ad prophet, : was the first contriver, the actual leader anl . the most re morseless of the executioners Ac cording to the evidence of a negro tooy, whom they carried along to hold their horses, Nat commenced the scene of murdeY at the ' first house (Travis') with his own hand. Having called up- n two others to make good their val fant . .boasting, so often repeated. ;;of what they would do, and these shrink ing from the requisition, Nat proceed ed to dispatch one of the family. An I mated by the example of their leader, having a taste of blood and convinced now that they had gone too far to re cede, his followers dismissed their quabua and became as ferocious as their leader wished them to be. N30MB OF THE DETAILS.. - "To follow the bloody dogs from' the rapture of Travis' house before day to their dispersion In Parkers cornfield, early In the afternoon, when they liad traversed near 20 mites, murdered 63 whites and approached within three or four miles of -the village ot Jerusalem. the Immediate object of their move' rnent,to describe the scenes at each house, the circumstances of the mur ders, the hair breadth escapes would prove as Interesting as heart-rending, Many of the details have reached us tut not In so authentlo shape as to Jurtify their pubHeatlonrtioT have we JURT OP AWARDS: Albert' Shaw. ........ .'. .'. .President. ' Ambrose 6wscy . . .Vice President. . Manufacturer of the Stieff,Shaw, and Stieff Trade Street C. H. WilmothrMnager. the time or space. Let a few suffice. "Of the events at Dr. Blount's, we had a narration from the gallant old gentleman himself, and his son, a lad about . IS, distinguished for his gal lantry and modesty and whom we take leave to recommend to General Jack son, for a warrant In the navy or at West Point..; 'The doctor had received Informa tion "of the insurrection and that his house would be attacked, a short time before the attack was made. Cripple 4 with the gout and indisposed to fly he resolved to defend his home. His force was his eon, o verier and three other white men. Lu klly there were six guns and plenty of powder and Knot In the house. . Thest were barely loaded, his force posted and the Instructions given,: when the negroes, from 15 to 80, strong, rode up about day-break The doctor's orders were that each man should be particular In his aim. and -should fire one at a ttme, he him self reserved one gun, resolved If the house was forced to sell his lite as dearly as foe J could. The remaining five fired in succession upon the assail ants at a distance of IS or 20 steps. The blacks noon the first fire retreated leaving one killed and one wounded (a fellow called Hark) snd were pursued by the doctors negroes with shouts. Had the shot been larger more exe cution would havd doubtless been made. TWO WOMEN KILLED. t'Mrs. Vaughn's was among the last houses attacked. A venerable negro woman described the scene, which she had witnessed, with great emphasis, It was near noon and her mistress had been making some preparation in the porch for dinner, when happening to look, toward the road she saw a dust and wondered what it could mean, In a second the negroes, mounted and armed, rushed into view and, with an exclamation of horror ana agony, Mrs. Vaughn ran Into the house. The ne groes dismounted and ran around the house, pointing their guns at the doors and windows, ..Mrs. vaugnn appeared at a' wlndqw And begged for her life, inviting them to take all that sne naa This was answered by one of them fir ing at her which waa Instantly follow ed by another, and a fatal shot. i "In the meantime, Miss Vaughn, who was upstairs, and unapprised of the terrible event until she heard the nolBe of the attack,' rushed down, and begging for her life, was shot as she ran a few steps from the door. A son of Mrs, Vaughn, about 16, was at the still house. when hearing a gun and conjecturing. It Is supposed, that his brother had coma trom v Jerusalem, approached his house and was shot as he got over the fence. It Is difficult for the imagination to conceive a sltoa tlon so truly and horribly awful as that on which these unfortunate ladies were Dlaeel. alone, unprotected And uncon clous of' danger, to find themselves without a moment's notice for escape or defense In the power of a band of ruffians, from whom Instant death was th least they could expect, in a live Iv and most nloturesqua manner did the old negress describe the horrors of the scene; the blacks riding up with Imprecations, the look of her mistress, a whl to a sheet, her prayer t her life and the action of the scoundrels environing the house ; and pointing their guns at the doors and windows, ready to fire as occasion offered. When the work was done they called -for drtnH nd Kdrandr4ecomliig,-Uoe, Self - Player damned the brandy as vile stuff. ' .'The scene at Vaughn's may suffice to1 give an idea of what was done at the other houses. A ' bloodier, and more acoursed tragedy was never act ed even by the agency of the toma hawk and scalping knife. Interesting details will no doubt be given In the progress of the trial and made known to the public. WHITES BECOME BARBAjRIOUS. "It is with naln that we sneak of another feature of the Southampton reoenon, tor we nave neen most un willing to have our sympathies for the sufferers diminished or affected by their misconduct. We allude to the slaughter of many blacks without trial and under circumstances of great bar barity., How many have been out to death (generally , by decapitation or snooting) reports vary, probably, how ever, some five and 20, and from that to 40, possibly a yet larger number. 'To the great honor of General Ed- pes he used every precaution In his power and we hope and believe with success to put a stop to the disgrace ful proceedings. , ,, v "weimet an Individual of Intelli gence who said that he himself had killed between 10 and IS.' He Just! fled himself on the ground of the bar barity committed on the whites, and that ha thought himself right. Is cer tain from the fact of his having nar rowly escaped with his own life In an attempt to save a negro woman whom he thought innocent, ' but who was shot by the multitude in spite of his exertions.- . 'V.;- . ' "We (the Richmond Troop) wit nessed with surprise the sanqutnary temper of the population who evinced a strong desire to' Inflict-Immediate death upon every prisoner.. Not hav ing witnessed the horrors committed by the blacks, or seen the unburted and disfigured remains of jheir wives and children, we were unprepared to understand their reelings and could not at flrst(admlt of that extenuation, which a closer observation of the atro cities of the Insurgents suggested. Now, however, we , Individually , feel compelled to offer an apology for the people or Southampton, ' while we deeply deplore that hum a nature urged them to such extremities. Let the ract not be doubted by those whom it most concerns, that another such insurrection wilt be the signal for the exterpatlon of the whole black population In the State where It oc curs, ; . GANG HAD ABOUT 80. . "The numbers engaged In the insur rection are variously reported. They probably did hot exceed 40 or SO, and were, fluctuating from desertions And new recruits. About SO ate In South ampton Jail, some of them on suspi cions only. We trust and believe that thS intelligent magastracy of that county will have the firmness to op pose popular passion, should it be dis posed to involve the Innocent with the guilty and to take suspicion for proof, ' . '. ' "',' "The presence of the troops from Norfolk and Richmond alone , nre vented retaliation from being carried much farther. - ? "At the date of Capt. Harrison's do ?irtur from Jerusalem. Gen. Nat urner had not been taken. On that morning, however, Dred, another In urgent chief, was brought prisoner to Jerusalem, having surrendered him self to his master In the apprehension so doubt. at .starving. la thu swauica Pianos in or being shot by the numerous parties of local militia who were In pursuit." Nat had not been heard of since the skirmish In Parker's cornfield, which was In fact the termination of the In " surrectlon. the negroes after that dis persing themselves, and making no further attempt. He is represented as a shrewd fellow, reads, - writes and preaches and by various artifices has acquired great Influence over tha minds of the wretched beings whom he has lead to destruction. It Is sup posed that he induced them to bftleva there were only 80,000 whites in tha . country, who, being exterminated, the blacks might take possession: various of his trlcKs to acquire and preserve Influence had been mentioned, but they are not worth repeating. If there was an ulterior purpose, he probably alone knew It. For our own part "we stilt believe there was none, and If he be the Intelligent ' man . represented, we are Incapable of conceiving the ar guments by which he pursuaded.hU own mind of the feasibility of his at tempt, or know how It could possibly end but In certain destruction,. We, therefore, are Inclined to believe that 1 he acted upon no higher principle than the impulse of revenge against the whites as the enslavers of himself and his race; that being a fanatic he possibly pursuaded himself that Heav en would Interfere; and that he may have convinced himself, as he certain ly did his deluded followers to some -extent, that the appearance of tha sua '. some weeks ago, prognosticated some thing favorable to their cause. We are inclined to think that phenomenon exercised considerable Influence H In promoting the Insurrection; calculat ed, as It was, to Impress the Imagi nations of the Ignorant - ;-; , v " POSSIBLY A LARGE CONSPIRACY . "A more important InqNiiry remains whether the conspiracy was clrcum-. scribed to the neighborhood in which It broke out. or had It rampiflcations r through other countries. We. at first,' adopted the first opinion; hut ; there are several circumstances which favor the latter. "We understand that the confessions of all the prisoners go to show that the Insurrection broke out too soon, M Is supposed In consequence of the Inst day of July being on Sun day .and not, as tne negroes believed, the Saturday before. It Is reported that the uprising was fixed for the fourth Sunday in August, and that they, supposing the 21st of July to be the first Sunday liu'August, were be trayedtlnto considering the third Sun day as the fourth,, "This Is the - popular impression founded upon the confessions, upon indication of an Intention of the ne groes' In Nausemond and other to General Nat extended hi preaching . excursions which, how ever, we disbelieve. It Is mora t nan . probable, nev ertheless, that the mischief was con certed and concocted under the cloak, of religion. "The trials which are now proceed ing, or- Impending in Southampton. Nausemond, Sussex and elsewhere will develop all th truth. We suspect the truth will turn out to be that the con splmwy .was confined to Southampton and the Idea of Ms extensive or! Inated" In the panic, upon the south east of Virginia, r Such we believe to be the summary outline of the South ampton Insurrection. That In virr: --- (Continued pu.r T''vrt.
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 10, 1907, edition 1
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