American Uprising (21 page)

141 “I left . . . who had fled”: Perret to Fontaine, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette,
Slavery
, 324–26.

141 “I never knew . . . by the dogs”: Northup/Eakin and Logsdon,
Twelve Years a Slave
, 101.

141 They discovered . . . cold and terror: Perret to Fontaine, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette,
Slavery
, 324–26.

142 “long, savage yells . . . sinking into my flesh”: Northup/Eakin and Logsdon,
Twelve Years a Slave
, 101–2.

142 “the principal leader of the bandits”: Denunciations.

142 According to one witness . . . pile of straw”: Samuel Hambleton to David Porter, January 15, 1811. Papers of David Porter, Library of Congress, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette,
Slavery
, 326.

142 “Pierre Griffe” . . . to the Andry estate: Perret to Fontaine, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette,
Slavery
, 324–26.

143. In the days . . . Spanish in West Florida: Kastor,
The Nation’s Crucible
, 102

143 Milton had heard . . . to the militia: Wade Hampton to William Claiborne, January 12, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 269.

143 “I have Judged . . . higher Up”: Hampton to Claiborne, January 11, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 269.

143 “The [slaves’] plan . . . more formidable”: Hampton to Claiborne, New Orleans, January 12, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 269.

144 “proprietors . . . maintain order”: Perret to Fontaine, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette,
Slavery
, 324–26.

12. Heads on Poles

147 “There it was . . .on their sticks”: Conrad,
Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer
, 132–33.

148 “They were brung . . . long poles”: Hambleton to Porter, in Engerman, Drescher, and Paquette,
Slavery
, 326.

148 Those passersby . . . state in the making: In the words of Katherine Verdery, bodies have an “ineluctable self-referentiality as symbols: because all people have bodies, any manipulation of a corpse directly enables one’s identification with it through one’s own body, thereby tapping into one’s reservoirs of feeling.” Verdery,
The Political Lives of Dead Bodies
, 32–33.

148 “Had not the most prompt . . . waste by the Rioters”: John Shaw to Paul Hamilton, New Orleans, 18 January 1811.

149 “make a GREAT EXAMPLE”: Andry to Claiborne, January 11, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 268.

149 This was not just a French . . . and to Africa: In New England, colonists and Indians communicated with each other through corpses. “When English soldiers came upon English heads on poles, they often simply took them down and put Indian heads in their place,” wrote historian Jill Lepore. Lepore,
The Name of War,
180. In Jamaica and the other British sugar islands of the Caribbean, power was physically manifested through beheadings. “The frequency of mutilations and aggravated death sentences, which in eighteenth-century England were reserved for traitors, signaled the expansion of the very concept of treason to include almost any crime committed by slaves,” wrote Vincent Brown. V. Brown,
The Reaper’s Garden
, 140. In the African kingdom of Dahomey, where many slaves came from, kings accumulated the skulls of defeated enemies and used them as architectural decorations. Law, “ ‘My Head Belongs to the King’.”

150 From 1760 . . . Danish territories: Linebaugh and Rediker,
The Many-Headed Hydra
, 193.

150 The Coromantee slave . . . on a pole: Linebaugh and Rediker,
The Many-Headed Hydra
, 222.

150 When slaves rebelled . . . heads on stakes: Dubois,
Avengers of the New World
, 116.

150 In 1795 . . . Pointe Coupée: Hall,
Africans in Colonial Louisiana
, 344.

151 “Condemnation . . . again established”: John Shaw to Paul Hamilton, New Orleans, 18 January 1811.

151 Witnesses to these spectacles . . . public decay: “The spectacular violence of slavery was both a political and aesthetic discourse which was grounded in eighteenth-century notions of a triangular violent gaze: most bloody vignettes utilized a visual and moral interplay between victim, perpetrator and spectator,” wrote literary historian Ian Haywood. “Spectacular violence existed uneasily but powerfully on the borders between reality and fantasy, reportage and representation, aesthetic gratification and political mobilization.” Haywood,
Bloody Romanticism
, 58.

152 “awaiting the stroke of law . . . promptly destroyed”: Denunciations.

152 a tribunal of slaveholders: John Destrehan, Alexandre Labranche, Pierre-Marie Cabaret de Trepy, Adelard Fortier, and Edmond Fortier joined St. Martin in conducting the tribunal, which they did in the French language. Several of these men owned slaves involved in the revolt.

152 They intended . . . planters’ visions: In examining the court’s motives, it is interesting to examine this court action through the lens of scholarship about later revolts. The court involved in suppressing the Denmark Vesey conspiracy in Charleston in 1822 had as its first priority to stop the insurrection, with justice being a lesser aim. “It acted on the premise that it must suppress an impending slave insurrection, and it interrogated witnesses, passed judgment, and pronounced sentences accordingly,” wrote historian Michael Johnson. M. P. Johnson, “Denmark Vesey and His Co-Conspirators,” 942.

152 “to judge the rebel slaves . . . promptly destroyed”: “Summary of Trial Proceedings of Those Accused of Participating in the Slave Uprising of January 9, 1811,” trans. and ed. Dormon, “Notes and Documents.”

153 “perfectly knew”: Andry to Claiborne, January 11, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 268.

153 “The confessions . . . an infuriated crowd”:
North Carolina, Supreme Court, Raleigh: State v. George (a slave)
, June 1858 Manuscript Case File No. 7559, in Jones,
Reports of Cases at Law
50:233–36.

154 “principal chief of the brigands . . . that of Mr. Reine, the older”: Denunciations.

155 “he admitted . . . denounce anyone”: Denunciations.

155 Some slaves . . . a different opinion: Denunciations; American Uprising Slave Database.

156 “confessed his guilt . . . ability to speak”: Denunciations.

156 “These rebels . . . etc., etc., etc.”: Conrad,
The German Coast
, 102.

156 eleven separate leaders: Amar of the Charbonnet plantation; Baptiste of the Bernoudy plantation; Jean of the Arnauld plantation; Harry of the Kenner and Henderson plantation; Zenon, Pierre, and Dagobert of the Delhomme plantation; Eugene of the Labranche plantation; Kook and Quamana of the James Brown plantation; and Charles Deslondes of the Deslondes plantation were all leaders of the uprising. Denunciations.

156 These leaders . . . from white fathers: Harry and Charles were mulattos. Eugene was a Louisiana Creole. Pierre was Kongolese. Kook and Quamana had only recently arrived in Louisiana from Africa. Hall, Louisiana Slave Database.

156 Their names . . . Anglo-American: Harry had an Anglo-American name and came from a plantation owned by Americans. Charles, Jean, Pierre, and Baptiste had French names, and belonged to French planters. Quamana and Kook are anglicizations of West African names. Zenon was a Spanish name, while Dagobert was German. Hall, Louisiana Slave Database.

157 “GREAT EXAMPLE . . . public tranquility” . . . “in accordance with the authority . . . tranquility in the future”: Conrad,
The German Coast
, 102.

158 The first floor . . . brought for trial: Bernhard,
Travels Through North America
, 2:60.

158. “It is presumed . . . be acquitted”: John Shaw to Paul Hamilton, New Orleans, 18 January 1811.

158 Though Jean was found guilty . . . public official:
New Orleans City Court, Case No. 187
, January 17, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 235.

158 The court treated . . . mercy from the court:
New Orleans City Court, Case No. 192
, January 21 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 242.

158 The court commuted . . . recent insurrection:
New Orleans City Court, Case No. 192
, January 18, 1811, in Albert Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 241.

158 swayed on the levees in front of their masters’ plantations:
New Orleans City Court, Case No. 184
, January 16, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 231.

158 “hung at the usual place in the City of New Orleans”:
New Orleans City Court, Case No. 185
, January 16, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 233.

158 lower gates of the city:
New Orleans City Court, Case No. 188
, January 17, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 237.

159 “It is just . . . of the guilty”: Claiborne to John N. Destrehan, New Orleans, January 16, 1811, in W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 100–101.

160 “mischief” . . . “only”: Claiborne to Doctor Steele, New Orleans, January 20, 1811, in W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 112–13.

160 “There can be . . . within it”: Sprague,
The North Eastern Boundary Controversy
, 89–90.

160 The court system . . . body politic: The courts were the most immediate manifestation of that power, the most tangible embodiment of American government. “As agents of Americanization, county judges and justices of the peace presided over the day-to-day application of American judicial practices on the most basic levels of the legal system, the local courts,” wrote legal historian Mark Fernandez. “These inferior courts represented in the territory, as elsewhere in the republic, the one agency of the government that most likely touched ordinary citizens in the routine course of their daily lives.” Mark Fernandez, “Local Justice in the Territory of Orleans, W.C.C. Claiborne’s Courts: Judges and Justices of the Peace,” in Fernandez and Billings,
A Law Unto Itself?
, 97.

161 “We are sorry . . . let them govern”: Thompson, “National Newspaper and Legislative Reactions,” 15.

161 “no doubt exists” . . . United States Army:
National Intelligencer,
February 19, 1811.

13. Friends of Necessity

167 He informed them . . . to the German Coast: W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 100–104.

168 “It seemed . . . conviction of others”: N. H. Claiborne,
Notes on the War
, 105.

168 “warmest congratulations”: W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 121.

169 Though he did not mention it . . . and Canada: Hatfield,
William Claiborne
, 323.

169 “The late daring . . . neighboring plantations”: W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 123.

169 “made an impression . . . be effaced”: W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 123.

171 “The faithful Citizens . . . well-regulated Militia”: W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 124.

171 “our Security . . . the Militia”: Magloire Guichard, “Answer, of the House of Representatives to Governor Claiborne’s Speech,” in W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 130.

171 “late unfortunate Insurrection . . . of the Militia”: Jean Noël Destrehan, “Answer, of the Legislative Council to Governor Claiborne’s Speech” in W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 127.

171 “awful lesson . . . lately quelled”: Junius Rodriguez, “Always ‘En Garde’: The Effects of Slave Insurrection upon the Louisiana Mentality, 1811–1815,” in Labbé,
Louisiana: The Purchase and Its Aftermath
, 402–3.

172 The militia . . . train and organize: Rodriguez, “Always ‘En Garde’,” in Labbé,
Louisiana: The Purchase and Its Aftermath
,
402.

172 “the state of the population . . . other weighty considerations”: “A Message from the Legislative Council to Pres. James Madison,” Louisiana
Courier,
February 8, 1811, in Thrasher,
On to New Orleans!
, 271.

173 “Feeling that our destiny . . . Ark of safety”: W. C. C. Claiborne,
Official Letter Books
, 131.