Conceived in Liberty Volume 2 - Ludwig von Mises Institute

the free Negroes [that the Assembly deprived them of the vote] . . . well
knowing they always did, and ever will adhere to and favor the slaves . . .
and to preserve a decent distinction between them and their betters. ..."
Despite all the restrictions, in the year 1729 a number of Virginia slaves
rebelled, procured arms, ammunition, and agricultural equipment, and escaped
west to settle in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There the former slaves harmed
no one, but the force of their example could have been a standing reproach
and a beacon light to the colony of Virginia and even to the entire system of
slavery. Hence, Virginia mobilized a strong troop of whites to march against
the Negro settlement to destroy it, which they did after a pitched battle. The
Negroes left alive were taken back to bondage. Governor Gooch reacted by
strengthening and training the militia to prevent similar episodes in the future.
Yet only one year later, in 1730, slave conspiracies were again revealed and
suppressed in Virginia. An absurdly optimistic rumor spread among the slaves
that the Crown had authorized the freeing of all baptized slaves. The spread
of the rumor led to numerous meetings of slaves and "loose discourses"
among them about individual liberty. Virginia promptly arrested and severely
whipped the leaders of the discourses. A few weeks later, two hundred Negro
slaves of Norfolk and Princess Anne counties gathered and chose officers for
their imminent rebellion. But the plot was uncovered and four of the slave
leaders were executed. Governor Gooch smugly conveyed to the Crown his
hope that the slaves would now "rest contented with their condition."
During the early years of the French and Indian War, when defeats were
being inflicted on the English west of Virginia, the slaves took the opportunity
to become rebellious. Governor Robert Dinwiddie (1751-58) remarked
on the notorious "villainy of the Negroes in any emergency of government."
He ordered trial for any Negroes guilty of seditious talk, and placed a number
of soldiers in each county to suppress any Negro revolt. In late 1767, Negro
slaves near Alexandria revolted by poisoning and killing several of their overseers.
In consequence, eight of the Negroes were brutally executed and their
heads exhibited in the public square. A "mob of Negroes" also rioted in
Frederick County in the same year. Altogether, slave revolts occurred in Virginia
in the following years: 1722, 1723, 1729, 1730, 1755, and 1767.
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