So, when we start talking about slavery and 1739, we are talking about first generation African Americans. The ones that came straight out of the jungle and still had hair on their feet… okay they didn’t have hair on their feet, but there was still a little bit between their toes. These ancestors were the only ones who had known what freedom was prior to slavery, and although little is said in history about them, they resisted bondage with every fiber of their being. This is the story of one such rebellion… Stono.
What You Talking About Willis?
The rebellion was named after a portion of the Ashley River in South Carolina called Stono. Now before we get into the uprising, lets talks about the history of slavery in South Carolina. Basically, SC had slaves since before the time of Moses… okay I am exaggerating, but slavery was an integral part of their rice and cotton economy since the early 1600s. As a matter of security against the indigenous population, they wanted to bring more settlers into the colony and the people who came there wanted to bring their slaves with them. This was in direct opposition to the colonies established by the Spanish in Florida which was slave free at the time. As a matter of fact, the participants in the Stono rebellion were trying to get to Florida because slavery was not permitted there. I mentioned something about settlers wanting to bring their slaves with them earlier, well these settlers were from Barbados. Now Barbados was the slave capital of the world. They had more slaves in Barbados than in a Richard Buton and Eliabeth Taylor movie. You see, around the early part of the 1600s, permanent settlers from England began setting up camp in Barbados and planting sugar cane. They were making money hand over foot importing sugar back to Europe, but they needed laborers to accomplish that. At first, they started enslaving the inhabitant of the island, but the natives started leaving and going to other islands. This is when they started bringing in slaves from Africa. Although most of the slaves came from Biafra (present day Cameroon) and the Gold Coast, more than 30,000 came from the Congo, where a war was being fought. The captured prisoners were then sold to the English who took them to Barbados to work the sugar cane fields. This is important to remember because it will figure into our story later on.
Working the sugar cane fields in Barbados meant working under the most brutal and inhumane conditions known. Life was cheap if you were a slave. If the Massa didn’t get you, then working on the plantations from sunup until sundown would.
Massa: Nigra!! You thinking about white women… aren’t you?!!
Black: No Massa… I ain’t neva even seen a white woman!!
Massa: So, you’re calling me a barefaced good for nothing lying ass white $##@! huh?!!!
Black: No Massa… No!!!
Massa: Strip nigra!!!
You could be replaced in a heartbeat, since hundreds of enslaved humans arrived in Barbados every day. By 1867 there were more than 34,000 enslaved people on the island… and only 22,000 Europeans. At one time the Barbados sugar cane trade was worth more than all the other English colonies trade combined due to the labor of enslaved African. So, with all this money on the table, why would the English plantation owners leave and go to South Carolina?
I would like to say that since they were outnumbered almost 2-1 and were tired of sleeping with a musket in their bed and hearing people outside their bedroom door whispering late at night…
Whisperer 1: (mumbling…) … burn down… hole… (unintelligible?) dirt … pee…
Whisperer 2: (unintelligible?) cut… (something?) head… (mumbling…) pole… (mumbling…) dancing …
Well, they thought that this was as good a time as any to leave… but that was not the case… at least history doesn’t say that’s the case…
History says they started leaving because they were running out of land. Most whites couldn’t make a decent living because the large plantation owners had all the land. Enter South Carolina. They offered them all the land they could want, and they could bring their slaves with them. Charleston, South Carolina would eventually become the first slave capital of the United States. By 1720, over 40% of all enslaved people taken from Africa arrived in the ports of South Carolina. Even today, most African Americans have at least one ancestor who was trafficked through South Carolina.
Anywho, let’s go back to the 1600s. So, South Carolina offered the Europeans in Barbados land to grow their sugar crops and told them they could bring their slaves along with them. Well, not only did they bring their slaves, but they also brought the barbaric mentality they had in Barbados toward their slaves with them.
Massa: “Come here boy!! I want you to pick up that glass of water and throw it in my face!! I’m hot!!”
Black: “No Massa!! No!! Please!!”
Massa: “I told you I was hot!! Pick up that glass of water right now nigra and throw it in my face… or Ima beat the black off you!!”
Black: “SPLASH!! SPLASH!!”
Massa: “YOU #@@!&!!!! “NIGRA STRIP!!”
Yesiree, they brought that plantation shat right with them. Anyway, this brings us to the Stono Rebellion.
You Don’t Want None of This…
The leader of the rebellion was known by the name of Cato. Cato was from the Congo. He got his name from the people who enslaved him. They were the Cater family who lived not too far from the Stono River on the banks of the Ashley River. Cato also enlisted 20 other fighters who were also from the Congo and surrounding region. They spoke Portugues, which leads credence to the fact that they were first generation slaves who were sold in Barbados and then moved to South Carolina. So, I told you that the Congo was at war around that time and the captured enemy were sold as slaves to the Europeans, who took them to Barbados and sold them as fast as they could. I mean these men were known to have been walking around with lion and tiger heads draped over their backs and gorilla hands and gorilla private parts hanging from necklaces on their chest. Throw in the fact that they had been fighting a war with neighboring tribes for the past few years and you could still see the blood dripping off them when it took you and ten other men to just chain one of them up… well you just didn’t want those types of folks hanging around.
Slave Buyer: “Make that one bend over… I want to see if he’s healthy… “
Seller: “Are you talking about the one jumping up and down and yelling, “Kill!!, Kill!!, Kill!!?”
Slave Buyer: “Yep… that’s the one…”
Seller To Warrier: “Sir… excuse me sir… Sir, do you mind turning around so that this gentleman can see your face?”
Slave Buyer: “I DIDN’T SAY I WANTED TO SEE HIS FACE!!! I SAID… I WANT YOU TO MAKE HIM BEND OVER!!!” … “WHERE ARE YOU GOING??!!!” … “COME BACK HERE!!!” … “I SAID COME BACK HERE!!!”
So yeah, they wanted to get these men off the island, not only because handling these men could prove dangerous to your well-being, but being trained fighters, they could also lead the other enslaved people against you.
So, on the morning of September 9, 1739, Cato gathered 24 other enslaved men like himself and marched south toward Florida. They carried a banner with the word “Liberty” written on it and they shouted the word as they marched. Near the Stono River Bridge, they attacked a store named Hutchison’s and killed two shopkeepers. The store was also an armory, and they seized the weapons that were stored there. After arming themselves, they raised a “flag” as they proceeded toward Florida. Now, breaking into a store, stealing the weapons, and killing the shopkeepers was one thing… but when you raise a flag… the shat that people get killed under… now you saying something!! Before that it was just a bunch of thieving blacks… at the most you rounded up a few of the fellows to go after them, whip a little bit of it and hanged a couple… but once that flag was raised… you violated!! Now you are saying, “I AM A KING AND THIS IS MY FLAG!!… AND ANYBODY WHO TRIES TO TAKE IF FROM ME, BETTER HAVE THREE WISE MEN WITH HIM!!” It was a direct assault on your gawd fearing authority and that means this was only going to end one way… with heads on poles!
It Was A Great Idea At Least…
As they marched toward Florida, they gathered more recruits. In all there were now 81 of them. Some of the recruits came because they had no choice. They burned six plantations and killed another thirty colonists. Even if you didn’t want to join in the rebellion, now that they killed your Massa, when the militia arrived everybody who was still alive head was going on a pole.
As it so happened while riding though the countryside, South Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor William Bull and five of his friends came across the group and quickly rode off to warn the other plantation owners. The next day, a militia that was armed to the teeth, rode out to confront Cato and his men. They met at the Edisto River in South Carolina. There were almost one hundred militiamen and Cato’s group numbered seventy-six at this time. To make a long story short, heads were put on poles after the battle. Twenty-three colonist and forty-three enslaved people were killed. The colonists mounted the severed heads of the rebels on stakes along major roadways to serve as warning for other slaves who might consider revolt. It could be considered a kind of victory for the rebels in that proportionately they had defeated more of the enemy. Still nothing says who won, like having your head stuck on a pole. So, in the description of this battle, I said that Cato had 76 men and 43 were slain in the battle. The rest of the men ran at the beginning. About a week later, they put up a fierce battle with the militia about 30 miles from Edisto. They lost and most were executed. The rest were sent to the West Indies to be sold in their slave markets.
Just History…
So, a couple of historical developments happened after the Stono Rebellion. For one thing, the importation of enslaved people from Africa was put on a ten-year moratorium. Being slain by an African warrior was more than just a couple of bullet holes in you. They rather throw the gun down and cut you into little pieces with the biggest butcher knife you ever seen.
Warrior: “You have been a courageous foe and now I will cut out your beating heart and sacrifice it to Uptata… goddess of the Golden Pig…”
So yeah, they didn’t want any more Africans for a while. Even when the moratorium expired, enslaved people from the Congo and Angolan region could not be brought into South Carolina. Another development of the Stono Rebellion is that during the moratorium, domestic slave markets begin to appear. They started breeding slaves to sell. When the US Congress banned the importing of slaves from other countries in 1808, it didn’t make a big difference, because breeding farms had become the principal market for buying and selling slaves in the US. In South Carolina, they also passed the Negro Act of 1740. For plantation owners, this meant that there had to be one white for every ten blacks. It also forbade blacks from growing their own food, learning to read, earning money or assembling in groups.
Massa: Nigra, don’t you know we got laws against more than one of y’all hanging around!!
Black: Massa this here be my wedded… we in here getting married…
Massa: AWWWW SHUCKS!!!…. BACKSASS!!!… STRIP!!
Anyway, the law put severe restrictions on enslaved blacks… and free blacks too. It also put some restrictions on plantation owners. It established penalties for masters who demanded excessive work or who brutally punished slaves. However, the law was a toothless lion, because enslaved blacks could not testify against whites.
Court: Massa John, did you put those knots on Leroy’s head just because you wanted too?
Massa: No Sir, I did not! I didn’t even know he had any knots on his head! Ask him!!
Court: You know full well a nigra can’t testify against a white man…
Massa: Very well!!… I’ll ask him?… Boy… where do I keep my Billy Jack!!?
Leroy: In yo’ back pocket Massa…
Massa: And do I have it right now?…
Leroy: Yes Massa…
Massa: And am I gonna have it when we leave?…
Leroy: Yes, Massa…
Massa: Did I put those knots on yo’ head!!?
Leroy: No Massa…
Massa: You see… I had nothing to do with it!
Court: Well Massa John, we’re sorry for the inconvenience, but you know we have to investigate these things…
And that was that…
The law also put restrictions on manumission. Manumission was when a plantation owner freed an enslaved person. It was usually a private affair. Massa: Jacob, you are free… be out of the state by sundown…” After the passing of the Negro Act of 1740, you had to get permission from the legislature to free an enslaved person. The law was in effect in South Carolina all the way up until the end of the Civil War.
A Voice From The Past…
As for Cato, he was hung along with his men as revealed in a message passed down through his family. It reads:
“I reckon it was hot, ’cause in less than two days, 21 white men, women, and children, and 44 Negroes, was slain. My granddaddy say that in the woods and at Stono, where the war start, there was more than 100 Negroes in line. When the militia come in sight of them at Combahee swamp, the drinking, dancing Negroes scatter in the brush and only 44 stand their ground. Commander Cato speak for the crowd. He say: ‘We don’t like slavery. We start to join the Spanish in Florida. We surrender but we not whipped yet and we is not converted.’ The other 43 say: ‘Amen.’ They was taken, unarmed, and hanged by the militia.”
The Hutchinson’s warehouse site, where the revolt began, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
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