Lofton

Denmark Vesey’s Revolt. by John Lofton. Kent: The Kent State University Press, 1988.

John Lofton’s 1964 narrative recounts the life of Denmark Vesey. According to Lofton, previous scholarship focuses on the external forces that impacted slavery. These historians neglect to examine how those in bondage shaped the peculiar institution. Lofton writes that, “The technique of this work is to examine how the life and example of one slave impinged on the events of his time and to show, by concentrating on the story of an individual, that slaves were not merely pawns in the hands of their rulers but were themselves actors on the stage of history . . . Though he himself was not recognized as a mover and a shaker, his actions were demonstrably significant enough to stimulate the thinking and the public acts of those who were”(p. 4). Thus, Lofton uses Denmark Vesey’s revolt as an example of how common people influence history. The author believes that Vesey’s revolt not only elicited immediate reactions, but set in motion a chain of events that caused the Civil War.

Lofton begins his story describing the life of Captain Vesey. Vesey, a Bermuda islander and slave trader, acquired Denmark as his personal servant. According to Lofton, Denmark’s early experiences contributed to his rebellious nature (p. 18). He spent his youth on the brutal slave islands of St. Thomas and St. Domingue. In addition, Denmark served aboard a slave ship. Eventually, Captain Vesey settled in Charleston, South Carolina and Denmark purchased his freedom. The former slave became a carpenter and performed his craft in this vibrant city.

The author continues describing what inspired Denmark to lead a slave revolt. Anti-slavery Baptist and Methodist rhetoric planted seeds of unrest in the late eighteenth century Charleston. Subsequently, in 1791, news of the successful slave revolt on St. Domingue inspired hope. In 1792, 500 refugees from the island migrated to Charleston. This provided tangible proof that freedom could be achieved (p. 69). Finally, the free black community in Charleston contributed to the revolt. Free blacks mingling with slaves held out the possibility that those in bondage might become emancipated.

By 1800, slavery was becoming a combustible issue. Both Gabriel’s failed Virginia uprising and Loussaint L’ Ouverture’s successful Haitian Revolution excited fear in Charleston. Slaves, however, “paid special attention to whatever talk or action seemed to promise delivery from bondage” (p. 130). Denmark, disgusted by the degradation of blacks in Charleston, began to recruit followers. (p. 132).

Ultimately, the revolt failed. A solicited slave refused to join the cabal and leaked information about the conspiracy to his master. The plot unraveled and officials arrested the conspirators. Lofton goes on to describe the trial in detail. Vesey and five of his lieutenants went to the gallows. Other trials followed resulting in thirty four executions. Judges exiled thirty-five additional suspects.

According to Lofton, the revolt contained lasting consequences. Fear permeated throughout Charleston after the revolt. Evidence of this is seen in the 1822 Negro Seamen Act that required black crewmen entering the city to be jailed until their ship left port. After South Carolinians incarcerated free British African American sailors the Negro Seamen Act became a federal issue. South Carolina, however, asserted that this was a state affair. According to Lofton, “The state’s demeanor of defiance toward the federal government had begun to harden the events set in motion by Denmark Vesey in 1822. Its aggressive support of the Negro Seamen Act was symptomatic of the role slavery played in that shift” (p. 210).

Lofton dedicates his final chapter to establishing a connection between the revolt and the Civil War. According to Lofton, the failed insurrection prompted South Carolina to adopt an anti-nationalist stance. The fear elicited by the revolt caused South Carolinians to commit themselves to slavery (p. 211). The author concludes that Denmark Vesey influenced history and that the, “insurrectionist’s chief influence was to impel South Carolina toward disunion and into its first overt challenge to the national government, with slavery as the crux of the dispute” (p. 239).

Lofton uses an impressive array of primary sources in order to tell Denmark Vesey’s story. The author cleverly uses his sources in order to recount parts of Denmark’s life that are nebulous due to insufficient evidence. For example, records do not provide Denmark’s account of the infamous middle passage. Thus, Lofton uses Dr. Pinckard’s 1790s description of his voyage in order to convey generalities that should hold true for Denmark’s nautical experience (p. 25). The author also uses his sources in order to provide information about daily life and legal procedures in nineteenth century Charleston.

The author’s narrative style makes this book enjoyable and informative. Both historians and the general public will find it accessible. It is recommended to those interested in the history of slavery, the antebellum South, and the Civil War.

Justin S. Solonick

John Lofton Insurrection in South Carolina: The Turbulent World of Denmark Vesey (Yellow Springs: The Antioch Press, 1964)

In the summer of 1822 the threat of slave insurrection reared its head in Charleston, South Carolina. With the confidence of the insurrectionaries betrayed by a frightened slave, South Carolina officials discovered and stopped the uprising, executing the leaders, including fifty-five-year-old Denmark Vesey, the free black carpenter who had organized the short-lived revolt. The author notes that several other accounts of the planned insurrection have been published, but none have placed the narrative within its proper historical context. With Insurrection in South Carolina, John Lofton professes his objectives as the following: to portray the life of Captain Joseph Vesey, Denmark’s owner, as it intertwined with the young slave, to examine the social context in which Vesey’s rebellion took place, to tell the story of the of the insurrection and its aftermath, to suggest how all of these influenced African-American’s advance toward freedom and to indicate how South Carolina politicians were led to extremes by their commitment to slavery and their efforts to police it. (pp. viii-ix)

Born in 1767, probably on St. Thomas (possibly in Africa), Denmark Vesey began his life as a slave in the West Indies before Captain Joseph Vesey bought him and took him on a voyage to St. Domingue (Haiti), the major French sugar colony in the West Indies. In this environment Denmark Vesey worked until declared unfit because of “epileptic fits.” The next time Joseph Vesey visited the island, he was forced to take Denmark back because of this infirmity. Vesey and his slave traveled to Bermuda before settling in Charleston, South Carolina after the American Revolution. At Charleston, Denmark eventually bought his freedom with money he won in a local street lottery, after which he began practicing carpentry.

In 1791 revolution broke out on St. Domingue, where the slaves rose up and executed all of the whites who inhabited the island, setting up a government of their own and declaring independence. Slaves in the United States, particularly South Carolina where many of the fugitives from St. Domingue fled, were exposed to the idea of violent slave insurrection. Abolitionists in the United States also began, in the early part of the nineteenth century, to speak out against slavery and in 1819 the dispute over slavery came to the fore of national politics with the Missouri controversy. In this environment, Denmark Vesey, who lived a relatively idyllic life as a free man who amassed $8,000 of personal property by 1822, began plotting a widespread slave insurrection to take place on Sunday, July 16, 1822.

Vesey chose his lieutenants wisely, including two house servants of Governor Bennett. The revolutionaries stockpiled munitions and arms, including daggers and pikes, and enlisted mostly field servants and free blacks for their cause. They feared that house servants would betray the cause out of loyalty to their masters. Sure enough, in May, 1822 one of the insurrectionaries casually mentioned the plot to the house servant of a prominent Charelstonian, who, frightened, immediately informed his master. With this forewarning, Governor Bennett called out the militia, apprehended the various leaders of the movements a few at a time and tried them at a secret court outside Charleston cordoned by armed guards. On June 26, the court sentenced Denmark Vesey and five of his lieutenants to death by hanging on July 2. After these initial executions other prisoners revealed further details of the plot and dozens of slaves and free men were apprehended, tried and hung.

One of the immediate results of the Vesey scare was the “Negro Seaman Act” of 1822, passed by the South Carolina Legislature, that ordered all seamen of African origins imprisoned while their ships rested in Charleston, a law that repulsed especially the British whose ships sometimes docked in Charleston, only to have their seamen imprisoned for the color of their skin. The furor over the Vesey scare led directly to a hardening of South Carolinians against abolition and nationalism and towards a more pronounced sectionalism. Lofton maintains that Vesey emerges as a leader who helped to crystallize the fears of the slave holders and push them into an unyielding defensive stance and also inspired those who fought in the black man’s long, uphill struggle for freedom. His chief influence was to impel South Carolina toward disunion and their first overt confrontation with the U.S. government over slavery-the Nullification Crisis and then secession and Civil War.

John Lofton's book is much more than a history of a slave rebellion or a biography of its protagonist, Denmark Vesey. Instead it is a description of a context and a reaction. Lofton deftly describes both Denmark Vesey's world and the far-reaching effects generated by his ill-fated conspiracy.

Denmark Vesey as an historical figure Lofton finds "perhaps too violent to be acceptable as a symbol to the white community." He points out that there are no Negro schools named for him, as taking pride in his philosophy (which included the murder of as many whites as possible) might be considered "in poor taste (vii)." So Vesey remains little known and something less than a hero. While many previous accounts mention his abortive uprising, none deal with Vesey's background or put his planned rebellion into its historical context. Lofton's goal is to correct these omissions.

Lofton believes individuals within the slave system affected its evolution. Slaves were "thinking, free-willed human beings" and their effects as actors on the stage of history have been marginalized (4). His actions stimulated and influenced the actions of a subsequent generation, contributing materially to the drift towards war and lighting "the fuse to Fort Sumter," as expressed in his subtitle.

Since little reliable information exists on Vesey himself, Lofton begins with his owner and namesake, the slave trader Captain Joseph Vesey. Illuminating his world, the author is able to describe Denmark's early life and the events influencing him. Born or brought to the sugar islands, specifically the Danish island of St. Thomas, the young Denmark would have observed all of the abuses common to a sugar plantation and major slave-trading center. Overwhelmingly black in proportion (only 336 whites oversaw 4,348 blacks), St. Thomas exhibited many of the characteristics of his next home, the larger but similarly proportionately populated, St. Domingue (17).

Denmark's adoption as a "pet" by Captain Vesey appears due to his natural intelligence and good appearance (15). His favored status, due to chance and circumstance, served him well throughout his life. With Captain Vesey Denmark observed first hand several middle passages, a tragic replay of his own life or family history. He also gained knowledge of the slave revolt against the French, which Lofton believes provided the model for his later conspiracy (69-70).

When the captain moved to Charleston, giving up an active sea-faring career, luck again intervened for Denmark. Working for hire as a carpenter, Denmark entered and won the local lottery, enabling him to purchase his own freedom. This freedom engendered its own problems. Unable to find a free colored woman, Denmark "married" several different slave women, having children with several of them. Lofton speculates on the psychological effects having all of his children born into slavery had on Vesey. In addition, he had to entreat with his wives' masters in order to see them, a situation which also must have carried with it humiliation (131).

Lofton provides a vivid portrait of Charlestown politics, economy and the racially mixed society existing at the time. He is able to place Denmark's status in it and construct a portrait of his life through tax records (Denmark accumulated property and possessions valued at $8,000 by the time of the revolt). He also deals in great detail with the organizations (generally church-based) allowing Blacks communication with each other enabling the planning of the rebellion. This is all presented in the context of the growing political and emotional separation developing between North and South. He also describes the social lives of the different classes, their interaction and possibilities.

Only a small portion of the book (23 pages) actually deals with the planning of and betrayal of the revolt itself. Lofton describes good planning on the part of an effective leader and also an over-optimistic trust in recruiting large numbers of participants (maybe as many as 9,000). Such large numbers made betrayal perhaps inevitable. Careful not to recruit the personal servants who typically owed loyalty to their master instead of their race, "loose" talk overheard by such servants led to treachery (138).

The latter part of book, most significant for its author, involves its effects on latter events. The chapter "Harvest of Fears" implies the widespread repercussions of the misfired uprising. Southern slaveholders found themselves forced to reevaluate their attitudes towards the institution specifically and its place in their culture and nation. With little exception attitudes hardened, both towards free blacks, Northerners and anyone advocating changes in slave status. Throughout the South draconian laws appeared to prevent contact between free blacks and slaves. Many states required black sailors to be jailed at the expense of their captains until their ships sailed, causing repeated diplomatic incidents with the British. Such laws presented a constitutional challenge to the right of the Federal government to regulate trade and make treaties. All of the legal controversies contributed to the sectional crisis and demonstrated the federal Government's inability to enforce the rulings of its courts and its constitution. Fear of abolitionists also exacerbated constitutional issues. South Carolina postmasters impounded abolition literature and refusing its delivery.

Lofton also traces the careers of those who played key roles in the suppression of Vesey's rebellion. Many later led opposition to the tariff and played leading roles in nullification. Many were still active after Lincoln's election and participated in actual secession. Lofton sums up his subjects importance, concluding that Vesey "helped crystallize the fears of the slave-holders and push them into an unyielding defensive stance" while also "inspiring those who fought for freedom (239).