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Uprisings by slaves bring harsh responses

By Paul N. Herbert
July 14, 2007

Paul N. Herbert photographs

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Slavery always has, and always will, produce insurrections wherever it exists, because it is a violation of the natural order of things." — Angelina Grimke, 1836

John Brown's attempt to free slaves in October 1859 resulted in his capture and execution. It was the spark that started the Civil War. Much lesser known was John Windover's earlier attempt to free slaves in Fairfax on Sept. 5, 1833.

During the week that Windover attempted the Fairfax insurrection, there were at least three advertisements for slaves in the Alexandria Gazette. A $50 reward was offered to anyone who returned Vincent, "a negro boy" of 17 or 18 years old, with "no marks recollected except some light spots in his face occasioned by poison."

Simon, a "stout made, dark mulatto who limps in his walk," fetched a $40 reward. He was further described as a "tolerable good bricklayer and brickmaker as well as waiter."

And "a gentleman from the South wished to purchase forty or fifty slaves, of good character, for his own service." The gentleman did not provide his offering price but did give details as to what he was looking for: "It is desirable to have a blacksmith, carpenter, coachman, and a man cook."

Slaves were certainly not unusual in Fairfax at that time. One author asserted that in 1830 there were 3,970 slaves in Fairfax County, which represented 44 percent of the entire population. It was at a time when abolitionists were gaining ground and the fervor on both sides of the slave trade escalated to a boiling point.

The British Empire outlawed slavery in all its territories in 1833, and New York City suffered through several violent days of an abolitionist riot in July 1834. In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison started his abolitionist newspaper, the Liberator, in Boston, and Nat Turner led a slave insurrection in Southampton County, Va.

After Turner's capture and execution, Virginia enacted stringent legislation designed to lessen the potential for future rebellions. Any person who expressed the opinion that one man had no right to own another was penalized with a $500 fine and one year in jail. Conspiracy was considered treason against the state and the penalty was death.

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