Stono Rebellion: Cato's Perspective
With plantation owners often far from home, Carolina enslaved laborers had less direct oversight than those in the Chesapeake. Furthermore, many Carolina rice plantations used the task system to organize enslaved laborers. Under this system, enslaved laborers were given a number of specific tasks to complete in a day. Once those tasks were complete, enslaved people often had time to grow their own crops on garden plots allotted by their enslavers. Thriving underground markets allowed enslaved people here a degree of economic autonomy. Enslaved people in Carolina also had an unparalleled degree of cultural autonomy. This autonomy coupled with the frequent arrival of new Africans enabled a culture that retained many African practices.14 Syncretic languages like Gullah and Geechee contained many borrowed African terms, and traditional African basket weaving (often combined with Native American techniques) survives in the region to this day.
This unique Lowcountry culture contributed to the Stono Rebellion in September 1739. On a Sunday morning while planters attended church, a group of about eighty enslaved people set out for Spanish Florida under a banner that read “Liberty!,” burning plantations and killing at least twenty white settlers as they marched. They were headed for Fort Mose, a free Black settlement on the Georgia-Florida border, emboldened by the Spanish Empire’s offer of freedom to anyone enslaved by the English. The local militia defeated the rebels in battle, captured and executed many of the enslaved people, and sold others to the sugar plantations of the West Indies. Though the rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, it was a violent reminder that enslaved people would fight for freedom.
These two documents (one this page and the next) offer different perspectives on the rebellion. William Bull (document 1) was the governor of South Carolina from 1737 - 1743. Cato is the enslaved man who is believed to have started the Stono Rebellion. While no account from Cato exists, document 2 is an interview with one of his descendants, who claimed that the story of the Stono Rebellion was handed down in family lore through the generations.
Source: "Chapter 4: Colonial Society." The American Yawp. 2020.
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/04-colonial-society/#III_Slavery_Anti-Slavery_and_Atlantic_Exchange
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/04-colonial-society/#III_Slavery_Anti-Slavery_and_Atlantic_Exchange
“My granddaddy was a son of de son of de Stono slave commander. He say his daddy often take him over de route of de rebel slave march, dat time when dere was sho’ big trouble all ’bout dat neighborhood.
As it come down to me, I thinks de first Cato take a darin’ chance on losin’ his life, not so much for his own benefit as it was to help others. He was not lak some slaves, much ’bused by deir masters. My kinfolks not ’bused. Da[t] why, I reckons, de captain of de slaves was picked by them. Cato was teached how to read and write by his rich master.
“How it all start? Dat what I ask but nobody ever tell me how 100 slaves between de Combahee and Edisto rivers come to meet in de woods not far from de Stono River on September 9, 1739. And how they elect a leader, my kinsman, Cato, and late dat day march to Stono town, break in a warehouse, kill two white men in charge, and take all de guns and ammunition they wants. But they do it. Wid dis start, they turn south and march on.
“They work fast, coverin’ 15 miles, passin’ many fine plantations, and in every single case, stop, and break in de house and kill men, women, and children. Then they take what they want ’cludin’ arms, clothes, liquor and food. Near de Combahee swamp, Lieutenant Governor Bull, drivin’ from Beaufort to Charleston, see them and he small a rat. Befo’ he was seen by de army he detour into de big woods and stay ’til de slave rebels pass.
“Governor Bull and some planters, between de Combahee and Edisto [rivers], ride fast and spread de alarm and it wasn’t long ’til de militiamen was on de trail in pursuit of de slave army. When found, many of de slaves was singin’ and dancin’ and Cap. Cato and some of de other leaders was cussin’ at them sumpin awful. From dat day to dis, no Cato has tasted whiskey, ’less he go ’against his daddy’s warnin’.
Dis war last less than two days but it sho’ was pow’ful hot while it last.
“I reckon it was hot, ’cause in less than two days, 21 white men, women, and chillun, and 44 Negroes, was slain. My granddaddy say dat in de woods and at Stono, where de war start, dere was more than 100 Negroes in line. When de militia come in sight of them at Combahee swamp, de drinkin’ dancin’ Negroes scatter I de brush and only 44 stand deir ground.
“Commander Cato speak for de crowd. He say: ‘We don’t lak slavery. We start to jine de Spanish in Florida. We surrender but we not whipped yet and we is not converted.” De other 43 men say: ‘Amen.’ They was taken, unarmed, and hanged by de militia. Long befo’ dis uprisin’, de Cato slave wrote passes for slaves and do all he can to send them to freedom. He die but he die for doin’ de right, as he see it.”
As it come down to me, I thinks de first Cato take a darin’ chance on losin’ his life, not so much for his own benefit as it was to help others. He was not lak some slaves, much ’bused by deir masters. My kinfolks not ’bused. Da[t] why, I reckons, de captain of de slaves was picked by them. Cato was teached how to read and write by his rich master.
“How it all start? Dat what I ask but nobody ever tell me how 100 slaves between de Combahee and Edisto rivers come to meet in de woods not far from de Stono River on September 9, 1739. And how they elect a leader, my kinsman, Cato, and late dat day march to Stono town, break in a warehouse, kill two white men in charge, and take all de guns and ammunition they wants. But they do it. Wid dis start, they turn south and march on.
“They work fast, coverin’ 15 miles, passin’ many fine plantations, and in every single case, stop, and break in de house and kill men, women, and children. Then they take what they want ’cludin’ arms, clothes, liquor and food. Near de Combahee swamp, Lieutenant Governor Bull, drivin’ from Beaufort to Charleston, see them and he small a rat. Befo’ he was seen by de army he detour into de big woods and stay ’til de slave rebels pass.
“Governor Bull and some planters, between de Combahee and Edisto [rivers], ride fast and spread de alarm and it wasn’t long ’til de militiamen was on de trail in pursuit of de slave army. When found, many of de slaves was singin’ and dancin’ and Cap. Cato and some of de other leaders was cussin’ at them sumpin awful. From dat day to dis, no Cato has tasted whiskey, ’less he go ’against his daddy’s warnin’.
Dis war last less than two days but it sho’ was pow’ful hot while it last.
“I reckon it was hot, ’cause in less than two days, 21 white men, women, and chillun, and 44 Negroes, was slain. My granddaddy say dat in de woods and at Stono, where de war start, dere was more than 100 Negroes in line. When de militia come in sight of them at Combahee swamp, de drinkin’ dancin’ Negroes scatter I de brush and only 44 stand deir ground.
“Commander Cato speak for de crowd. He say: ‘We don’t lak slavery. We start to jine de Spanish in Florida. We surrender but we not whipped yet and we is not converted.” De other 43 men say: ‘Amen.’ They was taken, unarmed, and hanged by de militia. Long befo’ dis uprisin’, de Cato slave wrote passes for slaves and do all he can to send them to freedom. He die but he die for doin’ de right, as he see it.”
Guiding Questions
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