Gabriel Prosser: Inspired by the Bible

February 16, 2005 12:00 am

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Gabriel Prosser had great plans to free slaves and establish a new government. His rebellion may have included as many as 10,000 slaves, from Caroline County to Richmond, who would kill their masters with clubs, scythes and homemade bayonets.

The plan called for one group to set fire to Richmond buildings—to distract whites—while another seized guns from the armory.

But on the day of the planned attack, Aug. 30, 1800, two slaves told their masters. The governor called in the militia. As the rebels congregated outside Richmond, torrential rains flooded roads and washed out bridges.

Prosser postponed the attack a day, but had lost the element of surprise, and the slaves dispersed.

Prosser wasn’t among the first group of 30 slaves executed. The man who was inspired by biblical accounts of Israel’s delivery from slavery escaped to Norfolk.

He was betrayed by other slaves for the $300 reward on his head and was hanged in October.

Sources: "A Different Story" by Ruth Coder Fitzgerald; HistoryPoint.org of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library; The Free Lance-Star archives; State of Michigan Web site; African Within; The Kennedy Center; We Were Always Free By T.O. Madden Jr.; The Richmond Times-Dispatch; Life Magazine; Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Our history

Click here to return to the index page, or navigate the profiles
by clicking on the names below.

• Gabriel Prosser,
inspired by the Bible
• Noah Davis,
freed his family
• Fannie Richards
ahead of her time
• John J. Wright
devoted leader, reader
• Walker-Grant,
the men behind the school name
• Buffalo soldiers,
one earned highest military honor
• Urbane Bass,
city doctor
• Maddens of Culpeper,
'We were always free'
• H.H. Poole,
Stafford institution
• Sadie Combs,
first teacher at Snell
• Philip Wyatt,
Soft-spoken activist
• Palmer Hayden,
Painter of the people

• Venus Jones,
First black graduate of MWC
• The Lovings,
In the National Spotlight
• John DeBaptist,
Revolutionary War sailor

• Rachael Steers and Susan Loushing,
petitioning for change