Six Miles to Charleston Read Online Free
Author: Bruce Orr
City Jail.
The site of the Sugar House, in the vicinity of 15 Magazine Street, was also a place of execution for slave crimes. What better place to make an example than on the lawn of the facility that housed those who may become repeat offenders? One such example occurred in 1769 when two slaves, Dolly and Liverpoole, were executed for poisoning a white infant in their care and the attempted poisoning of the childâs mother. Liverpoole had been discovered to have supplied the poison, and Dolly had administered it. They both were burned alive on the jailhouse grounds as both punishment for their crimes and as a deterrent for those who dared to think of harming their masters.
Such treatment did not endear the slave owners to the slave population. Animosity ran high. Charleston had already experienced an attempted slave uprising in 1720 and had endured an actual rebellion in 1739 near the Stono River. The Stono Rebellion, as it was called, resulted in the murders of twenty whites. This had been the catalyst that led to the stricter laws of the Negro Act. With the continually increasing numbers of blacks, the citizens of Charleston were again in fear of rebellion during 1819. In fact, in 1822, there would be discovered a conspiracy of a very organized slave uprising and revolt. Denmark Vesey, a local slave, and many of his associates would go to the gallows. Estimates have it that upward of ten thousand blacks had been recruited into Veseyâs Rebellion in one fashion or another. In 1819, Denmark Vesey was already fanning the flames of dissention, and the white slave owners, the Negro Act laws and the Sugar House only fueled those flames.
In 1819, the country was experiencing its first economic issues. What would be known as the Panic of 1819 was actually the first major financial crisis this country had ever felt. It was largely caused by the end of economic expansion after the War of 1812 (which ended in 1815). Ironically, much like the events of the twenty-first century, the war had caused economic collapse. Bank failures, foreclosures and unemployment were high; marketing, manufacturing and farm exporting had slumped; and European demand was decreased because Europe had reached a state where agricultural and farming industries had recovered after being destroyed by the Napoleonic War. In the Charleston paper, the Charleston Courier , dated June 2, 1819, an article with the headline âAlarming Timesâ ran as follows:
Never within the recollection of our oldest citizens, has the aspect of the times, as it respects property and money, been so alarming. Already has property been sacrificed, in considerable quantities, in this and neighbouring [sic] counties, for less than half its value. We have but little money in circulation, and that little is daily diminishing.
The city was concerned with the diminishing value of their properties, civil judgments and executions in the amount of âmany hundred thousand dollarsâ were hanging over the heads of many. They further lamented that warrants, writs and judgments would soon far outnumber the amount of currency in circulation. The city looked to the state, the state looked to the country and no one seemed to have an answer to the economic crisis. Many feared that Charleston would soon be reduced to a city of beggars, vagrants, thieves and cutthroats.
It appeared that the concerns of the citizens of Charleston had a legitimate basis. Exports from Charleston were dwindling, but those that did leave the ports were not guaranteed safe passage. Unfortunately piracy was still quite prevalent in the waters in and about the Charleston harbor. Many ships became âpatriotsâ of other countries and committed piracy under the flags of those countries. Pirates no longer flew their own personal flags. Flags such as the Jolly Roger with its skull and crossbones were now highly recognizable and even to this day that particular flag has become the trademark symbol of
The site of the Sugar House, in the vicinity of 15 Magazine Street, was also a place of execution for slave crimes. What better place to make an example than on the lawn of the facility that housed those who may become repeat offenders? One such example occurred in 1769 when two slaves, Dolly and Liverpoole, were executed for poisoning a white infant in their care and the attempted poisoning of the childâs mother. Liverpoole had been discovered to have supplied the poison, and Dolly had administered it. They both were burned alive on the jailhouse grounds as both punishment for their crimes and as a deterrent for those who dared to think of harming their masters.
Such treatment did not endear the slave owners to the slave population. Animosity ran high. Charleston had already experienced an attempted slave uprising in 1720 and had endured an actual rebellion in 1739 near the Stono River. The Stono Rebellion, as it was called, resulted in the murders of twenty whites. This had been the catalyst that led to the stricter laws of the Negro Act. With the continually increasing numbers of blacks, the citizens of Charleston were again in fear of rebellion during 1819. In fact, in 1822, there would be discovered a conspiracy of a very organized slave uprising and revolt. Denmark Vesey, a local slave, and many of his associates would go to the gallows. Estimates have it that upward of ten thousand blacks had been recruited into Veseyâs Rebellion in one fashion or another. In 1819, Denmark Vesey was already fanning the flames of dissention, and the white slave owners, the Negro Act laws and the Sugar House only fueled those flames.
In 1819, the country was experiencing its first economic issues. What would be known as the Panic of 1819 was actually the first major financial crisis this country had ever felt. It was largely caused by the end of economic expansion after the War of 1812 (which ended in 1815). Ironically, much like the events of the twenty-first century, the war had caused economic collapse. Bank failures, foreclosures and unemployment were high; marketing, manufacturing and farm exporting had slumped; and European demand was decreased because Europe had reached a state where agricultural and farming industries had recovered after being destroyed by the Napoleonic War. In the Charleston paper, the Charleston Courier , dated June 2, 1819, an article with the headline âAlarming Timesâ ran as follows:
Never within the recollection of our oldest citizens, has the aspect of the times, as it respects property and money, been so alarming. Already has property been sacrificed, in considerable quantities, in this and neighbouring [sic] counties, for less than half its value. We have but little money in circulation, and that little is daily diminishing.
The city was concerned with the diminishing value of their properties, civil judgments and executions in the amount of âmany hundred thousand dollarsâ were hanging over the heads of many. They further lamented that warrants, writs and judgments would soon far outnumber the amount of currency in circulation. The city looked to the state, the state looked to the country and no one seemed to have an answer to the economic crisis. Many feared that Charleston would soon be reduced to a city of beggars, vagrants, thieves and cutthroats.
It appeared that the concerns of the citizens of Charleston had a legitimate basis. Exports from Charleston were dwindling, but those that did leave the ports were not guaranteed safe passage. Unfortunately piracy was still quite prevalent in the waters in and about the Charleston harbor. Many ships became âpatriotsâ of other countries and committed piracy under the flags of those countries. Pirates no longer flew their own personal flags. Flags such as the Jolly Roger with its skull and crossbones were now highly recognizable and even to this day that particular flag has become the trademark symbol of
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