1811 German Coast uprising

1811 German Coast uprising
Part of the Slave Revolts in North America
DateJanuary 8–10, 1811
Location
Territory of Orleans
Result Rebellion suppressed
Belligerents
Black slaves  United States
Commanders and leaders
Charles Deslondes  Executed Wade Hampton I
John Shaw
William C. C. Claiborne
Strength
200–500 enslaved Africans and African Americans 2 companies of volunteer militia, 30 regular troops and 40 seamen
Casualties and losses
95 total killed from skirmishes and sentencing after trials 2 killed
Part of a series on
North American slave revolts
Attack and capture of the Crête-à-Pierrot (Combat et prise de la Crête-à-Pierrot, March 1802) in the Haitian Revolution by Auguste Raffet, engraving by Ernest Hébert
Context
Before 1700

(Santo Domingo)

(Spanish Florida, victorious)

(Real Audiencia of Panama, New Spain, suppressed)

(Veracruz, New Spain, victorious)

(New Spain, suppressed)

(New Spain, suppressed)

(Santa Fe de Nuevo México, New Spain, victorious)
18th century

(British Province of New York, suppressed)

(British Jamaica, victorious)

(British Chesapeake Colonies, suppressed)

(Louisiana, New France, suppressed)

(Danish Saint John, suppressed)

(British Province of South Carolina, suppressed)

(British Province of New York, suppressed)

(British Jamaica, suppressed)

(British Montserrat, suppressed)

(British Bahamas, suppressed)

(Louisiana, New Spain, suppressed)

(Louisiana, New Spain, suppressed)

(Dutch Curaçao, suppressed)

(French Saint-Domingue, victorious)
19th century

(Virginia, suppressed)

(St. Simons Island, Georgia, victorious)

(Virginia, suppressed)

(Territory of Orleans, suppressed)

(Spanish Cuba, suppressed)

(Virginia, suppressed)

(British Barbados, suppressed)

(South Carolina, suppressed)

(Cuba, suppressed)

(Virginia, suppressed)

(British Jamaica, suppressed)

(off the Cuban coast, victorious)

  • 1841 Creole case, ship rebellion

(off the Southern U.S. coast, victorious)

(Indian Territory, suppressed)

(Spanish Cuba, suppressed)

(South Carolina, suppressed)

(Virginia, suppressed)
Notable leaders

The 1811 German Coast uprising was a slave rebellion which occurred in the Territory of Orleans from January 8–10, 1811. It occurred on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the modern-day Louisiana parishes of St. John the Baptist, St. Charles and Jefferson.[1] The rebellion was the largest of its kind in the history of the United States, but the rebels only killed two white men. Confrontations with U.S. military personnel and local militiamen who were sent to suppress the rebellion, combined with post-trial executions, resulted in the deaths of 95 rebels.

On January 8, between 64 and 125 enslaved people ignited a fight for freedom and marched from plantations in and near present-day LaPlace, Louisiana on the German Coast towards New Orleans.[2] More people escaped slavery and joined them along the way, and some accounts claimed a total of 200 to 500 people escaped and participated in the rebellion.[3] During their two-day, 20 mi (32 km)-long march, the rebels, armed mostly with improvised weapons, burned five plantations along with several sugarhouses and crop fields.[4]

White settlers led by U.S. officials formed militia companies, and in a battle on January 10 killed 40 to 45 of the people escaping slavery while suffering no fatalities themselves, then hunted down and killed several other people without trial. Over the next two weeks, White planters and U.S. officials interrogated, tried, executed, and decapitated an additional 44 people escaping slavery who had been captured. Executions were generally by hanging or firing squad. Heads were displayed on pikes to intimidate others.

Since 1995, the African American History Alliance of Louisiana has led an annual commemoration in January of the uprising, in which they have been joined by some descendants of participants in the revolt.[5]

  1. ^ Rothman (2005), p. 106.
  2. ^ Sternberg, Mary Ann (2001). Along the River Road: Past and Present on Louisiana's Historic Byways. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. p. 12.
  3. ^ "'American Rising': When Slaves Attacked New Orleans". NPR. January 16, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2011.
  4. ^ Genovese, Eugene D. (1976). Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made. New York: Vintage Books. p. 592.
  5. ^ Lowen, James W. (2007). Lies Across America: What Our History Sites Get Wrong. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 192.