The Stono Rebellion
The Stono Rebellion was one of the most profound slave uprisings in the 18th century, taking place in South Carolina near the Stono and Ashley River. On Sunday September 9, 1739 a group of slaves broke into an arms cache and proceeded to kill dozens of white men, women, and children. The group was led by a man known as “Cato,” a slave who had grown sick of such a miserable life and wanted to go to Spanish Florida, a land where slavery was abolished. Cato had recruited approximately 60 slaves to partake in the revolt, some of which were soldiers back in their home countries.
After recruiting a crowd, Cato was now ready to being the uprising. They chose to do the plan on a Sunday as the slave owners and white families …show more content…
The group, now a militia, was much smaller in comparison to the rebellion forces, which had now amassed to 80 men according to some sources. This did not distract the militia from creating a resistance against the slaves, and so they began their pursuit to track down and confront Cato and his mob. Towards the latter half of the day the militia had reached the location of the slaves and began firing upon them. The two sides engaged in a battle with the casualties being severe for the slave rebels, more than 40 slaves were killed and those who did survive were later apprehended. The militia had lost a fair amount of men as well but were still successful. The plantation owners had now ended the Stono rebellion, but it was far from over at that point, there had to be drastic measures taken in order for such an incident like this to never occur again. South Carolina was shaken by this incident and called for laws and codes to be implemented in which the rights of the privileged slaves were diminished. Not only were their privileges diminished but were now forbidden from forming assemblies, learning how to read and write, grow their own food, all in attempts to ensure that “Cato’s rebellion” would surely die with the first