Text

Insurrection in Currituck

This text is a newspaper article from the October 18, 1860 issue of The Daily Progress (New Bern newspaper).
Author
“Gatesville Family Visitor”
Grade Level

This text is part of the Teaching Hard History Text Library and aligns with Key Concept 7.

insurrection

INSURRECTION IN CURRITUCK.  

A gentleman who has just returned from the lower counties, informs us that a slave insurrection had taken place in Currituck county. The particulars, as far as we have been able to ascertain them, are as follows: One morning last week a gentleman of that county found that all his slaves had left his place, with the exception of one boy, who, on being questioned, and to escape punishment for some negligence, informed his master that the negroes had gone off with some Irishmen, employed on the A. & C. Canal, for the purpose of gaining their freedom. The gentleman immediately informed his neighbors, who hastily collected and went after the fugitives. They found them encamped near the Canal and attacked them. In the fight which ensued, two of the villainous Irish instigators were killed, and a number of the combatants were wounded. After a desperate resistance, the party were captured, and lodged in the Currituck jail. 

If this rumor be true, the foul abolition instigators should each be speedily “swung up.” Such unholy and mad efforts as the Abolitionists are now making tend but to injure the welfare of the slaves, and will meet with condemnation from every true friend of the African race.— Gatesville Family Visitor. 

Source
This text is in the public domain. Retrieved from http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15012coll8/id/1296/rec/1.
Text Dependent Questions
  1. Question
    Reread the article. Do the reported actions of the enslaved people who escaped fit the definition of an insurrection?
    Answer
    Answers may vary.
  2. Question
    Look at the way abolitionism is described in this article. Why would the author condemn the work of the so-called abolitionists in this story? What might this say about the newspaper publishers and their subscribers' stances on slavery?
    Answer
    The author uses terms like “unholy and mad.” Answers may include the notion that the opposition against the escape attempt of the enslaved people and “Abolitionists” reveals the desire to maintain the system of slavery; if we assume newspapers try to speak to their audiences, the subscribers may have felt the same as the publishers.
  3. Question
    Reread the last line in the article. What is this line saying about the condition of enslaved people regarding acts of so-called “abolitionism”?
    Answer
    Answers will vary. By declaring abolitionist efforts were harmful to the enslaved person, the author argued that enslaved people were better off remaining enslaved.
  4. Question
    According to the text, why did the enslaved boy report on the rebelling slaves?
    Answer
    The boy confessed to the escape of the other enslaved people “to escape punishment for some negligence.”
  5. Question
    For what other reasons do you think an enslaved person would hinder a rebellion of enslaved people?
    Answer
    Answers will vary. Enslaved people may have acted in opposition to the desires of other enslaved people in order to improve their own situation, to enact revenge upon other enslaved people, avoid punishment, etc.
  6. Question
    For what reasons would the Irish workers have attempted to help free enslaved people?
    Answer
    Answers will vary. The Irish workers may have felt kinship towards the enslaved people, both groups impoverished and treated unfairly (though obviously to much different degrees) by those they answered to—their employer and enslaver respectively.
Reveal Answers