Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas PDF

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The indictment noted that patrollers ers to write passes routinely, larger cities like Charleston devised badge found Kees "with negro slaves" on the "pathway leading from David R. systems: a slave's owner purchased a badge from the city, good for one Whitford's to George Reel's Quarter," meaning that Kees had probably year, that the slave had to wear at all times. Although slaves did not al- not initiated the confromation, but was defending himself after being ways wear their badges, and some owners flouted the law, badges gave discovered with several bondsmen. The willingness of some free blacks patrollers a means to avoid inspecting passes in the largest Southern cit- to help runaway slaves could put the freedmen at risk with local patrol- ies. Even seventy years after freedom came, one former bondsman de- lers, who visited their homes too.47 The scrutiny of slave patrols in clared that he still had his badge and pass to show the patrol, so that no Southern communities probably encouraged less venturesome free one could molest him. +4 blacks to limit nighttime contact with bondsmen, to avoid patroller bru- In urban areas, free blacks or fugitive slaves who had 'no papers ran tality and Kees's fate of being taken to court. 48 the risk of being picked up by city patrollers. Runaways captured by pa- Slave patrols had most frequent contact with slaves who left their trollers were usually sent to the guardhouse until reclaimed by their plantations repeatedly. This included bondsmen who had family mem- masters. Even free blacks whom the patrollers had no business impris- bers living nearby and slaves who were courting, trying co woo the part- oning could be placed in the guardhouse by those who were overzeal- ner of their choice. Stories abound of patrollers who encountered male  116 Slave Patrols rn Times of Tranquilily 117 and female slaves courting outside the bounds of a plantation; in many that his uncle used magic invisibility to outwit patrollers. The uncle reg- accounts, the male slave accepted the whipping for both slaves and was ularly disappeared off the plantation and left no trail, although one time embarrassed at being caught. John Thompson, a runaway who success- patrollers caught up with him. As his nephew told the story, ~one time fully escaped to the North, wrote that one master grew weary of having he git cawnuhed by duh putrolmun an he jis walk up to a tree an he say, Thompson court his female slaves, and asked the local patrollers to 'l tink I go intuh dis tree.' Den he disappeah right in duh tree." 56 Other watch for him and whip him, but they never seemed able to capture evasive maneuvers called for more conventional means: slaves rubbed Thompson. One evening, patrollers appeared in the slave quarters he turpentine or manure on their feet, masking their scent from dogs and was visiting and chased him for more than a mile without capturing thus throwing patrollers off their trail.57 him. About two weeks later, however, county officials took the bonds- Evasion, however, was not an inevitable outcome: without a valid man into cusrody to obtain information about some stolen wheat. Al- pass, slaves caught by a patrol group would be beaten, and the most though he knew nothing of the theft, they whipped him anyhow be- vivid memories of former bondsmen were beatings they received at the cause 1he owner of the female slaves complained that Thompson made hands of patrollers. Of the ex-slaves interviewed by the WPA in the them unfit for working. Thompson's owner, outraged at this interference 1930s who were children or adolescents in slavery times, few had been and whipping, beat the consrnble and had the magistrate turned out of actually caught or whipped by patrollers. They remembered that patrol- office for wrongly abusing his slave.4" lers could whip a slave without a pass, however, even though they had Fathers and mothers, who moved between plantations to see children not been beaten themselves. 56 In fiction, runaway mothers like Margaret and spouses scattered in the region, also encountered patrollers on a reg- Walker's Vyry might try to escape slavery with their children, but slow- ular basis.50 Many former slaves interviewed by the WPA remembered moving toddlers made it easy for patrollers to recapture the entire run- their father or mother escaping from or outwitting the patroP 1 Patrol- away group. Although the children avoided a patroller's whipping, the lers could exploit family relationships: the owner Christopher Dawson parents would not.~~Other young slaves remembered seeing the patrol thought patrols could easily find his runaway slave Rose because she , riding, although they never met patrols or were threatened by them must be near the plantation where her mother lived.5 Slave patrols chal- directly....:,More often, they knew stories of family members-fathers, lenged family members about their movements, even when slaves had mothers, uncles, siblings-who had been caught, or threatened with a valid passes, if they suspected slaves were moving about "excessively." beating, by the patrol. 01 One ex-slave recalled that patrollers stopped his father because they For a female slave a patroller's beating might be the least of her wor- thought he was visiting his wife too much. ~1 Slave parents talked to ries. All women held in bondage remained threatened by the possibil- their sons and daughters about patrollers, even if the children were too ity of sexual abuse; not only could slave patrols take advantage of a young, like the former slave W Solomon Debnam, to understand what woman's smaller stature, but their searches of slave cabins took them pat rollers did. s.. In some cases, the information they imparted helped into intimate confines whose beds and privacy could be sexually ex- their children use more caution around whites, or just scared them into ploited. A slave woman told her mistress that while a patroller searched more prudent behavior. her cabin, he appeared "to be very fond of her, tho' she had her Husband Evading patrollers took speed and ingenuity or faith in the supernatu- " hid under Bed."62 Another slave claimed that patrollers engaged in sex- ral. Both urban and rural slaves perfected the art of "skinning" over ual relations with female slaves, after whipping their enslaved hus- backyard fences-vaulting them while on the run-to escape an ap- bands. 63 Recent scholarship suggests that patrollers may not have beaten proaching patroller. Conjurers and folk doctors prescribed various rem- slave women as severely as slave men due to the feminine style of brief edies when slaves wanted "to escape the 'patrolers,' " although almost truancy, rather than the prolonged absences of male slaves.M nothing is known about which roots or plants bondsmen deemed most Slaves could also plead with their masters to intercede and stop pa- effective against patrols. 1' One Savannah, Georgia, ex-slave remembered troller violence, allhough most masters usually learned about the brutal- 118 Slave Patrols ln Time.sof Tranquility 119 ity that occurred after the fact. One enterprising bondsman, Peter, wrote to avoid a beating, slaves made patrolling part of their culture through his absent master to complain about patrollers harassing him and other song. Bondsmen had warning songs that slave children sang to indicate slaves on the plantation. The patrollers "told a good many miserable lies that patrollers were nearby. The most well-known song sung about pa- on me which has given me a great deal of trouble" and the intervention trollers, "Run, Nigger, Run," had several variants (see Figure 8). 73 Its lyr- of his master might be the only thing that would slop another beating in ics describe the angry owner, the fleeing slave, and the patroller in hot the future. Of course, Peter's version of events may not have been the ab- pursuit: solute truth: his ingenuity may have extended to distracting hls owner As I was goin ,ross de field with false claims against the area's patrol group.M A black snake bit me on my heel Slaves might beg to be let out of a whipping from the patrol, hoping CHORUS that mercy or caprice might avert a beating.(>(, Patrollers sometimes toyed Run nigger run, de Patrol catch you with a slave, threatening a whipping, then letting the slave go free. The Run nigger run, tis almost day inherent arbitrariness of punishment added to the fear most slaves felt When I run, I run my best when they encountered slave patrols. One former bondsman, Alex Run my head in a hornets nest Woods, recalled how a patrol reacted to a begging slave. He said that pa- CHORUS trollers "wouldn't allow [slaves I to call on de Lord when dey were whip- pin' 'em, but dey let 'em say 'Oh! pray, Oh! pray, marster.' "n 7 The harsh Some folks say data nigger won't steal punishment a patrol could administer caused one former slave to liken But I caught nigger in my com field meeting the patrol with being sold to a new master-a slave would seek CHORUS to avoid both fates at any cost.'I On occasion, slaves made deals with patrols, although the reality of 110. RUN, NIGGER. BUN t white coerclon sometimes made the arrangements very one-sided. Pa- troller Jimmy Stevens started 10 whip a group of slaves he discovered at a dance, then offered to "let 'em off dat time if dey'd sing and dance some ~IJ ;.JSLfJIC some tell me that a CE 11ig ger won't r r steal, Bu& mo'," according to former slave Berle Barnes. 70 In a white folktale about f patrols, a Virginian thought that "!tlhe men appointed as patrolmen were often in sympathy with the slaves, who would sometimes tell them what they were planning to do. " 71 Sympathetic or not, patrollers could r C C cc J 1J;.J J Ir C o.J JI be bribed, if slaves had the right goods and patrolmen had weak princi- I've seen a nigger in my coru-field; 0 run, nigger, rllll, for the ples. Enslaved blacks who provided food, liquor, or other goods (stolen or not) could receive safe passage from a patroller, despite not having a valid ticket. However, patrols might make deals with slaves and then re- fJ 1 1 ,c=c1r cc.J ccir J J=II nege: in an unlikely alliance, one master aided his slave in getting a pa- patrol will catch you, 0 run, nigger, run, for 'tie al most day. troller to satisfy his part of the bargain, still unfulfilled. 1i Whether bondsmen bargained with parrollers or tried to outwit them 8. "Run, Nigger, Run" sheet music, c. 1867  120 Slave Patrols In Times of Tranquility 121 One had de shovel and de other had de hoe Patroller Equipment and Patterns of Movement And H that aint stealin l don't know CHORUS1◄ Slave patrols in rural areas regularly used the most common form of Goldie and J. B. Hamilton recorded their versions of this song for Vir- transportation available in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: they ginia WPA Folklore workers. They remembered alternate verses and a traveled on horseback. 77 Since most slaves they encountered (and most slightly different chorus: who tried to run away) were on foot, a group of men on horseback had advantages in both speed and range. Patro\lers sacrificed silence by us- Run Nigger,run. Patty Roller will catch you, ing horses, since horses and men made more noise than men alone, but Run, nigger run the advantages outweighed any loss of stealth. Charles Ball, fleeing slav- I'll shoot you with my flintlock gun. ery at the beginning of the nineteenth century, evaded patrollers when CHORUS: Run, nigger run, Patty Roller will catch you, he heard their horses and remained hidden from his pursuers. 78 Horses Run, nigger run, you'd better get away. were essential in rural areas because slave patrols met in a central loca- tion, traveling from their individual residences, and then moved from I run and jumped across a fence, plantation to plantation, attempting to discover slaves away from their Blacksnake bit for the want of sense, cabins without permission. Although the patrol's work could be done on CHORUS foot, scouring a countryside with farms scattered a few miles apart could Run, run, I ran my best be a daunting task. Patrollers also relied upon horses for purposes of in- I ran my head in a hornet'.snest, timidation. A mounted man presents an awesome figure, and the power CHORUS and majesty of a group of men on horseback, at night, could terrify slaves into submission. 79 And since patrollers carried no distinguishing Hornets they went boo, woo, woo, equipment, in the dark, any cluster of mounted men might be mistaken You'dbetter bet this nigger flew, CHORUS by a slave for patrollers. By contrast, in urban areas patrollers regularly worked on foot. With Nigger run and nigger flew, less ground to cover, the noise of horses would draw too much attention Nigger tore his shirt tail in two, to slave patrols who moved through town streets, peering into alleys, CHORUS checking taverns, and entering slave houses. Whether mounted or on Run, nigger, run, run your best foot, a large part of all patrolling involved movement from place to My gal's got jaws like a hornet's nest place, inspecting many locations on a given night. On occasion, rural CHORUS patrollers also worked without horses, particularly when they had a spe- cific house under surveillance, such as one where they suspected slaves I'll load my gun with flint and steel, of selling illegally obtained goods. I'm gonn' split a niggers heel CHORUSH An excellent example of this stationary patrolling (akin to modem po- lice stakeouts) is found in the diary kept by a young Virginia doctor- Flight or evasion remained a primary concern for slaves, but avoiding turned-planter, Richard Eppes. Eppes made his home at City Point, and patrollers was easier in song than in reality. In 1844 Moses Grandy, a like many slave owners on the James River, he owned land on both sides fugitive slave from North Carolina, wrote that "(a]ll through the slave of the river.80 Eppes recorded an elaborate description of patrolling near states there are patrols; they are so numerous that they cannot be easily his home in Prince George County. One Saturday night in November escaped." 76 ' 1851, three neighbors arrived at Eppes's home and ate dinner. After-  122 Slave Patrols rnTimes of Tranquility 123 ward, the four men went into town on a "patrolling expedition" at one Patrol\ers watched the homes and businesses of free blacks or whites, o'clock in the morning. They first stopped at a local City Point tavern, like Mrs. Penny, when they guessed that these residents had formed owned by the Dutchman Mark Blitz, and watched a neighboring wharf ties to slaves through illicit trading or grog sales. The local community and store, run by Mrs. Charlone Penny. When they observed lights in- might prompt this watchfulness by circulating petitions or rumors that side the store, and a skiff with men near her wharf, the patrollers left encouraged patrols to target specific individuals. In North Carolina, in- the tavern and "took positions to watch-Mr. Meade near the stable, dividuals in Mecklenburg, Iredell, and Cabarrus counties complained [Eppes] at the corner of Mrs. Pennyl']s warehouse on !the] wharfs !and[ about "the cupidity of evil disposed persons located in our midst-who Mr. Crane at her door to watch & peep." After a short time they heard carry on an unlawful traffic with slaves": they expected local patrols to Mrs. Penny open her door to three slaves; following a sJ:iort conversa- put an end to this kind of underhanded business activity.81 Patrollers tion, the bondsmen left the house and went back to the river. Fearing found it easier to keep the suspicious free person under surveillance, that they would lose their prey, Eppes "jumped off the wharf and made a through stationary patrolling, instead of attempting to monitor every dash at one but he escaped" and jumped in his boat. Although mistaken slave in the neighborhood who might be contemplating a rendezvous identities in the dark created havoc, the slave owners captured their with a would-be Mrs. Penny. quarry in the end. Eppes tried to overtake one fleeing man, but another Stationary patrolling need not focus only on suspicious whites or free patroller, Meade, mistook Eppes for the culprit and gave him several se- blacks; plantation owners could ask patrols to prevent thefts from their vere blows to the head. The slaves could have gotten away, since they got storehouses and fields.83 J D. Green, a slave who escaped to the North, their boat safely to the middle of the river, "but fearing we had arms & described the patroller hired by a neighboring plantation owner to guard they would be shot" the bondsmen came back to land anq surrendered. his property from repeated thefts by slaves like Green. The patroller Two of them turned out to be the cook and carpenter of the prominent "fixed himself under a fence about seven feet high, surrounded with slave owner Hill Caner, whose lands lay across the river. Upon examina- bushes," and when Green went over the fence on his regular raid of the tion, the patrollers found two empty bags that had held corn and meal, planter's chicken coop, he fell on top of the patroller, scaring both men plus a pistol and cutlass, and three flasks of apple brandy. Mr. Crane, so much that they ran in opposite directions. 84 who had been stationed dose to the house, claimed he had heard a Whether they rode horses, walked a city beat, or hid themselves on a woman bargaining with the slaves. Later that evening they caught an- stakeout, patrollers carried weapons. They relied on the instruments other slave with three bags and a basket of goods to be traded at Mrs. of intimidation commonly associated with slavery-guns, whips, and Penny's, but no pass authorizing his visit; Eppes and the others retained binding ropes. Men could use the guns to threaten or shoot a fleeing the goods and sent the slave back to his owner for a pass. Closer IO day- slave or to convey information and warnings between patrol groups. break, they searched three houses, including Mrs. Penny's and the tavern Warning shots were rare; they could frighten every household within run by Blitz, looking for the goods missing from the empty bags taken earshot and were used sparingly, as when a patrol had to break up into with the captured slaves. Eppes did not record what the search revealed. smaller parties to search an area. Shots taken at slaves were more com- On Monday morning, Hill Carter, a friend of Eppes and scion of the mon; Sabe Rutledge, a South Carolina ex-slave, recalled that his Uncle powerful Caner clan, came to discuss what should be done about the il- Andrew had an eye shot out by patrollers.~5 If a patroller killed a slave in licit slave trading. Eppes, Carter, and Meade "agreed to present and pros- the line of duty (a rare occurrence), the local government usually paid ecute [Mrs. Penny], employing Tim Rives to assist the commonwealth's the owner for the dead bondsman. 86 Patrols used whips to beat slaves attorney." Richard Eppes and the other men probably considered their who were caught away from their home plantations without passes, or patrolling expedition a success, for it captured the slaves and a sus- who obstructed patrollers in carrying out their duties. 67 City patrols pected liquor trader, and hoped that their discoveries would curtail fu- could also use whipping posts to restrain bondsmen while they were ture thefts in the area. Unfortunately no further information exists about beaten. 88 A few slaves reported that patrollers carried paddles instead of Mrs. Penny's fate once court proceedings began.xi whips, but this appears to have been unusual. Ropes could bind slaves to  SlavePatrols In Timesof Tranquility 125 124 trees or fence rails while they were whipped, or confine them until they Never again would they ride to as many as seven in a single night; for the could be handed over to town authorities or a slave owner. Patrols used rest of the year, two-thirds of their rides involved visits to one, two, or dogs only occasionally, because their barks might give a bondsman too three homes in a night. 95 The patrol settled into a pattern of almost- much warning. 89 weekly rides: twenty-three of their thirty-four night rides occurred on Some localities restricted a patroller's use of his whip. In Virginia, Saturdays and Sundays, the times when slaves were more likely to be patrols had to bring slaves they captured before a justice of the peace moving from place to place, visiting family and friends, evenings when it before they administered a beating. North and South Carolina seem would also be easier for the patrollers to spend time patrolling. But it to have had no formal requirement that patrollers only 'whip bonds- would be wrong to assume that the timing of the Panther Branch patrols men with official supervision. 90 Slaves, however, sometimes believed became overly predictable: a full third of the rides took place on the that they had informal rights--one former slave noted critically that other nights of the week.96 A slave could never be sure that the patrol some patrols did not wait for dark to administer whippings, implying would not be out on, say, a Tuesday night. It seems likely that these that patrols which encountered a bondsman at twilight (or before) typi- weeknight rides were intended largely for psychological effect, to pre- cally gave warnings, not beatings. 91 Since whites most feared slaves' vent slaves from assuming that patrols never rode during the week, night gatherings, when they were unsupervised and could plot conspira- rather than for regular enforcement purposes. After all, the patrol only cies, greater punishments might be expected from a patrol when it en- caught three slaves during weeknight rides, compared with the fifteen countered a slave at midnight as opposed to twilight. slaves picked up and whipped on Saturdays and Sundays.97 Hard- With his equipment readied, a patroller could go out ~nd challenge worked slaves did not have as much opportunity to wander during the slaves on country roads or city streets. The number of nights a patroller week-masters or overseers would be quicker to spot an absent hand spent on duty varied from place to place, and also depended on whether during the week than on a Saturday, with its traditionally easier work- any rumors of unrest or insurrection had recently been heard. Obvi- load, or on a Sunday, when most masters expected no work at all, and a ously, if any hints of danger were detected, more patrols would be active bondsman might steal away to visit other places. Fewer roaming slaves more nights of the week. During times of relative quiet, however, patrol '- in the week meant potentially fewer slaves to be caught by the patrol and captains could assemble their patrollers less frequently. consequently less reason to go out riding. But patrollers could never be In the Panther Branch District of Wake County, North Carolina, the certain what the slaves were plotting, so weeknight rides had to go on patrollers of 1857-58 recorded their movements in great qetail, provid- intermittently. ing an excellent overview of how patrollers operated night by night. 92 Weekends, particularly Sundays, were times of greater movement for The district's patrol committee supervised two groups of patrols, and most bondsmen. Slaves went to local religious meetings, visited family gave them explicit instructions at the outset: ''We advise, that you ride at members, or hunted wild game to supplement their diets. Freed from least twice every week for the first two or three weeks, so as to scour the their normal tasks, slaves might also use the subterfuge of pretending to entire district so that you may be able to determine what may be neces- go to a religious meeting to camouflage illicit activity.~8 Some services sary in the future."q; Orrin Williams, Hugh Black, and Addison King, the were sanctioned by owners, however, and slaves had sanctuary, so long three men making up the southernmost patrol group, followed their in- as the patrol agreed to heed the master's wishes. 99 This was more likely structions closely, turning out for twice-weekly rides for the first two to be the case when slaves held regular religious meetings on the owner's months of their service in April and May. The three men wfre extremely property. 100 Patrols knew these meetings attracted bondsmen, and they active, catching and whipping three different slaves, and riding to five often lurked near such gatherings. One North Carolina slave remem- and seven houses a night in those first few weeks."" bered that patrollers waiting outside the church he attended each gave Their initial burst of energy did not last. For the rest of the year, the him five lashes because they knew that his master did not give passes to three men regularly rode to only two or three houses in a given night. " leave the plantation. 101 Many slaves recalled that they needed to have  126 Slave Patrols In Times of Tranquility 1.27 passes to go to church in areas where patrols were vigilant and that in patrol work: as a country doctor, Leland was accustomed to being called some cases, even having a pass did not prevent them from getting from his bed for medical emergencies, and he considered patrol duty a whipped before or after their worship services. ioi Only the wily slave "very refreshing exercise" after lonely rides by himself. Yet Leland was a might escape when patrollers broke into his religious gatherings: An- devoutly religious man, and he told his patrol captain that he "refused thony Burns recalled that fleeing bondsmen went "through door, win- utterly" to go patrolling on Sunday; the captain changed their patrol dow, and even chimney."103 schedule so that Leland could join their rounds on Saturday nights. 107 Strong evidence exists showing that patrols engaged in abusive behav- Leland apparently saw no conflict between his beliefs and the whippings ior to harass congregations (and ministers) of faiths they did not respect. his patrol administered. Slave patrollers closely scrutinized Baptists and Methodists, whose min- e The harvest season and holidays also regulated the patrollers' rides: isters encouraged African American attendance and participation in while Williams, Blalock. and King, the Panther Branch patrollers, rode worship. A Baptist minister, James Ireland, recalled that the Anglican three and four times a month in June, July, and August, harvest time rector in Culpeper County, Virginia, made a habit of going to Baptist consumed their energies (and those of the slaves) in September, so they meetings and publicly disputing with their ministers. On one Sunday, only rode once during the whole month. Their reasons must have been Ireland thought the Baptists would be undisturbed, since the parson pragmatic: slave field workers were less likely to travel in harvest season, would be attending to his duties in his own church. He was wrong. Pa- since hard work would be required and supervision on farms would be trollers descended upon the Baptist meeting and "were let loose upon more acute. 10" In the Panther Branch District of Wake County, the main them, being urged thereto by the enemies and opposers of religion." Ire- crops of corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, and cotton would all require heavy land was "struck with astonishment and surprise, to see the poor ne- work schedules in early fall, before the onset of colder weather. In other groes flying in every direction, the patrolers seizing and whipping them, regions, patrollers may have modified their activities to match the har- whilst others were carrying them off prisoners, in order, perhaps, to sub- vest seasons of different crops. Conversely, at times in the year when ject them lO a more severe punishment» 10 whites knew slaves moved around an unusual amount, patrollers be- Like their Baptist brethren, Methodists also suffered from slave patrol- came more active. For instance, slaves who hired their time by the year ler attentiveness. On occasion, believers tried to strike back: when King went to county and city gatherings on January l; they would be scat- William County authorities warned Baptists and Methodists that slaves tered about the countryside. changing masters or returning home in attending their meetings would be apprehended, religious leaders from greater numbers at the beginning of January, so patrols became more en- both groups swung into action. The county's sheriff reported that the de- ergetic in late December and early January. 109Likewise, at holidays like vout had threatened to use physical violence against county slave pa- Easter and Christmas, more bondsmen were freed from work and likely trols. When patrollers invaded a religious meetinghouse, Mr. Charles to travel, so patrols became more active. Williams, Blalock, and King pa- Neale "through one of them out of the doore" while black and white trolled on Easter Sunday, and on days close to Christmas. 110 worshippers overpowered the other patrollers and ejected them from the Patrollers did not visit every household in a district where slaves gathering. 105 Baptists and Methodists threatened the existing social order worked, nor did they visit every house the same number of times during when they encouraged slaves to attend night meetings and forcibly resist the year. 111Rather, they went to certain homes more often than others, patrollers. 10" five, six, seven times a year. In Panther Branch District, patrollers went Although patrol members typically ignored the religious beliefs of to John Jones's farm an astonishing fourteen times. Clearly some farms slaves when they wished, that did not mean patrollers neglected their received closer attention than others. These well-visited farms have own observances when they became public officials. Patrol leaders or common denominators: a large number of slaves (typically more than group members could object to the day chosen for patrolling when it five) or closeness of the household to main crossroads.i 12 But patrollers conflicted with their devotions. Samuel Wells Leland appeared w enjoy attempted to make at least one call during the year at houses where only  l28 Slave Patrnls 111Times of Tranquility 129 one or two slaves worked. Interestingly, the patrol\ers visited the home night these gentlemen grow cold, or sleepy. or weary, and generally be- of Simon Smith, a patrol committee member, three times, and the home take themselves to some house, where they can procure a comfortable of Simon Williams, patroller Orrin Williams's father, once. Slaves of pa- fire." 11~ Sometime after three or four o'clock in the morning, they be- trollers and committeemen were scrutinized along with other bondsmen came active once more. Ball said that "[p]arties ofpatrolers were heard in the county, although the prospect of a warm fire and shelter may have by me, almost every morning, before day." Ball evaded patrollers by lim- drawn patrollers to the Smith and Williams farms as well. iting his movement co the hours between midnight and three o'clock. The lists left by Orrin Williams contain names that recur in the same, Once patrollers learned of a runaway slave, they became even more t or similar, order several times during the year.m Geographical place- active, if only to thwart the remaining bondsmen who might be tempted ment or the homes in Wake County explains this pattern. On May 2, by the fugitive's example. 110 The presence of a runaway who stayed in 1857, when the patrollers went to the homes of Nathan Myatt, Dr. the local area could cause unrest among other slaves, who might shelter, Banks, and then Susan Banks, they traveled north on Fayetteville Road. feed, and even run off with him. When slaves fled, they often absconded Patrollers rode on Smithfield Road when they inspected the slave cabins to remote areas, like the Santee swamps, the Great Dismal Swamp, and of Simon and William Turner, whose farms sat next to each other. Natu- the Appalachians, where they found natural hideouts. Patrols loathed rally enough, if the patrol used a given road, they woulrl°visit certain searching swamps and mountains, for fear that traps and hidden am- farms in the same order, time after time. bushes could be arranged, hostile Native Americans might appear, or the Patrollers did not have to visit farms in order to carry out their duties, fugitives would simply melt into the unmapped tracts of wilderness. Pa- however. As Richard Eppes described in his diary, stationary patrolling trollers took greater interest in runaways known to have lingered in pop- around suspected places could take place. On two evenings, the Panther ulated areas, and more men participated in patrols when a fugitive was Branch patrollers visited no farms. 1H The first evening, they sat in an reported in the vicinity. After Isaac Williams escaped from jail, he went ~old field"-one not currently in use growing crops--and caught a to see his wife who told him there "was a patrol of sixteen or twenty men slave. This suggests that they knew the routes bondsmen used away scouring the country" looking for him.121 Given patrollers' extra activity from the roads and set a trap for the slave they caught. 115 Qn the other when runaways roamed nearby. small wonder that a few slaves thought night when they did not visit a farm, they recorded simply ''caught run- patrols existed for no other purpose than to track down runaways. m away." The rest of that evening may have been consumed taking the run- When slaves overtaxed the abilities of one patrol group, or their thefts away to local authorities and receiving receipts for his safe delivery to extended beyond the boundaries of one county or parish, the governor jail or laying claim to the owner's reward. Although patrols preferred to might call out patrol groups in adjoining areas and order them to work travel on roads and open farmland, where they could easily see their in concert. In 1822 South Carolina's governor, Thomas Bennett, took prey, they would travel off beaten paths to get results. They knew slaves this action after a number of armed slaves moved back and forth be- used wooded areas to avoid detection. 110 When patrols shifted their areas tween John's Island and St. Andrew's Parish. iii Because such service of surveillance to wooded paths, slaves were sometimes stanled by their would be extensive, lasting longer than a single night, and might involve unexpected intrusions. m Charles Ball, who escaped from. bondage by combat, the men called to arms were compensated for the expenses they traveling through the Carolinas and Virginia, described the pattern of incurred. patrolling: "These people [patrollers] sometimes moved directly along the roads, but more frequently lay in wait near the side of the road, ready Interaction with Masters to pounce upon any runaway slave that might chance co pass. "118 Ball also claimed he knew when South Carolina patrollers were most active: The relations of patrollers with other citizens ranged from helpful to ob- "From dark until ten or eleven o'clock at night, the patrol are watchful, " structive. Overseers relied heavily upon patrols, and routinely rode as members of patrol groups_12 4 Owners supported this cooperation. Rules and always traversing the country in quest of negros, but towards mid- 130 Slave Patrols rn Times of Tranquility 131 -------------------------·····--·------ for plantation management that appeared in The Sou1hernAgriculturist to enter their plantations at any time. rn Whether their reasons might be and DeBows Review encouraged overseers to organize their own neigh- that their slaves were too valuable to be whipped, or that they did not borhood patrol groups and to join any slave patrol that ,entered their trust their bondsmen with a stranger, or that the entrance of a patrol plantations to prevent the abuse of slaves. 1" 5 Overseers· familiarity with denigrated the plantation (and thereby harmed the reputation of the patrol methods may explain why they appear to have never barred a pa- owner) is difficult to tell. The former slave Lydia Starks, who lived in trol from entering property or whipping a slave. By contrast, some mas- South Carolina. said that "Massa Taggart jes' dared anybody ter look lak ters, generous paternalists or investors sensitive to possible damage to Q, dey wanted ter whip any o· us. De 'paddle rollers' came on our place one their property, blocked slave patrols from their plantations. Quite a few day... He run out of de house an' cussed 'em and tole 'em if he needed masters encouraged slave patrols to be more active: they not only per- any whippin' don' on his place, he'd dawn sho do it hisself. Dey didn't mitted patrols to enter their plantations but aided them in patrolling come back dere neithcr_"rn Other slave owners abused patro\lers openly, work, and called upon them to caplUre missing slaves. One former and a few audacious slaves thought that they could then "talk back" to South Carolina bondsman recalled a master holding a slave so that the patrollers with impunity, because their masters would protect them. m patrol could administer a whipping."~ Other owners neither helped nor Slaves who lived on plantations where owners denied patro\lers access hindered patrols, but merely wanted to do their own enforcement, with- were sometimes called "free niggers," denoting their preferred status. 134 out interference from outsiders. As one ex-slave put it, his master did Bondsmen who lived on these havens, however, knew about other "his own sneaking around" instead of the patrols. w nearby plantations where slaves had no immunity from patroller vis- When patrollers encountered direct opposition from whites, at the its. 135 Occasionally, patrols entered a plantation they had been forbidden root of the opposition was the commonly held belief that every man's to enter-arter all, the law sanctioned their activities, and they could home was his castle, and no official had the right to enter without per- choose to honor the wishes of an owner or not, as they saw fit. 136 When mission_u~ Ideas about Southern honor also prompted owners to block patrols crept onto a farm in Warren County, North Carolina, and beat up patrollers on their rounds: slave patrols were a living reproof to the slave a slave, the master demanded restitution. He received none. 137 owner, suggesting that he was remiss in controlling his slaves and that Infrequently, slave patrols encountered masters who confronted them the community needed to help him. Little wonder, then, that patrols, directly. Masters resident on plantations could frustrate patrollers' at- acting on instinct, hearsay, or just guesswork, were sometimes ob- tempts to "correct" their bondsmen. After a slave's wedding ended, pa- structed when they tried to enter homes without warrants. After all, pa-~ trollers broke up the party following it and the slave's owner tried to stop trols needed no warrant to go in a dwelling. unlike other county of- them. The owner's wife described the scene: "There were about thirty ficials. When the patrollers Ryan and McBride and the town guard tried negroes here and they behaved in a very orderly manner. About ten to enter a house in Charleston, South Carolina, where they suspected o'clock just as they were quietly dispersing the patrol came on them and slaves were having a party, Justice of the Peace Cunnington appeared at took off seven or eight who had no passes and whipped them. Papa tried the entrance and angrily demanded, "How dare any man force open the very much to get them off but did not succeed in doing it and I find there door?~ Everyone in the house had a right to be there, he claimed, and has been a good deal of talk about it."li~ Cunnington "gave Mr. McBride some abusive language" when he in- Slaves relied upon the sanctity that white masters attached to their sisted that slaves were presenc. Numerous black and mulatto persons lands; numerous former bondsmen remembered being confronted by were taken into custody after the town guards entered with patroller patrols and running to reach the boundaries of their owners' property, McBride.1n According to McBride, when Cunnington asked him what believing, wrongly, that H they could reach the gate or fence barrier at business of his it was whether or not there was a party, McBride re- the plantation's edge, the patrol could not whip them. ' 3~ Some owners sponded that he was one of the patrol and he «conceived lit to be] his even gave shelter to the slaves of neighboring owners when the patrol duty to prevent such doings." 1J