Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
c. 1775-1800
Some slaves, in order to save their own lives, testified against the ringleaders, about 35 of whom were executed. Prosser himself managed to escape by hiding aboard a riverboat on its way to Norfolk. In Norfolk, however, he was betrayed by other slaves, who claimed the large reward for his capture on September 25. Returned to Richmond, Prosser, like most of the other leaders, refused to confess to the plot or give evidence against other slaves. He was tried and found guilty on Oct. 6, 1800, and executed the next day.
Sources
There is no full-length biography of Gabriel. There are short biographical accounts in Herbert Aptheker, Essays in the History of the American Negro (1945) and in Wilhelmena S. Robinson, Historical Negro Biographies (1968). The best account of his rebellion is in Joseph C. Carroll, Slave Insurrections in the United States, 1800-1865 (1938). Additional information is contained in Herbert Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts (1943; new ed. 1969), and in Robert McColley, Slavery and Jeffersonian Virginia (1964). Arna Bontemps, Black Thunder (1936), is a fictionalized treatment of Gabriel and his conspiracy.