Second Creek Slave Conspiracy Analysis

Many complications arise when proving the slave conspiracy in Winthrop D. Jordan 's Tumult and Silence at Second Creek. In Mississippi during the spring and summer of 1861, slaves from Adams County plotted to gain freedom from their owners. Following the unveiling of the conspiracy to the slave-owners, the so-called court proceedings show reason to believe that something went awry. The way the slave-owners arrived at the information of the conspiracy and the way they proceeded in court lead to questions about the legitimacy of the conspiracy. Also, each reply from the slaves resemble each other with uncanny similarity. Fear played a key role in the actions in Adams County, too. For many years throughout the south, slave-holders believed

Connor 's copies of the examinations show similarities between the slaves recollections of their plan. The similarities prove the owners took part in controlling the slaves answers by the whip. After a few whips, the slaves just wanted the pain to end. Also, Connor wrote no questions from the Committee to the slaves being examined in his transcripts. The Committee could have asked questions which led the slaves to a particular answer. In the slave 's statements, they planned to rape the women or make them wives. The statements used words such as “ravish them,” “take the ladies for wives,” “ride the ladies,” and the list goes on.3 No previous slave revolt ever included the raping of women in previous uprisings. The raping of white women rose from the white man 's fear of the slaves. If the slaves raped the women, the more time necessary allows other white men to come and put down the revolt. If they planned to revolt, after the slaves kill their owners, they would not wait for more to

Fear played a major role in the reasoning for the fake plan. The reasoning started with word from a little boy, around eight or nine. The boy, Benny, sat and listened to the slaves talking one day and heard Orange, one of the head slaves, say “the whipping business would stop.” When Benny asked why, Orange responded, “a resting place in hell.”4 To a young boy, Orange 's statements imply the slaves had planned to do something. Benny being a young boy would embellish and carry out his thought further than necessary in reporting them to his elders. Benny 's parents, and other slave-holders, planted the idea of a slave rebellion into Benny 's head by talking of rebellions around the United States. The few slave rebellions, although never victorious, spread fear around the south. The ratio of whites to blacks in the south warranted the fear. The uneven ratio stood true near Second Creek as well. For every one white person, ten slaves worked. The uneven proportions contributed to the paranoia of the whites. The slave-owners believed if the slaves came together in Adams County, the slaves would overpower the whites out of pure