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Historical Highway MarkersGabriel's UprisingSA-66
Gabriel, an enslaved blacksmith from Henrico County, attempted to lead a mass uprising against slavery on 30 Aug. 1800. A fierce rainstorm and disclosure of the plot by two enslaved men foiled plans to attack Richmond and capture Gov. James Monroe. Arrested and tried, Gabriel was hanged on 10 Oct. alongside two associates, Isaac and Laddis, at Richmond’s “usual place” for executions, likely near present-day S. First St. and the Downtown Expressway. His probable burial place was near there on Cary St. at the Richmond Baptist Church burying ground, no longer visible. Shockoe Bottom, where the city’s gallows later stood, was long thought to be the site of Gabriel’s execution and burial.
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References/Bibliographic Citation: E-115 Gabriel’s Rebellion Virginia Historical Highway Marker file, Department of Historic Resources, Richmond, Virginia; Douglas Egerton, Gabriel’s Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993); Gabriel’s Conspiracy, Original Documents on the Event, Library of Virginia, http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whoweare/exhibits/deathliberty/gabriel/index.htm, 26 March 2004; Executive Papers of James Monroe, Library of Virginia; John A. Garraty and Mark Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 23 vols. (New York and Oxford: Oxford University, 1999), 8:598-599; Stanislaus M. Hamilton, ed., The Writings of James Monroe, Including a Collection of His Public and Private Papers and Correspondence Now for the First Time Printed, 7 vols. (New York, London, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1898-1903), 3:201-213, 234-243; Gabriel’s Rebellion Files, Library of Virginia’s Publication Department Files, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia; John Lee McElroy, Richmond Virginia in Old Prints: 1737-1887 (New York and Richmond: Johnson Publishing Company, 1932), 32; William P. Palmer, ed., Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts ... Preserved in the Capitol at Richmond, 11 vols. (1875-1893; reprint, New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1968), 9:140-170; William Price Palmer, Scrapbook, ca. 1890-1895, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia, pages 101-105; James Sidbury, “Gabriel’s World: Race Relations in Richmond, Virginia, 1750-1810,” (Ph.D. diss., John Hopkins University, 1991), 78, 81,180-191; James Sidbury, Ploughshares into Swords: Race Rebellion, and Identity in Gabriel’s Virginia, 1730-1810 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 124-127, Map 3 and Map 4; Virginia Argus, 30 September 1800; Virginia Argus, 14 October 1800. |