ABSTRACT
Reports of the mayhem quickly reached Governor Hunter, who summoned the militia to capture the rebellious slaves. With the slaves retreating into the woods, a search of the town on the following day revealed that six of the conspirators ‘ rst laid violent hands on themselves’ by committing suicide.6 Twenty-seven other slaves were captured and condemned to death. Twenty-one of those caught were ‘burnt, [the] other hanged, one broke on the wheel’ – the latter a particularly tortuous death whereby the bones were slowly, systematically broken and crushed so as to cause excruciating pain over a series of hours.7 ‘The most exemplary punishment in icted that could possibly be thought of,’ Governor Hunter earnestly reported, involved ‘one’ of the condemned who was ‘hung alive in chains in the town’ for all to see.8 He died slowly of dehydration and exposure, with birds likely picking the man’s bones clean of esh after a few days’ passing.
