All for Liberty: The Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion of 1849 by Jeff Strickland

Abstract

Reviewed by: All for Liberty: The Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion of 1849 by Jeff Strickland Michael A. Schoeppner (bio) Keywords Slavery, Workhouses, Slave revolts All for Liberty: The Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion of 1849. By Jeff Strickland. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. 276. Paper, $29.99.) Nearly eighty years ago, Herbert Aptheker published American Negro Slave Revolts, a seminal work that effectively demolished the once prevailing interpretation among white scholars that slaves in the United States were mostly docile and content. He catalogued hundreds of plots and conspiracies before confiding to the reader, "it is highly probable that all plots, and quite possibly even all actual outbreaks, that did occur, and that are, somewhere, on record, have not been uncovered."1 Since its publication, Aptheker's book has led to hundreds of excavations into the various insurrections and conspiracies in British North America and the United States. It is a testament to the difficulty of resurrecting stories of enslaved people's resistance that historians are still recovering them. Jeff Strickland's recent book All for Liberty is among the most recent. By stitching together fragments from local newspapers, court records, published travel accounts, abolitionist periodicals, and a handful of manuscript collections, he reconstructs the story of Nicholas, an enslaved carpenter, who led a full-scale insurrection while incarcerated in the Charleston workhouse in 1849. The first three numbered chapters primarily serve as context, alternating between broad themes of Atlantic history and the specific mechanisms of slave discipline in Charleston. His first and third chapters—"Slave Insurrections in the Age of Revolutions" and "Urban Slavery," respectively—will be especially helpful for readers new to the subjects or for teachers introducing the topic to undergraduate students. Strickland does well to highlight the barbarity of urban enslavement, particularly in Charleston. Chapter 2 chronicles the development and operations of the Charleston workhouse, a novel technology invented and implemented to punish and discipline the local slave workforce. Chapters 4–6 provide backstory for the rebellion's ringleader and recount the events of the day in which the rebellion occurred. Nicholas, a supremely skilled and well-traveled enslaved carpenter, became increasingly radicalized during and after his trip to New Orleans. His skill, his [End Page 640] desire to keep the fruits of his labor, and his radical Christianity inspired his resistance to Charleston's municipal surveillance regime upon his return from Louisiana. When confronted by a local watchman, Nicholas chose to fight rather than submit, injuring a white patrolman in the process. He was subsequently arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. After a victorious appeal earned Nicholas a new trial, he was found guilty of a lesser charge and sentenced to three years at the workhouse, with regular whippings and stints on the "treadmill," a gruesome torture device. Yet, while incarcerated, Nicholas seemingly enjoyed a privileged status. He avoided the lash and the treadmill, and he was often allowed to loiter in the workhouse yard while cavorting with other inmates. The workhouse manager and workers admitted that they could not really control Nicholas, much to the dismay of local enslavers and the mayor's office. On July 13, 1849, Nicholas prevented one enslaver, John Gilchrist, from retrieving an enslaved woman from the workhouse, even going so far as to beat up Gilchrist's enslaved valet and threaten Gilchrist himself. Knowing this overt act of resistance would not be tolerated, Nicholas and his comrades braced for swift and severe retribution. They decided to fight back rather than submit to the floggings that surely awaited. Armed with clubs and axes, they fought their way out of the workhouse and fled. Eventually, Nicholas, the other two leaders of the rebellion, and dozens of escapees were recaptured. The three ringleaders were convicted and executed in the span of a week. The seventh chapter describes the ramifications of the plot. Strickland connects the rebellion to subsequent political developments in Charleston and beyond: the debate over the construction of African American churches in the city; municipal elections and workhouse reform; and even the debates over Congress's 1850 compromise. Curiously missing, and this is perhaps the book's only real flaw, is any discussion of the consequences of Nicholas...