The 1811 Slave Revolt Caption 1details

The 1811 Slave Revolt

The largest slave revolt in the history of the United States erupted in Louisiana in 1811. On the evening of January 8, 1811 a group of slaves launched their attack from Colonel Manual Andry’s plantation about 40 miles upriver from New Orleans. Led by a Saint-Domingue slave named Charles Deslondes, the insurgents gathered strength from neighbouring slaves and maroons as they marched down River Road towards the Crescent City, killing two whites, burning plantations and crops, and capturing weapons and ammunition.

Planters organized militiamen and vigilantes, reinforced with U.S. army troops from Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The free black militia offered its services, and one company was accepted. They and Governor C. C. Claiborne’s forces met the advancing slave rebels about 18 miles outside New Orleans, on Colonel Michel Fortier’s sugar works.