The Gloucester County Conspiracy (September 1663), also known as the Servant’s Plot or Birkenhead’s Rebellion, is one of the first

slave rebellions A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by Slavery, enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire f ...

in America. This event set the stage for many of the slave uprisings that followed in the decades to come. It was the first occurrence of English, Irish, African and Indian

indentured servants Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...

and

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

working together. Regardless of their ethnicity, all of the servants and slaves were treated poorly, which served as a uniting force between them. This rebellion occurred at a key time in history, when Virginian tobacco farmers heavily relied upon their workers for product and profit. By utilizing the power they held in this regard, the slaves and servants could maximize the effects of their actions. This uprising created the official slave rebellion movement.

The Plan

On September 1, 1663, a group of indentured servants met and began a plan of rebellion. Planning to reconvene the following Sunday at midnight at a different location, the men collected as many weapons and arms as they could over the next few days in order to power their upcoming fightWolfe, B. “Gloucester County Conspiracy (1663)”. (2013, January 29). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/ Gloucester_County_Conspiracy_1663.. The plan was to then attack the house of

Lieutenant Colonel Francis Willis A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often su ...

to convince him to allow indentured servants to be released a year from the beginning of their service. There were other potential targets around the area, but Willis was their ultimate goal, as he was a member of the governor’s council. Should he refuse, the servants agreed to kill Willis, if it was deemed necessary. The men swore themselves to secrecy, but the secrecy was not kept.

The Foiling

There was one slave who attended the meetings, John Birkenhead, who had a different plan. This slave was owned by the first mayor of Warwick county, and officer of the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...

, John Smith.Tyler, L. (1917). The Smiths of Virginia. ''The William and Mary Quarterly,'' ''25''(3), 184-191. Birkenhead exposed the plot to the governor, who then arranged for the rebellion to be disbanded. The colony was so grateful for the prevention of the uprising that the scheduled day of rebellion, September 13, 1663, to be remembered as holy. For his loyalty, his owner, John Smith, gave Birkenhead his freedom, as well as five thousand pounds of tobacco. This was meant to serve as incentive for other slaves and servants to report any rumors of future rebellionCarroll, Joseph C. “Slave Insurrection in the United States, 1800-1865”, pages 13-14. (2004, June 17). Print.. As one of the early rebellions of this period, the Servant’s Plot laid the foundation for rebellions to come.Blakemore, Erin. “How Two Centuries of Slave Revolts Changed American History”. (2019, November 8)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gloucester County Conspiracy Slave rebellions in the United States