1811 German Coast Uprising
Encyclopedia
The 1811 German Coast Uprising was a slave revolt
that took place in parts of the Territory of Orleans on January 8–10, 1811. The revolt took place on the east coast of the Mississippi River
in what are now St. John the Baptist
and St. Charles Parishes, Louisiana
. While the slave insurgency
was the largest in U.S. history, the rebels killed only two white men. In confrontations with militia
and executions after trial, ninety-five black people were killed.
Between 64 and 125 enslaved men marched from sugar plantations
near present-day LaPlace
on the German Coast
toward the city of New Orleans. They collected more men along the way. Some accounts claimed a total of 200-500 slaves participated. During their two-day, twenty-mile march, the men burned five plantation houses (three completely), several sugarhouses, and crops. They were armed mostly with hand tools.
White men led by officials of the territory formed militia
companies to hunt down and kill the insurgents. Over the next two weeks, white planters and officials interrogated, tried and executed an additional 44 insurgents who had been captured. Executions were by hanging or decapitation. Whites displayed the bodies as a warning. The heads of some were put on pikes and displayed at plantations.
Since 1995 the African American History Alliance of Louisiana has led an annual commemoration in January of the uprising, where they have been joined by some descendants of the revolt.
Others had been forced to the region with refugee enslavers directly from Haiti, or in 1809 when forced by Spain from Cuba. In addition, during the first decade the US had continued to import enslaved people. In the overall Orleans Territory, from 1803-1811 the free black population nearly tripled, to 5,000, with 3,000 arriving as refugees from Cuba in 1809-1810.
In the early years after the US acquired the Louisiana Purchase
, Gov. William C.C. Claiborne
of the Territory of Orleans struggled for balance with his diverse population. Not only were there numerous French- and Spanish-speaking people, but a much greater proportion of native Africans among the slaves than in more northern American states. In addition, the Creole and French-speaking population grew markedly with refugees from Haiti
following its successful slave revolution. The American Claiborne was not used to a society with the number of free people of color
which Louisiana had, but worked to continue their role in the militia, which had been established under Spanish rule. There was also competition between long-term residents and new American settlers in the territory. Lastly, Claiborne was suspicious that the Spanish might encourage an insurrection. He struggled to establish and maintain his authority.
The waterways and bayous around New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain
made transportation and trade possible, but also provided easy escapes and nearly impenetrable hiding places for people who escaped slavery. Some maroon
colonies continued for years within several miles of New Orleans. With the spread of ideas from the French and Haitian revolutions, Americans worried about slave uprisings in the Louisiana area.
As recounted by historian Nathan A. Buman,
testified weeks later, "the black Quamana, owned by Mr. Brown, and the mulatto Harry, owned by Messrs. Kenner & Henderson, were at the home of Manuel André (Andry in some accounts) on the night of Saturday–Sunday of the current month in order to deliberate with the mulatto Charles Deslondes, chief of the brigands." Slaves had spread word of the planned uprising among the slaves at plantations up and down the German Coast.
The revolt began on January 8 at the André plantation. After striking and badly wounding Manuel André, the slaves killed his son Gilbert. "An attempt was made to assassinate me by the stroke of an axe," Manuel André wrote. "My poor son has been ferociously murdered by a horde of brigands who from my plantation to that of Mr. Fortier have committed every kind of mischief and excesses, which can be expected from a gang of atrocious bandittis of that nature."
The rebellion gained momentum quickly. The 15 or so slaves at the André plantation, approximately 30 miles upriver from New Orleans, joined another eight slaves from the next-door plantation of the widows of Jacques and George Deslondes. This was the home plantation of Charles Deslondes, a field laborer later described by one of the captured slaves as the "principal chief of the brigands." Small groups of slaves joined from every plantation which the rebels passed. Witnesses remarked on their organized march. Although they carried mostly pikes, hoes and axes but few firearms, they marched to drums while some carried flags. From 10-25% of any given plantation's slave population joined with them.
At the plantation of James Brown
, Kook, one of the most active participants and key figures in the story of the uprising, joined the insurrection. At the next plantation down, Kook attacked and killed François Trépagnier with an axe. He was the second and last planter killed in the rebellion. After the band of slaves passed the LaBranche plantation, they stopped at the home of the local doctor. Finding the doctor gone, Kook, the radical slave owned by James Brown, set his house on fire.
Some planters testified at the trials that they were warned by their slaves of the uprising. Others regularly stayed in New Orleans, where many had townhouses,
and trusted their plantations to be run by overseers. Others went quickly across the Mississippi River
to escape the insurrection and raise a militia.
As they moved downriver, they passed larger plantations, from which many slaves joined them. Numerous slaves joined the insurrection from the Meuillion plantation, the largest and wealthiest plantation on the German Coast. The rebels laid waste to Meuillion's house. They tried to set it on fire, but a slave named Bazile fought the fire and saved the house.
After nightfall the slaves reached Cannes-Brulées, about 15 miles northwest of New Orleans. The men had traveled between 14 and 22 miles, a march that probably took them seven to ten hours. By some accounts, they numbered "some 200 slaves", although other accounts estimated up to 500. As typical of revolts of most classes, free or slave, the insurgent slaves were mostly young men between the ages of 20 and 30. They represented primarily lower-skilled occupations on the sugar plantations, where slaves labored in difficult conditions.
By noon on January 9, the residents of New Orleans had heard of the insurrection on the German Coast. Over the next six hours, General Wade Hampton I
, Commodore John Shaw, and Governor William C.C. Claiborne
sent two companies of volunteer militia, 30 regular troops, and a detachment of 40 seamen to fight the slaves.
By about 4 a.m., the troops reached the plantation of Jacques Fortier, where Hampton thought the slaves had encamped for the night. The slaves had left hours before Hampton's arrival and started back upriver. Over the next few hours, they traveled about 15 miles back up the coast and neared the plantation of Bernard Bernoudy.
There, planter Charles Perret, under the command of the badly injured André and in cooperation with Judge Saint Martin, had assembled a militia of about 80 men from the opposite side of the river. At about 9 o'clock, this second militia discovered the slaves moving toward high ground on the Bernoudy estate. Perret ordered the militia to attack the slaves. Perret later wrote that there were about 200 slaves, about half on horseback. (It seems unlikely they could have acquired so many horses; most accounts said only the leaders were mounted.)
The battle was brief. Within a half hour of the attack, 40 to 45 slaves had been killed and the remainder slipped away into the woods. Perret and Andrée's militia tried to pursue slaves into the woods and swamps, but it was difficult territory.
On January 11, the militia captured Charles Deslondes, whom André considered "the principal leader of the bandits." The militia did not hold him for trial or interrogation. Samuel Hambleton described Deslonde's fate: "Charles [Deslondes] had his Hands chopped off then shot in one thigh & then the other, until they were both broken — then shot in the Body and before he had expired was put into a bundle of straw and roasted!"
plantation
and one in New Orleans. The Destréhan trial resulted in the execution of 18 slaves, whose heads were put on pikes. The plantation displayed the bodies of the dead rebels to intimidate other slaves. One observer wrote, "Their Heads ... decorate our Levée, all the way up the coast, I am told they look like crows sitting on long poles."
The trials in New Orleans resulted in the executions of 11 more slaves. Three of these were publicly hanged in the Place d'Armes, now Jackson Square
, and their heads were put up to decorate the city's gates.
or mulattoes, although numerous slaves in the group were native-born Africans.
Fifty-six of the slaves captured on the 10th and involved in the revolt were returned to their masters, who may have punished them but wanted their valuable laborers back to work. Thirty more slaves were captured, but the whites determined they had been forced to join the revolt by Charles Deslondes and his men, and returned them to their masters.
The heirs of Meuillon petitioned the legislature for permission to free the mulatto slave Bazile, who had worked to preserve his master's plantation. Not all the slaves supported insurrection, knowing the trouble it could bring.
As was typical of American slave insurrections, the uprising was short-lived and quickly crushed by local forces; it lasted only a couple of days and did not overcome local authorities. Showing planter influence, the legislature of the Orleans Territory approved compensation of $300 to planters for each slave killed or executed. The Orleans Territory accepted the continued presence of US military troops after the revolt, as they were grateful for their presence. The insurrection was covered by national press, with Northerners seeing it arising out of the wrongs suffered under slavery.
There is no state or federal historical marker for the insurrection, though it is mentioned on the marker for the Woodland Plantation (formerly Andre Plantation): "Major 1811 slave uprising organized here." Despite its size and connection to the French and Haitian revolutions, the rebellion is not thoroughly covered in history books. As late as 1923, however, older black men "still relate[d] the story of the slave insurrection of 1811 as they heard it from their grandfathers." Since 1995, the African American History Alliance of Louisiana has led an annual commemoration at Norco
in January, where they have been joined by some descendants of members of the revolt.
Books
Slave rebellion
A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves. Slave rebellions have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery, and are amongst the most feared events for slaveholders...
that took place in parts of the Territory of Orleans on January 8–10, 1811. The revolt took place on the east coast of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in what are now St. John the Baptist
St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana
St. John the Baptist Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana.The parish seat is Edgard, an unincorporated area and the unofficial parish captial is LaPlace, an unincorporated area. St. John the Baptist is one of the original 19 parishes in Louisiana. In 2010, its population was...
and St. Charles Parishes, Louisiana
St. Charles Parish, Louisiana
St. Charles Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Hahnville. In 2010, its population was 52,780. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, this was part of the German Coast, an area along the Mississippi River settled by numerous German pioneers in the...
. While the slave insurgency
Insurgency
An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
was the largest in U.S. history, the rebels killed only two white men. In confrontations with militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
and executions after trial, ninety-five black people were killed.
Between 64 and 125 enslaved men marched from sugar plantations
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
near present-day LaPlace
Laplace, Louisiana
LaPlace is a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the east bank of the Mississippi River in the New Orleans metropolitan area. The population is 32,134 at the 2010 census....
on the German Coast
German Coast
The German Coast was a region of early Louisiana settlement located above New Orleans on the Mississippi River – specifically, from east to west, in St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. James parishes of present-day Acadiana. The four settlements along the coast were Karlstein, Hoffen,...
toward the city of New Orleans. They collected more men along the way. Some accounts claimed a total of 200-500 slaves participated. During their two-day, twenty-mile march, the men burned five plantation houses (three completely), several sugarhouses, and crops. They were armed mostly with hand tools.
White men led by officials of the territory formed militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
companies to hunt down and kill the insurgents. Over the next two weeks, white planters and officials interrogated, tried and executed an additional 44 insurgents who had been captured. Executions were by hanging or decapitation. Whites displayed the bodies as a warning. The heads of some were put on pikes and displayed at plantations.
Since 1995 the African American History Alliance of Louisiana has led an annual commemoration in January of the uprising, where they have been joined by some descendants of the revolt.
Background
The German Coast was an area of sugar plantations, with a dense population of slaves. Blacks outnumbered whites by nearly five to one. More than half of those enslaved may have been born outside Louisiana, many in Africa.Others had been forced to the region with refugee enslavers directly from Haiti, or in 1809 when forced by Spain from Cuba. In addition, during the first decade the US had continued to import enslaved people. In the overall Orleans Territory, from 1803-1811 the free black population nearly tripled, to 5,000, with 3,000 arriving as refugees from Cuba in 1809-1810.
In the early years after the US acquired the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
, Gov. William C.C. Claiborne
William C.C. Claiborne
William Charles Cole Claiborne was a United States politician, best known as the first Governor of Louisiana. He also has the distinction of possibly being the youngest Congressman in U.S...
of the Territory of Orleans struggled for balance with his diverse population. Not only were there numerous French- and Spanish-speaking people, but a much greater proportion of native Africans among the slaves than in more northern American states. In addition, the Creole and French-speaking population grew markedly with refugees from Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
following its successful slave revolution. The American Claiborne was not used to a society with the number of free people of color
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
which Louisiana had, but worked to continue their role in the militia, which had been established under Spanish rule. There was also competition between long-term residents and new American settlers in the territory. Lastly, Claiborne was suspicious that the Spanish might encourage an insurrection. He struggled to establish and maintain his authority.
The waterways and bayous around New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest inland saltwater body of water in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake.It covers an area of with...
made transportation and trade possible, but also provided easy escapes and nearly impenetrable hiding places for people who escaped slavery. Some maroon
Maroon (people)
Maroons were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together...
colonies continued for years within several miles of New Orleans. With the spread of ideas from the French and Haitian revolutions, Americans worried about slave uprisings in the Louisiana area.
As recounted by historian Nathan A. Buman,
The rebellion
A group of conspirators met on January 6, 1811. It was a period when work had relaxed on the plantations after the fierce weeks of the sugar harvest and processing. As planter James BrownJames Brown (Senator)
James Brown was a lawyer, U.S. Senator from Louisiana and Minister to France. He was the brother of John Brown, the cousin of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge and Francis Preston, the brother-in-law of Henry Clay, the uncle of James Brown Clay, Henry Clay, Jr., John Morrison Clay, the great...
testified weeks later, "the black Quamana, owned by Mr. Brown, and the mulatto Harry, owned by Messrs. Kenner & Henderson, were at the home of Manuel André (Andry in some accounts) on the night of Saturday–Sunday of the current month in order to deliberate with the mulatto Charles Deslondes, chief of the brigands." Slaves had spread word of the planned uprising among the slaves at plantations up and down the German Coast.
The revolt began on January 8 at the André plantation. After striking and badly wounding Manuel André, the slaves killed his son Gilbert. "An attempt was made to assassinate me by the stroke of an axe," Manuel André wrote. "My poor son has been ferociously murdered by a horde of brigands who from my plantation to that of Mr. Fortier have committed every kind of mischief and excesses, which can be expected from a gang of atrocious bandittis of that nature."
The rebellion gained momentum quickly. The 15 or so slaves at the André plantation, approximately 30 miles upriver from New Orleans, joined another eight slaves from the next-door plantation of the widows of Jacques and George Deslondes. This was the home plantation of Charles Deslondes, a field laborer later described by one of the captured slaves as the "principal chief of the brigands." Small groups of slaves joined from every plantation which the rebels passed. Witnesses remarked on their organized march. Although they carried mostly pikes, hoes and axes but few firearms, they marched to drums while some carried flags. From 10-25% of any given plantation's slave population joined with them.
At the plantation of James Brown
James Brown (Senator)
James Brown was a lawyer, U.S. Senator from Louisiana and Minister to France. He was the brother of John Brown, the cousin of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge and Francis Preston, the brother-in-law of Henry Clay, the uncle of James Brown Clay, Henry Clay, Jr., John Morrison Clay, the great...
, Kook, one of the most active participants and key figures in the story of the uprising, joined the insurrection. At the next plantation down, Kook attacked and killed François Trépagnier with an axe. He was the second and last planter killed in the rebellion. After the band of slaves passed the LaBranche plantation, they stopped at the home of the local doctor. Finding the doctor gone, Kook, the radical slave owned by James Brown, set his house on fire.
Some planters testified at the trials that they were warned by their slaves of the uprising. Others regularly stayed in New Orleans, where many had townhouses,
and trusted their plantations to be run by overseers. Others went quickly across the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
to escape the insurrection and raise a militia.
As they moved downriver, they passed larger plantations, from which many slaves joined them. Numerous slaves joined the insurrection from the Meuillion plantation, the largest and wealthiest plantation on the German Coast. The rebels laid waste to Meuillion's house. They tried to set it on fire, but a slave named Bazile fought the fire and saved the house.
After nightfall the slaves reached Cannes-Brulées, about 15 miles northwest of New Orleans. The men had traveled between 14 and 22 miles, a march that probably took them seven to ten hours. By some accounts, they numbered "some 200 slaves", although other accounts estimated up to 500. As typical of revolts of most classes, free or slave, the insurgent slaves were mostly young men between the ages of 20 and 30. They represented primarily lower-skilled occupations on the sugar plantations, where slaves labored in difficult conditions.
The suppression
After being injured, Col. André went to the other side of the river to round up a militia and begin pursuing the slave rebels.By noon on January 9, the residents of New Orleans had heard of the insurrection on the German Coast. Over the next six hours, General Wade Hampton I
Wade Hampton I
Wade Hampton was a South Carolina soldier, politician, two-term U.S. Congressman, and wealthy plantation owner. He was the scion of the politically important Hampton family, which was influential in state politics almost into the 20th century...
, Commodore John Shaw, and Governor William C.C. Claiborne
William C.C. Claiborne
William Charles Cole Claiborne was a United States politician, best known as the first Governor of Louisiana. He also has the distinction of possibly being the youngest Congressman in U.S...
sent two companies of volunteer militia, 30 regular troops, and a detachment of 40 seamen to fight the slaves.
By about 4 a.m., the troops reached the plantation of Jacques Fortier, where Hampton thought the slaves had encamped for the night. The slaves had left hours before Hampton's arrival and started back upriver. Over the next few hours, they traveled about 15 miles back up the coast and neared the plantation of Bernard Bernoudy.
There, planter Charles Perret, under the command of the badly injured André and in cooperation with Judge Saint Martin, had assembled a militia of about 80 men from the opposite side of the river. At about 9 o'clock, this second militia discovered the slaves moving toward high ground on the Bernoudy estate. Perret ordered the militia to attack the slaves. Perret later wrote that there were about 200 slaves, about half on horseback. (It seems unlikely they could have acquired so many horses; most accounts said only the leaders were mounted.)
The battle was brief. Within a half hour of the attack, 40 to 45 slaves had been killed and the remainder slipped away into the woods. Perret and Andrée's militia tried to pursue slaves into the woods and swamps, but it was difficult territory.
On January 11, the militia captured Charles Deslondes, whom André considered "the principal leader of the bandits." The militia did not hold him for trial or interrogation. Samuel Hambleton described Deslonde's fate: "Charles [Deslondes] had his Hands chopped off then shot in one thigh & then the other, until they were both broken — then shot in the Body and before he had expired was put into a bundle of straw and roasted!"
The trials
Having suppressed the insurrection, the planters and government officials continued to search for slaves who had escaped. Those captured were interrogated. Officials conducted two sets of trials, one on the Jean N. DestréhanJean N. Destréhan
Jean Noel Destréhan was a Creole politician in Louisiana and one-time owner of Destréhan Plantation, one of Louisiana's most famous antebellum historical landmarks. The city of Destrehan, Louisiana is named after him....
plantation
Destrehan Plantation
Destrehan Plantation is an antebellum Greek Revival house located near Destrehan, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. In the nineteenth century, the house was the center of a bustling slave plantation that produced sugar for export. The site hosted the notorious St...
and one in New Orleans. The Destréhan trial resulted in the execution of 18 slaves, whose heads were put on pikes. The plantation displayed the bodies of the dead rebels to intimidate other slaves. One observer wrote, "Their Heads ... decorate our Levée, all the way up the coast, I am told they look like crows sitting on long poles."
The trials in New Orleans resulted in the executions of 11 more slaves. Three of these were publicly hanged in the Place d'Armes, now Jackson Square
Jackson Square, New Orleans
Jackson Square, also known as Place d'Armes, is a historic park in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.-Design:...
, and their heads were put up to decorate the city's gates.
Outcome
About 95 slaves were killed outright, or tried and executed as a result of this revolt. From the trial records, most of the leaders appeared to have been black CreolesCreole peoples
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...
or mulattoes, although numerous slaves in the group were native-born Africans.
Fifty-six of the slaves captured on the 10th and involved in the revolt were returned to their masters, who may have punished them but wanted their valuable laborers back to work. Thirty more slaves were captured, but the whites determined they had been forced to join the revolt by Charles Deslondes and his men, and returned them to their masters.
The heirs of Meuillon petitioned the legislature for permission to free the mulatto slave Bazile, who had worked to preserve his master's plantation. Not all the slaves supported insurrection, knowing the trouble it could bring.
As was typical of American slave insurrections, the uprising was short-lived and quickly crushed by local forces; it lasted only a couple of days and did not overcome local authorities. Showing planter influence, the legislature of the Orleans Territory approved compensation of $300 to planters for each slave killed or executed. The Orleans Territory accepted the continued presence of US military troops after the revolt, as they were grateful for their presence. The insurrection was covered by national press, with Northerners seeing it arising out of the wrongs suffered under slavery.
There is no state or federal historical marker for the insurrection, though it is mentioned on the marker for the Woodland Plantation (formerly Andre Plantation): "Major 1811 slave uprising organized here." Despite its size and connection to the French and Haitian revolutions, the rebellion is not thoroughly covered in history books. As late as 1923, however, older black men "still relate[d] the story of the slave insurrection of 1811 as they heard it from their grandfathers." Since 1995, the African American History Alliance of Louisiana has led an annual commemoration at Norco
Norco, Louisiana
Norco is a census-designated place in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,579 at the 2000 census. The community is home to a major Shell petroleum refinery. Its name is derived from the New Orleans Refining Company....
in January, where they have been joined by some descendants of members of the revolt.
See also
- Nat Turner's slave rebellion
- Gabriel ProsserGabriel ProsserGabriel , today commonly – if incorrectly – known as Gabriel Prosser, was a literate enslaved blacksmith who planned to lead a large slave rebellion in the Richmond area in the summer of 1800. However, information regarding the revolt was leaked prior to its execution, thus Gabriel's plans were...
- Denmark VeseyDenmark VeseyDenmark Vesey originally Telemaque, was an African American slave brought to the United States from the Caribbean of Coromantee background. After purchasing his freedom, he planned what would have been one of the largest slave rebellions in the United States...
- Slave rebellionSlave rebellionA slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves. Slave rebellions have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery, and are amongst the most feared events for slaveholders...
- History of slavery in the United StatesHistory of slavery in the United StatesSlavery in the United States was a form of slave labor which existed as a legal institution in North America for more than a century before the founding of the United States in 1776, and continued mostly in the South until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in...
Sources
Letters- "John Shaw to Paul Hamilton", New Orleans, January 18, 1811, National Archives.
- "Samuel Hambleton to David Porter", January 15, 1811, Papers of David Porter, Library of Congress, in Slavery, Stanley Engerman, Seymour Drescher, and Robert Paquette, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. p. 326.
Books
- Conrad, Glenn R. ed. The German Coast: Abstracts of the Civil Records of St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes, 1804-1812. Lafayette: Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1981.
- Engerman, Stanley, Seymour Drescher, and Robert Paquette, eds. Slavery. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. pp. 324–26.
- "German Coast Uprising (1811)", in Junius P. Rodriguez, ed., The Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion, Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood Press, 2007, 213-16
- Rasmussen, Daniel. American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt. New York: Harper, 2011.
- Sitterson, J. Carlyle. Sugar Country; the Cane Sugar Industry in the South, 1753-1950. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1953.
- Thrasher, Albert, ed. On to New Orleans! Louisiana's Heroic 1811 Slave Revolt. 2nd ed. New Orleans: Cypress Press, 1996.