plantations abandoned, women and children were driven from home and
crowded into nooks and corners. The sufferings of many of these
refugees who spent night after night in the woods were intense.
Retaliation began. In a little more than one day 120 Negroes were
killed. The newspapers of the times contained from day to day
indignant protests against the cruelties perpetrated. One individual
boasted that he himself had killed between ten and fifteen Negroes.
Volunteer whites rode in all directions visiting plantations. Negroes
were tortured to death, burned, maimed and subjected to nameless
atrocities. Slaves who were distrusted were pointed out and if they
endeavored to escape, they were ruthlessly shot down.[6]

A few individual instances will show the nature and extent of this
vengeance. "A party of horsemen started from Richmond with the
intention of killing every colored person they saw in Southampton
County. They stopped opposite the cabin of a free colored man who was
hoeing in his little field. They called out, 'Is this Southampton
County?' He replied, 'Yes Sir, you have just crossed the line, by
yonder tree.' They shot him dead and rode on."[7] A slaveholder went
to the woods accompanied by a faithful slave, who had been the means
of saving his master's life during the insurrection. When they reached
a retired place in the forest, the man handed his gun to his master,
informing him that he could not live a slave any longer, and requested
either to free him or shoot him on the spot. The master took the gun,
in some trepidation, levelled it at the faithful Negro and shot him
through the heart.[8]

But these outrages were not limited to the Negro population. There
occurred other instances which strikingly remind one of scenes before
the Civil War and during reconstruction. An Englishman, named
Robinson, was engaged in selling books at Petersburg. An alarm being
given one night that five hundred blacks were marching against the
town, he stood guard with others at the bridge. After the panic had a
little subsided he happened to make the remark that the blacks as men
were entitled to their freedom and ought to be emancipated. This led
to great excitement and the man was warned to leave the town. He took
passage in the stage coach, but the vehicle was intercepted. He then
fled to a friend's home but the house was broken open and he was
dragged forth. The civil authorities informed of the affair refused to
interfere.