18 Facts About Gabriel Prosser

Gabriel, today commonly known as Gabriel Prosser, was an enslaved African blacksmith who planned a large slave rebellion in the Richmond, Virginia, area in the summer of 1800.

Gabriel Prosser's uprising was notable not because of its results—the rebellion was quelled before it could begin—but because of its potential for mass chaos and widespread violence.

Gabriel Prosser was born into slavery in 1776 at Brookfield, a large tobacco plantation in Henrico County, Virginia.

Gabriel Prosser's brother Solomon, and perhaps his father, was a blacksmith.

Gabriel Prosser, "hired out" by his enslaver to work in Richmond foundries, was able to keep a portion of the wages that he earned.

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Gabriel Prosser traveled freely throughout Richmond and Henrico County to work for plantation and business owners.

Gabriel Prosser was described in newspaper articles as having stood "six feet two or three inches high".

Gabriel Prosser got into a scuffle with Johnson and he bit off part of Johnson's ear.

Gabriel was released from jail when slaveholder Prosser paid a bond for his release and he promised a year of good behavior.

Gabriel Prosser, living in Virginia in the late eighteenth century, was influenced by the prevailing themes of liberty expounded by the supporters of the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions.

Historians assert that Gabriel Prosser became the leader of the planned rebellion because he was a blacksmith, and enslaved people respected and feared blacksmiths because of their ability to forge weapons and their connection to the spirit of iron Ogun.

Gabriel Prosser escaped downriver to Norfolk, but he was spotted and betrayed there by another slave named Will "Billy" King.

Gabriel Prosser was returned to Richmond for questioning, but he did not submit.

Gabriel Prosser based this on extensive primary research from surviving contemporary documents.

Egerton concluded that Gabriel Prosser would have been stimulated and challenged at the foundries by interacting with co-workers of European, African and mixed descent.

Egerton believed that Gabriel Prosser planned to take Governor Monroe hostage to negotiate an end to slavery.

Egerton noted that Gabriel Prosser instructed his followers not to kill white Methodists, Quakers and Frenchmen.

Gabriel Prosser's rebellion served as an important example of slaves' taking action to gain freedom.