Slave patrols
Slave patrols were organized groups in the British American colonies that emerged in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries as a response to fears of slave rebellion. South Carolina was the first to establish formal patrols in 1704, followed by Virginia and North Carolina in the ensuing decades. By the end of the eighteenth century, these patrols were present in all states where slavery was legal, adapting their strategies based on local dynamics, such as the size of the enslaved population and the perceived threats of insurrection. Typically composed of white males aged sixteen to sixty, patrol members were drawn from militia and tax rolls and had broad authority to search plantations, punish slaves, and enforce compliance with slavery laws.
The operational methods of slave patrols included nighttime searches for enslaved individuals away from their plantations without permission, as well as monitoring for unlawful gatherings. While some patrols were effective, others faced criticism for their brutality and lack of effectiveness. The system generated mixed public attitudes, as many southerners viewed them as a necessary, albeit problematic, measure for maintaining order. Over time, slave patrols evolved into de facto police forces in some regions, intensifying their activities during the Civil War. After the war, the legacy of slave patrols influenced the formation of groups like the Ku Klux Klan, which continued to instill fear in the African American community during the Reconstruction era.
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Subject Terms
Slave patrols
Definition: Summoned bodies of citizens charged with enforcing laws restricting the activities and movement of slaves in the antebellum South
Significance: Slave patrols provide an example of the piecemeal, militia-style law enforcement of the pre-Civil War South and served as a blueprint for the vigilante groups of the postbellum South.
The British American colonies began to establish informal slave patrols during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in reaction to public fears of slave rebellion. South Carolina, with its majority black population, was the first colony to establish formal slave patrols in 1704, followed by Virginia in 1727 and North Carolina in 1753. By the end of the eighteenth century, slave patrols existed in every state where slavery was legal. The patrols’ makeup and the extent of their activities varied from state to state and often from locality to locality according to the size of the slave population and the threat of runaways and insurrection. Patrollers were typically white men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, chosen from militia and tax rolls to serve terms that varied in length.
Slave patrols usually worked at night in small groups, looking for slaves wandering from their home plantations without permission, evidence of unlawful slave assemblies, and other illegal activities. Patrollers were assigned broad authority to act as police, judge, and jury, including the right to enter plantations without a warrant, search slave quarters and other plantation property, and arrest or summarily punish slaves at will. Brutality, vindictiveness, and other abuses of power were common under this system; just as common, however, were complaints of laxity and ineffectiveness on the part of the patrols in suppressing slave assemblies and reducing the number of runaway slaves. Slave patrols operated sporadically in many locations, especially those in which slaves were relatively few in number. In some areas, they were little more than loosely organized posses activated in the event of real or perceived threats.
Evidence indicates that public attitudes toward slave patrols were mixed and that many southerners simply considered them a necessary evil. Nonslaveholders often bore most of the burden of patrolling, leading to resentment and abuses of power leveled against both slaves and their owners. Men with the means to avoid patrol duties by hiring substitutes or simply paying the fines for not serving often did so. Nevertheless, few southerners advocated doing away with the patrols, which continued to exist until slavery was abolished. Over time, slave patrols assumed other law-enforcement duties in many localities, becoming de facto police forces in some southern towns and cities.
Slave patrols intensified their activities during the Civil War, often joining forces with local militias. Although they ceased to operate after the war, slave patrols provided the inspiration for the activities of the Ku Klux Klan and other "night riders" who terrorized southern blacks during the Reconstruction era.
Bibliography
Hadden, Sally E. "Slave Patrols." New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 25 May. 2016.
Hadden, Sally E. Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Iyamah, Jackie. "Slave Patrols and the Origins of Policing." Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Ella Baker Ctr. for Human Rights, 6 Nov. 2015. Web. 25 May. 2016.
Stampp, Kenneth M. The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Antebellum South. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.
Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.