In the nineteenth century, the Great Dismal Swamp was a morass of huge trees towering over dense underbrush and delicate ferns, inhabited by black bears, wildcats, wild cattle and hogs, and poisonous snakes. It was to this inhospitable place many slaves came. The foreboding swamp provided a natural refuge for runaways.
Following the American Revolution, there were numerous instances of slave resistance. While some runaways were able to blend in with free blacks, many chose to seek refuge among a colony of runaways (called maroons) in the Great Dismal Swamp. The very nature of the swamp made it possible for a large colony to establish a permanent refuge. It was difficult to capture a slave once they reached the swamp although occasional forays were made into the swamp to recapture runaways with specially trained dogs.
As Robert Arnold remembered in 1888 in his THE DISMAL SWAMP AND LAKE DRUMMOND, EARLY RECOLLECTIONS:
Notice! $500 Reward. Ran away from the subscriber on the night of June 18th, my Negro man, Simon. He may be making his way to the Dismal Swamp.
Colonies were established on high ground in the swamp where slaves built crude huts. Family life evolved, and the abundant animal life provided food and clothing. Some earned money by working for free black shingle makers, who hired the maroons to cut logs, paying them with small amounts of food, money, or precious clothing. Frederick Law Olmstead, in his account of A JOURNEY IN THE SEABOARD SLAVE STATES, details this illicit practice.
Sometimes runaways were betrayed by the Negro lumbermen. Renegade fugitives often raided nearby towns or preyed upon travelers along the stage road. Others stole from boats anchored along the canal. These violent rebels were a dreaded menace to the whole swamp community. Slave disturbances in the early 1800’s caused much alarm among residents living near the swamp. Tidewater, Virginia, residents were greatly concerned about reported unrest among slaves in nearby Camden, Elizabeth City, and Currituck County, NC. In the spring of 1823, the situation was so serious a large militia force with dogs was sent to wipe out the colony of slaves in the swamp. Even though some were captured or killed, most of the maroons escaped.
A brutal slave uprising in 1831 resulted in the butchering of 13 men, 18 women, and 24 children in Courtland, VA. Following the Southampton County slave rebellion, it was feared many of the insurgents planned to flee to the swamp. The leader of the rebellion was Nat Turner, a powerful Baptist preacher with a large loyal following, who remained at large for several months, causing speculation he was hiding in the swamp. Expeditions searched for him, capturing a number of maroons.
While returning from a trip to England in 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed his poem, “THE SLAVE IN DISMAL SWAMP,” telling of the miserable plight of a Negro in hiding. In 1856, David Strother wrote a description of the swamp’s beauty and fearsome natives for Harper’s magazine. As an artist, he sketched the legendary Osman, who, according to legend, protected the Negro slave escapees. Harriet Beecher Stowe used this sketch by Strother as the main character in her novel, DRED: A TALE OF THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP.
THE SLAVE IN DISMAL SWAMP
By Henry W. Longfellow
In the dark fens of Dismal Swamp
The hunted Negro lay;
He saw the fire of the midnight camp,
And heard at times a horse’s
Tramp, and bloodhounds’ distant bay.
Where will-o-wisps and glow worms
Shine in bulrush and brake;
Where waving mosses shroud the pine,
And the cedar grows and the
Poisonous vine, is spotted like the snake.
Where hardly a human foot could pass
Or human heart would dare,
On the quaking turf of the green morass
He crouched in the rank and
Tangled grass like a wild beast
In his lair.
A poor old slave, infirm and lame;
Great scars deformed his face;
On his forehead he bore the brand
Of shame, and the rage that
Hid his mangled frame were the livery
Of disgrace.
All things above were bright and fair,
All things were glad and free;
Lithe squirrels darted here and there,
And wild birds filled the
Echoing air with songs of liberty.
On him alone was the doom of pain,
From the morning of his birth;
On him alone the curse of Cain
Fell like a flail on the garnered
Grain, and struck him to the earth.
