Abstract of the Charles Deslondes 1811

ABSTRACT OF THE CIVIL RECORDS OF ST. CHARLES AND ST. JOHN THE PARISHES 1804-1812

St. Charles Parish Original Acts, 1810

No. 75 12-17-10

SLAVE SALE. Andre Champange declared, in the presence of Charles Aime Darensbourg and Charles Perret, that, possessing power of attorney from his mother, Widow Jean-Baptiste Champagne, he sold an orphan slave named Helene (10) to Andre Schexnayder, Jr., for $500.

No. 12-19-10

SLAVE SALE. Pierre Champagne declared, in the presence of Charles Aime Darensbourg and Charles Perret, that, possessing power of attorney from his mother, Widow Jean-Baptiste Champagne, he sold an orphan slave named Felicite (10) to Elie Champagne for $500.

No. 76 12-20-10

SLAVE SALE. Elie Champagne declared, in the presence of Charles Aime Darensbourg and Charles Perret, that, possessing power of attorney from his mother, Widow Jean-Baptiste Champagne, he sold an orphaned slave named Clarice (7) to Pierre Champagne for $300.

No. 77 12-20-10

SLAVE SALE. Elie Champagne declared, in the presence of Charles Aime  Darensbourg and Charles Perret, that, possessing power of attorney from his mother, Widow Jean-Baptiste Champagne, he sold an orphan slave named Chalotte (7) to Pierre Champagne for $300.

Procuration, April 11, 1813.   Widow Jean-Baptiste Champagne gave power of attorney to her son Evariste Champagne to collect for her the sum owed by Faucheux.  Witnesses:Champagne and D. Lambert.

No. 78 12-29-10

LAND SALE.    Andre Pochet declared, iun the presence of Charles Aime Darensbourg and Charles Perret, that he sold a farm to Andre Latour.  The land measured 60 feeet wide by 40 arpents deep, bounded below by the property of the vendor and above by that of the vendee.  Price: $330.  Pochet deposited $300 with the clerk of court for the minor children, Louis Roubleau, Egvariste Roubleau, and Sophie Roubleau.

No. 79 12-29-10

LAND SALE.  Andre Pochet declared, in the presence of Charles Aime Darensbourg and Charles Perret, that he sold to Antonio Sanchez a piece of land measuring .5 arpent wide by 40 arpents deep.  The land was bounded below by the property of Jean-Pierre Folse and above by that of the vendor.  Price:  $500.  Pochet deposited with the clerk of the court the sum of $400 for the Roubleau minors for whom he was tutor.

 

END OF 1810

BOOK 41

1811

No. 1 1-3-11

SLAVE SALE.  Pierre Varron, merchant, declared, in the presence of Charles Perret and Charles Aime Darensbourg, that he sold a slave (19), native of the Congo, to Mathieu Hotard, Jr., for $200.

No. 2 January 1811

SLAVE UPRISING.  This document deals with the events surrounding a slave uprising which occurred on the German Coast in January, 1811.  It included testimony of some of the arrested participants.  The uprising appears to have been organized on Manuel Andry’s plantation and from there the insurgents moved down the east side of the Mississippi burning and looting as they went.  At Bernard Bernoudy’s plantation they were met by a force of white militiamen under the leadership of Andry.  They were dispersed and the fleeing blacks were chased by regular troops under the command of General Wade Hampton and Major Homer Virgil Milton.  Over sixty slaves were killed, seventeen remained missing (probably hiding in nearby swamps) and about seventy-fvie were brought before the district court of St. Charles Parish for interrogation and trial.  What follows is a translation of the court’s proceedings following a week of interrogation.  The events described took place between January 12 and 15, 1811.

Today, the 13th of January in the year of our Lord, 1811, and the 35th year of American Independence, at the request of Mr. Alexandre Labranche, justice of the peace, I, Pierre Bauchet Saint Martin, judge of St. Charles Parish, County of the Germans, recognizing the present danger which threatens the parish as well as the Territory, removed myself to the plantation of Mr. Jean-Noel Destrehan, arriving at four o’clock in the afternoon, where I found the owner, as well as Mr. Alexandre Labranche, justice of the peace, and Major Mason (sic) Milton, commanding a detachment of troops of the line, who informed me that there were on Mr. Destrehan’s place a certain number of rebel slaves, almost all of whom took an active part in the insurrection and placed in prison awaiting trial under the law and with the shortest possible delay, particularly in view of the seriousness of the present situation in which it is necessary to suppress a revolt which could take on a ferocious character if the chiefs and principal accomplices are not promptly destroyed.

In order to satisfy the common wish of the citizens of the County, and to contribute as much as we can to the public welfare, I the Judge, have  constituted a tribunal composed of five property owners and myself, conforming to the first section of the act stating which punishments shall be imposed for CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS committed by slaves.  The said Tribunal must proceed at once to examine, interrogate, and pass sentence upon the rebels detained on Mr. Destrehan’s plantation.

The members composing the Tribunal are Messrs. Jean-Noel Destrehan, Alexandre Labranche, Cabaret (Pierre-Marie Cabaret de Trepy), Ade;ard Fortier, and Edmond Fortier, all of whom have taken the oath prescribed in section four of the same act.

The Tribunal called before it today, the 13th, the Negroes: Cupidon, belonging to the Labranche brothers; Dagobert, belonging to Mr. Delhomme; and Harry, a mulatto, belonging to Messrs. Kenner and Henderson, who were successively interrogated.

The Tribunal assembled on the 14th and called before it the Negroes: Jean and Thomas, belonging to Mr. Arnauld; Hypolite, belonging to Mr. Etienne Trepagnier; Koock, belonging to Mr. James Brown; Eugene and Charles, belonging to the Labranche brothers; Quamana and Robaine, belonging to  James Brown; Etienne Trepagnier; the mulatto Guiau, belonging to Mr. Delhomme; Nede, belonging to Mr. Trax; and Amar, belonging to Widow Charbonnet; all of  whom confessed and declared that they took a major part in the insurrection which burst upon the scene on the 9th of this month.

No. 13 (cont.)

. . . representing his wife Elisabeth Trepagnier, declared, in the presence of Andre Latour and Charles Aime Darensboiurg, that they have given power of attorney to Jean-Baptiste Labrance, also an heir, to settle all affairs pertaining to the succession of the late Francois Trepagnier, Sr.

No. 14   2-8-11

SLAVE SALE.           Francois Trepagnier, Jr declared, in the presence of Andre Latour and Charels Aime Darensbourg, that he sold to his brother, Fulgence, a mulatto slave named Mathias (50), native of Lousiana, for $1,000.

No.15   2-8-11

SLAVE SALE.           Francois Trepagnier, Jr. declared, in the presence of Andre Latour and Chareles Aime Darensbourg, that he sold to Jean-Baptiste Labranche and Hermogene Labranche a slave named Louis (20), native of Louisiana, and another slave named Sophie (19), native of the Congo, both for $1,850.

No. 16   2-10-11

JUDICIAL SALE.     Judge Saint Martin was summoned to Antoine Dorvin’s farm and arrived there about 9 a.m.  He was informed that Jacquot Thomas, a free man of color, had died in state on the Dorvin farm about one month before.  Thomas had lived on the Dorvin place for about 8 years, having married of Dorvin’s slaves.  Dorvin asked Judge Saint Martin to place Thomas’ property in judicial slave.  Buyers were Michel Frilloux, Geroge Kindler, Henry Brou, Thomas Rene, Charels Aime Darensbourg, Francois Lucy, Pierre Billaud, Clemenceau.  The sale brought $206.  Debts were owed for the funeral, legal fees, and to Brou, Bourgeois, Chauvin, Henry (FMC), Dorvin, Marguerite and Henry (FPC), Antoine Frederic, Chareles Perret, Jr., and Frederic Toups.  Debts amount to $169.  The remaining $37 were handed over to Helene, Thomas’ widow, and her four children.

No. 17     2-20-11

SLAVE TRIAL.         At the request of Alexandre Labranche, justice of the peace, Judge Saint Martin went to Labranche’s residence.  He was met there by Bernard Bernoudy, Adelard Fortier, Hermogene Labranche and Joseph Duverne, men named by him to constitute a jury for the trial of a slave.  The slave was named Jupiter and beloged to Manuel Andry.

Labranche declared that the accused slave had been in his custody since February 7 when Arnauld, Jr. discovered him in the woods behind his father’s farm.  The slave was accused of being one of those involved in the insurrection of January 9 and of being  in possession of a gun.  Asked where he got the gun, he said he picked it up from one of the slaves killed during  the encounter with the whites.  Asked what other weapon he had, he said he carried a club.

When asked why he had left the Andry plantation, he said he wanted to go to the city [New Orleans] to kill whites.

After the slave’s testimony was given, the jury noted that he was one of the leaders of the uprising.  They ordered that he be hanged on the batture in front of Alexandre Labranche’s farm, and that the sentence be carried out at 4 o’clock that afternoon.

No.  18    2-20-11

DEPOSITIONS REGARDING THOSE SLAVES WHO ACTED AGAINST THE DESIGNS OF THE SLAVE INSURRECTIONARIES.  By virture of a resolution passed by the Legislative Council and the house of representatives of the Territory to the effecte that the parish judges of St. Charles and St. John parishes initiate an inquiry to determine the number and names of the slaves who distinguished themselves in the face of the recent insurrectionaries, the resolution being signed by Jean Vassaud, secretary, and dated February 7, and having reached Judge St. Martin on the 13th, the judge crossed to the east side of the river (the scene of the insurrection) and on February 20, in the presence of Alexandre Labranche, Adelard Fortier, Joseph Duvernay, Bernard Bernoudy, Hermogene Labranche and Jacques Charbonnet, proceeded with the inquiry.

Deposition of Etienne Trepagnier.      On the night of January 809, the slave named Dominique, belonging to Bernard Bernoudy, who, with his master’s permission, was allowed to visit Trepagnier’s slave quarters, came to Trepagnier to tell him that there was a large number of rebels moving down the  river, pillaging the farms and killing whites.  The slave told Trepagnier to hide in the woods to save himself.  Trepagnier then stated that Dominique departed in order to warn his master, and along the way warned many whites of the impending danger.

Deposition of Hermogene Labranche.            Labranche state that about 6:30 a.m., on January 9, Pierre, his slavedriver, was informed by some slaves from the Delhomme place (these slaves having fled into the swamp back of the Labranche place to save themselves from the rebels, or so they told Pierre) that the rebels were approaching and and pillaging the farms as they went.  Immediately thereafter, Pierre came to him and warned him to flee once in order to save himself from the rebels who were then quite near.

About this time, another of his slaves, named Francois, came to alert him to the danger and to advise him to flee immediately into the woods back of his farm.  Labranche stated that he and his wife went immediately into the woods.  Once he thought the rebels were gone, he sent Francois to confirm the fact so that he and his wife could get to the river and cross to the west side.  Francois followed instructions, and Labranche crossed the river.  Francois was left behind to keep an eye on the situation.

The next day, January 10, the militia engaged the rebels on Bernard Bernoudy’s plantation and Francois joined the militiamen in defeating the rebels.

Labranche added that he knew thatr while Dominique, Bernard Bernoudy’s slave, was on his way home to alert his master, he stopped at Pierre Pain’s farm and instructed Pain’s slave Denys to warn as many whites as possible of the impending danger.

eposition of Bernard Bernoudy.  Bernoudy declared that his slave, Dominique, left the morning of January 9, with his permission, to go to Etienne Trepagnier’s plantation.  There he learned of the uprising and came back to Bernoudy to warn him of the impending danger.  He then sent Dominique on to New Orleans, alerting white along the way.

Deposition of Adelard Fortier.  Fortier declared that about 8 a.m., January 9, Dominique, a slave belonging to his father-in-law, Bernard Bernoudy, came to his house to warn him of the uprising and to state that there was no time to lose in escaping the brigands who were killing whites and destroying farms.

Deposition of Jacques Charbonnet.    Charbonnet declared that on January 9, being informed of the uprising, he ordered his slave Orestes to go to his aged mother’s house to take the lady to the Destrehan plantation, about 1.5 miles from Charbonnet’s place.  After doing this, Orestes went back to the Charbonnet place, gathered up the silverware, hid it and himself until the next day, the 10th, when he returned to his master.

No. 19   2-23-11

JUDICIAL SALE OF THE PROPERTY OF PIERRE LAJAUNIE.   At the request of Lajaunie, Saint Martin went to Michel Frilloux’s farm, where Lajaunie lived.  Lajaunie declared to Judge Saint Martin, in the presence of Charles Perret and Charles Aime Darensbourg, that his wife, Euphrosine Edelmeier, had died on November 9, 1810, and that he left with two children, Eugene (3), and Pierre (3 mos.).  He asked that the community property be sold in order that he might settle with his children.  Buyers were Frederic Toups, Thomas Rene, Jacques Chauvin, Jean-Louis Edelmeier, Clemenceau, Pierre Billaud, Jacques Chauvin, Francois Fatine (FMC).  Sale grossed $349.

No. 20    2-25-11

TRIAL OF A RUNAWAY SLAVE BELONGING TO ETIENNE TREPAGNIER.  Judge Saint Martin summoned Andre Latour, Charles Aime Darenssbourg, and Mathieu Hotard to serve as a jury as prescribed by the Black Code to judge the slave Augustin, belonging to Etienne Trepagnier, who was handed over to Saint Martin by Destrehan after being captured in a cane field.

Augustin was brought before the assembly and stated that he had nothing to do with the recent insurrection; that during the event he was taken by some blacks who threatened him and demanded to know the name of his master.  This incident occurred in Brasseau’s cane field.  Asked if  he knew beforehand of the slave uprising, he replied that the mulatto Charles Deslondes had a woman in Trepagnier’s slave quarter and that on the night before the uprising he came to Trepagnier’s slave quarter and made the accused accompany the group of rebels.  This he did at gunpoint.  Later, however, Augustin stated, he did manage to escape and hid in the woods until he was brought in.

The jury decided that no action should be taken against the slave and he was returned to his master.

No. 21   3-7-11

STATEMENT OF SEVERAL RESIDENTS OF SAINT CHARLES PARISH REGARDING THEIR LOSSES IN THE RECENT SLAVE UPRISING.   Deposition of Alphonse Camus, James Milligan and William O’Wroc [O’Rourke?] relative to slaves lost by William Kenner and Stephen Henderson in consequence of the late insurrection.

 

Executed:        Joseph (28), Harry (25)

Condemned and executed:     Lindon (28), Charles (25), Noutoun (22), Smillet (28).   Shot by the militia on the plantation to which they belonged: (Jerry and Major shot accidentally): Jerry (30), Major (18), Elisha (28).  Killed by the brigands at Cabaret’s place: Peter (24).

Killed in action between the militia and brigands: Croaker (22).

 

Deposition of Samuel W. McCutcheon and John Hickman relative to the slaves lost by

Samuel W. McCutcheon and Richard Butler in consequence of the recent  insurrection.

 

Executed in New Orleans: Daniel (25)

Condemned and executed in St. Charles Parish:  Simeon (20)

Shot by the militia on the plantation:   Abram (26)

Killed in action:  Dawson  (20)

Wounded by the militia, right arm useless:  Joe Wilkes (28)

Deposition of P. A. Cuvillier representing 3 of the heirs of L.A. Meullion and

Representing Pierre Saint Amand, who represents 7 of the heirs.

Apallon (26)

Henri  (28)

Deposition of James Brown, planter of St. Charles Parish, regarding slaves condemned

And executed because of their part in the recent insurrection

Condemned and executed:  Robing (25), Gualinley (26), Cook (30) John Barton deposes that the above information is correct.

 

Deposition of Widow Trepagnier.

Barthelemy (30)

Joseph (30)

 

Deposition of Etienne Trepagnier.

Hypolite (30)

Louis  (40)

Charlot (50)

Deposition of Adelard  Fortier.

Sam

Deposition of Bernard Bernoudy.

Augustin (25)

Baptiste (25)

Deposition of Jean  Arnauld.

Thomas  (35)

Jean  (35)

Deposition of  Joseph Delhomme.

Dagobert

Deposition of Labranche brothers

Cupidon (26)

Charles, native of Jamaica (40)

Deposition of Joseph Delhomme.

Acara  (35)

Deposition of Alexandre Labranche.

Janvier (25), shot January 10

He lost a house which was occupied by the doctor, located on his property near Pierre’s line; burned by the brigands; valued at $1,000.

Deposition of Jean-Noel Destrehan.

Gros Lindor (30)

Petit Lindon (30)

Jasmin (45)

Telemanque, shot on Jacques Fortier’s place on January 10.

Deposition of Widow Charbonnet.

Amar (45)

Deposition of Nicolas Picou.

Francois (50)

Note:   Pierre Reine’s home was burned by the rebels, but he was in New Orleans at the time these estimations of loss were made; therefore, it was impossible to appraise his loss.

 

No. 22  3-9-11

CONTINUATION OF THE JUDICIAL SALE OF PROPERTY OF LOUIS-AUGUSTIN MEUILLON.  At the request of Pierre Saint Amand and Ambroise Cuvillier, both possessing power of attorney from the heirs of Louis-Augustin Meuillon, Judge Saint Martin continued the public sale of the property of the late Meullion (for the earlier sale see No. 4, 1811).  Sale conducted in the presence of Augustin Masicot and Chauvin Delery.  Items on sale were animals an slaves.  Buyers were Adelard Fortier, Sylvain Saint Amand, Ludgere Fortier, Francois Piseros, Louis Lambert, Alexandre Saint Amand, Rene Trudeau, Clavie and Grasse, Pascalie (?) Lebeau, Baptiste Saint Amand, Edmond Wiltz, and Antoine Saint Amand.

Slave sold were

Henry (30), sold  to Onezifort Saint Amand for $315;

Jacob (41), sold to Pierre Saint Amand for $1,900;

Andre, sold to Francois Saint Amand for $125.]

Sale grossed $4,209.

 

No. 23    3-11-11

SLAVE SALE.  Julian Charles Quelquejeu of St. Charles Parish declared, in the presence of Pierre Saint Martin, Jr. and Andre Latour, that he sold to Charles Perret two slaves, natives of the Congo, one named Julien (22), the other named Andre (22).  The two slaves were sawyers and field laborers.        Price:   $2,000.

No. 23     3-11-11

SLAVE SALE.  Charles Perret declared, in the presence of Pierre Saint Martin, Jr., and Andre Latour, that he sold to his son, Charles Berret, Jr., a mulatto slave named Ned (22), native of Virginia.      Price:   $500

No.  25    3-30-11

REDEIPT. Widow Jean-Baptiste Champagne declared, in the presence of Charles Perret and Charles Aime Darensbourg, that she received from her son, Francois, full payment for a farm sold to him on June 8, 1809.