1799 Dred Scott was born in Virginia as a slave of the Peter Blow family. He spent his life as a slave, and never learned to read or write.

1803 United States purchases Louisiana from France, extending federal sovereignty to an ill-defined territory west of the Mississippi.

1804 United States takes formal possession of what is now Missouri.

1820 After fierce debate, Congress admits Missouri as a slave state. The question of Missouri statehood sparks widespread disagreement over the expansion of slavery. The resolution, eventually known as the Missouri Compromise, permits Missouri to enter as a slave state along with the free state of Maine, preserving a balance in the number of free and slave states.

The Compromise also dictates that no territories above 36o 30' latitude can enter the union as slave states. Missouri itself is l ocated at the nexus of freedom and slavery. The neighboring state of Illinois had entered the union as a free state in 1819, while in subsequent years Congress admits Arkansas as a slave state and Iowa as a free state.

1830 The Blow family moves to St. Louis, part of the wholesale migration of people from the southern states of the eastern seaboard to the newer slave states of the Mississippi Valley. The Blows sell Scott to Dr. John Emerson, a military surgeon stationed at Jefferson Barracks just south of St. Louis. Over the next twelve years Scott accompanies Emerson to posts in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where Congress prohibited slavery under the rules of the Missouri Compromise. During this time, Scott marries Harriet Robinson, also a slave.

The Scotts later have two children. The Scotts are not alone in this movement. Slaves are constantly on the move, either forced to accompany their masters or sold as part of the ever-widening domestic slave trade. Slave states and free states, which had previously respected one another's laws on slavery, become increasingly hesitant to enforce those laws as the argument over the expansion of slavery becomes increasingly heated. Slaveholders express pa rticular opposition to legal precedents that permit slaves to demand their own freedom after being transported to places (whether other states or foreign countries) that prohibit slavery.

1842 The Scott family returns to St. Louis with Dr. Emerson and his wife Irene. 1843 John Emerson dies. Mrs. Emerson hires out Dred, Harriet, and their children to work for other families in St. Louis.

1846 Dred and Harriet Scott sue Mrs. Emerson for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court. 1847 The Circuit Court rules in favor of Mrs. Emerson, dismissing the Scotts' case but allowing the Scotts to refile their suit.

1850 The jury in a second trial decides that the Scotts deserve to be free, based on their years of residence in the non-slave territories of Wisconsin and Illinois. 1852 Mrs. Emerson, not wanting to lose such valuable property, appeals the decision to the Missouri Supreme Court. Lawyers on both sides agree that from now on appeals will be based on Dred's case alone, with findings applied equally to Harriet. The state Supreme Court overrules the Circuit Court decision and returns Scott to slavery.

1853-54 Scott, supported by lawyers who opposed slavery, files suit in the U.S. Federal Court in St. Louis. The defendant in this case is Mrs. Emerson's brother, John Sanford, who has assumed responsibility for John Emerson's estate. As a New York resident and technically beyond the jurisdiction of the state court, Scott's lawyers can only file a suit against Sanford in the federal judicial system. Again the court rules against Scott.

1856-1857 Scott and his lawyers appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Scott v. Sanford the Court states that Scott should remain a slave, that as a slave he is not a citizen of the U.S. and thus not eligible to bring suit in a federal court, and that as a slave he is personal property and thus has never been free.

The court further declares unconstitutional the provision in the Missouri Compromise that permitted Congress to prohibit slavery in the territories. In fact, the compromise is already under assault as a coalition of political leaders—some slaveholders, o thers westerners who resent the federal government's ability to dictate the terms of statehood—claim that territorial residents should be able to determine on what terms they enter the union.

The decision in Scott v. Sanford greatly alarms the antislavery movement and intensifies the growing division of opinion within the United State. The newly-formed Republican Party, which opposes the expansion of slavery, vigorously criticizes the decision and the court.

1857 Mrs. Emerson remarries. Since her new husband opposes slavery, she returns Dred Scott and his family to the Blow family. The Blows give the Scotts their freedom. 1858 Dred Scott dies of tuberculosis and is buried in St. Louis. He was buried in Wesleyan Cemetary at what is now the intersection of Grand and Laclede Avenues in St. Louis (now part of the campus of St. Louis University). In 1867, Wesleyan cemetary closed and the bodies were dis-interred and re-buried at other sites. Dred Scott's body was moved to an unmarked grave in Section 1, Lot No. 177, Calvary Cemetary, in north St. Louis County. In 1957 a marker was placed on Dred Scott's grave which reads:

"DRED SCOTT BORN ABOUT 1799 DIED SEPT. 17, 1858 DRED SCOTT SUBJECT OF THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1857 WHICH DENIED CITIZENSHIP TO THE NEGRO, VOIDED THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE ACT, BECAME ONE OF THE EVENTS THAT RESULTED IN THE CIVIL WAR" 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected president in a political contest dominated by the discussion of slavery. South Carolina secedes from the Union, and the Civil War begins.

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The Buffalo Soldier Story

Note: They were all Black Men: And Not As Portrayed In The Movies. (FE-DT). The proud history of the 9th and 10th Cavalry. Nearly sixteen months after the end of the Civil War, Section 3 of the Act of Congress entitled "An Act to increase and fix the Military Peace Establishment of the United States" authorized the formation of the two regiments of cavalry composed of "colored" men. The Act was approved on 28 July 1866. On September 21, 1866, the 9th Cavalry Regiment was activated at Greenville, Louisiana and the 10th Cavalry Regiment was activated at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Under the competent leadership of Colonels Edward Hatch and Benjamin Grierson, first Regimental Commanders of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments,repectively, both regiments were trained and equipped and began a long and proud history.

For over two decades, the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments conducted campaigns against American Indian tribes on a western frontier that extended from Montana in the Northwest to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in the Southwest.

They engaged in several skirmishes against such great Indian Chiefs as Victorio, Geronimo, and Nan."Buffalo Soldiers" was the name given the black cavalrymen by the plains indians. Reason for the name is uncertain. One view is that the Indians saw a resemblance between the black man's hair and the mane of the buffalo. Another view is that when a buffalo was wounded or cornered, it fought ferociously, displaying unusual stamina and courage. This was the same fighting spirit Indians saw in combat with black cavalrymen. Since Indians held the buffalo in such high regard, it wasfelt that the name was not given in contempt.

When not engaged in combat with Native Americans, both regiments built forts and roads, installed telegraph lines, located water holes, escorted wagon trains and cattle drives, rode "shotgun" on stagecoach and mail runs and protected settlers from renegade Indians, outlaws, and Mexican revolutionaries. Elements of both regiments fought in Cuba during the War with Spain and participated in the famous charge on San Juan Hill. Troopers of the 10th Cavalry Regiments rode with General John J. Pershing during the punitive Expedition in Mexico in search of the outlaw Pancho Villa.

In 1941, the two regiments formed the 4th Cavalry Brigade, commanded by General Benjamin O. Davis Sr., at camp Funston, Kansas. In 1944, the end came to the cavalry regiments and the curtain was lowered on the long and glorious past of the "Buffalo Soldiers".

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Vesey Denmark Telemaque

Vesey Telemaque

Led the 16 June 1822 slave insurrection in Charleston.

Telemaque was the personal slave of a Captain Vesey, an old-time resident of Charleston. In 1800, Telemaque, whose name was corrupted to Denmark, won $1,500 in an East Bay lottery.

With $600 of the money, he purchased his freedom. He was then 33 years old. Adopting the trade of a carpenter he became very influential in the black community.

With a few trusted lieutenants, Peter Poyas, Monday Gell, and Gullah Jack, he plotted an insurrection which would free the slaves in Charleston. Their plan was to seize two arsenals, one in the Neck (the narrowest part of the peninsula) and one in the City.

They would then be joined by blacks from the islands, take over the city, and gain their freedom. Word got out so the insurrection never actually took place.

Not one shot was ever fired. Even so, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, 130 people were arrested in the next two months and 35, including Vesey and his lieutenants, were executed.

Fifty were acquitted.

To prevent another insurrection, an act was passed in 1822 to form a municipal guard of 150 men. They would be housed in two arsenals, the one in the Neck to be known as the Magazine, and the one in the City to be known as the Citadel.

This provided the necessary security, but it was expensive. In 1842, General D. F. Jamison of Orangeburg introduced a bill to the state legislature which would replace the municipal guard with inexpensive cadets. Not only would this save the state money, but it would also help the "poor but deserving boys of the state."

The rich planters did not send their sons to The Citadel. They sent them to places where other rich folk at the time sent their sons, West Point or Princeton. In 1843, the Citadel and Magazine were turned over to the South Carolina Military Academy which later became known as The Citadel.

(Sources: Oliver Bond, Story of The Citadel. John Lofton, Denmark Vesey's Revolt: The Slave Plot that Lit a Fuse to Fort Sumter. Robert Starobin, comp. Denmark Vesey: the Slave Conspiracy of 1822.)

By winning the lottery Denmark Vesey was able to buy his freedom and become self sufficient and influential.

By being self sufficient and influential he had the resources to plot an insurrection. The insurrection that almost took place put fear in the hearts of the planters. The fear of another insurrection caused the planters to establish a municipal guard. The expense of a municipal guard caused the planters to look for a cheaper alternative. The cheaper alternative was a body of cadets. Ergo, the Corps of Cadets and the Citadel were established.

The Citadel came into being because a poor slave purchased the winning ticket to a lottery.

Vesey Denmark Telemaque has not been forgotten. There is a statue of him on the grounds of Gaillard Auditorium.

(Source: Dr. Henry Rittenberg, Class of 1938.) Another statue of him was erected in 1999 in Hampton Park adjacent to The Citadel.

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The Willie Lynch Letter

GENTLEMAN:

I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and twelve.

First I shall thank you, the Gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves.

Your invitation reached me on my modest plantation in the West Indies where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest methods for control of slaves. Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious King James, whose bible we cherish, I saw enough to know that your program is not unique. While Rome used cords of wood as crosses for standing human bodies along the old highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasion.

I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a couple of miles back. You are not only losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed, gentlemen...you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them.

In my bag here, I have a fool-proof method for controlling your black slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least 300 years. My method is simple, any member of your family or any overseer can use it.

I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves, and I take these differences and make them bigger.

I use fear, distrust, and envy for control purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies, and it will work throughout the South.

Take this simple little test of differences and think about them. On the top of my list is "Age", but it is there because it only starts with an "A"; the second is "Color" or shade; there is intelligence, size, sex, size of plantations, attitude of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine or coarse hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action--but before that, I shall assure you that distrust is stronger than trust, and envy is stronger than adulation, respect, or admiration.

The Black Slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.

Don't forget, you must pitch the old Black vs. the young Black male, and the young Black male against the old Black male. You must use the dark skinned slaves vs the light skinned slaves, and the light skinned slaves vs. the dark skinned slaves. You must use the female vs. the male, and the male vs. the female. You must also have your servants and overseers distrust all Blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love, respect, and trust only us.

Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control, use them. Have your wives and children use them. Never miss opportunity. My plan is guaranteed, and the good thing about this plan is that if used intensely for one year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful.