Civil War Slave Conspiracy

Brooks County · dedicated 2010 · At 100 West Screven Street in Quitman.

In August 1864, during the American Civil War, four men were executed in Brooks County, Georgia, for conspiring to plot a slave insurrection. The conspirators - led by a local white man, John Vickery, and three slaves named Nelson, George, and Sam - planned to seize weapons and take control of the town of Quitman, securing it for the U.S. Army in nearby Florida. Local authorities discovered the plot before it could be carried out. All four conspirators were convicted of insurrection and executed on August 22, 1864. Anti-Confederate activity such as this, along with food riots, draft evasion, and labor unrest, increased during the final year of the war.

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Civil War Slave Conspiracy

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