"Not far from this time Nat Turner’s insurrection [a slave rebellion] broke out; and the news threw our town into great commotion. . . .


"It was always the custom to have a muster every year. On that occasion every White man shouldered his musket. The citizens and the so-called country gentlemen wore military uniforms. . . .


"I knew the houses were to be searched; and I expected it would be done by country bullies and the poor Whites. . . .


"It was a grand opportunity for the low Whites, who had no Negroes of their own to scourge. They exulted in such a chance to exercise a little brief authority, and show their subserviency to the slaveholders; not reflecting that the power which trampled on the colored people also kept themselves in poverty, ignorance, and moral degradation. . . . Colored people and slaves who lived in remote parts of the town suffered in an especial manner. In some cases the searchers scattered [gun]powder and shot among