Historical Information: Gabriel's Insurrection was a large scale rebellion planned for the fall of 1800 by Gabriel, a blacksmith enslaved by Thomas Henry Prosser, a white man, of Henrico County, along with group of enslaved Black men. A heavy rainstorm postponed the plot which aimed to take Richmond, hold the governor hostage, and bargain for the freedom of all Black and multiracial individuals held in chattel slavery. After the storm, two enslaved persons informed, Mosby Sheppard, their enslaver, about the impending rebellion. Sheppard warned the governor, who marshaled the white community by use of the militia, and the courts to root out and punish the Gabriel and the other organizers. After first escaping, Gabriel was captured on a schooner in Norfolk, Va. and returned to Henrico for trial. The end result of the trials were that twenty six enslaved Black people were executed, including Gabriel and his brothers Solomon and Martin. Others were convicted but pardoned; several were sold out of state.

Fears of an even more widespread rebellion haunted white Virginians for years to come. Gabriel and his fellow organizers recruited participants at religious meeting and other social gatherings in Richmond, Va. and at plantations in the surrounding. Gabriel successfully met and communicated with so many other enslaved individuals due to the relative absence policing of Black movement between city and county. Enslaved individuals ran errands for their enslavers and enslavers hired out those they enslaved to other white residents, resulting it fluid spheres of Black and multiracial community. After Gabriel's rebellion was discovered and until the close of the Civil War, the General Assembly passed a myriad of laws aimed at restricting the movement, assembly, and education of free and enslaved Black and multiracial individuals within the state's borders. Most of the laws were aimed at controlling and policing these populations so as to reduce the chance of future revolts and maintain a white system of power.

Context for Record Type: Oyer and terminer, from the French word meaning "to hear and determine," refers to a type of court process reserved for special circumstances. Historically in Virginia, these special circumstances were the prosecution of enslaved people. An oyer and terminer tribunal denied an enslaved defendant the usual legal proceedings applied to a white defendant. Instead of a trial by jury, a panel was organized to "examine, judge, and pass sentence on slave defendants."

A guilty verdict had no appeal process and conviction many times condemned the defendant to execution. This trial system left enslaved people taken to court with little protection against racial prejudice, extreme punishment, and errors in the collection or interpretation of evidence.

Locality History Note: Henrico County was named for Henry, Prince of Wales, the oldest son of James I. It was one of the eight original shires established in 1634.