Hiram Bartee, Indictment for Abolitionism, Scott County, 1859

In October 1859, white abolitionist John Brown led an armed raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to overthrow the system of slavery. Sixteen people died in the raid. Brown and six of his associates, both Black and white, were imprisoned, put on trial for treason, and sentenced to death by hanging in December 1859.

Many white Southerners were convinced after Harper's Ferry that compromise on the issue of slavery was impossible because they viewed Northern extremists as intent on violently destroying their society.  White Virginians feared further raids and uprisings by enslaved people. They organized local citizen committees dedicated to rooting out the abolitionists among them and eradicating anti-slavery sentiment from the community. Newspapers published reports of thwarted slave insurrections and warned against abolitionists who incited them by speaking with enslaved people. One report described three white ministers who had been tarred and feathered in Madison County, Kentucky for discussing abolition with Black men. 

White Southerners believed it was whites who incited enslaved people to rebel. According to Southern white supremacist propaganda, enslaved people were well-treated and happy with their condition as slaves; they claimed that Black people were better off enslaved in the South than free in the North. Some white people alleged that Black people did not want to be emancipated because it was too much responsibility for a so-called inferior race. Southern slaveholders argued that any Black person’s effort to self-liberate from slavery was the result of indoctrination by white Northerners who led them to be discontented with their situation. Although not everyone believed these lies — perhaps not even the people telling them — public suspicion was reserved for white people who spoke out against slavery, and less so for the enslaved people themselves.

In southwestern Virginia's Scott County, one man faced leqal consequences for his abolitionist sentiments in the wake of the Harper's Ferry raid. Hiram Bartee, identified in the census as a blacksmith who had been born in North Carolina, was arrested on November 27, 1859. Two men had overheard him "talking abolitionism with slaves" according to this article printed in the Norfolk Day Book. Bartree reportedly told them "that negroes had as much right to their freedom as white people." When Bartee appeared before the Scott County court on December 13, the clerk recorded in the minutes that Bartee had "feloniously assisted Abraham a slave the property of Henry S. Kane to rebel and make insurrection."  The justices decided to charge Bartee with a misdemeanor in the county court, rather than sending his case to the circuit court. Bartee and his father-in-law paid a $500 bond to guarantee his presence at the court session in March 1860, where a grand jury indicted him for "maintaining that owners have not right of property in their slaves." However, the indictment was quashed at the county court session on August 15, 1860, thereby voiding the charge against Bartee.  

In 1862, the Scott County death register listed Bartee as “killed by Yankees” in Kentucky, but there is no evidence that he served in either the United States or Confederate military. He may have been a civilian casualty rather than an armed combatant. What happened to Abraham is unclear, but he appears in the 1866 Scott County Cohabitation Register documenting marriages of formerly enslaved people as Abraham Carter, a blacksmith who had been enslaved by Henry S. Cain.

Citations: "Brown's Travels in Virginia," Norfolk Day Book, Dec. 6, 1859 (p.2); Scott County Court Minute Book 12 (1855–1860), 640–641, 665 and Scott County Court Minute Book 13 (1860–1866), 30.

View the Scott County Cohabitation Register online in the Library of Virginia's Digital Collections Discovery.

Learn more about slavery, John Brown, and the sectional crisis in Union or Secession: Virginians Decide.

Preview Activities

Analyze: Proponents of slavery argued that enslaved people were well-treated and content with their situation, and that attempts to seek their freedom were caused by the influence of white abolitionists. Why do you think this was such a popular idea among supporters of slavery? What does this belief justify or make possible? What might be the consequences if white Southerners believed the truth about the horrors of slavery and the enslaved peoples’ constant desire for freedom?

Form an Opinion: Hiram Bartee and Abraham Carter were both blacksmiths. How do you think this shared occupation might have brought them together? How could having something in common with Abraham Carter influence Hiram Bartee’s beliefs about slavery?

Post Activities

Looking at Language: What words are used in the newspaper article to describe Hiram Bartee and his actions compared to how the author describes the other white men? What are the denotations and connotations of “incendiary” and “suspicious”? What are the denotations and connotations of “reliable” “gentlemen”?

Another Perspective: The newspaper article and the court records do not include Abraham Carter’s perspective. What do you think Abraham may have felt when he heard Hiram Bartee say these words on November 26, 1859? What potential dangers might he have faced from white society and his enslaver, Henry S. Kane, as a result of Bartee’s arrest? What positive results could have come out of this situation? You may want to write a journal entry imagining Abraham’s perspective.

Analyze: After reading the newspaper article, consider why the story of John Brown’s disguise in Danville is placed with the story about Hiram Bartee. What effect might this juxtaposition or placement make on the reader? What do you think is the purpose of publishing this anecdote about Hiram Bartee? How could this story affect public opinion, such as the reader's beliefs about abolitionists or slavery?

Be the Journalist: Imagine you have a chance to interview Hiram Bartee from jail. What three questions would you ask him? Why is it important to hear his side of the story?

Food for Thought: If Hiram Bartee had done this in 1849 instead of 1859, do you think there would have been a different response? How might John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and his subsequent arrest influence the white response to Bartee's abolitionist sentiments?

Current Connections: Although the case was eventually thrown out, Hiram Bartee experienced legal consequences because he was outspoken about his moral beliefs on the equal human rights of Black Americans. If you were in Bartee’s position in 1859, would you have spoken out against slavery? What unpopular beliefs do you have today? Do you share them, or do you keep them to yourself? What influences your decision?