Sacramento Union, Aug 23, 1865
Negro Plot Suppressed.
New York, August 5th, 1865
The Post’s Washington special says : The National
Intelligencer has a statement that a plot was discov-
ered among a large number of negro workmen at Aquia
Creek to assassinate the white laborers on the railroad
there. A company of soldiers arrested and imprisoned
all the negroes and captured their weapons.
Chicago Tribune, Aug 17, 1865
The Richmond correspondent of the N.Y. Tribune says:
“The true version of the affair at Aquia
Creek, and its results, are substantially as
follows: On the afternoon of the 1st inst., an
altercation occurred between a white and
black laborer, during which the white
threatened to beat out the brains of the
black, seizing a crow-bar at the same mom-
ent. The black at once put himself on the
defensive, and by threatening language cow-
ered the white, who returned to his gang and
resumed his labor. The same evening, the whites
all joined together and proceeded to
the negro quarters and by intimidating him
by threats of shooting if he attempted to es-
cape or offer resistance, stripped him of his
clothing, formed a circle, and the man with
whom he had had the misunderstanding dur-
ing the day was permitted to beat the negro
with a bundle of switches firmly tied together
until the man ceased his torturing ef-
forts from pure exhaustion. The same night
the negroes joined together, and arming
themselves with clubs and spades, marched
in a body toward the camp of the white la-
borers, with the avowed intention of aveng-
ing the injuries and insults offered their com-
rade and fellow-laborer. The whites, seeing
their approach, fled incontinently, and on
arriving at a village in the neighborhood
called Game Point, circulated the wildest
rumors about a negro rising. The negroes,
observing the flight of the whites, returned
to their quarters and their beds, from which
there were aroused about daylight on the fol-
lowing morning by the presence and noisy
demonstrations of the whites, who had pro-
curred the assistance of a company
of the fifth Maryland Volunteers from
Stafford Court House, led on by Lieut. E.C.
Lefeber, who immediately began to
break the doors and windows, and to drag
the negroes from their beds. The negroes,
frightened, leaped from the windows, and
were shot down as they made their appear-
ance. One was killed outright, and several
severely wounded. The whites were all armed
with shotguns. Gen. T. M. Harris,
commanding Department of Southeast Virginia,
has the matter under investigation,
the white laborers, about forty in number,
all discharged Confederate soldiers, have been
arrested, tried and sentenced to service in
the chain gang of Fredericksburg for sixty
days. The Superintendent of the gangs on
the railroad, E.H. Thompson, has been sen-
tenced to six months imprisonment for en-
couraging the whites in these unlawful pro-
ceedings. The Lieutenant is to be court-
martialed, and the negroes have been sent
back to their work, confident of protection
of their rights, and encouragement in their
industry. ”
John Sergneri
Interesting how two newspapers, one in Chicago and one in Sacramento carried such different stories about the same incident. A quick search of the archive shows that most California papers carried the shorter version of this incident.
Photos from this time and area can be seen here: https://research.archives.gov/id/528988