Tumult and Silence at Second Creek: An Inquiry Into a Civil War Slave Conspiracy [Paperback]

Winthrop D. Jordan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807120391 | ISBN-13: 978-0807120392 | Publication Date: January 1, 1996 | Edition: Revised

In 1861 a group of slaves in Adams County, Mississippi, conspired to gain their freedom by overwhelming their masters. The conspiracy was discovered and more than thirty slaves in and around Natchez were hanged and several were whipped to death. In 1971 Winthrop D. Jordan came across the previously unanalyzed transcript of the testimony of some of the conspiring slaves. This book is an exhaustive analysis of his findings.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Historian Jordan turns his prize-winning skills from probing the nature of white attitudes toward blacks in early America to exploring the process, possibilities, and limits of historical inference from the fears and facts of black-white violence in early Civil War Mississippi. Delving into an alleged 1861 slave conspiracy and the actual repression near Natchez, Jordan discourses on his finding and their meanings. His essay puts the local crisis in a context of sights, sounds, and other sensations that develop the significance of the events while showing how a historian works; for the latter purpose, he appends much of his evidence in 20 documents. More than the story of a black plot or white panic, this book is an engaging primer in historical reasoning and an absorbing study of the tenuous hegemony that ruled the slave South. Recommended for Civil War, local, Southern, and general history collections.
- Thomas J. Davis, Univ. at Buffalo, N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press; Revised edition (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807120391
• ISBN-13: 978-0807120392
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing history, December 12, 1999

By 

C. Anderson James "cajames" (Whitestone, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tumult and Silence at Second Creek: An Inquiry into a Civil War Slave Conspiracy (Hardcover)

After taking an amazing class with Dr. Jordan, who is just as good of a teacher as he is a writer, I decided to take a look at his well-known book. It is truly one of the great pieces of historical writing I have read, as he is able to pull together a complete story based upon references from a single document. While he's talking about this single event, he gives great insight into the mind of an historian that will inspire any student of history into delving deeper into practically any subject.