1793-Sep.-23: Robert Mitchell wrote to J.

1793-Sep.-23: Robert Mitchell wrote to J. Marshall in Virginia describing a “scare” involving a suspected slave conspiracy in Petersburg that was reportedly inspired by the events in the French Caribbean. He noted that several enslaved men had been overheard discussing the rights of man and the “immortal decree” of the French National Convention. Mitchell reported that the local authorities had intensified patrols and restricted the movement of blacks after dark. The incident demonstrated how news of the Haitian Revolution served as a “political ritual” that emboldened enslaved people to organize. It underscored the fragile nature of social control in the wake of the black rebellion in Saint-Domingue.