A slave’s escape to Georgetown

By Thomas Oliver Ott

Standing on the balcony of Tivoli Gardens stood two lonely figures peering down at Meeting Street. One was Saturday, a slave in his sixties. Next to him was Philip Chartrand, owner of Tivoli Gardens. Their relationship was perhaps the most unique in Charleston. Saturday had rescued Philip and his brother John from the flames of the great Haitian slave revolution in 1791 and brought the two boys to Charleston. Once in Charleston, Saturday refused his freedom so that he could raise them as his own children, right in the heart of Southern slavery. Both boys grew up and became slaveholders to Saturday’s great disappointment. But he never quit loving his wayward children.

What Saturday and Philip saw from Tivoli’s balcony alarmed them. City authorities were executing the main conspirators of the failed Denmark Vesey Conspiracy (June,1822). Below a parade of the condemned rode up Meeting Street in horse-drawn wagons, each sitting on his own coffin. Each faced hanging at The Lines. 

Saturday knew that his turn could be next if city authorities located Peter Poyas’ ledger filled with the names of recruits for Vesey’s slave rebellion. Saturday’s name was in that book, even though he had earlier resigned from joining the uprising. Time was running out for Saturday, and he knew it.

But Philip knew for a long time that Saturday associated with Denmark Vesey and might one day need to flee Charleston. In preparation, he got Saturday a passport using the name of George Lining, a free black killed years earlier in an accident. A free black could leave Charleston easily since local authorities sought their exile from the city. A slave, on the other hand, would face close scrutiny from those seeking to arrest Vesey conspirators.

Philip’s next step was to locate a ship in Charleston harbor making a port of call at Georgetown, 60 miles up the coast. Official scrutiny there would likely be less intense than in Charleston. After walking the length of East Bay Street, Philip finally found a ship headed to Georgetown for cargo bound for Matanzas, Cuba. The ship was the Mary, captained by Benjamin Sutton, due to drop anchor at Georgetown in early August. Now all he and Saturday had to do was get the hell out of Charleston!

At sunrise on a Sunday morning in late July, the gates of Tivoli swung open, and a carriage driven by Saturday with Philip as his passenger clattered into Meeting Street and headed north. Saturday wore his finest livery and Philip dressed in a gentleman’s attire, while sporting a brass headed walking cane. Any nosey neighbor might consider this one of their regular runs to Branchville where Philip sparked a young woman. Instead, it began their race to Georgetown.

Across Goose Creek Bridge and up Orangeburg Road their carriage rolled. But at about 25 miles north of Charleston, Philip directed Saturday to turn their carriage due east through the villages of Monck’s Corner and Jamestown. It was Philip’s plan to enter the South Santee Road which intersected the King’s Highway some 40 miles north of Charleston.  That way, they might avoid some of the slave patrols in angry moods cluttering the King’s Highway. If they couldn’t find a slave rebel, any Negro might do.

At Jamestown, our fleeing duo entered their carriage on the South Santee Road. Their flight was a horticulturalist’s dream: strands of Spanish moss floating from live oak limbs, arbors of wild grapes hanging above the road, sunlight peeking through the towering crowns of pines, the beautiful tended gardens of El Dorado and Hampton plantations all announced to Saturday that he would soon be free.

It seemed too easy until they met a crisis at Haliwell’s Tavern on The King’s Highway, 20 miles south of Georgetown. Philip spent the night in the tavern, while Saturday slept concealed under a blanket in their carriage. But as they departed the tavern, a slave patrolman spotted them. The patrolman was from the Charleston Workhouse where slaves faced punishment. He frequently had seen Saturday on Charleston streets and ordered Saturday to stop his carriage and step down. He grabbed Saturday by his arm and shouted his intention to take Saturday to Charleston for questioning. In the meantime, Philip stepped down and worked his way behind the pair. Then he lifted his cane and brought its brass head crashing down on the patrolman’s head. Saturday and Philip quickly boarded the carriage and left the motionless patrolman sprawled on King’s Highway.

It was not until noon, August 4, that Saturday and Phillip crossed the Sampit River Bridge and entered Georgetown. And there she was! The Mary rode her anchor off the Front Street Docks. Quickly, they boarded their horses and carriage at a stable and were greeted by Captain Sutton as they climbed  Mary’s gangway. As Mary pulled away from the docks and began gliding across Winyah Bay, Saturday stood on the ship’s stern and saw Georgetown and the Carolina coast slowly disappearing. For the first time in nearly sixty years, he was about to be a free man. But the joys awaiting Saturday in Cuba found a terror awaiting Philip upon his return to Georgetown.

About the Author

Thomas Ott earned his Ph.D. in Caribbean History from the University of Tennessee. He authored The Haitian Revolution. 1791-1804 which stands as one of the important books on that subject. His interest in Haiti’s great slave rebellion has led him to promote the importance of its leader, Toussaint Louverture, before academic and general audiences.

In 2010, Professor Ott retired from the University of North Alabama to write the story of Saturday, a slave on the French side of the author’s ancestors and a participant in the world’s greatest slave rebellion. This is an excerpt from that book Saturday and the Witch Woman, which can be found on Amazon. It is also available in e-book and audio book. Check out his website for more information about his works.