This is a webpage dedicated to telling the story of Boxley’s Plot, an attempted insurrection of enslaved people in Spotsylvania, Virginia, in the early nineteenth century!
The most unusual thing about this insurrection is the man who it’s named for– George Boxley was a wealthy, white, slaveholding Southerner. Why would he involved himself in an insurrection like this? I’m not sure I came to a definite conclusion over the course of my research, but I certainly learned a lot of interesting things that I’d love to share with you!
Tracing the events of this story hasn’t been easy, as the accounts presented in newspapers and other primary source documents are confused, contradictory, and sensationalized. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Boxley’s Plot is an unusual and significant component of the historical struggle for abolition in pre-Civil War Virginia, and one that hasn’t received nearly enough scholarly attention.
Header Image is Map of the Battle of Spottsylvania Courthouse, 1867. Courtesy of National Archives