13. Reflecting that rebellion existed across all social classes in the United States during this time, the 1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation saw a group of enslaved Africans embark on a desperate bid for freedom
Predating European arrival, the Cherokee practiced the enslavement of captured prisoners of war. Expanding this cultural institution to found plantations in the late-18th century, the Cherokee Nation began purchasing African-American slaves from European colonials. Transporting their slaves with them during the Indian Removal of the 1820s and 1830s, by 1835 it is estimated the Cherokee owned approximately 1,500 black slaves. On November 15, 1842, a group of twenty enslaved African-Americans escaped the Vann plantation. Raiding local shops for weapons, horses, and supplies, the slaves raced south towards the Mexican border seeking freedom.
Gathering additional recruits, the group were swiftly pursued by the Cherokee. Catching up with the slaves seven miles north the Red River on November 28, the escapees were too weak and exhausted to resist. Recaptured, the Cherokee escorted the slaves back to their lands whereupon they executed five as an example to the others. In response to the event, the Cherokee Nation imposed new and stricter slave codes, expelling all free blacks from their territories. Nevertheless, the event inspired countless successor attempts, with an estimated 300 blacks attempting to escape Indian Territory by 1851.