Escaped! Freedom Seekers in 1804

Escaped! Freedom Seekers in 1804. . , Although written documentation is scarce, Magnolia Plantation is associated with an escape by enslaved Africans during an 1804 Insurrection from Rivière aux Cannes (Cane River), where at least 30 enslaved people, including six men, one woman and her two-year-old child, left the plantations of Maria Dupre, Alexis Cloutier, Emmanuel Derbanne, Ambroise LeComte, and Louis Derbanne. These freedom seekers crossed LeComte's Magnolia Plantation land on the way to Los Adaes and sought freedom in Spanish Texas near Nacogdoches around the Attoyac River., Natchitoches residents traveled to Nacogdoches to request the return of the freedom seekers. A scouting party found them and despite being heavily armed, the freedom seekers turned. themselves in without a confrontation. One possibility is that they did not want to risk losing their lives; another is that Spanish soldiers persuaded them to surrender., The freedom seekers were returned to Alexis Cloutier and the group left for Natchitoches, where they were interrogated by officials. They explained that they left because Spanish men had promised them freedom. The freedom seekers were tied to a stake in the town square and publicly whipped, then returned to their owners.