In Book Four, the Stone Rebellion is mentioned. The guys were found near the Stono River. Phebe had one of her visions/hallucinations (depends on your perspective – she thinks they are hallucinations) of Syanna Lynn telling her the guys were at the rebel river. ‘Rebel’ was mistakenly taken as the nickname for Confederates. But this was an earlier rebel. A ghost--no matter if real or not, depending on your views--saying something you gotta figure out, isn't that just the way?! Never is anything clear!
Wikipedia has a good description of the Stono Rebellion. Two Views of the Rebellion can be found the National Humanities Center. PBS has a great article on the Rebellion that goes into a lot of detail.
Below is a description of what took place. This is not my wording, so don’t yell at me. It is copied and pasted from the African American Registry.
“The Stono Rebellion began on this date in 1739. Sometimes called Cato's Conspiracy or Cato's Rebellion, it was a slave revolt in the (then) colony of South Carolina.
“The uprising was led by Black Africans kidnapped from the Central African Kingdom of Kongo, as some of the rebels spoke Portuguese. Their leader, Jemmy, was a literate slave who is referred to as "Cato" from a family who lived near the Ashley River nearby. He led 20 slaves in an armed march south from the Stono River southwest of Charleston. They attacked a store at the Stono River Bridge, killing two storekeepers and seizing weapons and ammunition.
“They advanced south toward Spanish Florida gathering more recruits for a total of 81. They burned six plantations and killed 23 to 28 whites along the way. South Carolina's Lieutenant Governor quickly warned other slaveholders. Rallying a militia of planters and slaveholders on horseback, the colonists caught up with the slaves at the Edisto River. In the ensuing conflict, 23 whites and 47 slaves were killed. While the slaves lost, the colonists mounted the severed heads of the rebels on stakes along roadways as a warning for other slaves who might consider revolt.
“The lieutenant governor hired Chickasaw and Catawba natives and other slaves to track down and capture the Africans who had escaped from the battle. The colonists executed most of the rebellious slaves; they sold other slaves off to the markets of the West Indies. In response to the rebellion, the South Carolina legislature passed the Negro Act of 1740, which restricted slave assembly, education, and movement.
“It also enacted a 10-year moratorium against importing African slaves, because they were considered more rebellious, and established penalties against slaveholders' harsh treatment of slaves. It required legislative approval for each act of manumission, which slaveholders had previously been able to arrange privately. This sharply reduced the rate of manumissions in the state.
From Black Past.org:
"On Sunday, September 9th, 1739 the British colony of South Carolina was shaken by a slave uprising that culminated with the death of sixty people. Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, a band of twenty slaves organized a rebellion on the banks of the Stono River. After breaking into Hutchinson’s store the band, now armed with guns, called for their liberty. As they marched, overseers were killed and reluctant slaves were forced to join the company. The band reached the Edisto River where white colonists descended upon them, killing most of the rebels. The survivors were sold off to the West Indies.
"The immediate factors that sparked the uprising remain in doubt. A malaria epidemic in Charlestown, which caused general confusion throughout Carolina, may have influenced the timing of the Rebellion. The recent (August 1739) passage of the Security Act by the South Carolina Colonial Assembly may also have played a role. The act required all white men to carry firearms to church on Sunday. Thus the enslaved leaders of the rebellion knew their best chance for success would be during the time of the church services when armed white males were away from the plantations.
"After the Stono Rebellion South Carolina authorities moved to reduce provocations for rebellion. Masters, for example, were penalized for imposing excessive work or brutal punishments of slaves and a school was started so that slaves could learn Christian doctrine. In a colony that already had more blacks than whites, the Assembly also imposed a prohibitive duty on the importation of new slaves from Africa and the West Indies. Authorities also tightened control over the enslaved. The Assembly enacted a new law requiring a ratio of one white for every ten blacks on any plantation and passed the Negro Act of 1740 which prohibited enslaved people from growing their own food, assembling in groups, earning money they, rather than their owners, could retain or learning to read."