Summary

The city executioner, a Black man named Louis Congo, comes before the Superior Council of Louisiana to make official notice that he was attacked in his home by three runaway Native slaves. In response, the Attorney General of the King, François Fleuriau, urges the members of the Council to enforce the death penalty for deserters, a power given to them under King Louis XV’s newly decreed Code Noir (1724). The testimony in this case gives us a rare glimpse into the legal structure being formed in French Louisiana and the regime of violence under which enslaved people lived. But it also alerts us to the formation of maroon communities on the outskirts of the city who are willing to take up armed resistance against the colonial elite and their enforcers. Congo is presumed to have received his freedom in 1725 for taking up the duties of executioner, although he is not named so in this document.

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Translation
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Transcription (French, diplomatic)

[feuille 1 recto] [digital 2]

A Messieurs Du Conseil superieur dela province de la louisiane
Lexposele procureurs general duRoy quelouis congo negre executi[oner]
dela justice sest venu plaindre quela nuit du [j]eudy ou vendredy
dernies il avait pensé etre assasinéé ensa maison par trois
Sauvages deserteurs dont lier en ala Compagnie ales deux ans
A messieurs denoyan et raguet Il ya longtemps quune
grande bande desclaves sauvages sest attroupee etai[t] deserters
courant et r[ô]dant aufore dela uille bien armes et il est a
craindre quils nefassent de mauvais coups ayant bonne
provision de poudre et balles Lesclave dusieur SaineMartin
luy ayant enlevé douzelivres de poudre et 20 livres deballe
ces desertions Sont touiours accompagnees de vols faits aleurs
maitres et plusieurs habitants mont prié de faire ch[â]tier
les deseurteurs assevont quelenepunisé avec laquelle elles
setoint faittes iusques icy les causoit etles mettoit euxmesmes
risque LeRoy etendant Sa bonté paternelle jusquanou
quelques eloignés que nous ensoyons
donna au mois de mars 1724 un reglement pour cette
province par larticle 32 duquel il nordonne pas ala
verité la peine de mort pour Simple desertion
mais p[ar]
les articles douze et treize ouil
deffend les ports dearmes
et attroupements il laisse a larbitrage des uges [juges] deles
punir de mort Suivant les circonstances, il y En a icy detres
aggrauantes Et on ne poura iamais confesier les esclaves quils
les intimidant par la mort aumoins des chefs desdits complot
de desertion et attroupements cest pourquoy
vous plaise messieurs prier monsieur deboisbriant
Commandant general dela province presidens du Cons[eil]
dordonner aux sauvages uoiRus de courir eu [voient découvrir eu] lesdits
deserteurs les arrester ettouttrpuer [et toutes trapper] En nos prisons pour
Connaitre les chefs desdits complot es leur faire et

[f. 1 verso] [dig.3]

parfaire leur proces avec toutte la rigueur permise par
larticle nuefede ledit pour les esclaves decette province
ala nouvelle orleansle dix sept aoust mil septcent
vingtsix

[Signé:] Fleuriau

Translation (English, modern)

[page # 1] [digital 2]

To the Gentlemen of the Superior Council of the Province of Louisiana, Exposé [of] the Attorney General of the King that Louis Congo, nègre executioner of justice, came to complain that on the night of Thursday or Friday last, he believed he was being assassinated in his house by three sauvage deserters who had been bound by the Company [of the Indies] for two years to the gentlemen de Noyan and Raguet. For a long time, [it has been that] alarge group of sauvage slaves have gathered together as deserters [maroons], covetously circling the city, well armed, and whom must be vanquished [so that] they do not become a nuisance, having good provisions of gunpowder and bullets. The slave of Sieur Saint-Martin, [from] him having stolen 12 pounds of powder and 20 pounds of bullets.These desertions are always accompanied by thefts committed against their masters, and several habitants have asked me to punish the deserters, convinced that the punishments of which they have done themselves up until now have caused them to be put [at] risk. The King, extending his paternal kindness no matter how far we are [from him], gave in the month of May 1724 a regulation [le Code Noir] for this Province. Under Article 32,¹ by which it does not in fact order the death penalty for simple desertion, but by Articles 12² and 13³, wherein he [King Louis XV] forbids [slaves] carrying weapons and gatherings [of slaves]. He leaves it up to the arbitration of the courts to punish them to death, depending upon the circumstances. Here [in this case] there are aggravating factors–such that one could never admit [that their] slaves intimidate them–for the death of at least of the leaders of the aforesaid plot for desertion and gatherings. That is why, [if it] pleases you gentleman, pray [that] Mister [Pierre Dugué de] Boisbriand, Commanding General of this Province, President of the Council, order our sauvages surveille the said deserters, [so that we can] arrest them and place them all in our prisons, to know the leaders of the said plot, and

[p. # 2] [dig.3]

to complete their trail with all the rigor provided by the new Article aforementioned pertaining to the slaves of this Province. At New Orleans on the seventeenth of August one thousand seven hundred twenty-six.

[Signed:] [François] Fleuriau

Notes