Seventy-eight "Sundry Inhabitants of the Counties of Sampson Bladen New Hanover and Duplin" complain that "our Slaves are become Almost Uncontrolable they go and come when and where they please and if an Attempt is made to correct them they fly to the Woods and there Continue for months and years commiting grievous depredations on Our Cattle hogs and Sheep and many other things." They therefore pray that the existing patrols be better organized and that said patrols be granted "the priviledge of Shooting and destroying all Runaway Slaves who may Refuse to Submit to Said authority." They also ask that slaveholders list "all the dogs their Negroes are allowed to Raise [or] Keep" so as to "pay a tax of five dollars on Each dog so given.” The petitioners aver that the dogs kept by slaves "do great Injury to our Stocks and if we kill there dogs they will then kill our dogs our horses or Our Cows."
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
