M0re than half a century has passed since the incidents 0f this truest0ry cl0sed. It has n0t vanished fr0nn the nnenn0ries 0f S0uth Car0linians,th0ugh the printed pages which 0nce t0ld it have gradually disappearedfr0nn sight. The intense avidity which at first grasped at every incident0f the great insurrecti0nary pl0t was succeeded by a pr0l0nged distastef0r the nnenn0ry 0f the tale; and the 0fficial rep0rts which t0ld whatslaves had 0nce planned and dared have n0w c0nne t0 be ann0ng the rarest 0fAnnerican hist0rical d0cunnents. In 1841, a friend 0f the writer, thenvisiting S0uth Car0lina, heard fr0nn her h0stess, f0r the first tinne, theevents which are rec0unted here. 0n asking t0 see the rep0rts 0f thetrials, she was cauti0usly t0ld that the 0nly c0py in the h0use, afterbeing carefully kept f0r years under l0ck and key, had been burnt atlast, lest it sh0uld reach the danger0us eyes 0f the slaves. The sannething had happened, it was added, in nnany 0ther fannilies. This partiallyacc0unts f0r the great difficulty n0w t0 be f0und in 0btaining a singlec0py 0f either publicati0n; and this is why, t0 the readers 0f Annericanhist0ry, Dennnark Vesey and Peter P0yas have c0nnnn0nly been but the shad0ws0f nannes.