Historical Background Project Overview

Setting of the Novel

This timeline was constructed to provide some context to the antebellum period, the presumed setting of the novel. The exact setting for Newman’s novel is left somewhat ambiguous, but appears to in the late 1830s or early 1840s because one of Newman’s characters says that it has been twenty-two years since 1820, indicating the novel is set in 1842 (18-19). That said, some historical events referenced by Newman occur after the alleged setting of the novel, like the California Gold Rush (1848-1855). The timeline featured here outlines several historic events that are directly referenced in the novel, as well as a few events, like Nat Turner’s and Gabriel’s Rebellion, that are not directly referenced in Newman’s novel but had a significant impact on the world represented in Newman’s novel.

1800

Gabriel's Rebellion

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Gabriel’s Rebellion was an extensive slave rebellion that aimed to capture the state capital, Richmond, take over the Virginia State Armory, and hold the governor, James Monroe, hostage to demand freedom for enslaved people in Virginia. Gabriel’s plans were foiled due to a severe storm that delayed his conspirators’ plans as well as some nervous enslaved people who told their enslaver of the plan (Gabriel’s Conspiracy “Death or Liberty”, n.d.). In the wake of Gabriel’s rebellion, residency laws were established to expel free Black people from the state (Eslinger 270). While Newman doesn’t explicitly mention this event in his novel, he does mention Virginia’s Expulsion Law of 1806, which required newly freed people to leave the state within twelve months, and which was strongly influenced by Gabriel’s Rebellion.

1806

Virginia's 1806 Expulsion Law

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In 1806, Virginia passed a law stating that “All slaves manumitted after May 1st, 1806, and their descendants were required to depart from the commonwealth within twelve months of attaining freedom (or in the case of descendants, reaching adulthood), except in cases of extraordinary cases of merit and good character” (Eslinger 270-271). Although there were several administrative changes, the 1806 law operated throughout the antebellum period (Eslinger 271). Newman directly references this law on page 212 of A Miserable Revenge. Newman’s character, George, references the law through Newman’s narration, insinuating that George was anticipating seeing his parents after not seeing them for a long time because they were not allowed to live in Virginia after being freed (Newman 212).

1831

Nat Turner's Rebellion

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Nat Turner, who thought himself to have been divinely chosen by God, gathered a group of enslaved African Americans from Southampton County Virginia to hold an insurrection. Starting at 2:00am on August 22nd, Turner and his forces set out to the Travis household, where Turner was then enslaved, and killed the entire family. Turner and his forces then continued from house to house in Southampton, killing all white people they encountered. Turner’s rebellion was eventually confronted by a white militia, dispelling Turner’s force. Turner’s force spent the night near some slave cabins before attempting to attack another house, but they were thwarted. Some of Turner’s force was captured while the remaining force faced the militia, in which one enslaved person was killed and others escaped, including Turner himself. Turner was able to hide for over two months before he was captured. Turner was tried in the Southampton County Court and sentenced to execution. Before he was killed, he dictated his “Confession” to a white man named Thomas R. Gray. During Turner’s rebellion, at least fifty-five white people were killed (“Africans in America”). Although Turner’s rebellion is not explicitly mentioned in Newman’s novel, the rebellion contributed to southern attitudes towards slavery and further restrictions on free Black people, both of which are referenced in Newman’s novel (Eslinger 261). This rebellion led to a rise in both abolitionist and anti-abolitonist sentiment in Virginia and across the U.S.

1840s

Manifest Destiny and the Wild West

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While the concept of “manifest destiny” has been around for a while, it wasn’t until 1845 when journalist John Louis O’Sullivan wrote that it was “our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us” (“Manifest Destiny and U.S Westward Expansion”). In doing so, O’Sullivan coined the phrase that would be used to justify expansionism. Throughout Newman’s novel, Newman’s characters reference the “Wild West” as a place to seek one’s fortune (Newman 251). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of the term “Wild West” was in 1833 to describe the West as lawless (OED) . This “lawlessness” of the West was caused by a lack of law enforcement due to the mass migration that was motivated by an expansionist mindset. This westward expansion also displaced thousands of Indigenous Americans (“Western Frontier Life in America”), which Newman’s novel also references (Newman 196).

1842

The Setting of Newman’s "A Miserable Revenge"

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Newman’s novel appears to be set in 1842 because of a character saying, “If you had dones as I told you twenty-two years, ago, you would have forgotten it all by this time” (Newman 18-19), in reference to something that happened in 1820. IThat would mean that Newman set his book in 1842. However, likely because Newman was born in 1855 and his book was written in the 1870s, Newman references historical information and events that occurred after 1842, making certain aspects of the novel’s setting and plot points anachronistic.

1849

California Gold Rush

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The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California in 1848 kick-started one of the largest migrations in the United States because of the possibility of prosperity from gold mining. The promise of wealth caused individuals to flock to Calfironia and helped fuel dreams for a cross country railroad (“The California Gold Rush”). The California Gold Rush is mentioned in Newman’s novel when the character William Reed talks about the profit he made out west and all of his adventures (Newman 196-197).

1850

Compromise of 1850

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The Compromise of 1850 is a series of bills passed to address issues related to slavery. The bills indicated that slavery in the new territories (admission of new states) should be decided by popular sovereignty, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Colmumbia, and settled a boundary dispute in Texas. The Compromise also established a stricter fugitive slave act (“Compromise of 1850 (1850)”). While this Compromise is not explicitly mentioned in Newman’s novel, it is vital in understanding the context of the time period the book was set in. The Compromise of 1850 emphasizes public opinion on slavery and the rising tensions of the time.

Credit: Benjamin Kimble and Joelle Minicucci

Works Cited

“Africans in America/Part 3/Nat Turner’s Rebellion.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html.

“Compromise of 1850 (1850).” National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/compromise-of-1850.

Eslinger, Ellen. “Free Black Residency in Two Antebellum Virginia Counties: How the Laws Functioned.” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 79, no. 2, 2013, pp. 261–98.

“Gabriel’s Conspiracy: ‘Death or Liberty.’” Gabriel’s Conspiracy, The Library of Virginia, www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/deathliberty/gabriel/index.htm#:~:text=Gabriel%27s%20Conspiracy&text=On%2030%20August%201800%2C%20a,of%20slaves%20throughout%20central%20Virginia.

“Manifest Destiny and U.S Westward Expansion,” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Manifest-Destiny-and-U.S-Westward-Expansion__.pdf.

Newman Sr., George A., A Miserable Revenge: A Story of Life in Virginia, eds. Mollie Godfrey, Brooks Hefner, Jeslyn Pool, and Evan Sizemore, James Madison University Libraries, 2025.

“The California Gold Rush.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-california/.

“Western Frontier Life in America.” Western Frontier Life, faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/cowboys/essays/front_life2.htm.

“Wild West, N. Meanings, Etymology and More.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, www.oed.com/dictionary/wild-west_n.