Had Prosser not been betrayed and if the bridges had not washed out, it is almost certain that he would have successfully taken the city of Richmond along with the help and determination of his slave followers.
Denmark Vassey, like many other African-American leaders of the nineteenth century, came from what was considered to be the "upper class" of slaves, the engineers and craftspeople who were given a high degree of independence and self-actualization, as opposed to those who worked the fields or even those allowed to work in the plantation home. After purchasing his own freedom, he took residence in the city of Charleston, South Carolina and earned a living as a carpenter. While he was considered of "high class", his cause and pursuit was yet still the same as any other slave: the attainment of man"s undeniable and ubiquitous rights. Like Prosser, Vassey was filled with anger and resentment towards slavery and the circumstances surrounding black slaves. Like Prosser, Vassey was heavily influenced by Christianity, particularly the Old Testament. Vassey had a profound emphasis on the depiction of the delivery of the "children of Israel" from bondage in Egypt in the book of Exodus. While this invasion was hardly successful, the Old Testament books telling the history of the Canaan occupation and its aftermath are ruthlessly violent and present a warrior God with no mercy towards non-Israelites. The slaves understood that these two events were intertwined and ultimately deliverance along Israelite lines would be bought with human blood. Vassey particularly loved to quote God's instructions to Joshua when he commands that Joshua eradicate all occupants in the cities of Canaan including women and children in order to plant the seeds of revolt in the hearts of the slaves. In 1821 his initial focus of inciting the slaves to revolt changed dramatically when he began to organize his own revolt.
