Slave patrol

This article is about patrols to capture runaway slaves. For information on naval operations to enforce laws against bringing slaves from Africa to the Americas, see African Slave Trade Patrol.
"Slave Patrols" redirects here. For the 2001 book by Sally Hadden, see Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas.

Slave patrol
Depiction of Mississippi slave patrol
Occupation
SynonymsPatrollers, patterrollers, pattyrollers, paddy rollers, sheriff
Occupation type
Law enforcement or military (1704–1865)
Activity sectors
U.S. southern states
Description
Related jobs
Slave catcher

Slave patrols—also known as patrollers, patterrollers, pattyrollers, or paddy rollers—were organized groups of armed men who monitored and disciplined enslaved people in slave states in the U.S. during the Antebellum South. The slave patrols' function was to police slaves, especially those who escaped or were viewed as defiant. They also formed river patrols to prevent escape by boat.

Slave patrols were first established in South Carolina in 1704 and the idea spread throughout the Thirteen Colonies before the abolition of slavery following the Civil War.

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