Page "Stono Rebellion" Paragraph 1

One of the earliest known organized rebellions in the present United States, the uprising was led by native Africans who were Catholic and likely from the Kingdom of Kongo, which had been Catholic since 1491.

Some of the Kongolese spoke Portuguese.

Their leader, Jemmy ( referred to in some reports as " Cato ", and probably a slave belonging to the Cato, or Cater, family who lived just off the Ashley River and north of the Stono River ) was a literate slave who led 20 other enslaved Kongolese, who may have been former soldiers, in an armed march south from the Stono River ( for which the rebellion is named ).