So: we've got a newspaper reporting a secondhand story about armed negroes. Interesting, even provocative, especially that based on what's reproduced here, the paper seems not to disapprove of what the unnamed witness saw.

But now comes our hard work: turning this secondhand story, and others like it, into something more compelling. In other words, someone needs to do the hard work of historical inquiry. What unit or units could these officers and men have belonged to? Where are letters and diary entries from them, talking about how they gave their slaves weapons and how happy the slaves were to be armed? Where are the records of quartermasters from whom the weapons were requisitioned? What about the complaints of white citizens, who would no doubt be mortified to see armed men of color marching through their streets? (Virginians well remembered Gabriel and Nat Turner). This story is not an end in itself, but just the beginning. Flesh this out, give it context, so it's not just a stand-alone nugget that promises much but delivers little of real substance on which to stand.