Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series about the pre-American Civil War banjo tune and folk song that is known as "The Pateroller Song".This tune/song is also known as "Pateroller", "Run Ni-ger* Run", "Run Jimmy Run" and similar titles.This post presents some historical information about slave patrols in the United States south pre-Civil War and after the Civil War. In addition to two other online sources, this post includes an excerpt from Thom Hartmann about slave patrols and the concept in the United States about a "well regulated militia".
The Addendum to that post presents two comments that I wrote in 2007 on a Mudcat folk music discussion thread about the "The Pateroller Song".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-pateroller-song-and-run-ni-ger-run.html for Part I of this two part pancocojams series. That post presents a YouTube sound file of "The Pateroller Song" along with brief information about the banjo player Hobet Smith who recoded that tune. This post also presents some comments about and lyric examples of "The Pateroller Song".
The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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I'm an African American who despises the referent that is sometimes referred to now as "the n word". Because I despise that word, I don't use it and I always use an amended spelling for it in any writing that I do, including when I'm quoting other people.
I'm publishing this series for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, and educational purposes and I definitely don't promote singing "The Pateroller Song" (also known as "Run Ni-ger" Run") for entertainment purposes.
SOME HISTORICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SLAVE PATROLS IN THE UNITED STATES
Online Source #1
This write-up is the result of my February 4, 2026 question on Google search regarding the history of slave patrols in the United States.
"AI Overview
Slave patrols in the Antebellum South were armed, organized
groups of white citizens who monitored, captured, and disciplined enslaved
people, often using brutal violence. Operating as a "transition" type
of policing, they enforced slave codes, managed runaway attempts, and were
considered a civic duty or hired for pay. Originating in South Carolina (1704),
they became common across the South.
Key Details About Slave Patrols:
Purpose: They were designed to prevent slave uprisings,
manage the movement of enslaved people via pass systems, and capture those
attempting to escape.
Organization: Patrols were usually authorized by local
governments and often consisted of 3–5 men, sometimes including slave owners or
their agents.
Methods: Patrollers were frequently mounted and armed,
utilizing whips and guns to enforce their authority, often acting as a form of
racial control.
Legacy: Historians have linked the brutal practices of slave
patrols to post-Civil War vigilantism and the, according to Harvard University
Press, rise of the Ku Klux Klan.
Terminology: Also referred to as "patterrollers,"
"pattyrollers," or "paddy rollers," these groups were a
staple of the social control mechanism in slave-holding states.
Online Source #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_patrol [retrieved February 4, 2026
".Slave patrols—also known as patrollers, patterrollers, pattyrollers, or paddy rollers[1]—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.
Formation of Slave Patrols
Slave patrols first began in South Carolina in 1704 and
spread throughout the thirteen colonies, lasting well beyond the American
Revolution. As colonists enslaved more Africans and the population of enslaved
people in South Carolina grew, especially with the invention of the cotton gin,
so did the fear of slave uprisings. They developed slave patrols when other
means of slave control failed to quell enslaved people's resistance. Their
biggest concern was how to keep enslaved people on the plantations being held
against their will, since that is where enslaved populations were highest.
Initially, slave owners offered incentives to the non slave owning whites, such
as tobacco and money, to urge them to be more vigilant in the capture of
runaway slaves. When this approach failed, slave patrols were formally
established.[2] Legislators introduced laws that enlisted white people in the
regulation of enslaved people's activities and movement. Black people were
subjected to questioning, searches, and other harassment. Slaves who were
encountered without passes from their white "master" were expected to
be returned to their owners, as stated in the slave code. If caught by patrols
and returned to their masters, punishments included whippings and other physical
violence, and the threat of being placed on the auction block and sold away
from their families, an option for masters who no longer wanted to deal with
"non-compliant" slaves.[3]
State militias as patrollers
Slave owners feared gatherings held by enslaved people would
allow them to trade or steal goods, and had the potential for organizing a
revolt or rebellion. South Carolina and Virginia selected patrols from state
militias. State militia groups were also organized from among the cadets of the
Southern military academies, of The Citadel and the Virginia Military
Institute, which were founded to provide a military command structure and
discipline within the slave patrols and to detect, encounter, and crush any
organized slave meetings that might lead to revolt or rebellion.[4]
Slave codes and fugitive slave laws
[...]
The use and physical formation of slave patrols came to an end in 1865 when the Civil War ended. This end, however, is linked to post-Civil War groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, which continued to terrorize and threaten the black community.[6] In South Carolina, colonists began to write laws that constricted slaves long before slave patrols were alive and well. Laws implemented set in motion curfews for slaves, strengthening their militia, preventing slaves from bartering goods, and establishing the Charleston town watch....
[...]
Patrollers' duties
Patrols enforced what were called slave codes, laws which controlled almost every aspect of the lives of enslaved people. Slave patrols were explicit in their design to empower the entire white population, not just with police power but with the duty to police the comings and goings and movements of Black people.-—"American Police", NPR.[7]
Slave patrollers had their own characteristics, duties, and
benefits, apart from slave owners and overseers. Patrollers were often equipped
with guns and whips and would exert force in order to bring slaves back to
their owners.
At times, black people developed many methods of challenging slave patrolling, occasionally fighting back violently. The American Civil War developed more opportunities for resistance against slave patrols and made it easier for enslaved people to escape. Slave patrol duties started as breaking up slave meetings.
Slave meetings included religious ones. Laws were passed, particularly around the 1820s and 1830s, that made religious gatherings of slaves and free blacks "unlawful assemblies." For example, Virginia passed a law in 1819 that banned any nighttime meetings of free blacks and slaves. South Carolina's law, by 1840, banned meetings at night for "mental instruction or religious worship," whether whites were present or not. In 1831, Mississippi made it unlawful for free blacks or slaves to "preach the gospel."[8]
These slave meetings occurred on holidays, in which they would plan revolts and uprisings. Eventually, slave patrols expanded to be year-round, not just on holidays. Slowly, new duties and rights of patrollers became permitted, including: "apprehending runaways, monitoring the rigid pass requirements for Blacks traversing the countryside, breaking up large gatherings and assemblies of blacks, visiting and searching slave quarters randomly, inflicting impromptu punishments, and as occasion arose, suppressing insurrections."[6]
Slave patrols consisted mostly of white citizens. Most people in slave patrols came from working and middle-class conditions[citation needed]. In some southern states, the militia and army served as slave patrols. In other southern states, slave patrols came about from colonial or state government legislation. Slave patrols typically rode on horseback in groups of four or five, sometimes even in family groups. They often worked sun-up to sun-down and varied their times and locations of patrol, to lower the chances of slaves escaping. They used no special equipment. Their chief tools, instead, were whips and intimidation.[citation needed].
Some states required every white man to arrest and chastise any slave found away from his home without proper authorization. In colonial South Carolina, failure to do so incurred a fine of forty shillings. Recaptured slaves were returned to their masters. In some instances, white men encouraged slaves to escape in order to collect rewards for catching them.[citation needed] In some areas, killing a slave was not considered a crime by the courts or community.[citation needed]
Slave patrollers were compensated in several ways, including exemption from public, county, and parish taxes and fees during their terms of service. In addition, some patrollers were paid additional sums with surplus money.
Also, regardless of the power patrollers held, they had limitations. For example, although whippings and beatings were permitted, a deterrent also existed. This was that, if whipped or beaten too severely, the slave was then of no use to their masters as laborers the next day. As a consequence, overly-brutal patrollers could expect retaliation from slave owners.[2]"
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AN EXCERPT ABOUT SLAVE PATROLS AND "A WELL REGULATED MILITIA" FROM A THOM HARTMANN VLOG
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljB8im9TdHU "Trump BETRAYS MAGA In BRUTAL Reversal", "Really American And Thom Hartman Show, Feb. 3, 2026
[This excerpt is from that video's auto-generated transcript from 2:33- to 4:04]
..."The Second Amendment does not say what modern gun culture claims it says. It does not describe an unlimited individual right to own weapons. It does not authorize citizens to arm themselves against their own government. And there's no evidence, none, that the founders intended that interpretation. I wrote a whole book about this, "The Hidden History Of Guns" and the second amendment. What the second amendment actually refers to is well- regulated militias.
And that phrase mattered a lot in the late 18th century. In the north, militias were about local defense in a young nation with no standing army. But in the south, militias served a very different and very dark purpose. They enforced slavery. They hunted escaped human beings. They intimidated abolitionists. They were quite literally slave patrols.
This is not speculation. This is documented history. And it's one of the primary reasons southern states insisted on the Second Amendment in the first place. to preserve state controlled armed forces capable of maintaining racial and economic order. The idea was
that the second amendment was written so individuals could overthrow a tyrannical government. That's a much later invention. It doesn't appear in the federalist papers. It doesn't appear in constitutional debates and it was not recognized by courts for most of American history. That narrative was constructed in the 20th century, promoted by the gun lobby and the huge gun manufacturers and embraced by politicians who benefit from fear, grievance and division.”…
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ADDENDUM - MY COMMENTS FROM A 2007 MUDCAT FOLK MUSIC DISCUSSION THREAD ON "THE PATEROLLER SONG" (ALSO KNOWN AS "RUN NI-GER RUN")
I wrote these two comments in 2007 early on in the period of seven years when I was a very active member of Mudcat, the online international folk music forum. These comments refers to the title of that discussion thread and refers to all of the posts [comments] in that discussion thread that use the fully spelled out "n word".
In my comments I also referred to the original poster in that discussion thread, Sule Greg Wilson. Readers of that post- and this pancocojams post-may be interested in knowing that Sule Greg Wilson is an African American man who used to sometimes perform banjo and old time percussive instruments with the well known music group The Carolina Chocolate Drops.
In my 2007 comment I mentioned that I had no other contact with Sule since we communicated with each other after "meeting" as a result of his posting that one time on that Mudcat discussion thread. To update that comment, Sule and I have been in sporadic online contact since 2007, but we've never met in person.
1. Origins: Run, Ni-ger, Run
Subject: Lyrics: Run, Ni-ger; Run
From: GUEST,Sule Greg Wilson
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 10:40 PM
"Hey; I picked out the melody on my 'jo from a book. When I asked John Jackson about the words...he just laughed; wouldn't repeat 'em. Can anybody help? Answer @ suleness@aol.com
Originally, After the Nat Turner War, the song was by blacks
for blacks, signaling that "pattyroller'll get you" (an alternate
name, I think). The song was taken up by Euro minstrels, and made derogatory.
Thanks!"
-snip-
This note were added by a Mudcat moderator as a hyperlink to this Mudcat post that was begun in 2001: https://mudcat.org/thread.CFM?threadID=16308 Lyr Add: Run, Jimmie, Run
Read the four comments from this Mudcat post in Part I of this pancocojams series.
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in that title and in most of the comments in that discussion thread.
-snip-
As of February 4, 2026 at 8:15 AM that "Run Ni-ger* Run" Mudcat thread has a total of 80 comments with the last comment dated 2012. This discussion thread is still open.
The first comment in that discussion thread that was published after Sule Greg Wilson's comment was written by Abby Sale, the same member of Mudcat who published the first comment on the other Mudcat thread about that song that is showcased in Part I of this pancocojams series. Here's that comment: :
Subject: RE: Lyrics: Run, Ni-ger; Run
From: Abby Sale
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 11:53 PM
"Good tune & interesting song. Many titles - "Run,
Ni-ger Run," "Run, Jimmie, Run," "The Pateroller
Song," "Fire on the Mountain" (esp for the tune), "Run,
Slave, Run." Refers to escaping the patrols after Nat Turner's Revolt of
1832. See Lomax Amer. Ballads & F S, p228. Per Rinzler, also as
"Pateroller Song." Randolph published references back to 1852. Per
Lomax: from 1832 "Negroes were put under special restriction to home
quarters and patrolmen appointed to keep them in."
"Run, Jimmie, Run" and also "Fire on the Mountain" are on the CD of Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley, Smith/Folkways & also see minstrel show skit http://memory.loc.gov "America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets."
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Here are my two comments from that discussion thread:
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 11:56 AM
Fwiw, Sule Greg Wilson and I grew up in the same city. Though I don't believe that I have ever met him, in 2006 Sule contacted me through my website and we exchanged emails. In one of those emails, I invited him to visit & join Mudcat. It may mean nothing at all, but after that email, I never heard from Sule again.
It's possible that Sule still reads and posts to this forum. As a result of a private message that I received, I know there is at least one other African American besides myself who post on Mudcat. That person wrote me that he or she chooses not to identify himself or herself by race. Maybe that person is Sule. Maybe not. I find it interesting that when he started this thread, Sule didn't mention his race. Also, I consider it regrettable that Sule didn't continue to respond to subsequent posts in this thread that addressed concern about the thread's title.
I believe in "different strokes for different folks", but I very much wish that other African Americans, and other Black people, and any other people of color would post on Mudcat and would consider it appropriate & worhwhile to identify themselves by race/ethnicity on threads about race as the perspectives and opinions of African Americans, Black people, people of color may be of particular interest when discussions of race & ethnicity are held.
Though there is no need for me to do so for those who know me here, for those who don't, I'll reiterate my deep seated dislike of the referent "n****r", regardless of who writes and says it. I personally refuse to say it or to spell it out.
That said, I would have been much more disconcerted if this thread just contained variant examples of that song & historical source material data about that song-as interesting reading as I found them-if there had been no discussion of whether & how historical songs with language that are considered offensive by contemporary and/or historical standards. Without that discussion, how would people reading this thread know that some people here consider that term to be-as Big Mick described it-ugly and hateful?
It's my hope that other people of color wouldn't be so turned off by that highly offensive "n word" that they would refuse to read this entire thread. I hope that other African Americans, other Black people, other people of color would not only read this thread-and other Mudcat threads on race and non-racial topics- but that they would join the discussion and start new threads on racial topics and on non-racial topics which would expand the definition of what some folks here consider to be folk music.
In my opinion, Mudcat could greatly benefit from that."
2.
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 12:06 PM
"That said, I would have been much more disconcerted if this thread just contained variant examples of that song & historical source material data about that song-as interesting reading as I found them-if there had been no discussion of whether & how historical songs with language that are considered offensive by contemporary and/or historical standards should be presented on Mudcat. "
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