In January 1811, there was a rebellion of several hundred enslaved and free black people referred to as the 1811 German Coast uprising, beginning in St. John the Baptist Parish and continuing on a route through lower Louisiana toward New Orleans. A Louisiana militia countered the rebellion, the largest revolt of enslaved persons in United States history. Afterward, there were trials on the plantations and executions of the majority involved in the revolt. The heads of many of those executed were placed on spikes along the Great River Road.