Rumors quickly spread among that the slave revolt was not limited to Southampton and that it had spread as far south as Alabama. Fears led to reports in North Carolina that "armies" of enslaved people were seen on highways, and that they had burned and massacred the white inhabitants of Wilmington, North Carolina, and were marching on the state capital. Such fear and alarm led to whites attacking blacks throughout the South with flimsy cause. The editor of the Richmond "Whig" described the scene as "the slaughter of many blacks without trial and under circumstances of great barbarity". The white violence against the black people continued two weeks after the rebellion had been suppressed. General Eppes ordered troops and white citizens to stop the killing: