What they hoped for was that slaves from the surrounding territory would join them and, eventually, that the uprising would reach such proportions as to compel the whites to come to terms with them.
Unfortunately for the plotters, on the day of the insurrection a severe storm struck Virginia, wiping out roads and bridges.

This forced a delay of several days.

In the meantime, two slaves betrayed the plot, and the government took swift action.

Thirty-five of the participants, including Prosser, were executed.

As the leaders refused to divulge any details of their plans, the exact number involved in the plot remains unknown.
However, rumor had it that somewhere between two thousand and fifty thousand slaves were connected with the conspiracy.