Nat Turner's Rebellion (also known as the Southampton Insurrection) was a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia, between 21 and 23 August 1831. Led by Nat Turner (l. 1800-1831), an educated slave, the insurrectionists killed at least 55 White people before the revolt was put down, making it the deadliest slave uprising in US history.
Turner eluded a massive manhunt until 30 October 1831, when his hiding place was discovered by one Benjamin Phipps, and he was imprisoned at the Jerusalem jail the next day. While awaiting trial, he was interviewed by the lawyer T. R. Gray (l. c. 1800 to c. 1834), who has sometimes been identified as Turner's defense attorney but was not (James Strange French was to take the case, but Turner wound up being represented by William C. Parker). Almost all of what is known of Nat Turner comes from The Confessions of Nat Turner by T. R. Gray, published in November 1831.
In the aftermath of Turner's rebellion, at least 120 enslaved and Free Black residents of Southampton County were murdered in retaliation, and so, Turner's fate was sealed as soon as he was apprehended. He was found guilty of "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection" and was hanged on 11 November 1831. To the White community, he was a dangerous criminal who had been justly executed, but, to the Blacks and abolitionists, he was a freedom fighter and martyr, which is how he is regarded today.
There had been other insurrections and slave revolts before Turner's. In the Colonial era, Bacon's Rebellion (1676) and the Stono Rebellion (1739), among others, and, after the US declared independence during the American Revolution, Gabriel's Rebellion (1800), the 1811 German Coast Uprising, and Denmark Vesey's Conspiracy (1822), among still others. Denmark Vesey (l. c. 1767-1822) and Gabriel Prosser (l. c. 1776-1800) were both betrayed before their revolts could be launched and were executed.
Turner, on the other hand, although his revolt was put down, was able to put his plan into action and, although the legislation was eventually sidelined, his revolt encouraged discussions in the Virginia State Legislature of emancipation or colonization of the Black population of Virginia (and elsewhere) and added fuel to the fire of the abolitionists, both in the North and South, arguing for an end to slavery, which was finally achieved, after the American Civil War, in 1865.
Nat Turner's Rebellion was popularized in the modern era by the American novelist William Styron in his The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), and, most recently, Turner's story was dramatized by Nate Parker in The Birth of a Nation (2016), which, though it makes ample use of poetic license (as Styron's novel also does), depicts the life of a slave in 19th century USA accurately.
Life & Revelations
Nat Turner was born into slavery on 2 October 1800, the property of one Benjamin Turner. In his Confessions, he relates a memory that had a profound effect on him:
Being at play with other children, when three or four years old, I was telling them something, which my mother overhearing, said it happened before I was born. I stuck to my story, however, and related some things which went, in her opinion, to confirm it. Others being called on were greatly astonished, knowing that these things had happened, and caused them to say, in my hearing, I surely would be a prophet, as the Lord had shown me things that had happened before my birth. And my father and mother strengthened me in this my first impression, saying in my presence I was intended for some great purpose.
(7)
He tells Gray that he "acquired [literacy] with the most perfect ease, so much so, that I have no recollection whatever of learning the alphabet" and that people, noting his natural intelligence, told him he "would never be of any service to anyone as a slave" (8). He was drawn to religion, prayed often, and read the Bible. As he says, the early estimation of him as destined to be a prophet, coupled with his interpretation of scripture as well as revelations by the Holy Spirit, encouraged in him the belief that he was destined for some great work and that this was nothing less than freedom for himself and all the others then enslaved in Southampton County. As he says to Gray:
At this time, I reverted in my mind to the remarks made of me in my childhood and the things that had been shown me…that I had too much sense to be raised, and if I was, I would never be of any use to anyone as a slave. Now, finding I had arrived to man's estate, and was a slave, and these revelations being made known to me, I began to direct my attention to the great object, to fulfil the purpose for which, by this time, I felt assured I was intended.
(9)
When Benjamin Turner died in 1810, Nat became the property of his son, Samuel, and was placed under a harsh overseer, from whom he ran away. He lived in the woods for a month before, as he says, receiving a message from the Holy Spirit that he should return. Sometime later, he received another message from the Spirit and a vision of "white spirits and black sprits engaged in battle" and understood his mission, devoting himself further to prayer and fasting in order to make himself worthy of his calling and "obtain true holiness" (10). Scholar Stephen B. Oates describes Turner as a young man at about this time (c. 1825):
Physically, the young mystic was a small man with what whites described as "distinct African features." Though his shoulders were broad from work in the fields, he was short, slender, and a little knock-kneed, with thin hair, a complexion like black pearl, and cavernous, shining eyes.
(27)
At some point, he married Cherry (also given as Chary), who was also a slave of Samuel Turner. The couple may have had three children (this is unclear), but at least two since they are later referred to in the plural. When Samuel Turner died in 1823, Nat was sold to a Thomas Moore while his family was sold to one Giles Reese.
By 1830, Turner had been sold to Joseph Travis, whom he describes as "a kind master" (11), but a "kind master" is still a master to a slave that is considered property, and Turner rejected this role for himself. Interpreting further 'signs' and revelations that the time was approaching for him to act, Turner revealed his plan to four confidantes – Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam – who brought in others. Turner's plan was to kill all the Whites, freeing the slaves, and then (perhaps) disappear into the swamplands of Southampton. Until they were armed and organized, he tells Gray, the understanding was that "neither age nor sex was to be spared," and they began the attack at the home of Travis (12).
The Rebellion
Whether Turner was aware of how Prosser and Vesey were betrayed is unknown, but he was keenly aware of the possibility of someone leaking the news of his plans before he could act. He, therefore, told only the four men he knew he could trust absolutely. These four brought three others to the meeting the morning of 21 August, and they began, as Turner calls it, "the work of death" by killing everyone in the Travis house. Oates comments on Turner's plan and final goal:
Nat intended for his to happen without warning. "The march of destruction," he explained, "should be the first news of the insurrection," whereupon slaves and free blacks alike would rally to his banners. For months now his lieutenants had been spreading disaffection through the slave community, and he was confident that scores of Negroes would rise at the first word that General Nat was in their neighborhood. Then they would smash their way into Jerusalem [the county seat] …and thus gain control of all Southampton County. He did not say what their ultimate objective was, but possibly he wanted to fight his way into the Dismal Swamp some twenty miles to the east. This immense, snake-filled, quagmire had long been a haven for fugitives, and Nat may have planned to establish a slave stronghold there from which to launch punitive raids against Virginia and North Carolina. On the other hand, as he took his men aside now and exhorted them individually, he may have had no objective in mind beyond the extermination of every white on the ten-mile route to Jerusalem. There are indications that Nat expected God to guide him after the insurrection began.
(68)
As they moved house to house and plantation to plantation, they freed the slaves whom they then expected to join the revolt, but most did not want to. Some were impressed into service, some protected their White masters or family members, and some ran off to inform White authorities. Turner and his men continued "the work of death" throughout the 22nd. The home of Giles Reese was passed over because Turner's family was there, and other places were also spared for various reasons. By the afternoon of the 22nd, Turner had approximately 70 men under his command, some mounted.
This was far less than he had hoped for, but they continued on until the morning of the 23rd, when the local militia caught up with them at the Belmont Plantation. The militia had more men, more guns, and had brought up artillery, and so the rebels were quickly scattered, hunted down, and either killed or taken to jail. Turner, as noted, eluded pursuit until 30 October, when he was captured.
Aftermath
By the time the rebellion was put down, at least 55 White people – possibly as many as 65 or more - had been murdered. Retaliation was swift and, in the days following, White mobs and militia, not only in Virginia but in other slave-holding states, killed Blacks indiscriminately. Casualties among the Black community are usually given at around 120 for Southampton County alone, but that number is usually regarded as too low. Historian John Wesley Cromwell (l. 1846-1927), in his The Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection (1920), observes:
A reign of terror followed in Virginia. Labor was paralyzed, plantations abandoned, women and children were driven from home and crowded into nooks and corners. The sufferings of many of these refugees who spent night after night in the woods were intense. Retaliation began. In a little more than one day, 120 Negroes were killed. The newspapers of the time contained from day-to-day indignant protests against the cruelties perpetrated. One individual boasted that he himself had killed between ten and fifteen Negroes. Volunteer whites rode in all directions visiting plantations. Negroes were tortured to death, burned, maimed, and subjected to nameless atrocities. Slaves who were distrusted were pointed out and, if they endeavored to escape, were ruthlessly shot down.
(Duff & Mitchell, 97)
The daily slaughter of Blacks – often by beheading – continued for two weeks. Severed heads were placed on poles along what became known as "Blackhead Signpost Road" (modern-day Virginia State Route 658), and the killings continued until General Richard Eppes of the local militia restored order, forbidding any further retaliation by Whites against the Black community. This was not done out of compassion, however, but because of the value-as-property of most of the Black population.
Turner's wife was tortured for days as authorities tried to find out where he might be hiding. Cherry had no idea but did have some documents Nat had given her for safekeeping, which included names of co-conspirators and plans for the taking of Jerusalem and, possibly, equipping his men with guns and ammunition from the armory there.
Turner was finally captured on 30 October and taken to the jail at Jerusalem (modern-day Courtland). While there, Thomas R. Gray interviewed him and took down his famous Confessions. When the work was published in November 1831, it was harshly criticized by some as more the work of Gray than of Turner because "the language is far superior to what Nat Turner could have employed. Portions of it are even eloquently and classically expressed" (Oates, 145). These observations were mainly made by newspapers that supported slavery and refused to consider the possibility that a Black man could express himself as well as any White man, or better. The argument over the authenticity of The Confessions of Nat Turner still continues in the present day, however.
Turner was tried – as were the others – by a hostile court. Among the members of the jury was James Trezvant of the US House of Representatives and a slave-holder, as many of the others were. Found guilty, naturally, he was hanged on 11 November 1831.
Conclusion
Laws that included prohibiting educating slaves and requiring White ministers preside over congregations of Black people, among many other Slave Laws, were already on the books after Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800 and were intensified after the publication of David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World in 1829. After Nat Turner's Rebellion, these laws were expanded upon and intensified. Oates comments:
By the 1840s, with its repressive slave controls, police measures, and toughened military forces, the Old South had devised a slave system oppressive enough to make organized rebellion all but impossible.
(144)
David Walker (l. c. 1796-1830), a Black abolitionist of Boston, the works of the White abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (l. 1805-1879), and others, were blamed by Southern authorities and editors of newspapers for inciting the rebellion through their written works, especially Walker's Appeal and the articles in Garrison's abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. As Garrison said, however:
You accuse the pacific friends of emancipation of instigating the slaves to revolt…The slaves need no incentive at our hands.
(Oates, 135)
Still, the Southern slave-holding states blamed the Northern abolitionists for encouraging Turner's Rebellion. Walker had died of tuberculosis in 1830, so Garrison became the central target for blame by the slave-holding states who offered a bounty for his capture.
It is possible that Garrison's and Walker's works influenced Turner's revolt or that he was inspired by the attempt made by Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, or by the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). Turner never cites an immediate inspiration for his uprising other than spiritual revelation and his belief that he had been called by God, from a young age, to perform a great deed; to Turner, this was the liberation of his people from chattel slavery. When imprisoned and asked by Gray whether he now found himself mistaken, he responded with, "Was not Christ crucified?" (11).
After Turner was hanged, he was beheaded, and his body flayed; his skin wa used to make coin purse mementos. Abolitionists, as noted, were blamed for encouraging the uprising, and all emancipation initiatives were abandoned, especially after pro-slavery writers like Thomas Dew argued that it was the Whites' responsibility to keep the Blacks enslaved and to tend them as parents do wayward children. This policy would be followed until 1865 when the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
Turner's rebellion, however, made clear how flawed this policy was and how completely detached from basic human understanding slave -holders and those who supported the institution had become. Turner, by his own admission, had had a "kind master" who treated him well, but he did not want a "kind master"; he wanted his freedom, the same freedom the White people claimed was a God-given, inalienable right.
Author's Note: page citations above for The Confessions of Nat Turner refer to the electronic edition as given on the site Documenting the American South.
