Nat Turner was born in October 1800 in Southampton County, Virginia. He was a very intelligent lad and was still quite young when he learned to read and write. His favourite book was the Holy Bible and he became very religious as he grew older. He prayed and fasted and often had visions that he thought were messages from God.
Visions From God
When he was 21 he ran away but thought he received a vision from God telling him to return to his master, so he did. Not long afterwards, Samuel Turner died and Nat was sold to Thomas More, another Southampton County slave owner. It was while working in the fields for this man that he had another vision in which he saw God telling him “the great day of judgment was at hand.”
Nat Turner took his Bible seriously and often preached to the other slaves who called him ‘The Prophet’. As time went by Nat became more and more convinced that God had chosen him for “some great purpose”. In May 1828 while he was working in his master’s fields he had another powerful vision in which he believed God appeared to him and told him “…Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent…”. Not certain exactly what he was supposed to do, Nat waited for another sign from God.
The sign finally came on February 12, 1831 when Nat was working in the fields. Nat looked towards the sun and saw it being blocked out by the moon in a solar eclipse. Nat decided this was the sign he had been waiting for and he began recruiting fellow slaves and made preparations for his rebellion against the slave owners of Virginia.
Turner’s Rebellion
He knew it would take time and he would have to be careful so he slowly recruited a few slaves at a time, people he knew he could trust. They set the date of revolt for July 4 and made their plans. As the fateful day drew near, Nat became ill and they decided to postpone the attacks.
Not wanting the sounds of gunfire to alert people to the revolt, the slaves armed themselves with knives, axes, hatchets and other tools. On August 13 something in the atmosphere made the sun appear to turn bluish-green. Nat took this as his sign and told his people to be ready. A week later, August 21, 1831, Nat Turner’s Rebellion began.
At 2 o’clock in the morning, Nat told the rebels, “kill all the white people”. The first victims were the Travis family, asleep in their beds. Accounts vary but it is believed that between 40 and 70 blacks, free and slave, went from house to house, freeing the slaves and killing the masters. The rebels killed 60 men, women and children.
By noon of the next day, Nat Turner decided to lead his force against Jerusalem, the nearest town. As word of the attacks spread the local militia quickly gathered to fight the rebels. Faced by men armed with muskets, the rebels scattered. The militia soon caught up with the remnants of Turner’s force. More were killed or captured and a few escaped.
Virginia Militia Retaliates
Within forty-eight hours Nat Turner’s Rebellion was over. Militia and sailors from ships anchored in Norfolk, Virginia, arrived in Southampton County to help suppress the rebellion. Over the next few days over one hundred blacks were killed, more than had actually participated in the attacks.
Meanwhile, Nat Turner had escaped the retaliation. For over two months he hid in the swamps around the Travis farm but on October 30 was finally captured and locked in the County Jail. Six days later he was tried and found guilty. He was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia.
Bibliography
Stephen B. Oates, The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion. New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1990
Kenneth S. Greenberg, ed. Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Junius P. Rodriguez, ed. Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
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