Turner's Rebellion
about the uprising that shook america from the roots
On August 21, Turner and six of his men met in the woods to eat a dinner and make their plans. At 2 AM, they set out to the Travis household, the home of Turner's owner. There, they killed the entire family as they lay sleeping. They continued on, from house to house in the neighborhood, killing all of the white people they encountered. Over the course of the night, Turner and a group of about 80 slaves, "marched from farm to farm in South Hampton County, Virginia, killing the inhabitants, most of whom were women and children, because the men were attending a religious revival meeting in North Carolina."
Around mid-day on August 22, Turner decided to march toward Jerusalem, the closest town. By then, news of the rebellion had spread. Confronted by a group of militia, the rebels scattered. After spending the night near some slave cabins, Turner and his men attempted to attack another house, but were countered and many rebels were captured. The remaining force was confronted by state and federal troops, during which one slave was killed and many others, including Turner, escaped. By that point, the rebels had stabbed, shot, and clubbed at least 55 white people to death.
After the revolt ended, Nat Turner hid in the nearby woods for six weeks. Although the rebels had dug tunnels and were trying to evade capture, they had some close calls with authorities. They started to come to terms with the fact that their discovery was inevitable. On October 30, Turner was finally caught by Benjamin Phipps. His "Confessions," were dictated to and published by physician Thomas R. Gray, who was Turner's appointed lawyer. While he was imprisoned in the County Jail, he reflected on the personal religious value of the uprising and espoused ideas of the parallelism between him and biblical figures. On November 5, Nat Turner was tried in the Southampton County Court and sentenced to execution. He was hanged, and then skinned, on November 11. Many of his co-conspirators received the same sentencing.
In total, the state executed 55 people, banished many more, and acquitted only a few. The state also reimbursed the slaveholders for loss of their slaves. In the hysterical climate that followed the rebellion, close to 200 innocent black people, were murdered by white mobs, who believed them to be related to Turner's rebellion. In addition, slaves as far away as North Carolina were accused and convicted of having a connection with the insurrection, facing execution as a punishment. It is estimated that over the course of the entire trial, around 53 blacks were arrested and tried, 20 were hanged, 21 acquitted, and 12 were transported out of Virginia.
 "The Liberator" - William L Garrison"Washington, who with our fathers purchased our freedom by blood and violence, are lauded as patterns of patriotism and Christianity. Nat Turner, and his associates, who endeavored to work out their own salvation from an oppression incomparably more grievous and unjust than our fathers endured, were treated as rebels, and murderous assassins, and were ruthlessly hung, or shot like wolves, and their memory is corrupt."(February 13, 1836) |  Samuel Warner's Account"Southern District of New-York, to wit: BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty first day of October, A.D. 1831, Samuel Warner, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book the title of which is in the words following, to wit—“Authentic and impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene which was witnessed in Southampton county (Virginia) on Monday the 22d of August last, when fifty-five of its inhabitants (mostly women and children) were inhumanely massacred by the Blacks!" |  Nelson Allyn to Joseph Allyn"The insurrection of the blacks have made greate disturbance here every man is armd with a gun by his bed nights and in the field at work a greate many of the blacks have been shot there heads taken of stuck on poles at the forkes of rodes some been hung, some awaiting there trial in several countys, 6 in this county I expect to see them strecht ther trial nex week there is no danger of their rising again here." |
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 The Commonwealth v. Nat Turner"The time between this and your execution, will necessarily be very short; and your only hope must be in another world. The judgment of the court is, that you be taken hence to the jail from whence you came, thence to the place of execution, and on Friday next, between the hours of 10 A. M. and 2 P. M. be hung by the neck until you are dead! dead! dead and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul." |