Antebellum America: Nat Turner's Rebellion
Southerner slaveholders feared that the actions of northern abolitionists might fuel a violent uprising among their enslaved people, and in 1831, one of the most prominent of these occurred. It was known as Nat Turner's Rebellion or the Southhampton insurrection, and it lasted for four days. Between 55 and 65 persons were killed by those involved in support of the rebellion.
The event is named after Nat Turner, a thirty-one year old an enslaved African-American preacher. He had been born into slavery on October 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia on a rural plantation area. The enslaved population in the region was greater than free persons. Benjamin Turner was the slaveholder who enslaved him Nat Turner and his family. When Benjamin Turner died in 1810, under the existing law, Nat Turner was viewed by the slaveholding populace as "property" and Nat Turner was "inherited" by Benjamin's son Samuel Turner. Nat Turner's father was believed to have escaped from slavery when Nat Turner was a young boy.
Nat Turner learned how to read and write at a young age and is described as being very intelligent. He was very religious and read his bible as often as he could. He claimed to have visions, which he interpreted as messages from God. He was described later on a reward poster as being "5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, weighs between 150 and 160 pounds, rather bright [light-colored] complexion, but not a mulatto, broad shoulders, larger flat nose, large eyes, broad flat feet, rather knockneed, walks brisk and active, hair on the top of the head very thin, no beard, except on the upper lip and the top of the chin, a scar on one of his temples, also one on the back of his neck, a large knot on one of the bones of his right arm, near the wrist, produced by a blow."
When he was 21, Nat Turner escaped from his enslaver, Samuel Turner. But starvation forced a return to his enslaver. In 1824, he had a vision while working in the fields under a new enslaver, Thomas Moore. In the vision, Turner claimed that "the great day of judgment was at hand". He conducted religious services and preached the Bible to his fellow enslaved people. They called him "The Prophet". Turner came to believe that he was being called upon by God for some great purpose.
In 1830, a man named Joseph Travis purchased Turner, who Turner described as "a kind master" who entrusted Turner with more responsibility. On February 12, 1831, Turner witnessed a solar eclipse, and this convinced him that it was the sign from God to take action against the injustice of slavery. He interpreted the eclipse as "a black man's hand reaching over the sun." He began preparations for an uprising against the enslavers in Southampton County, first by purchasing muskets, and then by soliciting followers.
Turner planned to begin the rebellion on Independence Day, July 4, 1831, but he had fallen ill and had to postpone his plans. Another atmospheric sign convinced Turner to begin his rebellion on August 21. He was persuasive enough to enlist over 70 enslaved and free African-Americans, some of whom had access to horses. The group traveled from house to house, freeing enslaved people and killing many of the White people whom they encountered. They also collected weapons as they proceeded. The rebels killed White men, women, and children. Nat Turner claimed that he only killed one person, a woman named Margaret Whitehead. He said that he killed her with a blow from a fence post.
The rebels killed approximately between 55 and 65 people. The Virginia state militia was soon called in and they were able to put down the rebellion, using twice the manpower of the rebels, reinforced by three companies of artillery. This force was later joined by detachments of men from the USS Natchez and USS Warren, which were anchored in Norfolk, and militias from other counties in Virginia and North Carolina that bordered Southampton. Fifty-six African-Americans were eventually executed and militias killed at least 100 more. Not all of these persons killed were involved with the rebellion.
Rumors of the slave revolt spread throughout the south. There were rumors 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. Panic led to Whites attacking African-Americans throughout the South. The editor of the Richmond Whig described the scene as "the slaughter of many blacks without trial and under circumstances of great barbarity". Violence against Black people continued for two weeks after the rebellion had been suppressed. Military leaders had to order a stop to the violence.
Reports of the retaliatory violence spread to northern newspapers. Reverend G. W. Powell wrote a letter to the New York Evening Post stating that "many negroes are killed every day. The exact number will never be known." Virginia legislators called for a colonization bill that would remove free African-Americans and return them to Africa. Another bill denied free African-Americans the right to trial by jury and made any of them convicted of a crime subject to sale into slavery and relocation.
As for Nat Turner, he eluded capture for six weeks, remaining hidden in Southampton County. On October 30, a White farmer named Benjamin Phipps discovered him hiding in a depression in the earth, created by a large, fallen tree that was covered with fence rails. While awaiting trial, Turner confessed his knowledge of the rebellion to attorney Thomas Ruffin Gray, who compiled what he described to be Turner's confession.
Turner was tried on November 5, 1831, for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection." He was convicted and sentenced to death. Asked if he regretted his actions, Turner replied, "Was Christ not crucified?" Nat Turner was hanged on November 11, 1831, in Jerusalem, Virginia. His body was dissected and mutilated and used to make macabre souvenirs. His headless remains were likely buried in an unmarked grave.
Soon after Turner's execution, Thomas Ruffin Gray published The Confessions of Nat Turner, based on research Gray did while Turner was in hiding and from jailhouse conversations with Turner before trial. In the aftermath of the rebellion, dozens of suspected rebels were tried and almost all of these enslaved people were found guilty. Many were then executed. Only 15 of the enslaved individuals tried in Southampton were acquitted.
The Virginia General Assembly debated the future of slavery and some legislators argued for gradual emancipation. But the pro-slavery side prevailed and the General Assembly passed legislation making it unlawful to teach reading and writing to either enslaved or free Blacks and restricted blacks persons from holding religious meetings without the presence of a licensed White minister. Other slave-holding states in the South enacted similar laws. Legislators criminalized the possession of abolitionist publications by all persons.
The abolitionist newspaper The Liberator published a letter to the editor saying that many people in the South believed that the newspaper was connected to the revolt and that if its publisher William Lloyd Garrison were to go to the South, he "would not be permitted to live long."
The rebellion also caused many southern states to built arsenals to ensure weapons would be available in the event of a future revolt.
President Andrew Jackson was himself a slaveholder who favored the expansion of slavery into the territories and disapproved of anti-slavery agitation. When in 1835, the American Anti-Slavery Society launched a mail campaign sending tens of thousands of antislavery pamphlets and tracts to Southern destinations through the U.S. mail, Jackson and his Postmaster General Amos Kendall gave Southern postmasters discretionary powers to discard the tracts. That same year, when abolitionists sent the U.S. House of Representatives petitions to end slavery, South Carolina Representative Henry L. Pinckney introduced a resolution that declared that Congress had no right to interfere with slavery, and tabled all further anti-slavery petitions. Jackson favored the measure (commonly called the "gag rule"), and it passed quickly and without any debate.
The event is named after Nat Turner, a thirty-one year old an enslaved African-American preacher. He had been born into slavery on October 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia on a rural plantation area. The enslaved population in the region was greater than free persons. Benjamin Turner was the slaveholder who enslaved him Nat Turner and his family. When Benjamin Turner died in 1810, under the existing law, Nat Turner was viewed by the slaveholding populace as "property" and Nat Turner was "inherited" by Benjamin's son Samuel Turner. Nat Turner's father was believed to have escaped from slavery when Nat Turner was a young boy.
Nat Turner learned how to read and write at a young age and is described as being very intelligent. He was very religious and read his bible as often as he could. He claimed to have visions, which he interpreted as messages from God. He was described later on a reward poster as being "5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, weighs between 150 and 160 pounds, rather bright [light-colored] complexion, but not a mulatto, broad shoulders, larger flat nose, large eyes, broad flat feet, rather knockneed, walks brisk and active, hair on the top of the head very thin, no beard, except on the upper lip and the top of the chin, a scar on one of his temples, also one on the back of his neck, a large knot on one of the bones of his right arm, near the wrist, produced by a blow."
When he was 21, Nat Turner escaped from his enslaver, Samuel Turner. But starvation forced a return to his enslaver. In 1824, he had a vision while working in the fields under a new enslaver, Thomas Moore. In the vision, Turner claimed that "the great day of judgment was at hand". He conducted religious services and preached the Bible to his fellow enslaved people. They called him "The Prophet". Turner came to believe that he was being called upon by God for some great purpose.
In 1830, a man named Joseph Travis purchased Turner, who Turner described as "a kind master" who entrusted Turner with more responsibility. On February 12, 1831, Turner witnessed a solar eclipse, and this convinced him that it was the sign from God to take action against the injustice of slavery. He interpreted the eclipse as "a black man's hand reaching over the sun." He began preparations for an uprising against the enslavers in Southampton County, first by purchasing muskets, and then by soliciting followers.
Turner planned to begin the rebellion on Independence Day, July 4, 1831, but he had fallen ill and had to postpone his plans. Another atmospheric sign convinced Turner to begin his rebellion on August 21. He was persuasive enough to enlist over 70 enslaved and free African-Americans, some of whom had access to horses. The group traveled from house to house, freeing enslaved people and killing many of the White people whom they encountered. They also collected weapons as they proceeded. The rebels killed White men, women, and children. Nat Turner claimed that he only killed one person, a woman named Margaret Whitehead. He said that he killed her with a blow from a fence post.
The rebels killed approximately between 55 and 65 people. The Virginia state militia was soon called in and they were able to put down the rebellion, using twice the manpower of the rebels, reinforced by three companies of artillery. This force was later joined by detachments of men from the USS Natchez and USS Warren, which were anchored in Norfolk, and militias from other counties in Virginia and North Carolina that bordered Southampton. Fifty-six African-Americans were eventually executed and militias killed at least 100 more. Not all of these persons killed were involved with the rebellion.
Rumors of the slave revolt spread throughout the south. There were rumors 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. Panic led to Whites attacking African-Americans throughout the South. The editor of the Richmond Whig described the scene as "the slaughter of many blacks without trial and under circumstances of great barbarity". Violence against Black people continued for two weeks after the rebellion had been suppressed. Military leaders had to order a stop to the violence.
Reports of the retaliatory violence spread to northern newspapers. Reverend G. W. Powell wrote a letter to the New York Evening Post stating that "many negroes are killed every day. The exact number will never be known." Virginia legislators called for a colonization bill that would remove free African-Americans and return them to Africa. Another bill denied free African-Americans the right to trial by jury and made any of them convicted of a crime subject to sale into slavery and relocation.
As for Nat Turner, he eluded capture for six weeks, remaining hidden in Southampton County. On October 30, a White farmer named Benjamin Phipps discovered him hiding in a depression in the earth, created by a large, fallen tree that was covered with fence rails. While awaiting trial, Turner confessed his knowledge of the rebellion to attorney Thomas Ruffin Gray, who compiled what he described to be Turner's confession.
Turner was tried on November 5, 1831, for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection." He was convicted and sentenced to death. Asked if he regretted his actions, Turner replied, "Was Christ not crucified?" Nat Turner was hanged on November 11, 1831, in Jerusalem, Virginia. His body was dissected and mutilated and used to make macabre souvenirs. His headless remains were likely buried in an unmarked grave.
Soon after Turner's execution, Thomas Ruffin Gray published The Confessions of Nat Turner, based on research Gray did while Turner was in hiding and from jailhouse conversations with Turner before trial. In the aftermath of the rebellion, dozens of suspected rebels were tried and almost all of these enslaved people were found guilty. Many were then executed. Only 15 of the enslaved individuals tried in Southampton were acquitted.
The Virginia General Assembly debated the future of slavery and some legislators argued for gradual emancipation. But the pro-slavery side prevailed and the General Assembly passed legislation making it unlawful to teach reading and writing to either enslaved or free Blacks and restricted blacks persons from holding religious meetings without the presence of a licensed White minister. Other slave-holding states in the South enacted similar laws. Legislators criminalized the possession of abolitionist publications by all persons.
The abolitionist newspaper The Liberator published a letter to the editor saying that many people in the South believed that the newspaper was connected to the revolt and that if its publisher William Lloyd Garrison were to go to the South, he "would not be permitted to live long."
The rebellion also caused many southern states to built arsenals to ensure weapons would be available in the event of a future revolt.
President Andrew Jackson was himself a slaveholder who favored the expansion of slavery into the territories and disapproved of anti-slavery agitation. When in 1835, the American Anti-Slavery Society launched a mail campaign sending tens of thousands of antislavery pamphlets and tracts to Southern destinations through the U.S. mail, Jackson and his Postmaster General Amos Kendall gave Southern postmasters discretionary powers to discard the tracts. That same year, when abolitionists sent the U.S. House of Representatives petitions to end slavery, South Carolina Representative Henry L. Pinckney introduced a resolution that declared that Congress had no right to interfere with slavery, and tabled all further anti-slavery petitions. Jackson favored the measure (commonly called the "gag rule"), and it passed quickly and without any debate.