Nat Turner’s Murderous Rampage

In August 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led a bloody revolt against the slaveholders of Southampton County, Virginia. This boosted calls in the North to abolish slavery, and it prompted slaveholders to take more stringent action to prevent future uprisings in the South.

Nat Turner’s Background

Nat Turner was a slave who belonged to the Travis family in Southampton County. He had originally belonged to Samuel Turner, who had given Nat his name. Turner’s son had taught Nat to read, and Nat gained a passionate interest in the Bible.

As he grew older, Nat’s interest in religion intensified, and he began preaching to fellow slaves. This earned him the nickname “The Prophet.” Nat also began seeing visions that he interpreted to have come from God, and he became convinced that he “was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty.”

One of Nat’s visions urged him to “slay my enemies with their own weapons.” This vision came to him several times. Nat also perceived weather phenomena as signs from God. These signs told him that he needed to lead the slaves in rebellion against their masters.

Seeds of Uprising

The idea of a mass slave uprising frightened most southerners, especially in regions like Southampton County, where black slaves outnumbered free whites. Slaveholders were quite familiar with stories about the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, in which over 80,000 whites and an unknown number of blacks were killed during a black slave uprising against white French masters.

Prior to the Haitian uprising, most American slaveholders viewed slavery as an institution that had been unfortunately inherited from England. After the uprising, many saw slavery as a necessary evil to prevent a similar violent rebellion among the millions of slaves in the South.

The sky turned blue-green on August 13, 1831. This was most likely due to either an eclipse or debris from the eruption of Mount St. Helens. To Nat Turner, this was God’s signal to launch the slave revolt.

The Brutal Rampage

After a week of planning, Nat and seven other slaves entered the Travis home at night and murdered the family in their sleep with axes and hatchets. Then they left the plantation, seeking to gather more slaves and attack other homes. Nat instructed his group to “kill all whites.”

Using knives, axes, hatchets, and blunt instruments to keep quiet, Nat’s force invaded random homes and slaughtered about 55 white men, women, and children in a 48-hour rampage. Then they moved on to the county seat of Jerusalem (now Courtland) to seize the armory.

However, Nat’s force was disorganized and undisciplined; many were drunk. When they reached Jerusalem, they were dispersed by the Virginia state militia. Nat and some of his followers escaped, but the militia, along with angry white mobs bent on revenge, went on the warpath. Ultimately 56 blacks were tried, convicted, and executed for alleged connections to the uprising. Another 200 were beaten, tortured, or murdered in reprisals.

Nat and some of his followers eluded capture until October 30, when they were finally apprehended. In Jerusalem, Nat was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed along with 16 followers on November 11.

The Spread of Fear and Division

Nat Turner’s rebellion sparked a wave of terror throughout the South for several reasons:

It was the bloodiest slave uprising in American history up to that time.
Nat testified that his masters had been kind to him, dispelling the theory that showing kindness to slaves prevented rebellions.
Nat had been a preacher, dispelling the theory that teaching Christianity to slaves kept peace.
Free blacks had participated in the uprising, which turned southern opinion against emancipating slaves. After debating whether or not to free the slaves, the Virginia General Assembly voted against freeing them. The Assembly also enacted stricter laws prohibiting slaves from being educated and limiting the rights of both free and enslaved blacks.

Prior to Nat’s rebellion, over 100 of the 130 anti-slavery societies in the U.S. had been in the South. This changed drastically after the rebellion, as southerners were urged to support slavery in order to prevent future uprisings. Many southern states enacted laws banning abolitionist material from the mail and restricting speech, expression, and the press. Southerners also expressed outrage and horror at northerners who supported and celebrated Nat’s rebellion.

Conversely, the abolition movement grew rapidly in the North after Nat’s uprising. Southerners resented northern abolition societies mainly because the groups often expressed hatred and intolerance for the southern way of life. Vicious northern literature shocked southerners, making the northern abolitionists seem more radical and dangerous than the southern societies. To counter the northern threats, many southerners began defending slavery no longer as a necessary evil but as a moral good because it provided slaves with free food, clothing, shelter, and Christian values.

The Nat Turner uprising helped polarize the U.S., and it inspired future campaigns both for and against slavery. Many blacks have since viewed Nat as a hero because of his effort, however misguided, to obtain his freedom and purge America from the sin of slavery. Moreover, Nat inspired the fanatical John Brown to launch a similar attack on the South a generation later that led to the southern secession and the War Between the States.