Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, United States, in August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, the rebels, made up of enslaved African Americans, killed an estimated 55 White people, making it the deadliest slave revolt in U.S. history.
Nonetheless, the rebellion was effectively suppressed within a few days, at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, but Turner survived in hiding for approximately ten weeks afterward: six weeks only leaving his hiding place "in the dead of night" for water; two weeks eavesdropping on the neighborhood at night for the purpose of gathering intelligence, and returning to his hiding place before dawn; and two weeks being "pursued almost incessantly", having been discovered by a dog.
There was widespread fear among the White population in the rebellion's aftermath. Militias and mobs killed as many as 120 enslaved people and free African Americans in retaliation. After trials, Virginia executed eighteen enslaved people accused of participating in the rebellion, including Turner himself; many Black people who had not participated were also persecuted in the frenzy.
Because Turner was educated and a preacher, Southern state legislatures passed new laws prohibiting the education of enslaved people and free Blacks, restricting the right of assembly and other civil liberties for free Blacks, and requiring White ministers to be present at all worship services.
Preparations
Nat Turner was enslaved in Southampton County, Virginia, from the time of his birth in 1800. He began preparations for an uprising against the slaveowners of Southampton County. Turner said he wanted to spread "terror and alarm" among Whites. According to a report by James Trezvant immediately following the uprising, Turner's wife Cherry said that her husband had been "digesting" a plan for the revolt "for years".
Turner began sharing his plans to a small circle of enslaved men living in his "neighborhood". Turner said, "I communicated the great work laid out to do, to four in whom I had the greatest confidence". These initial recruits were:
- Hark Moore, 30 years old, was the only other adult male enslaved on the Travis property with Turner. He took on a leadership role in the rebellion and was referred to as "Captain Moore" by other participants.
- Henry Porter, around 27 years old, was enslaved at the Porter farm. He likely knew Turner since childhood and had the skill of counting and reading numbers, which led to newspapers at the time referring to him as "The Paymaster". He took a leadership role, with other rebels likely referring to him as "General".
- Nelson Edwards, between 33 and 35 years old, was enslaved by Peter Edwards. He grew up in proximity to Turner, and the two seemed to know each other well. He recruited Jim and August, and two other slaves from his household, to join the efforts.
- Sam Francis, of unknown age, was enslaved at the Nathaniel Francis farm, which was adjacent to the farms of the other core collaborators. He recruited Will Francis and, together they killed Salathiel Francis during the rebellion.
The following were recruited to complete Turner's inner circle.
- Will Francis, around 37, was also enslaved at the Nathaniel Francis farm. He was recruited by Sam Francis as they lived on the same farm, but he likely met Turner during his time in a previous household.
- Jack Reese, around 21, was enslaved by William Reese. He was recruited by Moore, his brother-in-law. Several sources note that he was not as willing a participant as others, only acting under Moore's influence.
These six, with Turner, began planning what would become known as Nat Turner's Rebellion. The group decided that "until [they] had armed and equipped [themselves], and gathered sufficient force, neither age nor sex was to be spared." According to a letter sent to the Richmond Enquirer by an initial interviewer of Turner after his capture, "women and children would afterwards have been spared, and men too who ceased to resist."
They recruited more than fifty other participants before the rebellion ended. To do so, they had to find ways to communicate their intentions without revealing the plot. Songs may have tipped the neighborhood members to movements: "It is believed that one of the ways Turner summoned fellow conspirators to the woods was through the use of particular songs." According to author Terry Bisson, Turner entrusted his wife, Cherry, with "his most secret plans and papers".
The rebellion
Turner eagerly anticipated God's signal to "slay my enemies with their own weapons". Beginning in February 1831, Turner interpreted atmospheric conditions as signs to prepare for the revolt. An annular solar eclipse on February 12, 1831, was visible in much of the southeastern United States, including Virginia; Turner envisioned this as a Black man's hand reaching over the sun. Illness prevented Turner from starting the rebellion as planned on Independence Day, July 4, 1831.
The conspirators used the delay to extend planning. On August 13, 1831, an atmospheric disturbance made the Virginia sun appear bluish-green, possibly the result of a volcanic plume produced by the eruption of Ferdinandea Island off the coast of Sicily. Turner took this as a divine signal and started the rebellion a week later, on Sunday, August 21.
On that August 21, 1831, the six men of the inner circle met for a meal that included a pig and brandy; Turner joined them at 3 p.m. to finalize plans. At 2 a.m., the men went to the home of Turner's enslaver, killing the sleeping family with axes. Over the course of 48 hours, the rebels then traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing Whites.
The rebellion expanded from several trusted slaves to over 70 enslaved and free Blacks, some of whom were on horseback. They were armed with knives, hatchets, and blunt instruments; firearms were too difficult to collect and would have drawn unwanted attention. Additional weapons were collected as the rebels moved from house to house; they also added to their numbers, growing from fifteen to fifty or sixty.
As planned, the rebels killed White people without discriminating by age or sex. Historian Stephen B. Oates writes that Turner called on his group to "kill all the white people". According to the Richmond Enquirer, "Turner declared that 'indiscriminate slaughter was not their intention after they attained a foothold, and was resorted to in the first instance to strike terror and alarm."
A few homes were spared "because Turner believed the poor White inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negroes.'" Even though it was en route, the rebels also avoided the Giles Reese plantation where Turner's wife was enslaved, likely because Turner wanted to keep his wife and children safe. Turner confessed to killing only one person, Margaret Whitehead, whom he killed with a blow from a fence post.
One of their targets was a schoolhouse run by Levi Waller. During the attack, Turner's crew killed Mrs Levi Waller and around ten children at the schoolhouse. Levi Waller escaped through the swamp and a small girl survived through hiding in a chimney.
The last house to be attacked was the Rebecca Vaughan House. On midday August 22, Turner decided to lead his men toward Jerusalem, the county seat and closest town, where he hoped to find more weapons and ammunition. However, by then, a local militia had gathered to respond to the rebellion.
When confronted with opposition, the rebels dispersed, and several were apprehended. The rebels spent the night near slave cabins, waking in the morning to resume their attacks. Turner and his troops were repulsed by the local militia as they attempted to attack another house.
The local militia was joined by troops from the USS Natchez and USS Warren in Norfolk and militias from neighboring counties in Virginia and North Carolina. Brigadier General William Henry Brodnax commanded the Virginia militia.
The state and federal troops suppressed Turner's remaining force at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, 1831. The militia had twice the manpower of the rebels and three companies of artillery.
Before they were defeated, the rebels killed an estimated 55 White people, of which 20 to 30 were children, making it the deadliest slave revolt in U.S. history. The rebellion was over, but Turner and many other rebels had escaped.
Retaliation
In Southampton County, Blacks suspected of participating in the rebellion were beheaded by the militias, and "their severed heads were mounted on poles at crossroads as a grisly form of intimidation". A local road (now Virginia State Route 658) was called "Blackhead Signpost Road" after it became the site of one such display.
Rumors quickly spread that the slave revolt had spread as far south as Alabama. Fears led to reports in North Carolina of slave "armies" on highways, burning and massacring the White inhabitants of Wilmington, North Carolina, and marching on the state capital.
The fear and alarm resulted in White violence against Blacks on flimsy pretenses. The editor of the Richmond Whig described the scene as "the slaughter of many blacks without trial and under circumstances of great barbarity". The violence continued for two weeks after the rebellion. General Richard Eppes of the Virginia militia ordered a halt to the killing:
He will not specify all the instances that he is bound to believe have occurred but pass in silence what has happened, with the expression of his deepest sorrow, that any necessity should be supposed to have existed, to justify a single act of atrocity. But he feels himself bound to declare, and hereby announces to the troops and citizens, that no excuse will be allowed for any similar acts of violence, after the promulgation of this order.
In a letter to the New York Evening Post, Reverend G. W. Powell wrote that "many negroes are killed every day. The exact number will never be known." A militia company in Hertford County, North Carolina, reportedly killed 40 Black people in one day and looted $23 and a gold watch from those they killed. Captain Solon Borland, who led a militia detachment from Murfreesboro, North Carolina, condemned the Hertford County militia company's looting "because it was tantamount to theft from the White owners of the slaves".
Modern historians concur that the militias and mobs killed as many as 120 Blacks, most of whom were not involved with the rebellion. Historian David F. Allmendinger Jr. notes various studies that provide a range of 23 to more than 200 killed.
Capture
Sam Francis, Hark Moore, and Jack Reese were captured during the rebellion. Nelson Edward was killed two days after the rebellion by militia forces as he attempted to retreat. Henry Porter was killed in a battle at Cross Keys, a rural crossroads within the county, two days after the rebellion ended. It is unclear what happened to Will Francis, but as he was not tried in court or formally executed, he was likely killed during the rebellion.
Turner eluded capture for approximately ten weeks but remained in Southampton County near his deceased owner's farm. According to Bisson, Turner's wife was "beaten and tortured in an attempt to get her to reveal his plans and whereabouts." After a raid on the Reese plantation, the Richmond Constitutional Whig reported on September 26 that "some papers [were] given up by his wife, under the lash." According to The Authentic and Impartial Narrative, also published in 1831, journal entries by Turner were "in her possession after Nat's escape."
On October 30, 1831, farmer Benjamin Phipps discovered Turner hiding in a depression in the earth created by a large, fallen tree and covered with fence rails. Turner arrived at the prison in Jerusalem around 1 p.m. on October 31. While awaiting trial, he confessed knowledge of the rebellion to attorney Thomas R. Gray.
Trials and executions
Dozens of suspected rebels were tried by courts that were convened for the rebellion. Turner was tried on November 5, 1831, for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", and was convicted and sentenced to death. His attorney was James Strange French. James Trezvant served on the jury. Turner was hanged on November 11, 1831, in the county seat of Jerusalem, Virginia (now Courtland). According to some sources, he was beheaded to deter further rebellion. The body was dissected and flayed, and the skin used to make souvenir purses. In October 1897, Virginia newspapers reported that Dr. H. U. Stephenson of Toano, Virginia, was using the skeleton as a medical specimen.
Most of Turner's alleged conspirators were tried in Southampton County, with some trials in Sussex County or other nearby counties. Hark Moore and Sam Francis appeared in Southampton County court and were sentenced on September 3, and were executed on September 9. Jack Reese was tried and sentenced on September 5, and hanged on September 12. French, along with William Henry Brodnax and Meriwether Brodnax, represented many of the defendants. In total, thirty enslaved men were convicted, of whom eighteen were hanged and twelve were sold out of state; fifteen were acquitted. Four of the five free Blacks were tried and acquitted; one was hanged.