Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, the rebels killed between 55 and 65 White people, making it the deadliest slave revolt in U.S. history. The rebellion was effectively suppressed within a few days, at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, but Turner survived in hiding for more than 30 days afterward.
There was widespread fear amongst the White population in the aftermath of the rebellion. Militia and mobs killed as many as 120 enslaved people and free African Americans in retaliation. After trials, the Commonwealth of Virginia executed 56 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 was a preacher, Southern state legislatures subsequently passed new laws prohibiting the education of enslaved people and free Black people, restricting rights of assembly and other civil liberties for free Black people, and requiring White ministers to be present at all worship services.
Lonnie Bunch, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, said, "The Nat Turner rebellion is probably the most significant uprising in American history."
Turner's life
Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an enslaved African-American preacher who organized and led the four-day rebellion of enslaved and free Black people in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. Turner was born into slavery in Southampton County, a rural plantation area with more Black people than White. Turner knew little about the background of his father, who was believed to have escaped from slavery when Turner was a child.
Benjamin Turner, the man who enslaved Nat and his family, called the infant Nat in his records. He was known simply as Nat but after the 1831 rebellion, he was widely referred to as Nat Turner. When Benjamin Turner died in 1810, his son Samuel inherited Nat.
Turner learned how to read and write at a young age. He was identified as having "natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension, surpassed by few." He grew up deeply religious and was often seen fasting, praying, or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible. He frequently had visions that he interpreted as messages from God, and which influenced his life. Patrick Breen discusses that "Nat Turner thought that God used the natural world as a backdrop in front of which he placed signs and omens." Breen goes further into how Nat Turner claimed he possessed a gift of prophecy and could interpret these revelations from God. At age 21, he escaped from Samuel Turner. After becoming delirious from hunger and receiving a vision that told him to "return to the service of my earthly master", he returned a month later.
Turner married an enslaved woman named Cherry, also spelled Chary, although historians still dispute who exactly Nat Turner's wife was. It is largely speculated that Turner and Cherry met and were married at Samuel Turner's plantation in the early 1820s. It is widely believed that Cherry had children, but it is undetermined how many. Historians vary anywhere between believing she had one to three children. The most widely held belief is that the pair had two or three children–one daughter and one or two sons. Historians believe one of their children was a boy named Riddick. However, the family was separated after Samuel Turner died in 1823; Turner was sold to Thomas Moore, and his wife and children were sold to Giles Reese.
In 1824, Turner had a second vision while working in the fields for Moore. In it, "the Saviour was about to lay down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and the great day of judgment was at hand".
Turner often conducted religious services, preaching the Bible to his fellow enslaved people who dubbed him "The Prophet". In addition to Blacks, Turner garnered White followers such as Etheldred T. Brantley, whom Turner was credited with having convinced to "cease from his wickedness".