Nat Turner’s Rebellion-1831

Nat Turner

Who was Nat Turner?

  Nat Turner was born into slavery on October 2, 1800, in Southampton, Virginia.  He believed that he was a prophet and god sent him to help his people.

The Rebellion

  Originally, he planned to rebel on July 4, but he fell ill, and had to rebel on August 22, 1831.  Nat Turner started recruiting for his rebellion with a few trusty slaves, then gathered more than 70 enslaved or free blacks.  They discarded all their muskets and collected hatchets, knives, axes and blunt objects so they wouldn't alert anyone, plus fire arms are harder to come by if you're a slave.
  Nat Turner started with his own master's house at four o'clock in the morning on August 22, 1831.  He and his little group broke into his master's house.  They killed everybody but the infant.  They forgot about him.  A mile down the road, they realize they forgot the infant and went back to kill it.  They went from house to house, freeing enslaved blacks and killing the white people.  They killed over 70 white women, men, and children, making this the most successful slave revolt in the South.

Aftermath

  Militias are sent out to stop Nat Turner.  The rebellion is put down quickly, but Nat Turner manages to survive for two months before being discovered accidentally by a hunter.  He is tried and 3 days later is hung.  Dozens of other blacks are executed for allegedly being part of the revolt even though they knew nothing about it. About 200 blacks are killed and most weren't part of the revolt.  Rumors said slaves were revolting everywhere and blacks are killed and beat everywhere else, but eventually the whites stopped.