11/11/1831 - Payback a bitch in racist Southampton County (on Virginia's southern border, about twenty miles from the state's border with North Carolina, a county that has more slaves than it does white citizens), after leading a black slave revolt in August that results in over 200 deaths (the largest slave revolt in United States history), the insurrection's leader, Nat Turner, is caught at the end of October, tried and convicted on November 5, 1831 (considering his uprising the work of God, Turner pleads not guilty), and executed by hanging in the town of Jerusalem on the eleventh of the same month. Afterwards, just to show their utter contempt for the man and to send a message to other slaves that might be contemplating revolt, the authorities in the Old Dominion state have Turner's corpse drawn, quartered, and skinned (with pieces of the body be taken as souvenirs), it's head cut off (the skull and brain are sent off for study to the College of Wooster in Ohio); the fat of rendered into wagon-wheel grease, and then with the body sufficiently abused, bury the man in an unmarked grave.
Turner
Born into slavery at the small but prosperous Virginia plantation of Benjamin Turner on October 2, 1800, Nathanial (soon called "Nat" by all that know him) Turner comes into the world with marks on his chest that many feel mark him as a prophet (actual father unknown, he quickly absorbs and makes his own the passionate hatred his African-born mother has for the institute of slavery). From an early age Turner display's a depth of intelligence that reaps him privileges not experienced by most slaves of the time (he is also said to know about events that took place well ahead of his birth), the biggest of which is being taught to read and write by the plantation owner's son. Exposed to the words and teachings of the Christian Bible, Turner quickly absorbs the book's religious ardour and becomes a preacher to the local slaves that call him "The Prophet" as he explains the fiery vision messages he is receiving directly from God. But he also still a slave whose experiences as such will color his sermons about freedom ... three times in his youth he will be sold to a new owner (with the consequent loss of his family, that along with his mother and grandmother, will one day also include a wife and son), in 1821 he runs away from the tortures of a barbarous overseer and spends an arduous and hungry month of hiding at various locales in Southampton County while seeking his father, before returning to the Turner plantation after receiving a "Lord" message that he should return to the service of his "earthly master," and in 1830, he is the property of an eight-year-old boy named Putnum Moore who inherits him when his father, Thomas Moore, passes away. Moore too young for the responsibility of owning a slave, Turner becomes a member of the household of craftsman Joseph Travis, the new husband of the Widow Moore.
Preaching
Believing he has been chosen by Heaven to free the slaves, Turner contemplates an initial plan of insurrection in which he and a group of trusted companions will capture the armoury located at the county seat Jerusalem, use the weapons procured to free further recruits, and moving from plantation to plantation, march thirty miles to the east into a snake infested area known as the Dismal Swamp, where capture will be difficult and the group can rest, train, and decide on it's next moves. In 1831, Turner receives a message from God he thinks signals that it is almost time to rebel against the whites of Southampton County when he witnesses a solar eclipse on February 12. Readying his followers for action, Turner collects weapons, passes messages on to his recruits in songs, and picks six fellow slaves as his lieutenants, Henry Porter, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, Will Francis, Jack Reese, and Samuel Francis. Rebellion originally slated to take place during the summer's Independence Day celebrations, the revolt is postponed when Turner comes down with an illness. Recovered, when the Sun turns blueish-green on August 13th due to dust in the air from the recent explosion of Mt. St. Helens in Washington, it is decided that God has sent another message to Turner and that the insurrection should begin a week later, on August 21st.
Instructing His Lieutenants
On the evening of Monday, August 21st, Turner and six other slaves arm themselves with hatchets, axes (afternoon spending the afternoon dining on barbeque pig and brandy), and then, at about 2:00 in the morning, move on their first target, the Travis Family that Turner has been enslaved to. Letting himself into the Travis home through a window, Turner opens the front door to his followers and the family is hacked to pieces (Turner strikes the first blow but his hatchet is too dull and doesn't draw blood ... Will Francis follows up though and his blow is mortal) in seconds in their sleep (showing the savagery that will afflict the county, the killers forget about a member of the family and later return to the home to slaughter Sally Travis' baby as it sleeps in its cradle before dumping its body in the fireplace). Moving towards Jerusalem as planned (at each stop, newly freed slaves remove and burn their clothing before dressing in other garb as a statement of their new freedom and unwillingness to return to a life of bondage), Turner's insurgents grow in number (to around sixty insurgents, routine and fear at the repercussions keep the number from growing larger) as more homes and plantations are raided and the families inside are slaughtered (among the dead is Reverend Whitehead, a man who has allowed Turner to preach before his congregation ... screaming "Why, " he is slaughtered in a nearby cotton patch), but never enough to make their destination viable as they decimate Captain John Barrow's house (killing the man on the front porch while his wife slips out the back to safety ... then, to honor the ferocity with which the veteran of the War of 1812 has fought to protect his family, his killers drink the captain's blood), the Richard Porter home, the Jacob Williams abode (where Williams returns home from harvesting timber and discovers his wife and three children have been butchered), and the Rebecca Vaughan house where the killings end (before being murdered, her killers allow the women to complete her praying). By the next day, the slaves will have killed somewhere between fifty-five and sixty-five people (all of them white, including fifteen women and twenty-nine children, ten under the age of five) and gotten within three miles of Jerusalem (Turner will confess to killing only Margaret Whitehead when the woman tries to warn her neighbors of the coming danger, braining Whitehead with blows from a fence post).
The Travis Family Is Wiped Out
On To The Next Home
No More Margaret
They will get no further though as reacting with alacrity (the revolt is over in roughly thirty-six hours), Virginia Governor John B. Floyd calls out the state militia to deal with the uprising (martial law will be declared a week later), along with three companies of artillery. Additionally, detachments from the USS Natchez and USS Warren (anchored in the waters of Norfolk, Virginia) also join in the suppression of the insurrection ... in all, over 3,000 very angry and armed white Southerners. The first blow to Turner's plans comes shortly after the men approach Jerusalem in the form of shots being exchanged between the blacks and a force of eighteen white men under the command of Captain Alexander P. Peete. Clash broken off when the whites retreat into the nearby woods, Turner and about forty of his party make camp at the deserted plantation of Major Thomas Ridley ... where that night they are attacked again and the insurrection suddenly becomes every man for himself with Turner slipping away in the darkness (he will never see any of his lieutenants again). Moving and hiding, hiding and moving, unsure of his next move (the visions from God have now disappeared), a weary Turner on Thursday makes his way to the Travis property, grabs provisions from the abandoned farm, and in a nearby field, scratches out a hiding hole under a pile of fence rails, where he will remain for the next six weeks, leaving only at night to obtain water.
Map Of The Revolt
Governor Floyd
While Turner is in hiding, it is an exceptionally bad time to be black in Southampton County (as well as many other locales in Virginia and other neighboring states) ... whether as a slave or as a free black man (five will be accused of participating in the revolt and one will be hung). Worst fears of the outnumbered white population becoming bloodily true, a large portion of whites in the county react to the revolt with an hysteria of revenge that will take the lives of over two hundred individuals (despite many whites being saved from being murdered by the actions of their slaves, the number is not higher due to the slaves being considered property that most of the captured slaves' owners don't want to lose permanently). Nat Turner's remaining army of fifty-six individuals are executed (those not killed in the fighting around Jerusalem), many without a trial, an armed band of vigilantes rides out of Richmond intent on shooting any negro they meet, an Englishman selling books in the town of Petersburg is stripped naked and lashed out of town for stating that the blacks of the South should be freed, there are a myriad of hangings and lynchings, slaves are tortured and burnt alive, when a slave named Charlotte Francis is found to have pulled a knife to prevent the escape of her pregnant white mistress, she is tied to a tree and used for target practice by a detachment of militia, men have their heads cut off and mounted on signposts as warnings (for over a hundred years after, the county will sport a Blackhead Signpost Road ... only for much of the time, the road substitutes another word for Blackhead) of what happens to insurrectionists (somehow, fifteen blacks accused of participating in the revolt are actually acquitted by a Virginia jury), men are whipped, tortured, and maimed, and slaves are sold to plantations outside of Virginia.
Turner
Turner's Sword
Only a matter of time until Turner is discovered, a dog is the first to lay claim to locating the revolt leader when it smells meat in the hiding hole ... then two blacks out hunting, and seeking the dog, stumble on the weary Nat, who begs them not to disclose to his pursuers his location. Not wanting to grace any local trees though, the men of course let the story out and the pursuit of Turner is back on but he is no longer in his hole. Guessing what is coming, Turner creeps out of the spot he has spent six weeks at a create another hiding place for himself in a tiny den under a fallen tree that he covers with brush. His time runs out though when shortly after noon on Sunday, October 30, he pokes his head out of his hole and comes face to face with a local farmer named Benjamin Phipps, who upon finding out his identity, immediately arrests Turner. Brought to Jerusalem to stand trial, while awaiting judgment, Turner tells his story to attorney Thomas Ruffin Gray (the confession will be published for the public after Turner's execution). On arraignment, indicted for insurrection and conspiracy to murder, Turner pleads "not guilty" but it does no good when the plea is placed against the confession Turner has just given, which is the only evidence the Commonwealth of Virginia uses to establish the revolt leader's guilt. Arrested on October 30, confession made on November 1, found guilty after a single day of trial before a board of magistrates that includes Justices Jeremiah Cobb, Samuel B. Hines, James D. Massenburg, James W. Parker, Robert Goodwin, James Trezevant, Ores A. Browne, Carr Bowers, Thomas Preston, and Richard A. Urquardt, twelve days after his capture, on Friday, November 11, 1831, at noon, Turner is hung by local Deputy Sheriff Edward Butts.
Capture
To The Gallows
Insurrection over, Mr. Turner's revolt moves the topic of slavery front and center, both in Virginia and the rest of the south as the nation continues to trudge towards its bloody Civil War (petitions to compensate seven slave owners for their lost human possessions are all rejected). In 1831 and 1832 the Virginia legislature will debate manumission of its slaves, but will go in the opposite direction after Thomas R. Dew, the president of the College of William and Mary publishes a pamphlet defending the wisdom and benevolence of the institution and the folly of what it will take to abolish the practice of slavery ... slave patrols are beefed up, militia forces of the state are expanded, and new laws are passed restricting the movements of both slaves and free blacks, effectively ending their ability to meet in private, there new laws put into place prohibiting slaves or free blacks from being educated, and new requirements are put in place mandating white ministers be present when black people come together to worship. Fear laws, they do nothing to stop the holocaust coming to America in the form of a Civil War over the issues of slavery and state rights
Working On Turner's "Confessions"
Turner's Bible
A controversial personality much like John Brown will become using killing in the cause of abolishing slavery, too some, Turner is a monster, but to others, he is a hero for taking a stand against the wrong. And like John Brown, he will become a figure for future generations to either revile or celebrate ... and one who of course gets a fresh coat of Hollywood paint from generation to generation. Already the subject of various history's of the period, in 1968, William Styron will win the Pulitzer Prize for his take on the tale with his novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Turner's rebellion is a featured part of Episode Five of the hit show Roots (the show has the insurrection incorrectly happening in 1841), there are a multitude of hip-hop and rap songs with Turner as a character, Turner's life and rebellion are featured in the 2016 film, Birth of a Nation (not to be confused with the silent film epic of D. W. Griffith, the 2016 film is written and directed by Nat Parker, and stars Parker as Turner!), and in 2018, he is front and center in a play that opens at the Forum Theatre in Washington D.C., Nat Turner in Jerusalem.
Birth Of A Nation Turner
Maniac
Hero
11/11/1831 ... Nate Turner, a slave way ahead of his times in believing black lives matter, goes off to meet his maker.
Turner
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