Event Blog 10/26 -Annie Yu

Turner’s Rebellion

One of the most famous African American revolts was Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831. Nat Turner was a religious leader and a Baptist minister. He himself was a slave and despised the harsh treatments that slave owners were doing. He started to develop a plan with his trusted partners and on July 4th, 1831, they decided to hold an insurrection to begin devising. But Turner became ill, so they had to postpone the action. Set in Southampton, Virginia, Turner and his enslaved allies began to murder Turner’s master’s family first in August 1831. As they traveled through the country, they killed all the white people they encountered. Their numbers grew to almost sixty slaves as they traveled and left behind nearly fifty murdered whites. Word of the rebellion had gotten out to one city, and when Turner’s group arrived, they were confronted by a group of militia. The rebels fled and Turner’s group was disorganized. Of what was left of Turner’s group, they attempted to attack another house but were repelled. Several of Turner’s men were hunted down and captured, but others were met by state and federal troops. Only one slave was killed and many escaped from the troops including Nat Turner. He hid in several different places near his master’s family home, whom his group killed, but was founded and captured in October 1831. His confession was that his motivation for rebellion was his description of divine inspiration. Turner was then tried in the Southampton County Court and was sentenced for execution. On November 11, 1831, Turner was hanged and then skinned. Turner’s rebellion demonstrated to the North the level of rage the enslaved had, and the motivation for freedom. In the South, slave owners restricted African American gatherings and travel and tightened regulations on slaves and slavery. The aftermath of the rebellion left a feeling of suspicion and fear over Southern slave owners. Following the rebellion, almost 200 black people, many of which who weren’t involved in the rebellion, were murdered by white mobs in Southampton County. Many were beheaded and their heads were left on roads to warn others from rebelling ever again. In total of the rebellion, the state executed 55 people, banished some, and released a few. Since Turner’s rebellion left a wave of fear over slave owners and whites, slaves from the Southern colonies were accused of having a connection with the rebellion and in the end, were tried and executed. The state legislature of Virginia decided to abolish slavery but with a close vote, slavery was kept and it supported an authoritarian policy against slaves and the free.

Sources:

Pike, John. "Nat Turner's Rebellion of 1831." 5 May 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/turner.htm>.

"The Nat Turner Rebellion." Web. 26 Oct. 2011. <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6811>.

"Nat Turner's Rebellion." Pbs.org. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html>.