Nat Turner's slave rebellion
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| Nat Turner Slave Rebellion | |||||||||
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 Southern Slaves |
 Southampton County |
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| Nat Turner | Numerous | ||||||||
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| 80+ | 15,000+ | ||||||||
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| 200+ dead | 57 dead | ||||||||
| Part of a series of articles on... |
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1739 Stono Rebellion |
Nat Turner's Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Virginia during August 1831. Over 50 people were reported killed. It lasted only a few days before being put down, but leader Nat Turner remained in hiding for several months afterwards.
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[edit] Nat Turner
Nat, remembered today as Nat Turner, (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an American slave in Southampton County, Virginia. He was singularly intelligent, picking up the ability to read at a young age and experimenting with homemade paper and gunpowder. He grew up deeply religious and was often seen fasting and praying. He frequently received visions which he interpreted as being messages from God, and which greatly influenced his life; for instance, when Nat was 21 years old he ran away from his master, but returned a month later after receiving such a vision. He became known among fellow slaves as "The Prophet".
Beginning in February 1831, he came to believe that certain atmospheric conditions were to be interpreted as a sign that he should begin preparing for a rebellion against those holding him and fellow African Americans as slaves.
[edit] Rebellion
Turner started with a few trusted fellow slaves, but the insurgency ultimately numbered more than 70 slaves and free blacks, some of whom were on horseback.[1] On August 13, 1831, there was an atmospheric disturbance which made the sun appear bluish-green. Turner took this as the final signal, and a week later, on August 22, the rebellion began. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing all the white people they found.
Because the slaves did not want to alert anyone to their presence as they carried out their attacks, they used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments instead of firearms. Historian Stephen B. Oates states that Turner called on his group to "kill all whites."[2] Historian Herbert Aptheker, quoting the Richmond Enquirer, writes that "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.'"[3]
The rebellion spared almost no one. A small child who hid in a fireplace was among the few survivors. Before Turner and his brigade of slaves were defeated by a white militia twice its size, reinforced by three companies of artillery,[4] 57 white men, women and children were killed.[2]
[edit] "The slaughter of many blacks"
Within a day of the suppression of the rebellion, the white army was joined by detachments of men from the USS Natchez and USS Warren, which were anchored in Norfolk, and militias from counties in Virginia and North Carolina surrounding Southampton.[4] At least 100 blacks, and probably many more, were killed.[5] The number of black victims far exceeded the number of rebels, and Southern historian Ulrich Bonnell Phillips — described by another historian as a "proslavery interpreter of slavery and the slaves"[6] — coolly writes that "innocent blacks [were] shot down."[7]
Contemporary accounts indicate the brutality with which the blacks were killed. The editor of the Richmond Whig, writing "with pain," described the scene as "the slaughter of many blacks without trial and under circumstances of great barbarity."[8] General Eppes, the commander of the white army, thought it was necessary to order his army and the white citizens to stop the killing:
He [the General] 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.[9]
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."[10]
[edit] Aftermath
The rebellion was suppressed within 48 hours, but Turner eluded capture for months. On October 30, he was discovered in a swamp by a white farmer and then arrested. After his capture, his court appointed trial lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, took it upon himself to publish The Confessions of Nat Turner, derived partly from research done while Turner was in hiding and partly from conversations with Turner before his trial. This document remains the primary window into Turner's mind. Because of its author's obvious bias, it is a subject of much contention among historians.
On November 5, 1831, Nat Turner was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia.
In the aftermath of the revolt 48 black men and women were tried on charges of conspiracy, insurrection, and treason. In all, eighteen blacks — including one woman — were convicted and hanged.
[edit] New laws block literacy for non-whites
In the aftermath of the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion, the Virginia General Assembly passed new legislation making it unlawful to teach slaves, free blacks, or mulattoes to read or write. Similar laws were also enacted in other slave-holding states across the South. [1]
Some free blacks chose to move their families north to obtain educations for their children. Some individuals such as a young teacher named Thomas J. Jackson (better known to history as "Stonewall Jackson") and another named Mary Smith Peake chose to violate the laws. Notwithstanding these courageous individuals and many others, the laws enacted in the aftermath of the Turner Rebellion undoubtedly contributed greatly to the widespread illiteracy facing the freedmen and other African Americans after the American Civil War and Emancipation 35 years later.
The unfairness of such laws helped draw attention to the problem of illiteracy as one of the great challenges confronting these people as they sought to join the free enterprise system and support themselves. Consequently, many religious organizations, former Union Army officers and soldiers, and wealthy philanthropists were inspired to create and fund educational efforts specifically for the betterment of African Americans in the South. They helped create normal schools to generate teachers, such as those which eventually became Hampton University and Tuskegee University. Stimulated by the work of educators such as Dr. Booker T. Washington, by the first third of the 20th century, over 5,000 local schools had been built for blacks in the South with private matching funds provided by individuals such as Henry H. Rogers, Andrew Carnegie, and most notably, Julius Rosenwald, each of whom had also arisen to become wealthy from modest roots.
[edit] Casualties
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The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. This section has been tagged since March 2007. |
According to the book "The Fires of Jubilee" by Stephen Oates, Nat Turner had ordered his followers to "kill all the white people", including women and children. Because their lives were considered of little or no value, no record exists of the number and names of Turner's followers who lost their lives.
Children were the group that suffered the most casualties (in the first few minutes of the insurgency, a nine year old was hacked to death and an infant in a crib was stabbed to death) and arguably the most brutal deaths, evidenced by a stop that Turner and his insurgents made at a school full of elementary-aged children: After killing the teacher, the insurgents systematically decapitated ten of the children and piled their corpses in ritualistic fashion in front of the school. One eleven-year-old girl avoided this fate — she was repeatedly struck in the body with an axe and died shortly thereafter.
Nat Turner's Rebellion resulted in a vicious response by Southern plantation owners. Eager to show that actions such as Turner's would not be tolerated, plantation owners throughout the south executed vigilante justice with terrorist-fervor, killing slaves and other persons of African descent (many of whom had no connection with the rebellion).
[edit] Men
14 white men were killed in the uprising:
- Joseph Travis — former master of Nat Turner; along with his wife, hacked to death in his sleep with an axe.
- Joel Westbrook — fourteen year old apprentice to Joseph Travis; hacked to death with axes.
- Henry Bryant — white slaveowner; hacked and stabbed to death with axes.
- Salanthial "Sal" Francis — white slaveowner; lured from his one-room cabin and stabbed and clubbed to death.
- William Reese Sr. — white slaveowner, owner of one of the slaves involved in the rebellion; hacked to death with axes.
- Hartwell Peebles — overseer at the Turner Plantation; shot to death.
- Richard Whitehead — Methodist preacher, son of the widow Caty Whitehead. He was in a field when approached by Turner and the rebels, who beckoned for him to come see them as they stood beneath a tree. When Whitehead approached, he was beaten down, and as he begged for his life, he was hacked to death with an axe.
- Nathaniel Francis — white slaveowner. A slave who witnessed the murder of Sally Travis ran to warn Francis, and Francis was on his way to confirm the slave's news when insurgents approached his farm and murdered him along with his three-year-old nephew, elementary-school aged nephew, and overseer.
- Henry Doyle — Nathaniel Francis' overseer; Shot to death.
- John Barrow — farmer. A veteran of the War of 1812, he fought the insurgents in fierce hand-to-hand combat, nearly killing a few before they finally overtook him and slit his throat. While Barrow fought the slaves, his wife escaped harm. Impressed with Barrow's bravery, the insurgents wrapped his corpse in a white blanket in preparation for his burial.
- Ed Drury — overseer at a farm neighboring that of Jacob Williams; disemboweled.
- George Vaughn — son of Rebecca Vaughn; stabbed, hacked, and shot to death.
- Unknown — overseer for Rebecca Vaughn's farmland.
- Bill Williams — plantation owner; stabbed, hacked, and shot to death.
[edit] Women
18 white women were killed in the uprising:
- Sally Travis — wife of Joseph Travis; along with her husband, hacked to death in her sleep with an axe.
- Wife of Henry Bryant; stabbed and hacked to death with axes.
- Mother-in-law of Henry Bryant; stabbed and hacked to death with axes.
- Piety Reese — wife of William Reese Sr.; stabbed and hacked to death in her sleep.
- Elizabeth Turner — young widow of Nat's master; hacked to death along with her neighbor, Sarah Newsom, as they knelt hiding from the rebels.
- Sarah Newsom — neighbor and friend of Elizabeth Turner; beaten over the head with a sword and then chopped into pieces.
- Caty Whitehead — young widow with five teenage daughters who was known around town for her hospitality to not only whites but also free blacks and slaves. Dragged from her home and killed by having her neck struck with an axe with such force that it was nearly cut off.
- 3 teenaged daughters of Caty Whitehead; all hacked and stabbed to death.
- Margaret Whitehead — Teenage daughter of Caty Whitehead. Nat Turner chased her through a field until she tripped and fell and then struck her in the head repeatedly with the butt of his sword before bludgeoning her to death with a fence post.
- Wife of slaveowner John "Choctaw" Williams; chopped into pieces with an axe along with her child.
- Levi Waller — school teacher who was conducting classes with elementary-school aged children when the school was attacked by insurgents. She was hacked and stabbed to death while attempting to protect her students, who were subsequently decapitated.
- Wife of overseer Caswell Worrell; stabbed and hacked to death.
- Wife of Jacob Williams; stabbed and hacked to death.
- Rebecca Vaughn — young widow whose house was along the route that the insurgents were taking. She was preparing lunch for friends of her son when the insurgents approached. She offered them everything inside the home if they would spare her; an insurgent then shot her in the face with a rifle.
- Anne Williams — eighteen year old niece of Rebecca Vaughn who was in her aunt's care. She was getting dressed to greet her cousin's friends when she heard the gunshot that killed her aunt. She came downstairs and was shot to death by insurgents, who then posed her corpse in the yard so that it would burn in the sun.
- Wife of Bill Williams. Forced to watch her husband and two children murdered, and then forced to lie down beside her husband's corpse before she was repeatedly shot with muskets.
[edit] Children
25 white children were killed in the uprising:
- Infant son of Joseph and Sally Travis; Stabbed to death in his cradle.
- Putnam Moore — nine year old boy who was the legal owner of Nat Turner; hacked to death with axes.
- Son of Henry Bryant; stabbed and hacked to death with axes.
- William Reese Jr. — son of Piety and William Reese Sr.; stabbed and hacked to death when he came to check on his mother, after hearing the rebels attacking her.
- Elementary-school aged grandchild of Caty Whitehead; stabbed, beaten, and hacked to death.
- Three-year-old nephew of Nathaniel Francis; Decapitated with an axe.
- Elementary school aged nephew of Nathaniel Francis; stabbed to death.
- Elementary school aged son of John "Choctaw" Williams and his wife; decapitated.
- 10 schoolchildren were decapitated at an elementary school. The insurgents, leaving the heads inside the school, stacked the headless corpses in the front yard of the school. One child was repeatedly struck with axes. She died shortly after being discovered by militia men tracking Turner and the insurgents.
- 3 children of Jacob Williams; all stabbed and hacked to death.
- Child of Caswell Worrell; stabbed and hacked to death.
- 2 children of Bill Williams. Their mother was forced to watch as they were shot, stabbed, and hacked to death.
[edit] Near victims
- Giles Reese and family — white slaveowner. Nat Turner made it explicit that the Reese farm was not to be targeted, because his own family was enslaved there at the time.
- Wiley Francis — white slaveowner. He refused to leave his home when it was approached by Turner and his followers. Francis' slaves, who regarded Francis as a particularly kind master, stood between Turner and Francis' house and informed Turner that they would fight to the death protecting their master and his land. Turner, not wanting to cause any commotion, declared that Francis was not worth the effort and left.
- Harriet Whitehead — teenaged daughter of Caty Whitehead. One of Caty Whitehead's slaves, an old black man known by the other slaves as Old Hubbard, hid her in between mattresses and told the rebels that she had escaped.
- John Clark Turner and family — slaveowner, boyhood friend of Nat Turner. In spite of his orders to "kill all the white people", Turner ordered the insurgents to spare Turner and his family.
- Lavinia Francis — wife of Nathaniel Francis. Eight months pregnant at the time of the rebellion, she initially hid in a closet before attempting to flee the farm. A slave woman then attacked her with a knife, but slaves loyal to Nathaniel Francis saved her and took her to safe haven.
- Mother of Nathaniel Francis. She discovered the carnage at the Travis plantation, then was taken to safe haven by poor white men and loyal slaves.
- Wife of John Barrow. She escaped harm while her husband fought insurgents.
- Levi Waller — white slaveowner and proprietor of a community center. He hid in high weeds when insurgents attacked his home.
- 2 sons of Levi Waller. Received early news of the coming of Turner and his insurgents and escaped.
- William Crocker — school teacher who fled with several of his students when word came that the insurgents were headed towards the school.
- Elementary school-aged child that hid in a chimney while ten of her classmates were decapitated.
- Jacob Williams — white slaveowner. One of his own slaves was waiting for him with insurgents when he arrived from conducting business. He spotted them on his way up the path and hid in the woods.
- Caswell Worrel — Jacob Williams' overseer. Hid in the fields when insurgents tried to lure him into the open to kill him.
[edit] References
- ^ Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 298.
- ^ a b Oates, The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion.
- ^ Richmond Enquirer, November 8, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 299. Aptheker notes that the Enquirer was "hostile to the cause Turner espoused." p. 298.
- ^ a b Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 300.
- ^ Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301, citing the Huntsville, Alabama, Southern Advocate, October 15, 1831.
- ^ Smith, J. D., Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, New Georgia Encyclopedia
- ^ Phillips, U. B., American Negro Slavery (1918), p. 481, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 300.
- ^ Richmond Whig, September 3, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301. Aptheker notes that the Whig was "hostile to the cause Turner espoused." p. 298.
- ^ Richmond Enquirer, September 6, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301.
- ^ New York Evening Post, September 5, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301.
[edit] Sources
- Herbert Aptheker. American Negro Slave Revolts. 5th edition. New York, NY: International Publishers, 1983 (1943).
- Stephen B. Oates, The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion. New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1990 (1975). ISBN 0-06-091670-2.
[edit] Further reading
- Herbert Aptheker. American Negro Slave Revolts. 5th edition. New York, NY: International Publishers, 1983 (1943).
- Herbert Aptheker. Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion. New York, NY: Humanities Press, 1966.
- Scot French. The Rebellious Slave: Nat Turner in American Memory. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 2004.
- William Lloyd Garrison, "The Insurrection", The Liberator, (September 3, 1831). A contemporary abolitionist's reaction to news of the rebellion.
- Thomas R. Gray, The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrections in Southampton, Va. Baltimore, MD: Lucas & Deaver, 1831. Available online.
- Kenneth S. Greenberg, ed. Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Stephen B. Oates, The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion. New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1990 (1975). ISBN 0-06-091670-2.
- Junius P. Rodriguez, ed. Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Nat Turner's Rebellion, Africans in America, PBS.org
- Jessica McElrath, Nat Turner's Rebellion, About.com
