Nat Turner: Preacher, Prophet, and Revolt Leader

WHO WAS NAT TURNER?

Between 1825 and 1830, Turner became a popular preacher to African American congregations throughout Southampton County. His sermons focused on conflict and liberation, and gained him many followers, some of whom believed he was a prophet.

Traveling from church to church allowed Turner to gather the knowledge he needed to organize his revolt, such as road locations and hiding places.

In February 1831, Turner, who was now at the home of Joseph Travis, believed that an eclipse of the sun signaled that the time had come for him to launch his rebellion. He recruited four other slaves, and they developed several plans before accepting one and deciding to begin on the symbolic date of July 4. However, Turner fell ill and the revolt

Turner survived and fled, eluding his captors until

October 30. He was quickly tried, sentenced to death, and hanged in Jerusalem, Virginia, on

November 11, 1831. While awaiting execution, he told his story to his court-appointed attorney, Thomas Gray. The result was an extraordinary account of his life and of the rebellion, which Gray published as Nat Turner's Confessions.

Turner's rebellion lasted almost three days, killed 57 people, and resulted in the executions of over 100 African American rebels. Some call this rebellion the "First War," the Civil War being the second. Turner's rebellion was significant in that it was more violent than any other slave uprising and reshaped the debate over slavery in ways that led to the Civil War a generation later. The uprising intensified both the antislavery movement, and the corresponding proslavery forces. It reinforced the notion held by some abolitionists that slaves would be willing to fight if outside forces organized and armed them. Proslavery forces began to endorse reducing the number of free blacks through colonization. Turner's rebellion also disproved the myth of the contented slave, and proved that African Americans would die to end