The Nat Turner revolt of 1831 was the only major
slave rebellion in the United States, but it sent such
strong shock waves throughout southern society that its
impact was still being felt by the time of the Civil War thirty years later..
Many southerners believed that northern abolitionists,
especially radicals like William Lloyd Garrison, were
responsible for instigating the violence. Garrison's
anti-slavery newspaper, "The Liberator", coincidentally
began publication in January of 1831. How else could such
a peaceful -- even model -- slave community like Southampton
County, Virginia, be stirred up to such a frenzy?
In order to protect against further outbreaks,
Black Codes --the laws regulating slave behavior -- were
rigidly enforced in many places. Censorship of newspapers
and books became commonplace in order to prevent
abolitionist propaganda from doing further damage. Books
like Uncle Tom's Cabin were actually banned from sale in
many places in the southern states. Apologists for slavery,
like George Fitzhugh, whose books Cannibals All and
Sociology for the South, became widely read in the aftermath
of Nat Turner, went on the attack, condemning northern
society for its exploitative capitalist excesses and
defending the benevolent paternalism of the typical
southern slaveholder.
The aftermath of the Nat Turner revolt tended to
polarize southern opinion about slavery and abolition, and
to make compromise all the more difficult at a time when
compromise was crucial for the survival of the Union.
In reading "The Confessions of Nat Turner", which
follows, try to decide just what did motivate him. Were
southerners justified in blaming Garrison and other
abolitionists for his actions?
Sir, -- You have asked me to give a history of
the motives which induced me to undertake the late
insurrection, as you call it. To do so I must go back to
the days of my infancy, and even before I was born. I was
thirty-one years of age the 2nd of October last, and born on
the property of Benjamin Turner, of this county. In my
childhood a circumstance occurred which made an indelible
impression on my mind, and laid the ground work of that
enthusiasm, which has terminated so fatally to so many, both
white and black, and for which I am about to atone at the
gallows.
Being at play with other children, when three or
four years old, I was telling them something, when my
mother, overhearing, said that those things had happened
before I was born. Others were greatly astonished when they
heard what I had said, and this caused them to believe that
I surely would be a prophet. And my father and mother
strengthened me in this, saying I was intended for some
great purpose, because of certain marked on my head and
breast.
To a mind like mine, restless, inquisitive and
observant of everything that was passing, it is easy to
suppose that religion was the subject to which it would be
directed, and although this subject principally occupied my
thoughts, there was nothing that I saw or heard of to which
my attention was not directed. I acquired the knowledge of
reading and writing with great ease. To the astonishment of
the family, one day, when a book was shown to me to keep me
from crying, I began spelling the names of different
objects, to the wonder of all in the neighborhood. And this
learning was constantly improved at all opportunities.
I was not addicted to stealing in my youth, nor
have I ever been, yet such was the confidence of the Negroes
in the neighborhood, even at this early period of my life,
in my superior judgment, that they would often carry me with
them when they were going on any roguery, to plan for them.
Having thus discovered to be great, I believed I
must appear so, and therefore I studiously avoided mixing in
society, and wrapped myself in mystery, devoting my time to
fasting and prayer.
By this time, having arrived at manhood, and
hearing the scriptures commented on at meetings, I was
struck with that particular passage which says: "Seek ye
the kingdom of Heaven and all things shall be added unto
you." I reflected much on this passage, and prayed daily
for light on this subject. As I was praying one day at my
plough, the spirit -- the spirit who spoke to the prophets
in former days -- spoke to me, saying, "Seek ye the kingdom
of Heaven and all things shall be added unto you." I was gr
eatly astonished, and for two years prayed continually,
whenever my duty would permit, and then again I had the same
revelation, which fully confirmed me in the impression that
I was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the
Almighty.
Several years rolled round, in which many events
occurred to strengthen me in this my belief. At this time I
reverted in my mind to the remarks made of me in my
childhood, that I had too much sense to be of any use to any
one as a slave. Now finding I had arrived at manhood, and
was a slave, I began to direct my attention to the great
purpose for which I felt assured I was intended. Knowing
the influence I had obtained over the minds of my fellow
slaves -- not by means of conjuring or other tricks, but by
communicating to them the revelations of the Spirit who had
spoken to me -- they began to believe that my wisdom came
from God. I now began to prepare them for my purpose, by
telling them something was about to happen that would
terminate in fulfilling the great promise that had been made
to me.
About this time I was placed under an overseer,
from whom I ran away, and after remaining in the woods
thirty days, I returned, to the astonishment of the Negroes
on the plantation, who thought I had made my escape to some
other part of the country, as my father had done before.
But the reason of my return was, that the Spirit appeared to
me and said I had my wishes directed to the things of this
world, and not to the kingdom of Heaven, and that I should
return to the service of my earthly master -- "For he who
knoweth his Master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten
with many stripes, and thus have I chastened you." And the
Negroes found out, and murmured against me, saying that if
they had my sense they would not serve any master in the
world.
About this time I had a vision, and I saw white
spirits and black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was
darkened, and the thunder rolled in the Heavens, and blood
flowed in streams, and I heard a voice saying, "Such is your
luck, such you are called to see, and let it come rough or
smooth, you must surely bare it." I now withdrew myself as
much as my situation would permit, from the intercourse of
my fellow slaves, for the avowed purpose of serving the
Spirit more fully.
And then the Spirit appeared to me again, and
reminded me of the things it had already shown me, and then
revealed to me the knowledge of the elements, the revolution
of the planets, the operation of tides, and changes of the
seasons. After this revelation, in the year 1825, I sought
more than ever to obtain true holiness before the great day
of judgment should appear, and it was then that I began to
receive the true knowledge of faith. And from the first
steps of righteousness until the last, I was made perfect;
and the Holy Ghost was with me, and said, "Behold me as I
stand in the Heavens", and I looked and saw that there were
lights in the sky, which were the lights of the Savior's
hands stretched forth from east to west, even as they were
extended on the cross on Calvary for the redemption of
sinners.
I wondered greatly at these miracles, and prayed
to be informed of the meaning of them, and shortly
afterwards, while laboring in the field, I discovered drops
of blood on the corn, as though it were dew from heaven, and
I then found on the leaves in the woods hieroglyphic
characters and numbers, with the forms of men portrayed in
blood. And now the Holy Ghost revealed itself to me, and
made plain the miracles it had shown me. For as the blood
of Christ had been shed on this earth, and had ascended to h
eaven for the salvation of sinners, and was now returning to
earth again in the form of dew, it was plain to me that the
Savior was about to lay down the yoke he had borne for the
sins of men, and great day of judgment was at hand.
About this time I told these things to a white
man, Ethledred T. Brantley, on whom it had a wonderful
effect, and he ceased from his wickedness, and was attacked
immediately with a cutaneous eruption, and blood oozed from
the pores of his skin, and after praying and fasting nine
days, he was healed. And the Spirit appeared to me again,
and said, as the Savior had been baptized so should we be
also. But when the white people would not let us be
baptized by the church, we went down into the water together
, in the sight of many who reviled us, and were baptized by
the Spirit. After this I rejoiced, and gave thanks to God.
On the 12th of May, 1828, I heard a loud noise in
the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and
said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the
yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should
take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was
fast approaching when the first should be last and the last
should be first. By signs in the heavens it would make
known to me when I should commence the great work, but until
the first sign appeared, I should conceal it from the
knowledge of men.
And on the appearance of the sign -- the eclipse
of the sun last February -- I arose and prepared myself to
slay my enemies with their own weapons. And immediately on
the sign appearing in the heavens, the seal was removed from
my lips, and I communicated the great work laid out for me
to do, to four in whom I had the greatest confidence --
Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam. It was intended by us to have
begun the work of death on the 4th of July last, but I fell
sick, and the time passed without our coming to any
determination how to commence.
Since the commencement of 1830, I had been living
with Mr. Joseph Travis, who was to me a kind master, and
placed the greatest confidence in me. In fact I had no
cause to complain of his treatment to me. On Saturday
evening, the 20th of August, it was agreed between Henry,
Hark and myself, to prepare a dinner the next day for the
men we expected, and then to create a plan, as we had not
yet determined on any. Hark, on the following morning,
brought a pig, and Henry brandy, and being joined by Sam,
Nelson, Will and Jack, they prepared in the woods a dinner,
where, about three o'clock, I joined them.
It was quickly agreed we should commence at Mr.
Travis' on that night, and until we had armed and equipped
ourselves, and gathered sufficient force, neither age nor
sex was to be spared. We remained at the feast until about
two hours in the night, when we went to the house and found
Austin. They all went to the cider press and drank, except
myself. Hark got a ladder and set it against the chimney,
on which I ascended, and hoisting a window, entered and came
downstairs, unbarred the door, and removed the guns from
their places. It was then observed that I must spill the
first blood. Therefore, armed with a hatchet and
accompanied by Will, I entered my master's chamber. It
being dark I could not give a death blow. The hatchet
glanced from his head, and he sprang from the bed and called
his wife. It was his last word. Will laid him dead with a
blow of his axe, and Mrs. Travis shared the same fate, as
she lay in bed. The murder of this family, five in number,
was the work of a moment. Not one of them awoke. There was
a little infant sleeping in a cradle, that was forgotten,
until we had left the house and gone some distance. Henry
and Will returned and killed it. We took, here, four guns
that would shoot, and several old muskets, with a pound or
two of powder.
We remained some time at the barn, where we
paraded. I formed them in a line as soldiers, and after
carrying them through all the maneuvers I was master of,
marched them off the Mr. Salathul Francis', about six
hundred yards distant. Sam and Will went to the door and
knocked. Mr. Francis asked who was there, and Sam replied
it was him, and that he had a letter for him. He got up and
came to the door, and they immediately seized him, and
dragging him out a little from the door, he was dispatched
by repeated blows on the head. There was no other white
person in the family.
We started from there for Mrs. Reese's,
maintaining the most perfect silence on our march, where,
finding the door unlocked, we entered, and murdered Mrs.
Reese in her bed while sleeping. From Mrs. Reese's we went
to Mrs. Turner's, a mile distant, which we reached about
sunrise on Monday morning. Henry, Austin, and Sam, went to
the still, where, finding Mr. Peebles, Austin shot him, and
the rest of us went to the house. As we approached, the
family discovered us, and shut the door. Vain hope! Will,
with one stroke of his axe, opened it, and we entered and
found Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Newsome in the middle of a room,
almost frightened to death. Will immediately killed Mrs.
Turner with one blow of his axe. I took Mrs. Newsome by the
hand and with my sword struck her several blows over the
head, but not being able to kill her, because the sword was
dull, Will dispatched her also. A general destruction of
property and search for money and ammunition always
succeeded the murders.
(This behavior continued uninterrupted into the
afternoon, the rebellion gathering more and more slave
participants as it proceeded.)
Usually I took my station in the rear, and as it
was my object to carry terror and devastation wherever we
went, I placed fifteen or twenty of the best armed and most
relied on in front, who generally approached the houses as
fast as their horses could run. This was for two purposes,
to prevent escape and to strike terror to the inhabitants.
Because of this, I never got to the houses until the murders
were committed, except in the one case related earlier. We
immediately thereafter went in quest of other victims.
Having murdered Mrs. Waller and ten children, I
determined on starting for Jerusalem. Our number amounted
now to fifty or sixty, all mounted and armed with guns,
axes, swords and clubs. On reaching Mr. James W. Parker's
gate, immediately on the road leading to Jerusalem, and
about three miles distant, we were met by a party of white
men, who had pursued our blood-stained track. Immediately
on discovering the whites, I ordered my men to halt and
form, as they appeared to be alarmed. The white men, eight
een in number, approached us to within about one hundred
yards when they opened fire. Several of my bravest men were
wounded, and the others became panic struck and squandered
over the field. The white men pursued and fired on us
several times. Hark had his horse shot under him, and I
caught another for him as it was running by me. Finding
myself defeated here, I instantly determined to go through a
private way, and cross the Nottoway river at the Cypress
Bridge, three miles below Jerusalem, and attack that place
in the rear.
On my way back, I called at Mrs. Thomas's, Mrs.
Spencer's, and several other places, but the white families
having fled, we found no more victims to gratify our thirst
for blood. We stopped at Major Ridley's quarter for the
night, and being joined by four of his men, with the
recruits made since my defeat we mustered now about forty
strong. After placing out sentinels, I laid down to sleep,
but was quickly roused by a great racket. One of the
sentinels had given the alarm that we were about to be attac
ked, so I ordered some to ride round and reconnoiter, and on
their return many were alarmed, not knowing who the
attackers were, and so fled in different ways. Thus I
was
reduced to about twenty again. I do not know what became of
them, as I never saw them afterwards.
Pursuing our course back and coming in sight of
Captain Harris' place, we discovered a party of white men at
the house, at which time all deserted me but two, Jacob and
Nat. We concealed ourselves in the woods until near night,
when I sent them in search of Henry, Sam, Nelson, and Hark,
and directed them to rally all they could, at the place we
had had our dinner the Sunday before, where they would find
me. I accordingly returned there as soon as it was dark and
remained until Wednesday evening, when, discovering white
men riding around the place as though they were looking for
some one, and one of my men joining me, I concluded Jacob
and Nat had been taken, and compelled to betray me.
On this I gave up all hope for the present, and
on Thursday night, after having supplied myself with
provisions from Mr. Travis's, I scratched a hole under a
pile of fence rails in a field, where I concealed myself for
six weeks, never leaving my hiding place but for a few
minutes in the dead of night to get water, which was very
near. Thinking that after this amount of time that I could
venture out, I began to go about in the night and eavesdrop
on the houses in the neighborhood. I Pursued this course f
or about a fortnight, but gathered little or no
intelligence. I was afraid of speaking to any human being,
and returned every morning to my cave before the dawn of
day.
I know not how long I might have led this life,
if accident had not betrayed me. A dog in the neighborhood,
passing by my hiding place one night while I was out, was
attracted by some meat I had in my cave, and crawled in and
stole it, and was coming out just as I returned. A few
nights after, two Negroes went out hunting with the same
dog. They passed that way just as I had gone out to walk
about, and the dog discovered me and barked. Thinking
myself discovered, I spoke to them to beg concealment, but
on making myself known, they fled from me. Knowing then
they would betray me, I immediately left my hiding place,
and was pursued almost incessantly until I was taken a
fortnight afterwards by Mr. Benjamin Phipps, in a little
hole I had dug out with my sword, for the purpose of
concealment, under the top of a fallen tree. On Mr. Phipps'
discovering the place of my concealment, he cocked his gun
and aimed at me. I requested him not to shoot and I would
give up, upon which he demanded my sword. I delivered it to
him, and he brought me to prison. I am here loaded with
chains, and willing to suffer the fate that awaits me.
22nd August, 1831 The Commonwealth vs. Nat
Turner :
Charged with making insurrection, and plotting
to take away the
lives of divers free white
persons.
The prisoner was brought in and arraigned, and
pleaded Not guilty , saying to his counsel that he did not
feel so. Col. Trezvant was introduced, who being sworn,
narrated Nat's Confession to the court. The prisoner
introduced no evidence, and the case was submitted without
argument to the court, who having found him guilty, Jeremiah
Cobb, Esq., Chairman, pronounced the sentence of the court,
in the following words:
Attend then to the sentence of the Court. Your
have been arraigned and tried before this court, and
convicted of one of the highest crimes in our criminal code.
You have been convicted of plotting in cold blood, the
indiscriminate destruction of men, of helpless women, and of
infant children. The evidence before us leaves not a shadow
of doubt, but that your hands were often imbrued in the
blood of the innocent. And your confession tells us that
they were stained with blood of a master -- in your own
language -- "too indulgent". Could I stop here, your crime
would be sufficiently aggravated. But you managed to
deprive us of many of our most valuable citizens, and this
was done when they were asleep, and defenseless, under
circumstances shocking to humanity. Your only justification
is, that you were led away by fanaticism. If this be true,
from my soul I pity you. But while you have my sympathies,
I am, nevertheless, called upon to pass the sentence of the
court. The time between this and your execution will
necessarily be very short, and your only hope must be in
another world. The judgment of the court is, that you be
taken hence to the jail from whence you came, thence to the
place of execution, and on Friday next, between the hours of
10 A.M. and 2 P.M. be hung by the neck until you are dead!
dead! dead! And may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.
*From The Confessions of Nat Turner. Thomas
R.Gray, publisher. (Baltimore: 1831)
Recollections
of Harriet Jacobs*
Not far from this time Nat Turner's insurrection
broke out, and the news threw our town into great commotion.
Strange that they should be alarmed, when their slaves were
so "contented and happy"! But so it was.
By sunrise, people were pouring in from every
quarter within twenty miles of the town. I knew the houses
were to be searched; and I expected it would be done by
country bullies and the poor whites. It was a grand
opportunity for the low whites, who had no Negroes of their
own to scourge. They exulted in such a chance to exercise a
little brief authority, and show their subserviency to the
slave-holders; not reflecting that the power which trampled
on the colored people also kept themselves in poverty,
ignorance, and moral degradation.
Those who never witnessed such scenes can hardly
believe what I know was inflicted at this time on innocent
men, women, and children, against whom there was not the
slightest ground for suspicion. Colored people and slaves
who lived in remote parts of the town suffered in an
especial manner. In some cases the searchers scattered
powder and shot among their clothes, and then sent other
parties to find them, and bring them forward as proof that
they were plotting insurrection. Everywhere men, women, and
children were whipped till the blood stood in puddles at
their feet. Some received five hundred lashes; others were
tied hands and feet, and tortured with a buckling paddle,
which blisters the skin terribly. The dwellings of the
colored people, unless they happened to be protected by some
influential white person, who was nigh at hand, were robbed
of clothing and everything else the marauders thought worth
carrying away. All day long these unfeeling wretches went
round, like a troop of demons, terrifying and tormenting the
helpless. At night they formed themselves into patrol
bands, and went wherever they chose among the colored
people, acting out their brutal will. Many women hid
themselves in woods and swamps, to keep out of their way.
If any of the husbands or fathers told of these outrages, they were tied
up to the public whipping post, and cruelly scourged for
telling lies about white men. The consternation was
universal. No two people that had the slightest tinge of
color in their faces dared to be seen talking together.
Towards evening the turbulence increased. The
soldiers, stimulated by drink, committed still greater
cruelties. Shrieks and shouts continually rent the air.
Not daring to go to the door, I peeped under the window
curtain. I saw a mob dragging along a number of colored
people, each white man with his musket upraised, threatening
instant death if they did not stop their shrieks. Among the
prisoners was a respectable old colored minister. They had
found a few parcels of shot in his house, which his wife had
for years used to balance her scales. For this they were
going to shoot him on Court House Green. What a spectacle
was that for a civilized country! A rabble, staggering
under intoxication, assuming to be the administrators of
justice!
The better class of the community exerted their
influence to save the innocent, persecuted people; and in
several instances they succeeded, by keeping them shut up in
jail till the excitement abated. At last the white citizens
found that their own property was not safe from the lawless
rabble they had summoned to protect them. They rallied the
drunken swarm, drove them back into the country, and set a
guard over the town.
The next day, the town patrols were commissioned
to search colored people that lived out of the city; and the
most shocking outrages were committed with perfect impunity.
Every day for a fortnight, if I looked out, I saw horsemen
with some poor panting Negro tied to their saddles, and
compelled by the lash to keep up with their speed, till they
arrived at the jail yard. Those who had been whipped too
unmercifully to walk were washed with brine, tossed into a
cart, and carried to jail.
The wrath of the slaveholders was somewhat
appeased by the capture of Nat Turner. The imprisoned were
released. The slaves were sent to their masters, and the
free were permitted to return to their ravaged homes.
Visiting was strictly forbidden on the plantations. The
slaves begged the privilege of again meeting at their little
church in the woods, with their burying ground around it.
It was built by the colored people, and they had no higher
happiness than to meet there and sing hymns together, and
pour out their hearts in spontaneous prayer. Their request
was denied, and the church was demolished.
Revised
November 12, 2003
by Tom Gallup, e-mail address: [email protected]
West Valley College
http://www.westvalley.edu/wvc/ss/gallup/gallup.html