Nat Turner’s Rebellion Facts & Worksheets

Life of Nat Turner

• Nat Turner was born into slavery on 2 October 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia. He and his family were enslaved by Benjamin Turner. After the latter’s death in 1810, it was his son, Samuel Turner, who inherited Nat. Although Nat was able to escape in 1821, he returned a month later after suffering from starvation.
• In the early 1820s, historians say Nat married an enslaved woman named Cherry or Chary at Samuel Turner's plantation and had one, two, or three children, including a son named Riddick. After Samuel’s death in 1823, Nat was separated from his family when he was sold to Thomas Moore and his family was sold to Giles Reese. In 1830, Joseph Travis purchased Nat.
• From an early age, Nat exhibited intelligence and leadership skills, and he acquired the ability to read and write, which was uncommon for an enslaved individual at the time. He witnessed and experienced the severe oppression and violence inflicted upon enslaved people while growing up in a society where slavery was a harsh reality. These experiences fueled his resentment towards the institution of slavery and the enslavers who perpetuated it.
• Nat also became deeply religious and conducted religious services, preaching the Bible to his fellow enslaved, earning him the title "The Prophet." Between 1822 and 1828, he had ten supernatural experiences, including apparitions of the Spirit and visions of the Holy Ghost.
• By 1828, he believed he was ordained for a great purpose by the Almighty. Motivated by his religious beliefs, he organised fellow enslaved people against enslavement, and his spiritual commitment significantly influenced the enslaved population in Virginia. This belief would later lead to a revolt.

Events of the Rebellion

Preparation

• Nat spent months preparing for the rebellion, carefully planning each step to ensure its success. He gathered a group of trusted followers, mainly fellow enslaved individuals, who shared his resentment towards the oppressive system of slavery. With strategic secrecy, Nat and his group devised a detailed plan, determining the timing, locations, and targets of the rebellion.
• As the date of the rebellion drew near, Nat and his fellow rebels began stockpiling weapons and supplies in hidden locations. They meticulously coordinated their efforts, communicating through a network of trusted individuals, all while maintaining utmost discretion to avoid detection by their enslavers.
• To avoid detection, it is said that Nat used specific songs to enlist the help of other conspirators in the woods. His wife, Cherry, was also said to have had access to his secret plans that he had been planning for years.

Uprising

• Nat saw the annular solar eclipse on 12 February 1831 as a divine signal to prepare for the rebellion. However, due to his illness, he was unable to launch the uprising on 4 July, Independence Day.
• On 13 August, an atmospheric disturbance, likely caused by a volcanic plume from Ferdinandea Island's eruption off the coast of Sicily, turned the Virginia sun bluish-green. Perceiving this as a heavenly sign, Nat launched the rebellion a week later, on 21 August.
• Nat and his fellow rebels, which grew to include nearly seventy Black people, systematically moved from household to household, seeking retribution for the years of oppression and brutality they had endured. They massacred white people without regard to their age or gender, using knives, hatchets, and blunt tools as their weapons.
• In an attempt to protect his own family, Nat ordered his crew to "kill all the white people" but instructed them to avoid Giles Reese’s property. Before the state militia eventually defeated the rebels, they killed about sixty white people.

Retaliation

• The local militia swiftly responded to Nat Turner's rebellion. Following a day of quelling the uprising, militias from nearby counties in Virginia and North Carolina, as well as detachments from the USS Natchez and USS Warren in Norfolk, joined the local militia. 
• The Virginia militia was under the command of Brigadier General William Henry Brodnax. The uprising was successfully suppressed at Belmont Plantation on 23 August.
• As the militia advanced, they conducted widespread searches and engaged in confrontations with individuals suspected of involvement in the rebellion. They were determined to find, apprehend, and punish those who had taken part in the violent acts during the uprising. They beheaded people who they believed to be involved and then displayed their severed heads on poles at intersections as a crude form of intimidation. Named "Blackhead Signpost Road" after the gruesome practice, the road where some of these macabre displays took place is now Virginia State Route 658.
• Following the uprising, there was more bloodshed for two weeks before an order was issued to stop the killings. It is said that a militia company from Hertford County, North Carolina, slaughtered forty Black people in a single day and stole a gold watch and $23. Most contemporary historians agree that up to 120 Black people were killed by militias and mobs, the majority of whom had no involvement in the uprising.

Capture

• Nat managed to evade capture for six weeks following the violent uprising, seeking refuge in various hiding spots in the rugged terrain of Southampton County. His wife was interrogated and physically abused in an attempt to force her to reveal information about his plans and whereabouts during the uprising. After a raid on the Reese plantation, on 26 September 1831, some of Nat's written plans were surrendered by his wife under pressure.