God Wanted Him To Lead

Nat Turner was convicted of starting a slave revolt on November 5th 1831.

Nat Turner the son of slaves and the property of Benjamin Turner was born October 2nd 1800 in Southampton County, Virginia. He was quite intelligent, and learned to read and write at a young age, taught by his Master’s son. Turner’s parents encouraged his deep held religious beliefs, and he spent a great deal of time reading the bible, fasting and praying. These beliefs caused him to believe that he had been chosen by God to lead his people out of bondage.

In 1831 upon the death of Benjamin Turner, Nat was sold to Joseph Travis. An eclipse of the sun in February of that year was seen as the sign Turner was waiting for from God to start the insurrection. On August 21st 1831 Turner and around seven other slaves murdered the Travis family, beginning the slave revolt.

Turner thought that his actions would cause a large scale uprising among slaves but in the end only about seventy-five joined him. The state militia with about three thousand member turned out and soon defeated the members of the revolt. Turner escaped capture for about six weeks. After being tried and found guilty on November 5th 1831, Turner was executed on the November 11th 1831 in Jerusalem Virginia. During the uprising about fifty whites were killed, but the retaliation saw more than hundred blacks murdered.