# data[].attributes.body
On August 21, 1831, Nat Turner lead a violent insurrection but after he hid for several weeks and was later found and hanged.

# data[].attributes.body
Up to 60 people were killed during Turner's Rebellion.  The first victim's were his slave master, his wife, a hired helper, and an infant. Up to 75 people joined in the rebellion.

# data[].attributes.body
On  February 12, 1831 Nat Turner witnessed a solar eclipse and thought it was a sign from God to start his planning for his uprising.

# data[].attributes.body
Nat Turner was an educated man despite being a slave.

# data[].attributes.body
At first Nat Turner left his plantation and was heading to where his father was but said he got a message that he should head back to his former master.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Turner was an educated minister as well as a slave.

Turner reportedly told Thomas Ruffin Gray in a jailhouse interview published in "The Confessions of Nat Turner" that when he was three or four years old, he could provide details of events that occurred before his birth. His astonished mother and others took the comments as signs that he was a prophet and "intended for some great purpose." The young slave showed "uncommon intelligence" and was taught to read and write. His deeply religious grandmother nurtured his spiritual development. "To a mind like mine, restless, inquisitive and observant of every thing that was passing, it is easy to suppose that religion was the subject to which it would be directed," said Turner, who regularly read the Bible and preached to his fellow slaves.

He once ran away from his master-and returned a month later.

When Turner was 21, he followed in his father's footsteps and escaped from his owner. To the astonishment of his fellow slaves, however, the future rebel leader came back to the plantation after spending 30 days in the woods because, as Turner reportedly told Gray, "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."

Turner claimed to have been divinely chosen to lead the rebellion.

The divine message to return to his master wasn't the last that Turner would claim to have received from God. He reportedly confessed to Gray that he received divine visions to avenge slavery and lead his fellow slaves from bondage. The most vivid of these visions came on May 12, 1828, when Turner "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."

An eruption of Mount St. Helens may have triggered the launch of the rebellion.

When the daytime sky went dark on February 12, 1831, during a solar eclipse, Turner believed it a sign from God to begin the planning for his uprising. After meeting secretly for months with fellow plotters, the daylight sky once again took on an odd appearance on August 13, 1831. As Patrick H. Breen details in his new book "The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood: A New History of the Nat Turner Revolt," newspapers from Georgia to New York printed accounts of the the sun "shorn of its beams" and shedding "a grayish-blue light on the earth." Through the hazy light, a sunspot was also visible to the naked eye. While Turner took the sun's strange appearance as a sign to proceed with the insurrection, its true cause was an atmospheric disturbance that could have been tied to an event nearly 3,000 miles away-that year's eruption of Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington.

The slaves may have killed as many as 60 men, women and children.

The rebellion began when Turner's small band of hatchet-wielding slaves killed his master, Joseph Travis, along with his wife, nine-year-old son and a hired hand as they slept in their beds. Realizing they had left one family member alive in the house, two slaves returned to the Travis home and killed "a little infant sleeping in a cradle" before dumping its body in the fireplace. As they swept through the countryside, Turner's men freed slaves as they continued the killings. Upwards of 75 of them joined the uprising over the ensuing two days and killed dozens of whites.

After eluding the militia for two months, Turner was captured by a farmer.

Hundreds of federal troops and thousands of militiamen quelled the uprising after 48 hours and captured most of its participants-except for Turner himself. In spite of an intense manhunt, the ringleader remained hidden in the woods just miles away from the Travis farm, where the rebellion began, for two months. On October 30, 1831, Benjamin Phipps was walking across a nearby farm and noticed "some brushwood collected in a manner to excite suspicion," according to a Richmond newspaper, below an overturned pine tree. When Phipps raised his gun, a weak, emaciated Turner emerged from the foxhole and surrendered.

More than 50 slaves were executed in the rebellion's aftermath.

Dozens of slaves stood trial for their participation in the rebellion. While some were acquitted, more than 50 were convicted and sentenced to death by a collection of 20 judges-all slaveholders. In addition, revenge-minded white mobs lynched blacks who played no part in the uprising. While some historians have estimated that the mobs killed between 100 and 200 slaves, Breen estimates the death toll closer to 40. He points out that slaveholders wished "to protect their enslaved property" and a week after the revolt the Virginia militia issued an order prohibiting the killing of slaves in an attempt to reign in the vigilantes.

The divinely inspired Turner ironically met his end in a town named Jerusalem.

After his arrest, Turner was taken to the seat of Southampton County, a small town called Jerusalem (present-day Courtland, Virginia). Six days after his capture, he stood trial and was convicted of "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection." Sentenced to death, Turner was hanged from a tree on November 11, 1831.

Turner may have been skinned after his execution.

Turner's body did not receive a formal burial, but details about what did happen to the body are not known. As Tony Horwitz reported in the New Yorker, according to several reports, the rebel leader's corpse was given to doctors for dissection and his body parts distributed among white families. As recounted by John W. Cromwell in a 1920 article in the Journal of Negro History, "Turner was skinned to supply such souvenirs as purses, his flesh made into grease, and his bones divided as trophies to be handed down as heirlooms."

In the wake of the rebellion, states passed laws making it illegal to teach African-Americans how to read or write.

"Nat Turner's revolt contributed to the radicalization of American politics that helped set the United States on its course toward the Civil War," writes Breen. In Virginia, the rebellion marked the end of a nascent abolitionist movement. Months after the insurrection, the Virginia legislature narrowly rejected a measure for gradual emancipation that would have followed the lead of the North. Instead, pointing to Turner's intelligence and education as a major cause of the revolt, measures were passed in Virginia and other states in the South that made it unlawful to teach slaves and free African-Americans how to read or write.

Watch the groundbreaking series reimagined. Watch ROOTS now on HISTORY.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Things You May Not Know About Nat Turner's Rebellion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Turner reportedly told Thomas Ruffin Gray in a jailhouse interview published in "The Confessions of Nat Turner" that when he was three or four years old, he could provide details of events that occurred before his birth. His astonished mother and others took the comments as signs that he was a prophet and "intended for some great purpose."

# data[].attributes.body
Nat Turner in 2002 was considered one of the greatest African-Americans in history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nat Turner: Interesting Facts for kids ***

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Check out this site for interesting facts about Nat Turner for kids. Short Summary, Biography and Fun Facts about Nat Turner. Biography and Interesting Facts about Nat Turner for kids.

# data[].attributes.body
Nat turner claim that the reason for the revolution
was because God wanted it and even when he was young his mother and grandmother said he was a Prophet based on how he could describe things he didn't even know about but he was usually right.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Who Was Nat Turner?

Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 to November 11, 1831) was a slave who became a preacher and made history as the leader of one of the bloodiest slave revolts in America on August 21, 1831. Following the insurrection Turner hid for six weeks, but he was eventually caught and later hanged. The incident ended the emancipation movement in that region and led to even harsher laws against slaves. While Turner became an icon of the 1960s black power movement, others have criticized him for using violence as a means of demanding change.

Nat Turner Movie and Book

Turner was the subject of William Styron's 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Confessions of Nat Turner.

Nat Turner's life and uprising was also the subject of the 2016 film, The Birth of a Nation, which was directed, written by and starring Nate Parker. The film won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

On August 21, 1831, Nat Turner and his supporters began a revolt against white slave owners with the killing of his owners, the Travis family.

Turner believed in signs and heard divine voices, and he had a vision in 1825 of a bloody conflict between black and white spirits. Three years later, he had what he believed to be another message from God. In his later confession, Turner explained "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." Turner would receive another sign to tell him when to fight, but this latest message meant "I should arise and prepare myself and slay my enemies with their own weapons."

Turner took a solar eclipse that occurred in February 1831 as a signal that the time to rise up had come. He recruited several other slaves to join him in his cause. Turner gathered more supporters-growing to a group of up to 40 or 50 slaves-as he and his men continued their violent spree through the county. They were able to secure arms and horses from those they killed. Most sources say that about 55 white men, women and children died during Turner's rebellion.

Initially, Turner had planned to reach the county seat of Jerusalem and take over the armory there, but he and his men were foiled in this plan. They faced off against a group of armed white men at a plantation near Jerusalem, and the conflict soon dissolved into chaos. Turner himself fled into the woods.

While Turner hid, white mobs took their revenge on the blacks of Southampton County. Estimates range from approximately 100 to 200 African Americans were slaughtered after the rebellion.

Nat Turner's Death

Turner was eventually captured on October 30, 1831. He was represented by lawyer Thomas R. Gray, who wrote down Turner's confession. Turner pled not guilty during his trial, believing that his rebellion was the work of God. He was sentenced to death by hanging, and this sentence was carried out on November 11, 1831. Many of his co-conspirators met the same fate.

The incident put fear in the heart of Southerners, ending the organized emancipation movement in that region. Southern states enacted even harsher laws against slaves instead. Turner's actions also added fuel to the abolitionist movement in the North. Noted abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison even published an editorial in his newspaper The Liberator in support of Turner to some degree.

When and Where Was Nat Turner Born?

Turner was born on October 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia, on the Virginia plantation of Benjamin Turner.

Family and Early Life

Turner's mother was named Nancy, but nothing is known about his father. Nat Turner's slave owner Benjamin allowed him to be instructed in reading, writing and religion.

As a small child, Turner was thought to have some special talent because he could describe things that happened before he was even born. Some even remarked that he "surely would be a prophet," according to his later confession. His mother and grandmother told Turner that he "was intended for some great purpose." Turner was deeply religious and spent much of his time reading the Bible, praying and fasting.

Over the years, Turner worked on a number of different plantations. He ran away from Samuel Turner, his former owner's brother, in 1821. After 30 days hiding in the woods, Turner came back to Turner's plantation after he received what he believed to be a sign from God. After Samuel Turner's death, Nat Turner became the slave of Thomas Moore and then the property of his widow. When she married John Travis, Nat Turner went to work on Travis' lands.

Legacy

Over the years, Turner has emerged as a hero, a religious fanatic and a villain. Turner became an important icon to the 1960s black power movement as an example of an African American standing up against white oppression.

Others have objected to Turner's indiscriminate slaughtering of men, women and children to try to achieve this end. As historian Scot French told The New York Times, "To accept Nat Turner and place him within the pantheon of American revolutionary heroes is to sanction violence as a means of social change. He has a kind of radical consciousness that to this day troubles advocates of a racially reconciled society. The story lives because it's relevant today to questions of how to organize for change."

Related Videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 to November 11, 1831) was a slave who became a preacher and made history as the leader of one of the bloodiest slave revolts in America on August 21, 1831. Following the insurrection Turner hid for six weeks, but he was eventually caught and later hanged.

# data[].attributes.body
Nat Turner reportedly told an interviewer that God had sent him divine visions to lead other slaves in a rebellious horde.