Nat Turner Rebellion by Clare Swedzinski

Event One

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-11 18:54:36 UTC

Nat Turner was a very intelligent person. He believed he was much smarter than any other person and should not be a slave. He knew himself as a prophet and that God chose him due to his intelligence and the marking on his body. Turner has said how God had reached out to him and told him to start this rebellion. At a place called Cabin Pond. Turner and many other slaves came together to plan this rebellion. They all ate a meal and took vows to kill all slave owners. Including women and children. They were able to get guns and weapons from their owner's home, Mr. J Travis.

Event Two

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-11 18:54:44 UTC

The first killing of the rebellion was Mr. J Travis and his family. Turner and his men entered the house very quietly to ensure they wouldn't alarm the neighbors or wake the family because they planned to kill them in their sleep. Turner went downstairs and unbarred the door and removed the guns. Turner went into his master's chamber and took an axe to Mr. Travis's head, doing the same to Mrs. Travis. They had killed their first victims, a family of 5. They equipped guns, muskets, and gunpowder.

Event Three

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-11 18:55:06 UTC

Close to Mrs. Travis's home, there was Mr. Francis. They went there next. They knocked on the door to which Mr. Francis answered "Who is there?". Sam, a slave who was part of the rebellion, said it was him and that he had a letter got Mr. Francis. Mr. Francis opened the door and was instantly killed by many blows to the head. He was the only white family member, so they moved on.

Event Four

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 13:32:27 UTC

Monday morning, before sunrise, they arrived at Mrs. Reese's home. They were very silent "maintaining the most perfect silence". The door was unlocked, they came inside and killed Mrs. Reese in her sleep. Her son woke up, asking, "Who is that?" and then was instantly killed.

Event Six

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 13:32:38 UTC

6 of Turner's men left the group and went to Mr. Bryant's home an the come back to Mrs. Whitehead's home. As they got the house, they found Mr. Whitehead in the cotton patch. They called him over to them and Will killed Mr. Whithead with his "fatal axe". They continued back to the house and found the servant girl, who had run around the garden. All of the family had been killed besides Mrs. Whitehead and Margaret, who was her daughter. Turner soon then saw Will pulling Mrs. Whitehead out of the house and nearly severed her head from her body with his axe. Margaret hid in the corner and when Turner went up to her, she ran bu then soon was caught. Turner hit her on the head with a fence rail and killed her. The 6 men that had left earlier came back and told Turner that they had killed Mr. Bryant's family.

Event Seven

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 13:32:46 UTC

They split up again with some going to Mr. Porter's, Nathaniel Francis', Mr. Harris', and Mr. T Doyle's. When Turner had gotten to Mr. Porter's, he had escaped with his family. He left, realizing the alarm had spread. He went right to the other parties to join them. When Turner was on his way to rejoin, he spotted Mr. Doyle on the road and killed him. Turner found out that Mr. Harris was from home. He immediately pursued the course. He thought they would finish "the work of death and pillage". He went to Mr. Peter Edwards expecting to see them there, but they fled too.

Event Five

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 15:15:35 UTC

At sunrise, they arrived at Mrs Turner's home. Henry, Austin, and Sam went to the still where they found Mr. Peebles. Austin shot him. The rest of the men went to the house to which the family discovered them and shut the door. One of the slaves named Will, hit the door and broke it open with one stroke. They entered and found Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Newsome in the room extremely terrified. Mrs. Truner was immediately killed by Will. Nat Turner himself hit Mrs. Newsome with his sword multiple times, but couldn't hear her because the sword was dull. Will killed her himself. After the murders, they destroyed property and looked for money.

Event Eight

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 22:51:36 UTC

Turner then went to Mr. Barrow's, but he was already murdered. He pursued on their track to Capt. Harris'. He now had around 40 slaves joining his rebellion. Capt. Harris' family had escaped as well. Turner ordered his men to mount and march. It was about 9:00 Monday morning.

Event Nine

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 23:03:10 UTC

Turner and his men walked 3 miles to Mr.s Waller's home. Turner places 15-20 of his best armed and most reliable in the front. The approached the house as fast as their horses. This was to prevent escape and strike terror. They killed Mrs. Waller and 10 children and Mr. Williams and 2 little boys that happened to be there. Mrs. William's escaped and got some distance from the house but was eventually caught, brought back to the house, was shot after being shown her mangled dead husbands body.

Event Ten

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 23:13:26 UTC

Turner had a plan to head to Jerusalem. They had to pass through Mr. Parker's because that was part of the trip they needed to take. They had to stop due to relations. As they continued, they walked back to Mr. Parker's gate and a party of white men waited for them. There were 18 of them. One of them fired at Turner and his men. Many of his men were injured and killed. Nat realized they may be defeated. He had to find a way to get to Jerusalem and take over all of the whites. After a few days, Turner lost a lot of his best men. He reunited with the slaves and gained a coupe, from the fight at the gates. There were no more white people, they either fled or got killed. They stopped at Marji Ridley's quarter for the night. They were woken up by a loud noises. One of the senitals warned Turner that they were going to be attacked. Turner and half of the men, some were forced to flee, had been left to fight. Turner's numbers were slowly going down.

Event Eleven

clareswedzinski — 2024-04-12 23:30:45 UTC

After Turner and his men discovered a group of white men, they decided to hide for the night. They remained in hiding until Wednesday. On Thursday, Turner supplied himself. He had dug a hole under the fence rails in the field. He hid there for 6 weeks, not leaving until night to get water. A man named Mr. Phipps found Turner's hiding spot. He loaded his gun and held Turner at gunpoint. Turner begged him not to shoot and told Phipps he would give up. Mr. Phipps demanded Turner's sword and brought him to prison. "I am here loaded with chains, and willing to suffer the fate that awaits

me." - Nat Turner