Nat Turner's Rebellion Began in Virginia
On this day · 21 August 1831
An enslaved preacher launched the deadliest slave revolt in US history, a single bloody day that hardened a nation toward civil war.
On the night of August 21, 1831, an enslaved preacher named Nat Turner led a small band of followers out of the Travis farmstead in Southampton County, Virginia, beginning the deadliest slave revolt in American history. Believing he was guided by divine visions, Turner moved his rebels from farm to farm toward the county seat of Jerusalem.
Over roughly 24 hours, the uprising swelled to some 70 enslaved and free Black men and left about 55 white people dead. State and local militia, joined by federal forces, crushed the revolt within two days. Turner himself evaded capture for more than two months before he was caught, tried, and hanged on November 11, 1831.
The revolt was over in a day, but its shock reshaped a nation.
In its wake, Virginia and other Southern states passed harsher laws restricting the movement, education, and assembly of both enslaved and free Black people. The rebellion deepened the sectional divide over slavery, fueling the tensions that would erupt three decades later in the Civil War.
Sources & references
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