Nat Turner's Rebellion, known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831, led by Nat Turner.
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Nat Turner's Rebellion, known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831, led by Nat Turner.
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Nat Turner was an enslaved African-American preacher who organized and led the four-day rebellion of enslaved and free Black people in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831.
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When Benjamin Turner died in 1810, under then-current laws which made slavery legal, Nat was inherited as property by Benjamin's son Samuel Turner.
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Nat Turner knew little about the background of his father, who was believed to have escaped from slavery when Nat Turner was a young boy.
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Nat Turner frequently had visions which he interpreted as messages from God, and these visions influenced his life.
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Nat Turner often conducted services, preaching the Bible to his fellow enslaved people, who dubbed him "The Prophet".
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In 1830, Joseph Travis purchased Nat Turner, and Nat Turner later recalled that he was "a kind master" who had "placed the greatest confidence" in him.
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Nat Turner eagerly anticipated God's signal to "slay my enemies with their own weapons".
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Nat Turner began preparations for an uprising against the enslavers in Southampton County by purchasing muskets.
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Nat Turner said, "I communicated the great work laid out to do, to four in whom I had the greatest confidence, " fellow slaves Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam.
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Nat Turner began communicating his plans to a small circle of trusted fellow slaves.
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Nat Turner believed the eclipse to be a sign that it was time to revolt.
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Nat Turner envisioned this as a Black man's hand reaching over the sun.
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Nat Turner originally planned to begin the rebellion on Independence Day, July 4,1831, but he had fallen ill and used the delay for additional planning with his co-conspirators.
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Nat Turner confessed to killing only one person, Margaret Whitehead, whom he killed with a blow from a fence post.
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Nat Turner thought that revolutionary violence would serve to awaken the attitudes of Whites to the reality of the inherent brutality in slave-holding.
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Nat Turner later said that he wanted to spread "terror and alarm" among Whites.
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Nat Turner was tried on November 5,1831, for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", and was convicted and sentenced to death.
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Nat Turner's body was then dissected and flayed, his skin being used to make purses as souvenirs.
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Nat Turner received no formal burial; his headless remains were possibly buried in an unmarked grave.
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Nat Turner's book was derived partly from research Gray did while Turner was in hiding and partly from jailhouse conversations with Turner before trial.
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