The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia
By Nat Turner
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
A DOCSOUTH BOOK. This collaboration between UNC Press and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library brings classic works from the digital library of Documenting the American South back into print. DocSouth Books uses the latest digital technologies to make these works available in paperback and e-book formats. Each book contains a short summary and is otherwise unaltered from the original publication. DocSouth Books provide affordable and easily accessible editions to a new generation of scholars, students, and general readers.
Nat Turner
Nat Turner (1800-1831) was an African American preacher and rebel. Born into slavery in Southampton County, Virginia, Turner learned to read and write as a boy. Known for his devotion to prayer and the Bible, Turner often spoke of receiving visions from God. At 21, he escaped slavery for a month before returning to Samuel Turner. Sold to Thomas Moore, he was working in the fields one day in 1824 when he foresaw a day of judgment ahead. He began preaching to enslaved African Americans and white Southerners alike, gaining a reputation as “The Prophet.” In 1831, after witnessing a solar eclipse, he began preparation for his rebellion by purchasing muskets and gathering his closest allies. On August 21st, he gathered around 70 enslaved and free African Americans, many of them armed and on horseback. Over the next several days, the rebels moved from house to house, freeing slaves and killing the slaveowners they encountered. Soon, a state militia arrived to strike down the insurrectionists, leading to the execution of over a hundred Black people in the area. Captured six weeks later, Turner was tried on November 5th and hanged on November 11th. His last words at the trial, reportedly, were “Was Christ not crucified?” Despite the failure of the insurrection, Turner and his allies have been recognized for their commitment to Black liberation for giving their lives to defend their people from injustice, enslavement, and persecution. Using jailhouse interviews with Turner and independent research, Thomas Ruffin Gray, an attorney who represented some of the rebels, published The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831). Since his execution, Turner has inspired generations of activists, artists, and political figures alike with his commitment to revolutionary action and moral indignation regarding the institution of slavery.
Read more from Nat Turner
The Confessions of Nat Turner (Illustrated) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Forgotten, Never Could be: Documented Testimonies of Former Slaves, Memoirs & History of Abolitionist Movement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving to Tell the Horrid Tales: True Life Stories of Fomer Slaves, Historical Documents & Novels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Most Influential Memoirs Of Former Slaves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelve Years a Slave and Other Slave Narratives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born a Slave: Anthology: Collected Memoirs and Interviews Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking the Chains: Collection of the Most Influential Narratives that Shook the Roots of Slavery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia
Related ebooks
In the Matter of Nat Turner: A Speculative History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Freedom Bought with Blood: African American War Literature from the Civil War to World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eric Walrond: A Life in the Harlem Renaissance and the Transatlantic Caribbean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMadison County, Mississippi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Neeg'-Er: Healing the Ontological Wound of the “N” Word Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfessions of an Elderly Young Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of William Apess, Pequot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Return of the Tidal Flow of the Middle Passage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsREPARATIONS: An urgent requirement for Humanity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRunaway Slave Settlements in Cuba: Resistance and Repression Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFacing Racial Revolution: Eyewitness Accounts of the Haitian Insurrection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ruins; Or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires and the Law of Nature Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Haitian Revolution and the Early United States: Histories, Textualities, Geographies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChaotic Justice: Rethinking African American Literary History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfro-Mexican Constructions of Diaspora, Gender, Identity and Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnterprising Women: Gender, Race, and Power in the Revolutionary Atlantic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCovid Stories from East Africa and Beyond: Lived Experiences and Forward-Looking Reflections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBallin' Both Sides of a Real and Deadly Game!: The True Life Story and Experiences of Miami's Liberty City's Promised Child Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore Equiano: A Prehistory of the North American Slave Narrative Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBiographical Memorials of James Oglethorpe: Founder of the Colony of Georgia, in North America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEngines of Redemption: Railroads and the Reconstruction of Capitalism in the New South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedemption from Tyranny: Herman Husband's American Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMusic and the Making of a New South Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Conquering Spirit: Fort Mims and the Redstick War of 1813–1814 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Equality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Louisiana: Crossroads of the Atlantic World Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
United States History For You
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Right Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Kids: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Men Who Stare at Goats Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia
6 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5it doesn't get any better than this
Book preview
The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia - Nat Turner
The Confessions
of Nat Turner, the
Leader of the Late
Insurrection in
Southampton, Va.
By Nat Turner
Edited by Thomas R. Gray
A DocSouth Books Edition
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library
Chapel Hill
A DocSouth Books Edition, 2011
ISBN 978-0-8078-6945-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
Published by
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library
CB #3900 Davis Library
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
http://library.unc.edu
Documenting the American South
http://docsouth.unc.edu
docsouth@unc.edu
Distributed by
The University of North Carolina Press
116 South Boundary Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-3808
1-800-848-6224
http://www.uncpress.org
This book was digitally printed.
About This Edition
This edition is made available under the imprint of DocSouth Books, a collaborative endeavor between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library and the University of North Carolina Press. Titles in DocSouth Books are drawn from the Library’s Documenting the American South
(DocSouth) digital publishing program, online at docsouth.unc.edu. These print and downloadable e-book editions have been prepared from the DocSouth electronic editions.
Both DocSouth and DocSouth Books present the transcribed content of historic books as they were originally published. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and typographical errors are therefore preserved from the original editions. DocSouth Books are not intended to be facsimile editions, however. Details of typography and page layout in the original works have not been preserved in the transcription.
DocSouth Books editions incorporate two pagination schemas. First, standard page numbers reflecting the pagination of this edition appear at the top of each page for easy reference. Second, page numbers in brackets within the text (e.g., [Page 9]
) refer to the pagination of the original publication; online versions of the DocSouth works use this same original pagination. Page numbers shown in tables of contents and book indexes, when present, refer to the original works’ printed page numbers and therefore correspond to the page numbers in brackets.
Summary
During a span of approximately thirty-six hours, on August 21-22, a band enslaved people murdered over fifty unsuspecting white people in Southampton, Virginia. The exact number killed remains unsubstantiated—various sources claim anywhere from fifty to sixty-five. Almost all of those involved (or suspected of involvement) in the insurrection were put to death, including Nat Turner, who was the last known conspirator to be captured. Following his discovery, capture, and arrest over two months after the revolt, Turner was interviewed in his jail cell by Thomas Ruffin Gray, a wealthy Southampton lawyer and slave owner (French). The resulting extended essay (summarized below), The Confessions of Nat Turner, The Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, VA.,
was used against Turner during his trial. The repercussions of the rebellion in the South were severe: many slaves who had no involvement in the rebellion were murdered out of suspicion or revenge.
Gray attempts to commit his [Turner's] statements to writing, and publish them, with little or no variation, from his own words
(p. 3-4). It should be noted, however, that