,Nathaniel Taylor, never saw Africa. Born into a slave family on 11 October, 1800, he lived his entire life in Southampton County, Virginia. A life of servile bondage was the only one he ever knew. He did run away from time to time but he never travelled far, he would just hide out in the woods for a few days before returning, usually of his own volition. He needed time to himself because he was a dreamer, he had visions; and he was destined to lead the largest and most serious slave rebellion in the antebellum Old South.

Nathaniel, or Nat as he was known, was property. The surname Turner merely signified whom he belonged to. In his case, it was Samuel Turner, a prosperous local merchant who owned a number of slaves. Despite not having had any formal education Nat was considered to be highly intelligent. He had taught himself to both read and write and was known to be deeply religious. Indeed, he was referred to locally as The Prophet. He regularly held Bible classes and was a respected preacher, indeed he was a charismatic and much admired local figure and not just among his fellow slaves, and as such was granted more freedom than would have been normal for a slave.

The best description we have of Nat is taken from a reward notice for his capture issued in 1831. It described him as being, ” 5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, weighs between 150 and 160 pounds, rather bright complexion but not a mulatto, broad shoulder, large flat nose, large eyes.”

Nat increasingly believed himself to be the Instrument of God. ” I was ordained “, he said, ” for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty.” Convinced that he was in direct communication with God he would preach his visions to his flock, and they would be held in rapture:  ” The Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosed, and Christ had lain down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men and I should take it on and fight against the Serpent.”

Nat would indeed strike back against the Serpent but first he needed a sign from Heaven. He was a superstitious man and atmospheric conditions had always driven his decisions and they would also determine the timing of his rebellion: ” I saw lights in the sky, and I would pray to know what they meant, and my prayers would be answered by a sign from God.” And so he awaited his sign from Heaven.

On 12 February, 1831, a solar eclipse occurred in Virginia. Was this the sign? Nat saw it as a large black hand blotting out the sun. He began to prepare for rebellion. He gathered a small number of devoted followers around him but then changed his mind. Instead, he decided it must be the Fourth of July, Independence Day, the White man’s holiday. But again he hesitated, he required further confirmation, he said. On 13 August, 1831, Virginia witnessed yet another solar eclipse. It was all the confirmation Nat needed. He preached to his flock, ” drops of blood lay on the corn as though it were dew from Heaven.”

On the night of 21 August, 1831, the rebellion began. He had made no plans for escape and his motive seems to have been one of vengeance not of freedom, for he had ordered his followers to kill all the whites they could find. Eschewing the use of guns for his preferred weapons of choice, the knife, hatchet, and broadsword, they went from home to home butchering the occupants, men, women and children. and freeing the slaves. But the rebellion never took hold. The slaves he freed did not rush to join the rebellion, many did not even try to run away. They were either too domicile, too afraid, or too appalled at what Turner had done, and his followers never rose above 70. Just 48 hours after it had begun it was all over. Turner’s murder spree left 55 white men, women and children dead. He did not discriminate between his victims and many were slaughtered as they lay asleep in their beds. His first victims had been his owner and his family.

The Southern States, like all slave societies, were highly sensitive to the slightest sign of unrest, and as the news of the massacres filtered through the State Militia was speedily mobilised. They met little resistance and Turner’s men were quickly rounded up. Nat himself went on the run and wasn’t captured until 30 October when he was found by chance hiding in a hole. He later said under interrogation that he had meant to spare the women and children but had lost control of the situation. He had, it was true, by-passed the homes of the poorer whites because as he said, ” they thought no better of themselves than they did negroes.” His trial was a foregone conclusion and found guilty on charges of murder and inciting slave insurrection he was hanged on 11 November, 1831. in the aptly named town of Jerusalem. His body was left to hang for some time before being cut down, beheaded, flayed and quartered. A further 60 black slaves were executed as a result of the insurrection and hundreds more were attacked, beaten and murdered as vengeful white mobs went on the rampage.

Nat Turner’s revolt was only one of many in the Slave States of the American South but it was by far the most serious. It also occurred at a time when the ‘peculiar institution’ itself was being questioned, not just on moral grounds but economic ones. The labour intensive nature of cotton production was being seen as increasingly unprofitable and as more and more farms and plantations were being abandoned there was a surplus of slaves. But what to do with them? The pre-Civil War population of the South stood at 9 million, 5 million whites and 4 million black slaves, and the white population lived in constant fear of the slaves in their midst. Nat Turner’s rebellion only seemed to confirm their worse nightmares - free the black man and he will murder us in our beds.

As slavery spread farther north and technological improvements made the harvesting of cotton profitable once more slavery revived and was saved from dying the natural death that had seemed likely. Abolitionist attempts to curtail the further spread of slavery were now violently opposed, for any attempt to emancipate the black man would result in the enslavement of the white in return. The abolitionists meant to ruin the South, to wreck its economy and destroy their way of life; and what would follow? Their women would be raped and their children murdered. Hadn’t Nat Turner shown this? Following his rebellion the life of the slave became ever harsher. The liberties of freed blacks were now severely curtailed and the Militia system throughout the States was revived (something that was to prove invaluable in the coming war between the States). The State of Virginia now passed a Statute that forbade anyone from even debating the rights and wrongs of slavery. The entire South was now aware of, and paranoid about, its vulnerability. It perceived its very existence and way of life as being under threat, and in time it would show that it was willing to fight to preserve it.