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Nat Turner was born October 2, 1800 in Southampton County, Virginia. He was born on the farm of Benjamin Turner. According to legend, his mother tried to kill him as soon as he was born to spare him a life of slavery, but she was tied to her bed until she calmed down. It has been said that Nat's mother was an African queen from the kingdoms of the upper Nile, and that she was forced to march for one thousand miles to the Atlantic. We do know it is true that she was taken from Africa while in her teens and was renamed Nancy. Not much is known about his father, except that he was a second-generation slave.
His mother and grandmother taught him about his African heritage. While he was young, a traditional African search of his bodily bumps and marks proved that he would be a prophet. Nat learned to read and write when he was a child. It was illegal in Virginia to teach a slave to read, out of fear that they would read abolitionist writings and begin revolts, but somehow he learned. He himself said that the alphabet "came to him" in a vision, finding the letters burned into leaves on the ground. Maybe some old slaves taught him.
Most likely, his master's family taught him. Nevertheless, when Benjamin found out about his reading, he encouraged it-as long as it was only the Bible. His grandmother, Bridget, had become a Christian and passed on the religion to Nat, which gave him all the more reason to read the Bible. He liked to read the Old Testament because he didn't like what the New Testament was about (forgiveness, but the whites didn't show that). Once he became a Christian, religion and freedom were in his mind. He was in the fields one day when he apparently heard a voice telling him to seek the Kingdom of Heaven, which he interpreted as the end of slavery.
He believed his whole life that it was his destiny to lead all of his fellow slaves to freedom, and for most of his life, he planned his revolt. Upon Benjamin Turner's death, Benjamin's son, Samuel, inherited Nat. Virginia fell into a depression around that time, and Samuel hired an overseer to push the slaves harder. Nat ran away.
For two weeks, he was hunted by dogs and people, but was not found. He showed up at the plantation a month later, claiming that the Spirit told him that he was selfish. Samuel was shocked, and gave him a lighter workload. It also caused Nat to see that his destiny was one of freedom of his people, not just himself. He married soon after, in 1821, to a slave named Cherry. Just after their second child was born, in 1822, Samuel Turner died, with no inheritance.
All of the Turner property, lamps, tables, chairs, tools, livestock and slaves, were priced and sold. Nat was given a top price of $ 400. Cherry was valued at $ 40. The slaves were sold like chickens and hogs. Cherry and his children were sold to Giles Reese, while Nat was sold to Thomas Moore. Incredibly, the two were neighbors.
They were also fortunate not to be sold to turpentine or hemp farms, where slaves were practically worked to death. Nat took advantage of his religion. From 1825 to 1830, he would preach in black churches in Southampton and Greenville Counties on Sundays. The slave owners liked the idea of a black preaching to the slaves; because they felt that they would learn better from one of their own. Nat did it not only for religion.
When he traveled, he got to know every slave at every plantation in the area, not to mention every road, lake, swamp thicket and shed within thirty miles. He learned who could be trust-worthy, who could betray, who sided with their owners, because the massive slave revolts of Denmark Vesey and Gabriel Prosser had failed by just one betrayal. His most amazing religious feat was when he convinced a white man, E. T. Brantley, to quit as a slave owner and convert to Methodism. Brantley even asked Nat to baptize him.
It was out of the reach of anyone else's mind to even think of a black baptizing a white! They set the date at a river and news of the event spread throughout the area. On the big day, a large crowd threatened and jeered the two, yet the baptism was carried out. He was the most popular black preacher for miles around.
The slaves knew what he meant by sin, judgment and salvation: freedom. So did a few whites. A few warned the Moores that he was stirring a rebellion and requested that they keep Nat at home, but they felt that he was harmless. He didn't drink, steal or gamble, was polite and worked like a mule during the week, so they let him continue preaching. On May 12, 1828, Nat said that there was a "great noise" in the heavens and that "the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be the last and the last should be the first. " He saw more signs, and took them to mean that he should rise and slay his enemies with their own weapons.
He shared these visions only with his most trusted friends, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, Sam Francis, Henry Porter, Billy Artis and Barry Newsome, who would all go on to help in his revolt. Only once did he mention something about a revolt to his owners, and he was whipped for it. Soon after, Thomas Moore died and became the property of Joseph Travis, who had married the widowed Sally Moore. Turner waited for a sign to begin. It came in February 1831, when a full eclipse of the sun occurred. Many superstitious people believed that the end of the world was at hand.
Nat, however, took this to be the sign that he was waiting for. He told his 20 most trustworthy friends to prepare their weapons, inform their friends and wait, for the time of the attack was coming. Hark Travis was Nat's second-in-command. Nelson Williams was rumored to have special powers. Henry Porter and Sam Francis were more ordinary slaves, although they were reliable and agreeable. Billy Artis and Barry Newsome were both free black men who would prove to be reliable warriors.
They began to meet regularly and make their plans in secret. They made a list of about 20 other blacks. They also used the information that Nat had collected over the years, such as efficient routes, the number of slaves, firearms, horses and mules on each plantation and which whites to kill and which ones to spare, in planning their insurrection. They set the date for July 4, 1831, because it was a holiday, which meant a lighter workload and free time, while the whites were at ease and usually drunk. The significance of the date was important to the conspirators because it would be the date of their independence, too. All plans were set and everyone got edgier as the date got sooner.
Unfortunately, Nat became sick as the date came and the rebellion was temporarily postponed. Nat later said that all of the anticipation "affected my mind. " He waited for one final sign, which came on Saturday, August 13. There was a strange darkness in which one could look directly at the sun. It shimmered and changed colors, from blue to white to green. This was visible all along the East Coast, and people became fearful.
Suddenly, a black sunspot passed slowly across the surface of the sun. He called his group together this would be the time. Soon the word reached the waiting slaves in Southampton County. The following Sunday morning, whites passing by a black church noticed that the slaves were more "disorderly" than normal while listening to a "hell and damnation" sermon.
The preacher was Nat Turner. The next day, on the 15 th, a slave girl overheard a discussion relating to Nat. On the 18 th, a Thursday, a slave named Isham told another, "General Nat is going to rise and murder all the whites. " After the incident, reports showed that many slaves in the area in Virginia and North Carolina knew that something was going to happen. On Saturday, the 20 th, Nat left the fields for the last time.
He told Hark Travis to prepare a dinner for his "chosen four, " Hark, Nelson Williams, Henry Porter and Sam Francis, at nearby Cabin Pond. The group met around three o'clock on the 21 st. They sat around a fire, roasting a pig and sharing apple brandy. They made their final plans to strike that night. They would begin at the Turner household, where Nat was owned. They would use terror and speed as the initial advantage.
In a final speech, Nat said, "We do not go forth for the sake of blood and carnage, but it is necessary that... all the whites we meet should die... Remember that ours is not a war for robbery... it is a struggle for freedom. " He added, "We shall spare neither age nor sex. " They doused their fire, picked up their hatchets and knives and set out on their historic journey. At two o'clock, the band of five arrived at the yard of the Travis house, along with four others. Hark got a ladder and placed against the side of the house.
Nat climbed it alone and unlocked the front door in a matter of seconds. The rebels crept into the house. Nat deal...
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Research essay sample on Nat Turner A Heroic And Respected Black
