Nat Turner Rebellion Research Paper

1075 Words5 Pages
During the Fall months of 1831, slaves joined forces in Virginia with their main priority being to rebel against their slave owners, and their families. This slave rebellion was the deadliest in all of American history. This slave rebellion is infamously known as Turner’s Rebellion, as it was led by Nat Turner himself. Over 50 whites had been killed as well as the killings of around 200 blacks.Throughout this rebellion, newspaper journalists and writers began publishing articles, some letters, in the hopes to persuade readers to accept and support their thoughts on the event, as well as to influence others by sharing their own concepts of America and slavery. In these articles, men gave their “answers” to what they believed the cause of the…show more content…
“The Confessions of Nat Turner”, by lawyer Thomas R. Gray in 1831, contains the recordings of an interview conducted with Nat Turner while in prison confinement. This source describes for the most part an unbiased report of Nat Turner’s thoughts on the rebellion he had started and of the incivilities he had done. During the interview, Gray confronted Nat on his reasons for beginning such a horrifying rebellion. To that, Nat responded with, “To do so I must go back to the days of my infancy, and even before I was born.” As a child, Nat had an epiphany that helped to form life philosophy. 3 year-old Turner, while playing with other children, told them a story. Upon overhearing his story, Nat’s mother was astonished because this event in the story he was telling happened before he was born. This caused the belief that he was a prophet of God almighty. “I surely would be a prophet, as the Lord had [shown] me things that had happened before my birth.” With this being strengthened by his parents backing, it leads to an understanding of Nat Turners behavior. As he grew up, Turner had visions sent from God of “white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle.” These visions influenced him to round up his people, fellow slaves. “We had armed and equipped ourselves, and gathered sufficient
Show More
Related

  • Civil War Advantages

    1132 Words  | 5 Pages

    Colin O’Leary Research Paper The American Civil war, one of the bloodiest wars of any other American war, about 620,000 soldiers died and many injured (“Civil War Trusts”). If the nation would have stopped this war from happening and agreed on the same thing the U.S. could have saved that many soldiers from dying and letting then see their families again. The Civil War creates many questions and movements such as slavery, advantages, and how it affects people. First off, there was a big commotion

    Read More

More about Nat Turner Rebellion Research Paper

Open Document