Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Turner, Nat

Insurgent; born of negro slave parents in Virginia about 1800. In 1831 he confided to six men his belief that God had chosen him to lead the slaves to liberty, and laid out a plan to kill every white person and incite the whole slave population to insurrection. His party started out from Turner's own house, where his master was killed, and then a movement was made against neighboring plantations, where other slaves joined the party. In forty-eight [134] hours the party numbered sixty and had killed fifty-five white persons. The insurgents then made their way towards Jerusalem, Va., where they expected to increase their number and be supplied with fire-arms, but they divided and were attacked by two bodies of white men. Turner escaped to the woods, where, after living for two months, he was captured, tried, and hanged in Jerusalem, Va., Nov. 11, 1831. About the same time fifty-three other negroes were tried, seventeen of whom were hanged, while many others who were thought to be implicated were tortured, mutilated, shot, and burned.