Nat Turner's Insurrection

On 21 Aug. 1831, enslaved preacher Nat Turner began an insurrection five miles west of here with a force that grew to about 60 men. They killed nearly 60 white people before the revolt was suppressed within two days. In retaliation, white residents and militias killed an indeterminable number of African Americans in Southampton County and beyond. Thirty-one black people were later convicted in court of supporting the revolt; 19 were hanged. Turner was captured on 30 Oct., tried and convicted, and hanged on 11 Nov. In 1832, responding to the nation's deadliest slave revolt, the Virginia General Assembly debated proposals for gradual emancipation but instead tightened laws governing black Virginians.