Who led the bloody slave uprising in Virginia in August 1830?
== == You may be surprised to learn the first uprising was
actually in 1800 by Gabriel Prosser. Born circa 1775, near
Richmond, VA. Died September 1800, Richmond, VA. He was an American
slave who planned the first major slave rebellion in U.S. history
(Aug. 30, 1800). His abortive revolt greatly increased the white's
fear of the slave population throughout the South. The son of an
African-born mother, Gabriel grew up as the slave of Thomas H.
Posser. Gabriel became a deeply religious man, strongly influenced
by biblical example. In the spring and summer of 1800, he laid
plans for a slave insurrection aimed at creating an independent
black state in Virginia with himself as king. He planned a 3
pronged attack on Richmond, VA, that would seize the arsenal, take
the powder house, and kill all whites except Frenchmen, Methodists,
and Quakers. Some historians believe that Gabriel's army of 1,000
slaves (estimates range from 2,000 to 50,000), assembled 6 miles
outside the city on the appointed night, might have succeeded had
it not been for a violent rainstorm that washed out bridges and
inundated roads. Before the rebel forces could be reassembled,
Governor James Monroe was informed of the plot and ordered out the
state militia. Gabriel and about 34 of his companions were
subsequently arrested, tried and hanged. 1831 NAT TURNER Born Oct.
2, 1800, Southampton county, VA, Died Nov. 11, 1831, Jerusalem, VA.
American slave who let the only effective, sustained slave
rebellion (August 1831) in U.S. history. Spreading terror
throughout the white South, his action set off a new wave of
oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and
assembly of slaves and stiffened proslavery, antiabolitionist
convictions that persisted in that region until the American Civil
War (1861-65.) Turner was born the property of a prosperous
small-plantation owner in a remote area of Virginia. His mother was
an African native who transmitted a passionate hatred of slavery to
her son. He learned to read from one of his master's sons, and he
eagerly absorbed intensive religious training. In the early 1820s
he was sold to a neighboring farmer of small means. During the
following decade his religious ardour tended to approach
fanaticism, and he saw himself called upon by God to lead his
people out of bondage. He began to exert a powerful influence on
many of the nearby slaves, who called him "The Prophet." In 1831,
shortly after he had been sold again, this time to a craftsman
named Joseph Travis, a sign in the form of an eclipse of the sun
caused Turner to believe that the hour to strike was near. His plan
was to capture the armoury at the county seat, Jerusalem, and,
having gathered many recruits, to press on to the Dismal Swamp, 30
miles to the east, where capture would be difficult. On the night
of August 21, together with 7 fellow slaves in whim he had put his
trust, he launched a campaign of total annihilation, murdering
Tavis, his family in their sleep and then setting forth on a bloody
march toward Jerusalem. In 2 days and nights about 60 white people
were ruthlessly slain. Doomed from the start, Turner's insurrection
was handicapped by lack of discipline among his followers and by
the fact that only 75 blacks rallied to his cause. Armed resistance
from the local whites and the arrival of the state militia, a total
force of 3,000 men, provided the final crushing blow. Only a few
miles from the county seat the insurgents were dispersed and either
killed or captured, and many innocent slaves were massacred in the
hysteria that followed. Turner eluded his pursuers for 6 weeks, but
was finally catured, tried, and hanged. Nat Turner's rebellion put
an end to the white Southern myth that slaves were either contented
with their lot or too servile to mount an armed revolt. In
Southampton county black people came to measure time from "Nat's
Fray," or "Old Nat's War." For many years in black churches
throughout the country, the name Jerusalem referred not only to the
Bible, but also to the place where the rebel slave had met his
death.
