Nat Turner: The Fight for Freedom
...reamer, a visionary, a revolutionary, Nat Turner was fantastic mixture of gentleness, ruthlessness and piety.” (Bennett131,134) Some whites were suspicious of him and addressed this issue to the Moores, but Thomas Moore saw that Nat was polite and courteous and thought him to be completely harmless. Nat was, after all, a hard worker who did not drink or gamble. Thomas reassured his neighbors that they were just paranoid. Nat became the most sought after preacher from miles around. He was an inspirational figure, and his eloquence won over his audience. As he often traveled around, Nat spent a whole lot of time visiting his wife and children. On these occasions, he learned all the blacks and whites in the area, observing which whites were cruel and which ones were not. He also studied which slaves were loyal to their masters, and which ones were individuals like himself. He was putting the pieces together for his plan. Nat knew he must be cautious about this plan because he had observed that many of the attempted rebellions before him were betrayed by slaves that took part. On May 12, 1828, the first sign came to Nat. He described it as having great noise from the sky that tells him he must get ready on his rebellion. Other signs from heaven will show him when to begin. He had kept these signs to himself, revealing it to not even his most trusted followers. After Moore’s death later that year, Nat became the servant of Thomas Moore’s nine-year-old son, Putnam. The widow Moore, Sally, soon married a man named Joseph Travis, who moved his business to the country and took up supervision of the farm with seventeen slaves. When a major eclipse of the sun took place in February of 1831, people of different races thought it to be the end of the world. Nat, on the other hand, saw it as the second sign. It was time to plan. Nat had carefully chosen twenty people of whom he had complete trust upon. It was such a secretive group that until today, we only have the names of about eight of them. His wife cherry was one of them. She was entrusted a map that would lead them where to rebel. Hark, a slave from the Travis farm, was Turner’s second in command. He was a giant, called “black Apollo” by the whites. Nelson Williams lives in the Williams farm four miles south of Jerusalem. He had special privilege like that of Nat’s, because he was allowed to move around more than the other slaves. He was a leader, nonetheless. Henry Porter was one out of thirty slaves in a good size plantation. He was in charge of recruiting slaves he deemed trustworthy. Two free blacks Nat had trust in were Billy Artis, an independent farmer, and Barry Newsome, whom we do not know much about, except that he was trusted by Nat and that should be enough. With all these trustworthy men on his side, Nat planned his attack on July 4th, 1831. This was perhaps to be ironic, the day the whites get their independence, the blacks would too. Nat, however, became too weak for the attack on July 4th, but he reassured his followers another day would come when god would give him another sign. Sure enough, on Saturday, August 13, 1831, another sign appeared out of the blue. A black spot occurred to be on top of the sun, then slowly passing by it. At this point, Nat called up his “chosen four”: Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, Henry Porter, and Sam Francis. “Just as the black spot pass over the sun, so shall the blacks pass over the earth.” (Bisson60) At 2 AM on Monday, August 22, 1831, Nat and his men stood in the Travis yard. They entered quietly to not draw attentions from neighbors less than half a mile away. They wanted these attacks to be surprises so the whites would have less time to defend themselves. The group came in and killed the Travis couple, Putnam, and all the whites living in the household. However, remembering Nat said that none should be spared, no matter what, they slain an infant as well. That was the price they would pay for freedom. At the Travis home, they took four rifles, several old muskets, and some gunpowder. They were soldiers of their people, fighting a war against slavery. The next farm they went to was Sally’s brother, Salathial, who had previously warned Sally of their slave Nat. They knocked on the door saying there was a letter for him. When he opened, Sal was pulled outside and cut down. They continued marching, hoping they could go down to Jerusalem, another ten miles more. Nat had requested their silence and suggested they must not use firearms just yet. During the journey, Nat obtained a light sword, although useless, it was a symbol of his command. At the next farm, Nat killed an old woman and her son. The rebels continued on their ways, stopping by farm houses and killing more men. During the time, they picked up even more followers. The first shots were heard, ironically, in the old Turner home. Widow Turner and her neighbors tried locking themselves in a little room, but it was of no use. The rebels captured and killed them quickly. However, the shots proved to be enough warnings for the neighboring farms. When day came, the white slave owners were beginning to wake up. The rebels had fifteen armed men, nine of them mounted. Nat split them in two groups, six men on one force and nine on the other. At this time, they still had the advantage of speed and surprise. At every homestead, all whites were killed without exceptions, and all the slaves that wanted in were recruited. Since apple brandy was found at every Southampton home, Nat agreed to let his men drink a little. The only places that were spared were the Giles Reese place, where his wife and children lives, and the farm of a childhood friend, John Clark Turner. His men were starting to get drunk from the apple brandy. Realizing now that was a problem, Nat ordered them to stop drinking. One of his followers, Aaron, simply stated that the blacks were outnumbered by both men and ammunition. Although Nat knew Aaron was correct, he also knew there was no turning back. He dismissed Aaron’s warning and continued to encourage his men to fight, his only tool being his eloquence. More and more slaves were recruited at every farm, and soon they were a force of sixty. His army destroyed the people, but they did not destroy the livestock or the house. Some believes the rebels left it there so they could come back later and claim them. It was midmorning of August 22, 1831 when words were out about a slave rebellion, it drove the state in panic. Words had it that an army of 500 slaves were riding down to Jerusalem. The church bells of Jerusalem were ringing, warning their citizens to be aware of these rebels. By noon, Nat’s team were only three miles away from Jerusalem, leaving a trail of blood of more than fifty whites killed on the way. Ten children were killed and stacked in a pile at the Waller plantation, one of the few plantations that had a school for children. Billy Artis, and some others, wept at the sight of the slain children. The drinking among the rebels continued. During this time, Nat was unaware of the fact that one of his followers was drunk and got left behind. Later he found that the drunk rebel was found by the whites and tortured into pieces. Around noon on August 22, Nat decided it was time to march down to Jerusalem, the closest town. Jerusalem had more men, arms, foods, ammunition. However, by that time, words of the rebellion have already reached the whites. When confronted by a group of militia, the rebels became disorganized and scattered their forces. The attack left five of Nat’s best men wounded, while the others rushed to the forest to hide, one of them included Nat. “Unwilling to give up, Turner kept his sword even though it was useless as a weapon.” (Bisson89) He was able to find four of his men. Although tired, Nat was not hopeless. He spoke softly, but with great strength, to inspire his men to work give one last try to freedom. He ordered two of the men, Curtis and Stephen, to ride south and find as many men as they can and bring them to the Travis wood, where the rebellion was started. Nat led the two other men with him to the Turner wood. While the two were exhausted and sleeping, Nat waited endlessly for reinforcement. No one came when the sun rose. Desperate, he ordered the two men he had left to do as the two others did and bring them to the cabin pond, where he had discussed about the revolt with the “chosen four.” They left, and that was the last time he saw them. During this time, his men were half captured, and half dead. Few had turned themselves in. Billy Artis had ridden from plantation after plantation with his wife at his side to rally up new supports. However, when he was finally chased down and surrounded, Billy Artis refused to give up, defending himself with his rifle. “He had saved his ...