The Hanging of Nat Turner in Jerusalem, Virginia (1831)
On November 11, 1831, Nat Turner was executed by hanging in Jerusalem, Virginia, the seat of Southampton County now known as Courtland. Turner had led the bloodiest slave uprising in American history two months earlier, an event that killed dozens and sent shockwaves through the antebellum South. His trial and execution in this small Virginia town became a defining moment in the national debate over slavery.
The Southampton Rebellion
In the predawn hours of August 22, 1831, Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher who believed he had received divine visions instructing him to lead his people to freedom, launched an armed uprising in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner and a small band of followers, which grew to as many as 70 enslaved and free Black participants, moved from farm to farm killing white men, women, and children. Over roughly 48 hours, the rebels killed approximately 55 to 60 white residents, making it the deadliest slave revolt in United States history. Turner had planned the uprising carefully, choosing to strike near the anniversary of his own birth and interpreting a solar eclipse earlier that year as a sign to act. The rebellion was ultimately suppressed by county militias and state troops, who hunted down participants in the days that followed. In the chaotic aftermath, white militias and mobs killed an estimated 100 to 200 Black Virginians, many of whom had no connection to the uprising, as fear and retribution swept the region. Turner himself evaded capture for more than two months, hiding in the woods near his home plantation while a massive manhunt unfolded across Southampton County.
Did You Know?
The town where Nat Turner was tried and hanged was originally named Jerusalem, Virginia, but it was officially renamed Courtland in 1888, decades after the rebellion that made it infamous.
Capture, Trial, and Sentencing
On October 30, 1831, a local farmer named Benjamin Phipps discovered Turner hiding in a hole covered with fence rails near the Travis farm, the very plantation where the rebellion had begun. Turner was taken into custody and transported to the county seat of Jerusalem, Virginia, where he was held in the local jail. While awaiting trial, Turner dictated an extensive account of his motivations, religious visions, and the rebellion's planning to a local attorney named Thomas Ruffin Gray, who published the narrative shortly afterward as 'The Confessions of Nat Turner.' This document became one of the most important firsthand sources on the revolt and on Turner's own worldview, though historians continue to debate how much Gray's editorial hand shaped the final text. Turner's trial took place on November 5, 1831, in the Southampton County Court in Jerusalem. He pleaded not guilty, reportedly stating that he did not feel guilty, but the court found him guilty of conspiring to rebel and making insurrection. Judge Jeremiah Cobb sentenced Turner to death by hanging, setting the execution for six days later. Dozens of other enslaved people accused of participating in the rebellion faced trials in the same courthouse in the weeks that followed, with many executed or sold out of state.
Execution and Lasting Legacy
On November 11, 1831, Nat Turner was hanged in Jerusalem, Virginia, before a crowd of onlookers. Accounts from witnesses describe him as calm and composed in his final moments. After his death, his body was reportedly skinned, and various grim relics purportedly connected to his remains circulated for decades afterward, though their authenticity remains disputed among historians. The town of Jerusalem was later renamed Courtland in 1888, and it remains the county seat of Southampton County, Virginia, today. The rebellion and Turner's execution had immediate and far-reaching consequences. Virginia and other Southern states responded by tightening slave codes, restricting the movement, education, and assembly rights of both enslaved and free Black people, fearing further uprisings. The Virginia General Assembly even debated abolishing slavery in the state in the wake of the revolt, though the measure ultimately failed. Turner's rebellion also intensified the national divide over slavery, fueling abolitionist arguments in the North while hardening pro-slavery positions in the South. Nat Turner remains a deeply contested figure in American history, remembered by some as a religious visionary who struck a violent blow against the institution of slavery and by others primarily for the civilian casualties of the uprising he led.