August 21 …

On August 21, 1831, Nat Turner and six companions began the Southampton Insurrection — also known as the Nat Turner Rebellion or Nat Turner’s Rebellion — against the slave regime in Southampton County, VA.

In the first 24 hours of the rebellion their number grew to 70, and they had killed 57 whites along a 20-mile path. Their plan was to seize weapons from the county seat, Jerusalem, but along the way they stopped to rest at a farm three miles from the city. That pause gave the local militia time to gather and counterattack, breaking the momentum of the insurrection.

Within the next two days most of Turner’s cohorts had been killed, captured or dispersed. Turner went into hiding, pursued by thousands of troops who terrorized the Black population, killing 120 people. They successfully captured Nat Turner on October 30 and executed him on November 11, 1831.

The Nat Turner Rebellion is remembered by many as “the First War against Slavery.”