5 Quotes & Sayings By Nat Turner

Nat Turner was an American slave who led a slave rebellion in 1831. In the days leading up to the revolt, Turner and his compatriots read from their Bible and prayed, and on June 13, 1831, they rose up in rebellion. They killed 54 whites and wounded 70 others before being defeated by a militia. Nat Turner was captured on July 12, 1831, and held prisoner in a Virginia jail for two years Read more

He was brought to trial on September 23, 1832. All but two of the witnesses against him recanted their testimony after being offered freedom from slavery in exchange for their testimony. As a result of his trial, Turner was hanged on October 2, 1831.

1
To a mind like mine, restless, inquisitive, and observant of everything that was passing, it is easy to suppose that religion was the subject to which it would be directed; and, although this subject principally occupied my thoughts, there was nothing that I saw or heard of to which my attention was not directed. Nat Turner
2
Having soon discovered to be great, I must appear so, and therefore studiously avoided mixing in society, and wrapped myself in mystery, devoting my time to fasting and prayer. Nat Turner
3
All my time not devoted to my master's service was spent either in prayer, or in making experiments in casting different things in moulds made of earth, in attempting to make paper, gunpowder, and many other experiments, that, although I could not perfect, yet convinced me of its practicability if I had the means. Nat Turner
4
When I got large enough to go to work, while employed I was reflecting on many things that would present themselves to my imagination; and whenever an opportunity occurred of looking at a book, when the school-children were getting their lessons, I would find many things that the fertility of my own imagination had depicted to me before. Nat Turner