ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY
October 30, 1831
American Slave Nat Turner is Captured
After Leading a Save Rebellion in August
On this day in 1831, Nathaniel Turner was captured after eluding authorities for more than two months for
leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.
Beginning on August 22nd, after assembling a group of more than 50 slaves and free blacks, the rebellion started
with Nat Turner's master, then went from house to house, freeing slaves and killing the white people they found
along the way. Before they were stopped, they had killed at least 55 white men, women, and children.
Turner was tried and convicted, and then hanged on November 11 in what is now known as Courtland, Virginia. Several
hundred other African-Americans were killed by angry white mobs in retaliation for the rebellion.
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