Nathaniel Turner

Aftermath

The rebellion was suppressed within 48 hours. In the aftermath of the revolt, 48 black men and women were tried on charges of conspiracy, insurrection, and treason. "In total, the state executed 55 people, banished many more, and acquitted a few. The state reimbursed the slaveholders for their slaves. But in the hysterical climate that followed the rebellion, close to 200 black people were killed" by white militias and mobs.[18]

Turner eluded capture for months. On October 30, he was discovered in a cave by a white farmer and then arrested. A trial was quickly arranged. On November 5, 1831, Nat Turner was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia.

After Turner's capture, his court-appointed trial lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, wrote and published The Confessions of Nat Turner. The book was the result both of Gray's research while Turner was in hiding and of his conversations with Turner before the trial. This document remains the primary window into Turner's mind. Because of the author's obvious conflict of interest, historians disagree on how to assess it as insight to Turner rather than Gray.