Nat Turner Book Summary

Stephen Oates, in a creative and interesting way, brings us an accurate portrayal of an extraordinary fictional character, in a very real and extraordinary time in our country’s history.
Oates begins the book with a thorough biography of his main character, Nat Turner. Nat was born in October of 1800 in Southampton County, Virginia. His mother Nancy was brought to America for a man named Benjamin Turner, a wealthy tidewater planter in 1795. Because she knew how hard the life of a black man was in these days, Nat’s mother actually tried to kill him in order to keep him from living a long, hard life. He was able to recollect memories and moments of times that occurred before he was even born. His unique and almost magical intelligence earned the respect of other slaves as well. At one point, after being given a book, it was realized that Nat was able to read without having anyone ever teach him how.
In a span of about a year, Nat had drastic changes in his life. First, in 1809, Nat’s father became free of slavery, fled the plantation where he had
been enslaved at, and was never heard from again. Second, Nat’s master, Benjamin Turner, died . Nat then was handed down to Turners son, Samuel.
For years, Nat worked hard on Turner’s far, but became more and more restless and unhappy as the years dragged on. The times when Nat could find peace was when he spent his free time meditating and preaching to other slaves.
About 10 years after becoming in charge of Nat and the other slaves, Samuel Turner hired a man to watch his slaves work and report back to him. This infuriated Nat and he fled the farm the same day, only to return a month later. Naturally, the other slaves were baffled at why he would return, and Nat simply replied that the Spirit told him that he was supposed to continue on the plantation and continue to be obedient. In a letter written by Nat Turner himself he wrote, “But the reason of my return was, that the Spirit appeared to me and said I had my wishes directed to the things of this world, and not to the kingdom of Heaven, and that I should return to the service of my earthly master - "For he who knoweth his Master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes, and thus have I chastened you." (Confessions of Turner, Turner)
In 1822, Samuel Turner died and Nat was to be sold for $400 to Thomas Moore. Although Moore was a genuinely kind man, Nat began even more private and mysterious than anyone had ever seen him. Nat began fasting regularly and for days at a time. Every free moment he had was spent in some way, shape or form worshiping or praying. He even began to gather his fellow slaves and preach to them. He would preach to them that this was not God’s plan for their lives and that they were meant for much more than this. He had visions of blacks being free and he believed that judgment day for all was coming, but that he must wait for God to give him a final sign. One day Nat was out in a field and had a final vision. In a PBS article it was quoted that Nat said,” "I heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first... And by signs in the heavens that it would make known to me when I should commence the great work, and until the first sign appeared I should conceal it from the knowledge of men; and on the appearance of the sign... I should arise and prepare myself and slay my enemies with their own weapons."(PBS) He repeatedly conveyed this to all the many slaves who came to listen. Slaves from all over the county were finding hope in what was coming to be known as Nat Turners Rebellion. Many slaves swore to Nat that they would stand by him and that when or if he decided to act, they would be right with him.
One Sunday morning, while the masters were at church, Nat met with a group seven friends in the woods.
From the way Oates described the characters, they all seemed to be pretty diverse with one common factor: a hatred for white people and slavery. The group came up with a plan to wake that night and kill any and every white person they could find. In August 1861, thirty years after the uprising and in the heat of the Civil War, The Atlantic published the following detailed account of Nat Turner's slave rebellion which included the following statement about that Sunday afternoon: “Two things were at last decided: to begin their work that night, and to begin it with a massacre so swift and irresistible as to create in a few days more terror than many battles, and so spare the need of future bloodshed ...”( Higginson) Nat didn’t exactly have a set plan, instead he believed that God would lead Nat to where he needed to
be.
So in the dead of the night, the group woke and began their movement. Their first victims were none other than Nat’s owners. At first Nat didn’t want to kill, so instead he watched one of the group members, Will, murder his masters in their sleep.
Throughout the rest of the night Nat riled up more followers and he and his army traveled from farm to farm successfully killing every white person they found. At each farm they gathered weapons and horses and more and more resources. Eventually Nat’s army grew to where he could split it into two groups to cover more ground. Not all victims were white, for at some farms slaves declined Nat’s offer to join the army and sometimes they even fought him. Although the death march was pretty successful, by morning many families had been warned so they had deserted their farms before Nat arrived.
Nat’s army continued on with their attacks, while Nat remained in the back, mostly planning his next steps. By noon it appeared that Nat’s army was becoming dysfunctional. They were drunk and unorganized and Nat was highly agitated with this lack of discipline but continued on the march regardless. It was about this time that Nat’s army marched straight into the Virginia militia ready to take down the rebels. Nat’s army was completely demolished and Nat and the few survivors retreated.
Nat tried to enlist more slaves, but to his shock they turned on him. All at once it appeared that all that was left of Nat's rebellion was Nat Turner himself, it seemed that most slaves were tired of Nat and the rebellion. After six weeks, Nat was still at large, with many reward hungry whites looking for him. On October 30th Nat stuck his head out from behind a tree to face a white man with a shotgun. Nat was tried and found guilty of conspiring to rebel and making insurrection. Nat was sentenced to be hanged, and he did so with total calm, saying nothing else other than “I’m ready.”