The Confessions of Nat Turner (Illustrated) E-Book

Nat Turner

• Herausgeber: Enhanced Media Publishing
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Nat Turner (1800-1831) was an enslaved African American who led a rebellion of slaves and free blacks in Southampton County, Virginia on August 21, 1831. His story is the basis for the controversial film The Birth of a Nation from Fox Searchlight Pictures. The Confessions of Nat Turner is the key primary document supporting historical events. The pamphlet is a first-hand account of Turner's confessions published by a local lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, in 1831.

Leseprobe

THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER

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By

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Nat Turner

Table of Contents

Title Page

The Confessions of Nat Turner

PREFACE

NOTE FROM T. R. GRAY TO THE PUBLIC

‘WE THE UNDERSIGNED’

THE CONFESSION

The Commonwealth, vs. Nat Turner.

A list of persons murdered in the Insurrection, on the 21st and 22d of August, 1831.

A List of Negroes brought before the Court of Southampton, with their owners' names, and sentence.

IMAGE GALLERY

Further Reading: Slave Narrative Six Pack

The Confessions of Nat Turner by Nat Turner. First published in 1831.

THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER,

THE LEADER OF THE LATE INSURRECTIONS IN SOUTHAMPTON, VA.

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As fully and voluntarily made to

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THOMAS R. GRAY,

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In the prison where he was confined, and acknowledged by him to be such when read before the Court of Southampton; with the certificate, under seal of the Court convened at Jerusalem, Nov. 5, 1831, for his trial.

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ALSO, AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE WHOLE INSURRECTION, WITH LISTS OF THE WHITES WHO WERE MURDERED, AND OF THE NEGROES BROUGHT BEFORE THE COURT OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND THERE SENTENCED. 

Baltimore:

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS R. GRAY.

Lucas & Denver, print.

PREFACE

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO WIT:

Be it remembered, That on this tenth day of November, Anno Domini, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, Thomas R. Gray of the said District, deposited in this office the title of a book, which is in the words as following:

"The Confessions of Nat Turner, the leader of the late insurrection in Southampton, Virginia, as fully and voluntarily made to Thomas R. Gray, in the prison where he was confined, and acknowledged by him to be such when read before the Court of Southampton; with the certificate, under seal, of the Court convened at Jerusalem, November 5, 1831, for his trial. Also, an authentic account of the whole insurrection, with lists of the whites who were murdered, and of the negroes brought before the Court of Southampton, and there sentenced, &c" the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in conformity with an Act of Congress, entitled "An act to amend the several acts respecting Copy Rights."

Edmund J. Lee, Clerk of the District.

In testimony that the above is a true copy, from the record of the District Court for (Seal.) the District of Columbia, I, Edmund J. Lee, the Clerk thereof, have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office, this 10th day of November, 1831.

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Edmund J. Lee, C.D.C.

NOTE FROM T. R. GRAY TO THE PUBLIC

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The late insurrection in Southampton has greatly excited the public mind, and led to a thousand idle, exaggerated and mischievous reports. It is the first instance in our history of an open rebellion of the slaves, and attended with such atrocious circumstances of cruelty and destruction, as could not fail to leave a deep impression, not only upon the minds of the community where this fearful tragedy was wrought, but throughout every portion of our country, in which this population is to be found. Public curiosity has been on the stretch to understand the origin and progress of this dreadful conspiracy, and the motives which influences its diabolical actors. The insurgent slaves had all been destroyed, or apprehended, tried and executed, (with the exception of the leader,) without revealing any thing at all satisfactory, as to the motives which governed them, or the means by which they expected to accomplish their object. Every thing connected with this sad affair was wrapt in mystery, until Nat Turner, the leader of this ferocious band, whose name has resounded throughout our widely extended empire, was captured. This "great Bandit" was taken by a single individual, in a cave near the residence of his [...]