Nat
Turner's Rebellion (aka The Southampton Slave
Revolt) Early in the
morning of August 21, 1831, a band of eight Black
slaves, led by a lay preacher named Nat Turner,
entered the house of James Travis in Southampton
County, Virginia, and killed five members of the
Travis family. Over a thirty-six hour period,
this band of slaves grew to sixty or seventy in
number and killed fifty-eight White persons
before the local community could act to stop
them.