Nat Turner was an enslaved preacher who believed he had been chosen for a divine mission when he led an uprising that August in Southampton County, Virginia, killing dozens of people in the slaveholding community and sparking the bloodiest slave revolt in American history.
He evaded capture for more than two months, hiding in the woods and finally in a hole dug beneath a fallen tree, before he was found, tried and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Jerusalem, Virginia, on this day in 1831.
Asked before his execution whether he now repented, Turner showed no remorse, reportedly replying, "Was not Christ crucified?"
