The Solar Eclipse and the Nat Turner Rebellion
The Sign That Prompted America’s Deadliest Slave Revolt
Two things you wouldn’t expect to see mentioned in the same paragraph are a solar eclipse and the Nat Turner Rebellion, yet they are related. In early 1831, the highly religious Turner was already considering options to pursue his own freedom and that of his people. On February 12, 1831, the skies darkened in the middle of the day in Southhampton, VA, which Hampton decided was a sign to proceed with developing his plan.
Had Turner known exactly how things would turn out, he might have reconsidered. His plan was to kill local plantation owners and gather freed slaves along the way on a march to Jerusalem, VA, where he hoped an armory there would provide the weapons to make a stand. Turner only got 70 people to join his rebellion which was stopped the next day. Turner avoided capture for almost two months. After his trial, revenge was taken on his corpse as a warning against future revolts like this one that killed 55 white people.
“His body was given over to the surgeons for dissection. He was skinned to supply such souvenirs as purses, his flesh made into grease, and his bones divided as trophies to be handed down as heirlooms. It is said that there still lives a Virginian who has a piece of his skin which was tanned, that…
