The 1831 Insurrection

The 1831 Insurrection. Impact and Aftermath. , The legacy of Nat Turner's Rebellion is profound. The uprising of August 21-23, 1831 resulted in the deaths of 57 White men, women and children, spreading terror amongst enslavers. Vicious militia reprisals caused the deaths of approximately 40 free Black people and bondsmen., The Insurrection's Impact , With the deaths of more than 100 White and Black individuals, Nat Turner's Rebellion brought the issue of slavery to the forefront of American politics. The Virginia General Assembly nearly ended the institution during its 1832 session. New York and Great Britain outlawed slavery in 1834., Interstate slave trade from Virginia to the cotton-producing Deep South expanded considerably following the insurrection. Enslaved people were the commonwealth's largest export. The widespread selling of bondsmen whose rising desire for freedom caused many people of African descent to seek ways to end slavery, including self-emancipation., During the next three decades, enslavers throughout the South lived in fear of another uprising. Reports of "armies of slaves" seen on the highway near Wilmington, North Carolina, prompted the US Army to send troops from Fort Monroe, Virginia, to New Bern, North Carolina, in 1831, and again to Beaufort, North Carolina, in 1833., [Sidebar:] , More Slave Revolts Followed. , November 1841, Creole Mutiny , Madison Washington and 18 other enslaved persons left Richmond aboard the slave ship Creole, en route to New Orleans. They overwhelmed and killed slave trader John Hewell, forcing the crew to sail to Nassau, The Bahamas. There, British authorities declared 128 people free, including Washington, making this the most successful American slave revolt., November 1842, Cherokee Nation , In Indian Territory, the Cherokee Nation enslaved more than 1,600 people of African descent in what is now Oklahoma. A mass escape began and was suppressed by the Cherokee militia. Five freedom seekers were executed and two militiamen were killed. [Captions:] , A slave-coffle passing the United States Capitol, around 1815. Engraving, ca. 1876., "Slave Hunt," painting by Thomas Moran, 1864. Many enslaved families attempted self-emancipation by running away, often hiding in the Dismal Swamp.