The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood: A New History of the Nat Turner Revolt

Historian Breen recounts in captivating detail the story of the enslaved mystic Nat Turner, who in the late summer of 1831 led his fellow bondspeople in Virginia’s Southampton County into a rebellion aimed to overthrow white authority. The revolt was quickly subdued by state and federal troops, though the rebels killed more than 50 whites in just a couple days. Turner’s name became a byword for terror throughout the South and he was hanged by year’s end. Numerous scholars have studied Turner’s revolt, but Breen’s exhaustively researched study achieves something new by highlighting the divisions within both the black and white communities of eastern Virginia. Several dozen slaves joined Turner’s endeavor, though most did not, either out of fear or because they disagreed with him. No whites appear to have supported Turner, yet white opinion was also divided, with some demanding horrific retribution and others, particularly judicial and military leaders, fearing that such vengeance could threaten the social order more than Turner’s actions had. By emphasizing the diversity of opinion among both slaveholders and slaves, Breen reminds readers that race is “a historical product and that racial categories do not determine actions,” a claim that resonates throughout the history of American race relations. [em](Nov.) [/em]