TURNER, Nat, insurgent, born in Virginia about 1800; died in Jerusalem. Va., 11 November. 1831. He was a negro slave who believed himself chosen of the Lord to lead his people to freedom. For a long time he claimed to have heard voices in the air and to have seen signs in the sky. Portents were written on the fallen leaves of the woods and in spots of blood upon the corn in the field to inform him of a divine mission. In his Bible, which he knew by heart, he found prophecies of the great work he was called upon to do. He was regarded a, s having unusual mental power and resources, but he failed to make plans that promised success. Taking six men into his confidence in the autumn of 1831, he set out at an appointed time to go from house to house and kill every white person, irrespective of age or sex, to inspire universal terror, and arouse the whole slave population. They began at Turner's own home, where they killed his master, and then, going to other plantations, were joined by other slaves. An advance-guard on horseback surrounded each house in turn, holding it until their followers on foot, armed with axes, scythes, and muskets, came up to complete the work of destruction, while the horsemen rode on to the next house. In forty-eight hours fifty-five white persons were killed without loss to the negroes, whose numbers had increased to sixty. The insurgents then moved toward Jerusalem, where they expected to find plenty of fire-arms and to be joined by large numbers: but they separated and were attacked by two bodies of white men and dispersed. Turner escaped to the woods, and, after spending nearly two months in hiding, was captured, taken to Jerusalem, and after a trial hanged. This outbreak, known as the Southampton insurrection, resulted in the trial of fifty-three negroes, of whom seventeen were hanged, and many others, suspected of complicity, were tortured, burned, shot, and mutilated. Terror spread through the states as far west as Kentucky, and south and southwest to Georgia and Louisiana; but no evidences were ever discovered of a concerted movement among the slaves.