ion a severe
storm struck Virginia, wiping out roads and bridges. This forced a delay
of several days. In the meantime, two slaves betrayed the plot, and the
government took swift action. Thirty-five of the participants, including
Prosser, were executed. As the leaders refused to divulge any details of
their plans, the exact number involved in the plot remains unknown.
However, rumor had it that somewhere between two thousand and fifty
thousand slaves were connected with the conspiracy. During the trials,
one of the rebels said that he had done nothing more than what Washington
had done, that he had ventured his life for his countrymen, and that he
was a willing sacrifice.

In Charleston, South Carolina, a young slave named Denmark Vesey won
$1,500 in a lottery with which he purchased his freedom. During the
following years he worked as a carpenter. In his concern over the plight
of his slave brethren, he formed a plan for an insurrection which would
bring them their freedom. He and other freedmen collected two hundred
pike heads and bayonets as well as three hundred daggers to use in the
revolt, but, before the plans could be put into motion in 1882, a slave
informed on them. This time it was rumored that there had been some nine
thousand involved in the plot. Over a hundred arrests were made,
including four whites who had encouraged the project, and several of the
leaders, including Vesey, were executed.

The bloodiest insurrection of all, in which some sixty whites were
murdered, occurred in Southampton County, Virginia, in August, 1831. Nat
Turner, its leader, besides being a skilled carpenter, was a literate,
mystical preacher. He had discovered particular relevance in the
prophets of the Old Testament. Besides identifying with the slave
experience of the Israelites, Turner and other slaves felt that the
social righteousness which the prophets preached related directly to
their situation. The picture of the Lord exercising vengeance against
the oppressors gave them hope and inspiration. While the Bible did
appear to tell the slave to be faithful and obedient to his master, it
also condemned the wicked and provided examples that could be interpreted
to prove God's willingness to use human instruments in order to bring
justice against oppressors. Turner's growing hatred of slavery and his
increasing concern for the plight of his brothers, led him to believe he
was one of God's chosen instruments.