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On the evening of Sunday, 21 August 1831, Nat Turner and six men launched the most famous slave revolt in American history. The rebels caught Southampton whites flatfooted and killed nearly five dozen whites, more than had been killed by any slave revolt in American history. By the afternoon of the first day, however, the small rebel army encountered hastily assembled white forces, which dispersed the rebels. Efforts to restart the revolt met with little success. By Tuesday, 23 August, the threat that the rebels had posed had dissipated. As whites gained regained control, some advocated for a brutal response, but the slaveholders ultimately were able to check the threat to slave property posed by enraged whites. As a result, far fewer slaves and free blacks in Southampton were killed as whites suppressed the revolt. An original interpretation of the revolt, This Land Shall Be Deluged uses the dramatic events in Southampton to explore both the relationship of the black community to the rebels and whites. Unlike earlier works, which have emphasized the importance of resistance or negotiating to slaves, this work explores the ambiguities faced by members of the black community as they tried to decide if they would join the rebels, support their masters, or try to avoid taking sides. This book also shows how the slaveholders were able to create a hegemonic account of the revolt that saved their slaves from white retribution, which was the most dangerous threat facing the slaveholders' human property. The majority of the book is a close narrative of the events, stressing the characters and motivations of the rebelling slaves and the dynamics of power within and between the white and black communities.
Show moreOn the evening of Sunday, 21 August 1831, Nat Turner and six men launched the most famous slave revolt in American history. The rebels caught Southampton whites flatfooted and killed nearly five dozen whites, more than had been killed by any slave revolt in American history. By the afternoon of the first day, however, the small rebel army encountered hastily assembled white forces, which dispersed the rebels. Efforts to restart the revolt met with little success. By Tuesday, 23 August, the threat that the rebels had posed had dissipated. As whites gained regained control, some advocated for a brutal response, but the slaveholders ultimately were able to check the threat to slave property posed by enraged whites. As a result, far fewer slaves and free blacks in Southampton were killed as whites suppressed the revolt. An original interpretation of the revolt, This Land Shall Be Deluged uses the dramatic events in Southampton to explore both the relationship of the black community to the rebels and whites. Unlike earlier works, which have emphasized the importance of resistance or negotiating to slaves, this work explores the ambiguities faced by members of the black community as they tried to decide if they would join the rebels, support their masters, or try to avoid taking sides. This book also shows how the slaveholders were able to create a hegemonic account of the revolt that saved their slaves from white retribution, which was the most dangerous threat facing the slaveholders' human property. The majority of the book is a close narrative of the events, stressing the characters and motivations of the rebelling slaves and the dynamics of power within and between the white and black communities.
Show moreAcknowledgments
Chronology of the Revolt
Maps
Introduction
Ch 1 Signs
Ch 2 The First Blood
Ch 3 To Jerusalem
Ch 4 Where Are the Facts?
Ch 5 The Coolest and Most Judicious Among Us
Ch 6 Long and Elaborate Arguments
Ch 7 Willing to Suffer the Fate That Awaits Me
Ch 8 Communion
Conclusion
Afterword: From His Own Words
Appendix: Slave Population of Southampton County, 1824-1829
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Patrick H. Breen is Associate Professor of History at Providence College.
"[A] fascinating account of the 1831 Nat Turner rebellion in
Southampton County, Virginia, and its aftermath. The book provides
both an excellent narrative history of the events and an analytic
framework to examine important issues in southern
historiography....The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood is a
significant contribution to the literature on Turner and the 1831
uprising. It is highly recommended to those interested in the
Turner rebellion, slave
resistance, and the coming of the Civil War."--Michael W. Coffey,
The North Carolina Historical Review
"[N]o scholar has so deepened the research or so sagaciously and
meticulously examined the available sources as we find done in The
Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood: A New History of the Nat Turner
Revolt."--Louis A. DeCaro, Jr., American Historical Review
"[A] substantial study..."--Robert Paquette, H-Net
"Breen's work does offer valuable insight on the decision making of
black Americans in and around the rebellion and convincingly
demonstrates how white slave owners resisted a potential popular
backlash."--Ben Wright, he Journal of Southern History
"A compelling, often gripping, narrative of the bloodiest slave
rebellion in the United States, The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood
is the best history of Nat Turner's Rebellion yet written. Patrick
Breen's clear prose, sensitive and careful reading of evidence, and
persuasive arguments make the book both scholarly and
accessible."--Eva Sheppard Wolf, author of Almost Free: A Story
about Family and Race in Antebellum Virginia
"Breen offers a new look into the diversity of a Southern slave
community and the 'fragility and power of slavery.' Highly
recommended. All academic levels/libraries."--CHOICE
"The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood tells the story of the most
famous slave uprising in the antebellum United States, but it does
not tell a familiar story. Patrick Breen uncovers the tensions and
divisions running through both the black and white communities in
Nat Turner's Southampton County. In the process, he sheds new light
on the complicated and contradictory ways that slavery corrupted
nineteenth century America."--James Sidbury, author of
Becoming African in America: Race and Nation in the Early Black
Atlantic
"Breen convincingly shows that the county's landed gentry and
courts succeeded by both suppressing the rebels and protecting the
investment in human chattel held by Southhampton's slaveholding
elite. An original study of first-rate scholarship, this title is
recommended for scholars and students of the antebellum South,
African American studies, and all libraries."--Library Journal
(starred review)
"With its nice balance of narrative and analysis, [t]his thoroughly
researched 'new history' is now the best single account we have of
the revolt and the trials that followed...It is hard to say that
any treatment of an event like Turner's rebellion, where the
surviving documents do not reach far into many issues, will ever be
definitive. For most readers, though, Breen's book should be the
place to start."--J. William Harris, Civil War Book Review
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