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

by Patrick H. Breen

Overview

On the evening of August 21, 1831, Nat Turner and six men launched their infamous rebellion against slaveholders. The rebels swept through Southampton County, Virginia, recruiting slaves to their ranks and killing nearly five dozen whites-more than had ever been killed in any slave revolt in American history. Although a hastily assembled group of whites soon suppressed the violence, its repercussions had far-reaching consequences.

In The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood, Patrick H. Breen uses the dramatic events in Southampton to explore the terrible choices faced by members of the local black community as they considered joining the rebels, a choice that would likely cost them their lives, supporting their masters, or somehow avoiding taking sides. Combining fast-paced narrative with rigorous analysis, Breen shows how, as whites regained control, slaveholders created an account of the revolt that saved their slaves from white retribution, the most dangerous threat facing the slaveholders' human property. By probing the stories slaveholders told that allowed them to get non-slaveholders to protect slave property, The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood reveals something surprising about both the fragility and power of slavery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190055615
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Patrick H. Breen is Associate Professor of History at Providence College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
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

Editorial Reviews

"[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

From the Publisher

08/03/2015
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. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 10/15/2015
On August 21, 1831, African American bondsman Nat Turner (1800–31) led a rebellion of slaves and free blacks in Southhampton County, VA, commandeering horses and guns from plantations and farms while attempting to recruit followers. The uprising lasted little more than a day before being quashed by local militia. Nearly 60 people were murdered during the raid. Before his execution on November 11, Turner provided a confession to his captors, which was subsequently published by lawyer Thomas R. Gray. Breen's (history, Providence Coll.) full-length narrative clearly reveals that the insurrection challenged the authority of the planter class but also that the ensuing crisis uncovered divisions within Southhampton's black and white communities. Turner's cohorts garnered little sympathy from local slaves, implying that abiding psychological and emotional schisms existed among them as to their station in life. In contrast, bands of vengeful and disaffected whites were lawfully prevented from wholesale retribution against all slaves and free blacks. 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. VERDICT 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.—John Carver Edwards, formerly with Univ. of Georgia Libs.

Library Journal