Nat Turner, an American slave and preacher, led a deadly slave insurrection in 1831. An outwardly peaceable slave, he acquired a rudimentary education, learned carpentry, and became an able and persuasive preacher. Various portents eventually convinced him that he had been divinely chosen to lead his people against bondage, and he persuaded five other slaves to join him in a revolt that began in August 1861. They killed Turner's slave owner and his family and marched through the countryside, gathering additional recruits until they numbered about 70. During the next 24 hours, local whites and militia forces crushed the revolt, but Turner escaped. In this engraving, he is discovered and captured six weeks later. Turner was then tried, convicted, and hung.