Letter containing news of Nat Turner's rebellion

Object Details

Written by

Eleanor Wayland Weaver, American, 1773 - 1855

Subject of

Nat Turner, American, 1800 - 1831

Received by

Theodosia Miller, American, 1799 - 1880

Jacob Frederick Miller, American, 1792 - 1849

Description

A letter from Eleanor Wayland Weaver in Madison County, Virginia, to her daughter Theodosia and son-in-law Jacob in Lewisburg, Ohio, sent January 6, 1832. The letter discusses Nat Turner's rebellion, writing:

[Dear Children you appeared to be very much alarmed about us respecting the Negroes rising we have no cause of alarm at present but how soon we can't say. all the mischief done was confined to one county in the lower part of this state the County of Southampton. There was about 67 persons old & young put to death by about eight or ten Negroes ring leaders & some few they forced to assit them. Say from 20 to thirty headed by a Negro preacher. All the murders was done in about 24 hours. They have all bin taken & put to death General Nat the preacher absconded & kept ou of the way for several weeks but he was at last taken & put to death. We hope our government wil ltake some steps to put down Negro preaching. It is those large assemblies of Negroes causes the mischief. However I wish we had not one in this country they are an unhappy race & renders all those that have them unhappy. However we have them & we must do the best we can with them.]

Letter is black script on single sheet of paper folded to be its own envelope. There are losses to the paper where the wax affixed the edges closed.

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

January 6, 1832

Object number

2019.28.8

Restrictions & Rights

Public domain

Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

Type

letters (correspondence)

Medium

ink on paper (fiber product)

Dimensions

H x W (Closed): 12 1/2 × 7 15/16 in. (31.7 × 20.1 cm)

Place depicted

Madison County, Virginia, United States, North and Central America

Lewisburg, Preble County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America

Southampton County, Virginia, United States, North and Central America

See more items in

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification

Slavery and Freedom Objects

Documents and Manuscripts

Exhibition

Slavery and Freedom

On View

NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Concourse 3, C3 053

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Topic

African American

Correspondence

Resistance

Slavery

Violence

Record ID

nmaahc_2019.28.8

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5648c45d1-2e64-4f9a-8aa8-bbb0cebe378d