![]() Then he flips to the page that explains what Nat Turner saw as a sign that he should lead the insurrection. “OK, these are my father’s Post-It notes,” Rick says. The author had the chance to gather oral history and speak with some who remembered the raid. His words often strain to portray Southampton County slaveholders as benevolent, but Drewry’s book is considered among the most accurate works on Turner. Most early historical accounts sought to ease white fears by depicting the insurrection as one man’s fanatical mission, and Drewry’s was no exception. Rick leafs quickly through an old book called “The Southampton Insurrection.” The text was written in 1900 by William Sidney Drewry, a scholar doing post-graduate work at Johns Hopkins University. This is Cabin Pond, where Turner and his first half-dozen recruits met to plan the raids. Sunlight glares through the holly and scrubby pines surrounding the water. Rick drives down a dirt road and pulls the Suburban onto the shoulder next to a murky bog. “I don’t doubt that he said that, but that was never expressed to me.” “The bastard tried to kill my entire family. Gilbert Francis was once quoted as saying that he wouldn’t support a memorial to Nat Turner: Some of this work gathered by outsiders occasionally boomerangs and raises eyebrows in Southampton County. The New Yorker ran a long feature in December, professors at two elite universities are about to publish years of work, and a Williamsburg writer plans to post a book on the Internet. This year is the 200th anniversary of his birth. This is one of those times in history that arise every couple of decades when Nat Turner is a hot subject. His father was famously liberal in Southampton County, where he supported integration of the schools.īefore Gilbert Francis died two years ago, he asked his son to study the information he had collected and help others become familiar with the Nat Turner story. Rick remembers the Sunday afternoon drives being full of facts, but not opinion. He’d point out the homes that the men raided. He’d show them the route Turner’s band took. ![]() His father, Gilbert Francis, several times a year would drive his children along Southampton County’s country roads. Rick wonders about all that every time he takes this tour. Was Turner a great leader working to free his people? Was he a religious fanatic carrying out God’s orders? Did the raids speed up the coming of the Civil War and help end slavery? Or did they give whites a reason to whip and hang Turner’s own people? The trip usually raises more questions than it answers. He has jammed the back of his Chevy Suburban with plastic bins full of books, magazines, newspaper articles, photos and court documents about the Turner story. ![]() Rick has agreed on this warm, late February day, 169 years later, to trace the route of Turner’s rebellion. “William Samuel Francis, son of Nathaniel and Lavinia Francis, his wife, was born 7th of September 1831 (EQ) 1 mo. Rick knows this because it is written in the family Bible: One month later, Lavinia gave birth to the first of nine Francis children. Most of the rest of Rick Francis’ ancestors were killed, including Nathaniel’s brother, his sister and her husband. E-Pilot Evening Edition Home Page Close Menu
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