es
from a camp-meeting about the Dismal Swamp had murdered about
sixty, persons, none of them families much known.'"[33]

Will., the revengeful slave, proved himself the most destructive and
cruel of Nat.'s followers. A hand to hand battle came. The whites were
well armed, and by the force of their superior numbers overcame the
army of the "Prophet,"--five men. Will. would not surrender. He laid
three white men dead at his feet, when he fell mortally wounded. His
last words were: "Bury my axe with me," believing that in the next
world he would need it for a similar purpose. Nat. fought with great
valor and skill with a short sword, and finding it useless to continue
the struggle, escaped with some of his followers to the swamps, where
he defied the vigilance of the military and the patient watching of
the citizens for more than two months. He was finally compelled to
surrender. When the Court asked: "Guilty or not guilty?" he pleaded:
"Not guilty." He was sustained during his trial by his unfaltering
faith in God. Like Joan of Arc, he "heard the spirits," the "voices,"
and believed that God had "sent him to free His people."

In the impression of the "Enquirer" of the 30th of August, 1831, the
first editorial, or leader, is under the caption of THE BANDITTE. The
editor says:

"They remind one of a parcel of blood-thirsty wolves rushing down
from the Alps; or, rather like a former incursion of the Indians
upon the white settlements. Nothing is spared: neither age nor
sex respected--the helplessness of women and children pleads in
vain for mercy.... The case of Nat. Turner warns us. No black-man
ought to be permitted to turn a Preacher through the country. The
law must be enforced--or the tragedy of Southampton appeals to us
in vain."[34]

A remarkable prophecy was made by Nat. The trial was hurried, and,
like a handle on a pitcher, was on one side only. He was sentenced to
die on the gallows. He received the announcement with stoic
indifference, and was executed at Jerusalem, the county seat of
Southampton, in April, 1831. He died like a man, bravely, calmly;
looking into eternity, made radiant by a faith that had never
faltered. He prophesied that on the day of his execution the sun would
be darkened, and other evidences of divine disapprobation would be
seen. The sheriff was much impressed by Nat.'s predictions, and
consequently refused to have any thing to do with