In August 1831, Brodnax served as commanding general of the Virginia militia during the Nat Turner slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. The next month he represented, along with his brother Meriwether Brodnax, several slaves accused of participating in Nat Turner's slave rebellion. Neither of those assertions are supported by the Southampton County, Virginia court minutes. Brodnax is not mentioned in those records, and his brother Meriwether B. Brodnax (sometimes written Merewether B. Broadnax) was a prosecutor, not a defense counsel. (Meriwether was listed was defense counsel in Sussex County.) He was listed in Sussex County Court records. Gen. Eppes was in command of the troops in the area. In 1832 during the Virginia legislature's debate about slavery Brodnax spoke in favor of colonization of free African Americans.