Letter containing news of Nat Turner's rebellion
date: label: Date
content: January 6, 1832
name: label: Written by
content: Eleanor Wayland Weaver, American, 1773 - 1855
label: Subject of
content: Nat Turner, American, 1800 - 1831
label: Received by
content: Theodosia Miller, American, 1799 - 1880
label: Received by
content: Jacob Frederick Miller, American, 1792 - 1849
notes: label: Description
content: 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:
label: Description
content: [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.]
label: Description
content: 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.
place: label: Place depicted
content: Madison County, Virginia, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: Lewisburg, Preble County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: Southampton County, Virginia, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Correspondence
label: Topic
content: Resistance
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: Violence
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Slavery and Freedom Objects
label: Classification
content: Documents and Manuscripts
label: Exhibition
content: Slavery and Freedom
label: On View
content: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Concourse 3, C3 053
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2019.28.8
objectType: label: Type
content: letters (correspondence)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Public domain
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper (fiber product)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (Closed): 12 1/2 × 7 15/16 in. (31.7 × 20.1 cm)