Abolitionist. He was a militant leader, fiery slave preacher, and prophet, who led the most famous and deadliest slave revolt in United States history. He organized a slave uprising that struck a definite blow against slavery in the United States., thirty years before the American Civil War. Nat Turner is one mostly unknown African-American, never the less his accomplishments are note worthy. He was born a slave of Joseph Travis in 1800 on a plantation in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner grew up in a religious home where his parents and grandmother encouraged him to become educated and to fight against slavery. Turner went on to become a self proclaimed fiery slave preacher who believed that God had called upon him to avenge slavery. "I was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty," he said. This conviction led to his planning the rebellion. On the afternoon of Aug. 13, 1831 at the age of 31, Turner decided to fulfil his destiny as an angel of death. He along with five other slaves named Hark, Sam, Nelson, Will, and Jack met and they agreed not to spare women and children. As the small army moved silently through the countryside, forty others joined them which later grew to sixty and seventy people. In the next thirty-six hours, they axed or beat to death fifty-nine white men, women, and children in Southampton County including Turner's master Joseph Travis and his family. Most of Turner's men were eventually killed or arrested within a few days. Meanwhile, Turner took food from a house and dug a hole under a pile of fence rails, where he hid for six weeks. He eventually was discovered, but managed to escape again. Two weeks later, a white farmer with a shotgun spotted Turner in a small hole he had dug with his sword. The fugitive surrendered and was taken to the county jail in Jerusalem, Virginia. For three days, Thomas Gray, a journalist, interviewed him in his cell. "The Confessions of Nat Turner" is Gray's written record of Turner's account. Nat Turner was hanged two months after the killing, but the effects of his mutiny lasted for decades. Turner believed that if you believed in something badly enough, you can make it come true.