By surprise. They were not organized enough.
Explanation:
On Sunday afternoon, August 21, 1831, a group of four slaves gathered in the woods for barbecue. As they cooked the pig, Turner joined them, and the group apparently formulated a definitive plan to attack the white landowners that night.
In the early hours of August 22, 1831, a group attacked the family of a man who owned Turner. Quietly entering the house, Turner and his men surprised the family on their beds, killing them with a knife and ax.
After leaving the family home, Turner's accomplices realized they had left the baby sleeping in the crib. They returned to the house and killed the child.
The brutality and effectiveness of the killings would be repeated throughout the day. And as more slaves join Turner and the original band, the violence quickly escalates. In various small groups, slaves armed with knives and an ax will drive to the house, surprising the residents and quickly killing them. Within 48 hours, more than 50 white men from Southampton County were killed.
Word of accidents spread quickly. At least one local farmer was arming his slaves, and they helped fight a group of Turner students. And at least one poor white family, who had no slaves, was spared by Turner, who told people to drive by their house and leave them alone.
As groups of rebels hit the farm, they collected more weapons. Within a day, a makeshift slave army received firearms and gunpowder.
It has been suggested that Turner and his followers may want to go to the Jerusalem County seat in Virginia and seize the stored weapons. But a group of armed white men managed to find and attack a group of Turner's followers before that could happen. A number of assault slaves were killed and wounded in that attack, and the others scattered in the countryside.
Nat Turner managed to escape and evade detection for a month. But in the end he pursued and surrendered. He was jailed, put on trial and hanged.
