Proclamation by John Floyd, Governor of Virginia, September 17, 1831 · Counternarratives Digital Archive

Title of the Document: Proclamation by John Floyd, Governor of Virginia, September 17, 1831
One Line Summary: Government issued proclamation offering rewards for the capture of Nat Turner and others involved as a response to Nat Turner’s 1831 slave rebellion.
Author: John Floyd
Date Created: September 17, 1831
Location: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
Type of Document: Government Document
Publisher: Commonwealth of Virginia, Office of the Governor
Transcription: ”Whereas the slave Nat, otherwise called Nat Turner, the contriver and leader of the late Insurrection in Southampton, is still going at large: Therefore I, John Floyd, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia have thought proper, and do hereby offer a reward of five hundred dollars to any person or persons who will apprehend and convey to the Jail of Southampton County, the said slave Nat: and I do moreover require all officers civil and military, and exhort the good people of the Commonwealth to use their best endeavors to cause the said fugitive to be apprehended, that he may be dealt with as the law directs.
Given under my hand as Governor, and under the lesser Seal of the Commonwealth at Richmond, this 17th. day of September 1831. "
Related: Nat Turner (1800-1831)
Provenance: “Proclamation Reward for Nat Turner, September 17, 1831,” Executive Papers of Governor John Floyd, 1830-1834, Library of Virginia, Accession 42665.