Gabriel 's Rebellion was intended to "free the country [i.e. Virginia] of slavery" -- so I'd say he was a freedom fighter -- he was going to fight to free his people from slavery.  His conspiracy was organized along miltiary lines and with some very specific military targets: seize Richmond and the arsenal.  But they were also planning -- perhaps -- to take the governor (Monroe) captive and use him to bargain for freedom -- and I suppose by our 2008 standards we'd label that "terrorism" or at least asymetrical warfare.  For a good read on Gabriel see Douglas Egerton's Gabriel's Rebellion

Denmark Vesey _may have been_ a freedom fighter -- there is a lot of murkiness to the evidence on just what was plotted and what was confessed to and whether or not there was an actual plot at all -- if this was a "SC-HIST" list I'm sure we could go on and on about that!  

Nat Turner believed that God had ordered him to strike violently against slavery and free his people -- so _he_ thought he was a freedom fighter.  I'm uncomfortbale describing a historical figure as "psychopathic," but he was certainly brutal and indescriminate in the killing of 60 some people -- men, woen and children.  Turner admitted that he had not suffered any particular cruelty, that he bore his victims no special ill-will, but simply that he was commanded by God.  The response of the Virginia militia to fears of widespread slave uprisings was probably excessive: innocent slaves were gunned down -- sometimes miles from any of the real action.

The violence of Turner's Rebellion prompted one of Virginia's periodic re-considerations of the slavery question -- was it worth the potential loss of lives to insurrectionary violence to keep the institution of slavery in place? or should they wean themselves of it.  Turner's admission that he was not moved by the brutality of slavery was a cold shock to the paternalistic slave holders who hoped that benevolence would prevent slave uprisings.

David Kiracofe



David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136

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