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[possible edits of the article Nat Turners Slave Rebellion]

In 1830, Joseph Travis purchased Turner; Turner later recalled that he was "a kind master" who had "placed the greatest confidence" in him. Patrick Breen states that after Nat Turner viewed the eclipse in 1831, he was certain that God's wanted the revolt to commence.

According to David Allmendinger, Nat Turner had 10 different supernatural occurrences from 1822 to 1828. These included appearances of both the Spirit communicating through a religious language and scripture along with the visions of the Holy Ghost. By the spring of 1828, Turner was convinced that he "was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty". He "heard a loud noise in the heavens" while working in Moore's fields on May 12 "and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first".

Turner learned how to read and write at a young age. He was identified as having "natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension, surpassed by few." He grew up deeply religious and was often seen fasting, praying, or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible. He frequently had visions that he interpreted as messages from God, and which influenced his life. Patrick Breen discusses that “Nat Turner thought that God used the natural world as a backdrop in front of which he placed signs and omens." Breen goes further into how Nat Turner claimed he possessed a gift of prophecy and could interpret these revelations from God. At age 21, he escaped from Samuel Turner. After becoming delirious from hunger and receiving a vision that told him to "return to the service of my earthly master", he returned a month later.