James Strange French (1807-1886) was a lawyer, novelist, and later hotel keeper. In 1831, French represented Nat Turner, as well as a number of other slaves accused of participating in Nat Turner's slave rebellion. French was joined in defending slaves by Meriwether Brodnax, William Henry Brodnax, Thomas Ruffin Gray, who published The Confessions of Nat Turner and is commonly referred to as Nat Turner's lawyer, and William C. Parker. Those assertions are not entirely true. Meriwether B. Brodnax (sometimes written Merewether B. Broadnax) was a prosecutor, and his brother William Henry Brodnax is not mentioned in the court minutes, but in Sussex Court minutes. William C. Parker was assigned by the court to represent Nat. In 1835, French helped secure the commutation of a sentence of a slave, Boson, who had been sentenced to death following the rebellion, then escaped from the Sussex County jail.
