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diff --git a/28010.txt b/28010.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04c206e --- /dev/null +++ b/28010.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2594 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bacon's Rebellion, 1676, by Thomas +Jefferson Wertenbaker + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Bacon's Rebellion, 1676 + + +Author: Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker + + + +Release Date: February 6, 2009 [eBook #28010] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACON'S REBELLION, 1676*** + + +E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Jeannie Howse, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 28010-h.htm or 28010-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/1/28010/28010-h/28010-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/1/28010/28010-h.zip) + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +BACON'S REBELLION, 1676 + +by + +THOMAS J. WERTENBAKER +Edwards Professor of American History, Emeritus +Princeton University + + + + + + + +Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation +Williamsburg, Virginia +1957 + +Copyright(C), 1957 by +Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration +Corporation, Williamsburg, Virginia + +Second Printing, 1959 +Third Printing, 1964 + +Jamestown 350th Anniversary +Historical Booklet, Number 8 + + [Illustration: From Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson, Torchbearer + of the Revolution + Map of Virginia at the time of Bacon's Rebellion] + + + + +BACON'S REBELLION, 1676 + + +The months just preceding the year 1676 were marked in Virginia by +ominous signs of disaster. A great comet streamed through the sky +"like a horsetail," and it was well known that that meant pestilence +or war. Then came tens of thousands of pigeons, stretching across the +sky as far as the eye could see. They were followed by vast swarms of +what seem to have been cicadas, which rose out of the ground, ate the +fresh leaves of the trees, and then disappeared. So those who believed +in omens were not surprised when the year was marked by the greatest +catastrophe in the history of the colony. + +But to understand what happened it is necessary to go back thirty-five +years to the appointment by Charles I of Sir William Berkeley as +Governor of Virginia. No doubt the King considered this an especial +act of grace to the colony, for Berkeley was a member of the Privy +Chamber, and as such lived in the royal palace. It was this, perhaps, +which fired him with an intense loyalty for the House of Stuart which +endured to the day of his death. To dispute the omnipotence of the +king was in his eyes the darkest of crimes. A Master of Arts at +Oxford, a writer of some merit, polished in manner, he seemed out of +place in the forests of Virginia. Perhaps it was his passion to rule +which brought him to the colony, perhaps it was cupidity, for he +accumulated there a fortune of considerable size. + +He had been in Virginia but a few months when word reached him of the +outbreak of the Civil War in England. He must have been horrified that +anyone should dare to take up arms against the sacred person of the +King, and he sought permission to return to England to defend him. So, +in the summer of 1644, when Charles was bearing down on the +Parliamentary forces under Essex in Cornwall, Berkeley was with him. +And he looked on with deep satisfaction as Sir Richard Grenville +ransacked Lord Roberts' house at Lanhydrock, eight miles north of +Fowey, and made off with silver plate worth L2000. + +It was probably soon after this that word came of the terrible Indian +massacre of April 18, 1644, for Berkeley was back in Virginia on June +7, 1645. Placing himself at the head of the forces which had been +bringing fire and destruction to the Indian villages, he soon forced +the savages to seek refuge in the woods and swamps. After he had +captured their aged chief Opechancanough, they sued for peace. + +Upon receiving news of the execution of Charles I, Sir William +proclaimed Charles II King. And when, in 1652, a Parliamentary fleet +sailed up the James to reduce the colony, he summoned the militia and +prepared for a stubborn resistance. It was only when his Council +pointed out the folly of defying the might of Britain that he +reluctantly agreed to surrender. But his soul was filled with +bitterness. So, with the restoration of Charles II to the throne, when +once more he was governor of Virginia, he was determined to permit no +more of representative government than his commission and instructions +made necessary. + +This he did by corrupting the Burgesses and continuing them by +prorogations for many years. He took on himself "the sole nominating" +of all civil and military officers, picking out such persons as he +thought would further his designs. Collectors', sheriffs', justices' +places were handed out to the Burgesses with a lavish hand. The list +of Burgesses in the so-called Long Assembly sounds like a military +roll call, for of the thirty members in 1666, six were colonels of +militia, two lieutenant-colonels, one a major, and fourteen captains. +Philip Alexander Bruce states that "a large proportion of the justices +were also members of the House of Burgesses." In this way he "gained +upon and obliged" the "men of parts and estates" in the Burgesses, and +made them subservient to his will. "He has so fortified his power over +us as of himself without respect to our laws to do what so ever he +pleased," it was said. + +Sir William further bound his favorites to him by granting them great +tracts of the best land. "Some take up 2,000 acres, some 3,000, and +others 10,000, and many more have taken up 30,000." They cultivated +only a fraction or perhaps not any of these great tracts, merely +putting up "a hog house to save the lapse." So when newcomers looked +around for land, they were faced with the alternative of becoming +tenants or of taking up "remote barren lands" on the frontiers. + +The poor planters complained bitterly of the great sums voted by the +Assembly for their own salaries, those of certain officers, and for +various other expenses. In 1675 the Speaker of the House received +15,000 pounds of tobacco, the clerk 15,000. The total cost of this +session was 539,390 pounds of tobacco, that of the session of +February, 1676, 616,652 pounds. When the salary of collectors was +added the total was 1,601,046 pounds, or perhaps an average of 150 +pounds for every family. + +The people were convinced that the heavy taxes served no other purpose +than to enrich Berkeley's favorites. "Consider their sudden +advancement," said Bacon. "See what sponges have sucked up the public +wealth, and whether it hath not been privately contrived away by +unworthy favorites, by vile juggling parasites, whose tottering +fortunes have been repaired and supported." And it was obvious that +Berkeley himself had taken care to get the largest share of the +plunder. At the outbreak of Bacon's Rebellion he owned the plantation +at Green Spring, five houses in Jamestown, four hundred cattle, +several hundred sheep, sixty horses, "near L1,000 worth of wheat, +barley, oates, and corn," and some valuable plate. + +Part of this fortune came to him through a monopoly of the beaver +trade with the Indians. He seems to have cashed in on this by +licensing the traders on the frontier and taking a large part of +their profits. Though he had trouble in collecting his dues, he +received each year several hundred pounds of beaver fur. His obedient +Assembly added to his wealth by voting him money from time to time. +This they excused to the indigent tax payers as due him for what he +had laid out in "beneficial designs." But the poor planter, in his +rags, leaning on his hoe in his little tobacco patch, secretly cursed +as Lady Berkeley drove past in her coach. + +The people complained bitterly that they had been cheated of the right +to govern themselves. That no power whatsoever should tax them without +their own consent was the basic principle of English liberty. Yet it +was but a mockery to contend that men who had sold themselves to the +governor and whom they were given no opportunity to oust from office, +were their true representatives in voting away their money. + +In local government Sir William was supreme. He it was who appointed +the sheriffs and the justices of the peace who, as members of the +county courts, had judicial, legislative, and executive powers. The +county tax was usually larger than that laid by the Assembly, for it +had to cover the salaries of the Burgesses, the cost of building +courthouses, prisons, and bridges, and of killing wolves, etc. When +the justices in levying taxes retired to a private room and locked the +door, there was grave suspicion of fraud. Is it not obvious, men said, +that they do not tell us what the taxes are for, because part of the +money they put in their own pockets? + +Much of the money wrung from the taxpayers was squandered upon foolish +projects. In 1662, at the advice of the King, the Assembly voted to +build thirty-two brick houses at Jamestown, and levied thirty pounds +of tobacco per poll to pay for them. Since the mere erection of houses +when there was no need for them could not make a town, this experiment +was an utter failure. The houses were never "habitable, but fell down +before the finishing of them." + +Equally futile was the attempt to turn the people from raising tobacco +to the production of manufactured goods. After the expenditure of +large sums on industrial plants, "for want of care the said houses +were never finished ... and the ... manufactury wholly in a short time +neglected and no good effected." Bacon's rebellious men denounced +Berkeley's parasites "for having upon specious pretences of public +works raised great unjust taxes upon the commonalty for the +advancement of private favorites and other sinister ends, but no +visible effects in any measure adequate." + +Berkeley denied the charges of favoritism and misgovernment. He called +on God to witness that he knew of nothing in which he had not +distributed equal justice to all men. His friends rallied to his +support. "The whole are sensible of his great integrity, constant +care, and diligence," the Council wrote to the Lords of Trade. Bacon +had loaded him with all the base calumnies and scandals, and with as +much malice and ingratitude as all the black devils in hell could +tempt him to. It was hard indeed that so good a governor should have +his honor and reputation "ravished away" in his old age. + +Though we may discount the testimony of those who had been partners +with Berkeley in his misgovernment, it is clear that he was in no way +responsible for the chief cause of poverty in the colony--the +Navigation Acts. Prior to 1660 the Virginians carried on an extensive +trade with Holland, selling their tobacco to Dutch merchants and +taking Dutch manufactured goods in exchange. When the tobacco reached +Holland it was "manufactured" and then distributed to other countries. +This trade brought prosperity to the colony, for the Dutch paid well +for the tobacco and sold their goods cheaply. But the Navigation Acts +required that tobacco exported from the colonies must be shipped to +England or to her dominions, and that manufactured goods imported must +come from England. + +The result was disastrous. England was not able by herself to consume +the entire crop. Nor could the merchants re-export it to the continent +because they did not have access to the markets. So the tobacco piled +up in the English warehouses, while the price sank lower and lower. +The Dutch had given three pence a pound for tobacco, but now the crop +was sold at half a penny a pound. Formerly the poor planter who raised +a thousand pounds of tobacco each year could count on an income of +L12, which was ample for his needs. After the passage of the +Navigation Acts he was fortunate if he made forty-five shillings. This +was so little that Secretary Ludwell attributed it to nothing but the +mercy of God that he had "not fallen into mutiny and confusion." In +1662 Berkeley and others complained that the price of tobacco was so +low that it would not bear the charge of freight and customs, give +encouragement to the merchants, and subsistence to the planters. + +As though this were not enough, a series of disasters struck the +colony bringing ruin and suffering in their wake. In 1667, when +England and Holland were at war, a fleet of five Dutch warships +entered Chesapeake Bay and captured the _Elizabeth_, an English +frigate of forty-six guns. They then turned on the tobacco fleet and +captured twenty vessels. Six years later nine Dutch warships came in +and engaged the English in a desperate battle off Lynnhaven Bay while +the tobacco ships scurried for shallow water. Unfortunately nine or +ten ran aground and were taken. + +Even nature seemed bent on completing the ruin of the planters. "This +poor country ... is now reduced to a very miserable condition by a +continual course of misfortune," wrote Thomas Ludwell in 1667. "In +April ... we had a most prodigious storm of hail, many of them as big +as turkey eggs, which destroyed most of our young mast and cattle. On +the fifth of June following came the Dutch upon us.... They were not +gone before it fell to raining and continued for forty days +together.... But on the 27th of August followed the most dreadful +hurricane that ever the colony groaned under.... The nearest +computation is at least 10,000 houses blown down, all the Indian grain +laid flat upon the ground, all the tobacco in the fields torn to +pieces." + +It was soon after the Restoration that the people of Virginia learned +that "all the lands and water lying between Potomac and Rappahannock, +together with all the royalties belonging thereto," had been granted +to Lord Hopton and several other noblemen. In alarm they appealed "for +relief" to the King, and were greatly relieved when the grant was +recalled. And though another patent was issued, it contained +reservations to protect "the rights, privileges, and properties of the +inhabitants." But their joy was tempered by a provision giving the +patentees the quit rents with eleven years arrears. This would be more +than the entire value of many men's estates, it was complained. + +So they employed agents to plead their cause in London. In the +meanwhile the patent had been assigned to the Earl of St. Albans, Lord +John Berkeley, Sir William Moreton, and John Trethney. When the agents +proposed that they surrender their rights in return for a large sum of +money to be raised by taxing the people of the colony, most of them +agreed. But at this point the King issued a patent to the Earl of +Arlington and Lord Culpeper, "which not only included the lands +formerly granted ... but all the rest of the colony." The Virginians +were in despair. The two lords were to have many powers rightly +belonging to the government. They were to pocket all escheats, quit +rents, and duties belonging to the Crown; they had the power to create +new counties and parishes, to issue patents for land; they could +appoint sheriffs, surveyors, and other officers, and induct ministers. +The Assembly complained that this nullified all previous charters and +promises and made the people subjects to their fellow subjects. + +So negotiations had to begin again. In the end Arlington and Culpeper +agreed to give up their patent in return for a new one for the +Northern Neck assuring them the quit rents and escheated property. +Having gained this concession the agents then pleaded for a charter +for the colony guaranteeing the liberties of the colonists. In it +there were to be promises that they should continue to have their +immediate dependence on the Crown, and that no tax should be laid upon +them but by the consent of the Assembly. The King in Council assented +to the charter, and twice it reached the Great Seal. But there it was +held up. In the meanwhile news came of Bacon's Rebellion, and the King +reversed his order. Later he did grant letters patent, but they +contained little more than the promise that the colony should be +directly dependent on the Crown. + +This whole affair caused universal resentment in the colony, and the +expense of the negotiations in England made the people "desperately +uneasy." Berkeley reported that "the two great taxes of sixty pounds +per poll to buy in the Northern patent made those that thought they +were not concerned in it ripe for mutiny." The agents, too, warned +that the Arlington and Culpeper grant might cause the common people to +rise in arms and perhaps bring about "the utter dispersion" of the +planters. + +With the staple crop of the colony a drug on the market because of the +Navigation Acts, with tax piled on tax to buy back the liberties of +the people from favorites of the King, with self-government made a +mockery by the corrupting of the Burgesses, with the small farmers in +rags, the people were ready to rise in arms at the least excuse. +Before young Nathaniel Bacon set foot on Virginia soil Berkeley and +his henchmen were trembling in their boots. The governor thought that +if an opportunity offered itself the planters might go over to the +Dutch "in hopes of bettering their condition by sharing the plunder of +the country with them." + +Into this mass of dynamite an Indian war threw a torch. The resulting +explosion was Bacon's Rebellion. + +In 1674 two mutinies had failed, it was said because the people, +after assembling in arms, could not find a leader. Two years later, +when again angry men gathered, they found their leader in Bacon. This +young man was the son of Thomas Bacon, a wealthy English squire. At an +early age he entered St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge, as a +fellow-commoner. There he seems to have idled away his time, and when +he "broke into some extravagances" his father withdrew him. This +apparent misfortune was turned to good effect when his father secured +for him as tutor the great naturalist, John Ray. Ray found Nathaniel a +lad of "very good parts and a quick wit," but "impatient of labor." +When he was sixteen he accompanied Ray on a tour of Europe. On his +return he re-entered Cambridge and later studied at Gray's Inn. + +In 1670 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Duke. Her father +had positively forbidden the match, and when she disobeyed him cut her +off without one groat. But Thomas Bacon, and after Sir Edward's death, +her brother John, made ample provision for the young couple. All would +have been well had not Nathaniel been tricked by two sharpers in a +deal with a guileless youth named Jason, and left with a long and +tedious lawsuit. + +It was at this juncture that he decided to seek his fortune in +Virginia. There he might hope for quick advancement, because his +cousin, also named Nathaniel Bacon, had attained a position of +influence, and because he was related to Lady Berkeley, wife of the +governor. Upon the advice of his grandmother, Lady Brooke, he left his +wife behind until he had prepared a place for her "answerable to her +quality." Upon his arrival in Virginia he was welcomed by Sir William, +and it was at his advice "or at least friendly approbation" that he +purchased a plantation at Curles Neck, on the James, forty miles above +Jamestown, and a tract of land at the site of Richmond, on what was +then the frontier. "When first I designed Virginia my chiefest aims +were a further inquiry into those western parts in order to which I +chose to seat myself so remote," he said, "I having always been +delighted in solitude." + +Bacon had been in Virginia but a few months when the governor +appointed him to the Council of State. This seemed a great honor +indeed for a young man of twenty-eight. But Berkeley explained: +"Gentlemen of your quality come very rarely into this country, and +therefore when they do come are used by me with all respect." Bacon +was greatly surprised. "As to anything of public employment in the +country, my tender age and manner of living, not free from follies and +youthful excesses, forbad me to hope or expect any such thing.... This +sudden change were enough to stagger a philosopher of more settled +temper than I am." + +But it was not possible for the dictatorial governor and the hotheaded +youth to get along together. Berkeley was accustomed to having +obedience in return for favors. Bacon was not the man to knuckle +under. It was prophetic of what was to follow that the first +difference grew out of relations with the allied Indians. When poor +immigrants took up holdings on the frontier rather than become tenants +to wealthy men in the east, they encroached on the reservations of +those Indian tribes which were under the protection of the government. +They even laid out farms within the very limits of their villages. +When the Indians, driven by hunger, killed any of their cattle or +hogs, the frontiersmen "beat and abused them." + +Apparently it was a dispute with the Indians which caused the first +temporary breach between Bacon and Berkeley. We do not know just what +happened, but Bacon in a letter to the Governor speaks of his +"unbecoming deportment in your Honor's presence," and said he was +sorry for it. Sir William's reply makes it probable that Bacon had +suffered some losses from neighboring Indians, and had retaliated. +"This sudden business of the Indians," Berkeley said, had raised in +him "high distemper." And he asked Bacon to consider that relations +between the whites and the Indians was his responsibility, so that it +was important that he be advised of all dealings with them. Should +there be serious trouble he would be criticised both in England and +Virginia. + +Bacon must have resented Berkeley's monopoly of the fur trade. He +tells us that a desire to have a share in this lucrative business had +been one of his motives for settling on the frontier. But he made a +virtue of necessity and, in partnership with his neighbor, William +Byrd I, applied to the governor for a license. They would pay him 800 +pounds of beaver fur for the first year and 600 pounds a year +thereafter. This looked good to Sir William. "I am in no such +plentiful condition that I should refuse a good offer," he replied, +"and therefore am likely to accept your and my cousin Byrd's offer." + +With the opening months of 1676 there were ominous rumblings of +revolt. From New England came word that the English there were engaged +in a deadly war with the Indians, which Berkeley thought was not +merely a local affair, "but a general combination of all from New +England thither." The so-called allied tribes on the Virginia +frontiers were sullen and resentful. "They also would be rid of us if +they could," said Berkeley. Their efforts to wipe out the English in +previous wars had failed only because their bows and arrows were no +match for the muskets of the English. Now that they had firearms might +not their efforts be more successful? + +It was the Marylanders who had given firearms to the Susquehannocks, a +fierce tribe living on their northern border. This they did so that +they could protect them from the Senecas, one of the tribes of the +Iroquois confederation. But in 1674, when the Marylanders made a +separate treaty with the Senecas, the latter fell on the +Susquehannocks, defeated them in battle, and swept them out of their +fortified villages. Fleeing through Maryland the remnant of the tribe +established themselves on the north bank of the Potomac directly +across from the site of Mount Vernon. + +Here they were safe from their enemies, but not from hunger. They +might catch fish from the river, but they lacked space for corn +fields, and the plantations of the English spread out over what had +once been hunting grounds. It was inevitable that they would seek food +where they could find it, and having robbed nearby farms they could +not resist the temptation to commit a few murders. Associated with +them were the remnants of the Doegs who had been driven out of +Virginia a few years before because of the "execrable murders" they +had committed. + +In the summer of 1675 a party of Indians paddled across the Potomac, +and after killing several men, made good their escape back to +Maryland. Shortly afterwards people returning from church found a man +covered with ghastly wounds lying across his threshold, who managed to +gasp out, "Doegs, Doegs." Immediately the alarm was sounded, and a +party of thirty or more men assembled on the south bank of the river +opposite the Indian reservation under the command of Colonel George +Mason and Captain George Brent. + +At dawn they crossed over to the Maryland side. Here they divided +their forces, Mason leading part in one direction through the woods +and Brent the other in another. Brent came upon a cabin full of Doegs. +Their chief denied knowledge of the murders, but when he started to +run Brent shot him. At this the Indians in the cabin made a dash for +safety in the face of a volley which brought down ten of them. + +In the meanwhile Mason, too, had come upon a cabin full of Indians, +and had killed fourteen of them. But when he found out that they were +not Doegs but Susquehannocks, he shouted: "For the Lord's sake shoot +no more, these are our friends the Susquehannocks." But they now were +their friends no longer. They began a series of bloody raids in +Stafford County on the Virginia side of the river and Charles +County in Maryland. Governor Calvert was quite right in complaining to +Berkeley of the invasion of his province by an armed force to turn +friendly Indians into mortal enemies. + + + [Illustration: Courtesy Cook Collection, Valentine Museum. From + Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Sept. 6, 1866 + Bacon's Castle, Surry County, Virginia] + + [Illustration: + + STRANGE NEWS + FROM + VIRGINIA; + + Being a full and true + ACCOUNT + OF THE + LIFE and DEATH + OF + Nathanael Bacon Esquire, + + Who was the only Cause and Original of all the late + Troubles in that COUNTRY. + + With a full Relation of all the Accidents which have + happened in the late War there between the + Christians and Indians. + + LONDON, + Printed for William Harris, next door to the Turn-Stile + without Moor-gate, 1677. + + From the Church Catalogue + Photo by T.L. Williams] + +But since it was now too late to restore peace, the Virginians and +Marylanders agreed upon a joint campaign to force the Susquehannocks +to leave the region and give hostages for their peaceful conduct. It +was late in September when the Maryland troops, under Major Thomas +Trueman, arrived on the north bank of the Piscataway Creek, the site +of Fort Washington. A few days later a body of Virginians under +Colonel John Washington, great-grandfather of George Washington, and +Colonel Isaac Allerton, landed from a fleet of sloops. + +Across the creek, on a low bit of land, protected by patches of swamp, +the Susquehannocks had built a fort. Had it been no more than a round +stockade, after the traditional Indian style, it could have been taken +with ease. But the Marylanders themselves had taught the +Susquehannocks the art of fortification. So they had laid out a large +square, raised embankments on all four sides, with an outer defence of +palisades, and a ditch between. At each corner was a bastion, from +which an attacking force could be enfiladed. Lacking artillery to +batter down these works the three commanders decided to invest the +fort and starve out the defenders. + +In the meanwhile Major Trueman invited the "great men" to a parley. +When five of them came out, he charged them with recent murders in +Maryland. The Indians placed the blame on prowling bands of Senecas. +This was an obvious lie, for Susquehannocks had been seen wearing the +clothing of some of the murdered whites, and raiding parties had come +directly to the fort, their canoes laden with beef. Seeing himself in +imminent danger, one of the Indians produced a medal bearing the image +of Lord Baltimore, and a paper which he said was a pledge from a +former governor of Maryland to protect the tribe from harm. Despite +this, and despite the fact that the "great men" had come under a truce +to discuss peace, Trueman ordered his men to knock them on the head. + +When word of this outrage reached Governor Berkeley he was furious. +"If they had killed my grandfather and my grandmother, my father and +mother and all my friends, yet if they had come to treat of peace, +they ought to have gone in peace," he blurted out. Major Trueman was +impeached in Maryland, fined and sentenced to imprisonment, but this +did not undo the wrong or prevent the terrible consequences. + +The Indians in the fort put up a desperate resistance. Weeks passed, +and they still held out. To every suggestion of parley they asked: +"Where are our great men?" At last, when "brought to great distress" +through hunger, they broke through the encircling English with their +wives and children, and vanished into the forest. Making their way up +the Maryland side of the river, they crossed over to Virginia, and +began a series of raids upon the frontier plantations on the upper +Rappahannock and Mattapony rivers. + +Within a few days they had killed sixty persons. The fortunate ones +were those who fell at the first volley, for the miserable captives +were subjected to tortures that would have baffled the imagination of +a Dante. "Some they roast alive, offering their flesh to such English +prisoners as they keep languishing by a lingering death, pulling their +nails off, making holes and sticking feathers in their flesh. Some +they rip open and make run their guts round trees." + +For the moment the old spirit which had made him so ardent a fighter +in the English Civil War and in the battles against Opechancanough +flared anew in Governor Berkeley. Calling together a force of horse +and foot, he placed them under the command of Sir Henry Chicheley with +orders to pursue the murderers. But when all was ready and Chicheley +was expecting the order to march Berkeley changed his mind, withdrew +his commission and disbanded his forces. + +This sudden change has long puzzled historians. Berkeley himself had +taken the lead in carrying the war to the enemy following the massacre +of 1644; why did he hang back now? It may have been the offer of peace +from the new chief of the Susquehannocks, which Sir William was +willing to accept but which the Indians themselves ignored. It may +have been the fear that Chicheley's men might not discriminate between +friend and foe and by attacking some of the allied Indians involve +them in the war. He stated later that he would have preserved those +Indians so that they could be his "spies and intelligence to find out +the more bloody enemies." Certainly in this he was foreshadowing the +policy followed by his successors for more than a century. But it did +not justify leaving the frontier open to attack, while the murders and +torturing continued. + +It is not necessary to accept the accusation of Bacon and his +followers that Berkeley adopted this policy so as not to interfere +with the beaver trade. It might have been effective had not the +Pamunkeys, the Appomatox, and other nearby tribes been dissatisfied +and resentful. As it was, the governor was soon obliged to abandon it. +"As soon as I had the least intelligence that they were our +treacherous enemies I have given out commissions to destroy them all," +he said. To Colonel Goodrich, when he was about to lead an expedition +up the Rappahannock, he wrote: "I believe all the Indians, our +neighbors, are engaged with the Susquehannocks, therefore I desire you +to spare none ... for they are all our enemies." + +Berkeley blamed Bacon and his men for the defection of the allied +Indians. It was they, he said, who had driven them out of their towns +and forced them "to live remote in the woods." It was only then, when +they became desperate through hunger, that they joined in the raids on +the English. One can never be certain which side started hostilities. +Probably both were to blame. But Berkeley did not stop to consider +that the fault was basically his own. Had he not granted all the best +lands in the east to his favorites, poor planters would not have had +to encroach on the Indian reservations, in which case the Indians +might have remained peaceful, and even fought side by side with the +English against the Susquehannocks. + +After recalling the expedition under Chicheley, Berkeley remained +inactive until, in February, he received word that the Indians had +made new raids. Then he summoned the Assembly. Several weeks passed +before they convened, since it took time to reach the Burgesses who +lived in the distant counties, and for them to travel, perhaps by +boat, down the Potomac or the Rappahannock, and up the James to +Jamestown. At last, on March 7, the session opened. + +Berkeley had determined on a defensive war, and the Assembly +obediently carried out his wishes. So they declared war on all Indians +who were known to have taken part in the murderous raids, provided for +the enlistment of friendly Indians, called out a force of 500 men, +prohibited trade in firearms with the savages, and ordered the +erection of eight forts on the frontiers. + +This policy might have been successful had Berkeley made the forts +bases for expeditions against the enemy. The Indians seem to have made +their raids in small parties, and with rangers spying upon them, +forces could have rushed out from the nearest fort to intercept or +pursue them. In fact this seems to have been Berkeley's original plan. +The spread of hostilities "puts us on an absolute necessity not only +of fortifying our frontiers more strongly, but of keeping several +considerable parties of both horse and foot still in motion to +confront them wherever they shall attack us," he wrote in a report to +the English government late in March. + +Berkeley stated that the forts served their purpose well. "In April +and May we lost not one man," he stated. But this Bacon and his men +denied. Even when a garrison received word that Indians were near, +they were not permitted to pursue them until they had notified the +governor, who might be fifty or sixty miles away, and received his +permission. The forts proved useless, they said, for the Indians +sneaked in between them and fell upon the outlying plantations, +burning, plundering, and killing. This it was easy to do in a country +full of "thick woods, swamps, and other covert." So, as houses went up +in flames, as men, women, and children were murdered, as miserable +captives were led off to await torture, a cry arose for relief. What +is needed, people said, is some considerable force in motion to seek +out the enemy and destroy them. + +So petition after petition came to Berkeley begging him to send them a +leader. We have the arms, they said, all we ask is permission to +defend ourselves. But they met with peremptory refusal. As one group +stood before him, hat in hand, one of them spoke of themselves as his +honor's subjects. "Why you are a set of fools and loggerheads. You are +the King's subjects, and so am I," Berkeley blurted out. "A pox take +you." + +The frontier planters were in despair. Many deserted their homes and +fled to the more settled parts of the country. Some declared they +would plant no more tobacco, since it would be taken from them to pay +for the useless forts. And they were deeply angered when it was +reported to them that Berkeley had said that if they had no tobacco, +"they had cows and feather beds sufficient to discharge their levies." +At last, "the cries of their women and children growing grievous and +intolerable to them," and hearing that large bodies of Indians were +encamped on the upper James ready to descend on them, the people of +Charles City County assembled in arms near Merchants Hope. + +They found their leader in Nathaniel Bacon. Bacon, despite his youth, +was looked up to as one of the Council, and a member of the English +gentry. Not only did he sympathize with the people in their fear and +hatred of the Indians, but he had a personal grievance, since they +had plundered his outer plantation and killed his overseer. So when +several of his neighbors urged him to cross the James to visit the men +in arms, he readily consented. + +When they saw the slender, black-haired youth, they set up a great +cry: "A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon!" This was too much for him to resist. +It is stated by one of the old chroniclers that he had "a most +imperious and dangerous hidden pride of heart." The leadership thus +thrust upon him must have pleased him. He was now no longer the +erratic youth who had been withdrawn from Cambridge, had caused his +father great trouble and anxiety, and had been duped by sharpers. He +was the leader of men. But there can be no doubt that he yielded to +the pleas of his friends and neighbors in part at least because of his +loathing of the Indians and his horror at their cruelty. He yielded +also because his spirit revolted at Berkeley's system of government by +corruption, because he sympathized with the people in their outcry +against the killing burdens placed on them, and because he hoped to +redress their grievances. His rough followers listened with approval +as he denounced the government as "negligent and wicked, treacherous +and incapable, the laws unjust and oppressive," and declared that +reform was absolutely necessary. So he listed their names on a huge +round-robin, and "enjoined them by an oath to stick fast together and +to him." As word spread throughout the colony that at last the people +had a champion, almost overnight he became the popular hero, and "the +only patron of the country and the preserver of their lives and +fortunes." + +He first wrote Berkeley asking for a commission to go out to attack +the Indians, and then, without waiting for a reply, crossed the +Chickahominy into New Kent to overawe or perhaps attack the Pamunkeys. +He found the people of this county "ripe for rebellion" and eager to +wipe out their treacherous neighbors. But when he heard that the +Pamunkeys had fled from their villages to the inaccessible Dragon's +Swamp, he turned back to pursue a body of Susquehannocks who had +moved south to the Roanoke river. + +When the news reached Berkeley that the frontier planters had +assembled in arms, chosen Bacon their leader, denounced his +administration, and driven the Pamunkeys into hiding, he was furious. +But as he had broken up previous mutinies by proclamations, he tried +the same expedient now. He declared the action of Bacon and his men +illegal and rebellious. But pardon would be granted provided they +disperse at once and return to their duty and allegiance. + +Bacon had already written the governor to assure him that in taking up +arms he was acting only in self-defense and for the country's safety. +But now he sent another letter reiterating that he had no evil +intentions to him or the government. "I am now going out to seek a +more agreeable destiny than you are pleased to design me," he added. +As to the money he owed him he enclosed an order for its payment. + +He then turned his back on the settlements and plunged into the +forests. Although he said he distrusted all Indians, he went out of +his way to enlist a few warriors from the allied Nottoways and +Meherrins. He then followed a trail used by fur traders and headed for +an island in the Roanoke river. Here a friendly tribe, the +Occaneechees, had established two forts and a village. They welcomed +Bacon, ferried his men over to the island, and went themselves to +attack a band of Susquehannocks in a nearby fort. With the aid of some +Mannikins, whom the Susquehannocks had forced to accompany them, they +took the fort and came back leading a number of captives. + +Having accomplished what he had set out to do without the loss of a +man, Bacon probably would have started home, had he had provisions +enough for the long march through the wilderness. As it was his men +faced starvation. So he demanded supplies of food from the Occaneechee +chief. Berkeley's friends later accused him of demanding also beaver +taken from the Susquehannock fort. The ensuing dispute led to a +bloody battle on the island, in which the English rushed up to the +palisaded fort, began firing in at the portholes, and set fire to the +village. The next day the Indians sallied out, and hiding behind +trees, tried to pick off the English. But when many of their warriors +had been killed, the chief, with twenty men, tried to circle the +English. This too failed, the chief was killed, and the remaining +Indians with their wives and children, taking to their canoes, made +their escape. Bacon and his men gathered up the spoils, plundered the +Occaneechee larder, swam their horses over to the mainland, and +started on the return march. + +When Berkeley found that his proclamation had had no effect, he +gathered a force of about three hundred men, and set out for the falls +of the James. But he was too late. When he arrived Bacon and his men +had disappeared into the forest on their way to the Roanoke. So the +governor had to content himself with issuing another proclamation. +Nathaniel Bacon, junior, of Henrico County, with divers rude, +dissolute, and tumultuous persons, contrary to the laws of England and +their allegiance to the King, had taken up arms without obtaining from +him any order or commission. Since this tended to the ruin and +overthrow of the government, he declared that Bacon and his aiders +were unlawful, mutinous, and rebellious. + +At the same time, Lady Berkeley issued a statement of her own. It had +been rumored among the people that Bacon would not only be their +captain, but provide out of his own pocket for their wives and +children. This was a vain hope, she said. His entire estate was bound +over, his father had refused to honor his bills of exchange, he owed +William Byrd L400 and his cousin Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, senior, +L200. "I do accuse him of a worse crime than poverty," she added, "I +do accuse him of ingratitude, and that of a deep dye, to return the +favorable amity of the governor with casting all kinds of aspersions +upon his courage and conduct in the government of this colony." + +In the meanwhile, awaiting Bacon's return, the governor turned his +attention to the defences on the upper James. He commanded the queen +of the Pamunkeys to return to her reservation, and when she refused, +prepared to drive her out of the Dragon Swamp. But at this moment word +reached him that the people in all parts of the colony were rising +against him. Now that they had a leader to redress their wrongs, in +many an humble cabin men seized their fusils, swords, and halberds, +and waited for him to call them to his side. They expected him to end +corruption and favoritism in the government, to lower taxes, to +correct private injustices, to give them a really representative +Assembly. + +Berkeley was astonished. Hastening back to Green Spring he questioned +his Council. What do they want? What have I done in all the years I +have been governor to turn so many thousands against me? What do you +advise me to do? The Council replied that his keeping the Assembly for +so many years was one of the chief grievances and advised him to have +a new election. Later he stated that it was Bacon who made "the rabble +cry out for a new Assembly." Reluctantly he complied. He had every +reason to expect that the new House of Burgesses would be +overwhelmingly hostile to him, and as the returns came in he saw that +his worst fears would be realized. The final count showed that one +after another the old Burgesses were defeated at the polls until in +the end all but eight of the new House were of "Bacon's faction." + +When Bacon returned from the Occaneechee fight, he was elated with the +acclaim of the people, not only on the frontier but in all parts of +the colony, but he was aggrieved that the governor had proclaimed him +a rebel and threatened his life. On May 25, he wrote to Berkeley: "I +am sorry to find that for the expence of our estates and hazard of our +lives in the country's service we should by misinformers have our true +intentions so falsely represented to you.... We have all along +manifested our abhorrence of mutiny and rebellion.... If your honor +were in person to lead or command I would follow and obey." But then +he continued with a veiled threat. If he sought to revenge himself he +had only to listen to all the stories of "your honor's falsehood, +cowardice, treachery, receiving bribes." He had heard that Lady +Berkeley had raised "several scandalous and false reports" against +him, that he was not worth a groat and that his notes had been +protested. He could hear enough about her, he retorted, if he would +permit himself to listen. + +When Berkeley showed this letter to the Council, they wrote Bacon: +"Our advice to you is that the most honorable, the most secure, and +most safe way for yourself [is for] you forthwith in the most humble +manner present yourself to the governor and, acknowledging your +errors, humbly crave his pardon." If he preferred to justify his +conduct, they promised him a fair trial either in Virginia or in +England. + +But with the plaudits of the people ringing in his ears, Bacon was +unwilling to humble himself. "My submissions are unacceptable, my real +intentions misunderstood," he wrote Berkeley. "I am sorry that your +honor's resentments are of such violence and growth as to command my +appearance with all contempt and disgrace and my disowning and belying +so glorious a cause as the country's defence. I know my person safe in +your honor's word, but only beg what pledge or warranty I shall have +for my reputation." + +So, when the sheriff of Henrico rose in court to read Berkeley's +proclamation, he was interrupted by Bacon, who was there with thirty +or forty of his men. "If you dare read a line of that proclamation, I +will make you regret it," he said. Then, as though to show their +defiance of the governor, the people elected Bacon and his ardent +friend, Captain James Crews, to represent them in the House of +Burgesses. + +It would have been well for Bacon had he chosen to ride down to +Jamestown with a heavy escort. Instead he decided on the easier and +usual method of travel by boat, and so set out in his sloop with +forty armed men. On June 6, when they came abreast Jamestown, they +were fired on by the guns of the fort. So they turned about and sailed +further up the river. With the coming of darkness Bacon, with twenty +of his men, rowed ashore, and held a long conference with Richard +Lawrence and William Drummond, Berkeley's inveterate enemies. It is +obvious that Bacon had known these men before. It is even possible +that he had boarded at Mrs. Lawrence's tavern while a member of the +Council, and that her husband had done his best to turn him against +Sir William with charges of arbitrary and corrupt government. + +One wishes that one might have sat in on that night meeting. What did +the young popular leader discuss with these two embittered men? The +Indian war beyond doubt. But also Berkeley's "French despotism," and +how best to curb it. With an Assembly hostile to Berkeley in session, +Lawrence and Drummond must have recognized their chance. In fact +Berkeley had warned the Burgesses not to be misled by these "two +rogues." So it seems extremely probable that they drilled Bacon on +what measures to propose when he took his seat in the House. + +At early dawn, when Bacon was returning, he was discovered and chased +up the river by several armed boats. He seems to have reached his +sloop, but when he tried to escape up the river, he was forced under +the guns of the _Adam and Eve_, a warship commanded by Captain Thomas +Gardiner, and forced to surrender. + +When Bacon was led before the governor, the old man exclaimed: "Now I +behold the greatest rebel that ever was in Virginia." + +Then, after a pause, he asked: "Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a +gentleman?" + +"No, may it please your honor." + +"Then, I'll take your parole." + +Soon after this scene Bacon had a conference with his cousin in which +the latter pleaded with him to make his submission and give up the +idea of reforming the government and going out to fight the Indians. +If he would promise to do so, he said, he would turn over to him a +part or his estate and leave him the remainder after his own and his +wife's deaths. In the end the younger Bacon yielded and signed a paper +engaging to refrain from further disobedience to the government. + +A few days later the governor summoned the Burgesses to meet with the +Council in the Court Room of the State House. When all were seated he +stood up and said: "If there be joy in the presence of the angels over +one sinner that repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent +sinner come before us. Call Mr. Bacon." + +When Bacon stepped forward, fell on his knees, and handed in his +submission, the governor resumed: "God forgive you! I forgive you!" + +"And all that were with him?" asked one of the Councillors. + +"Yes, and all that were with him," replied the governor. + +"Mr. Bacon,'" he added, "if you will live civilly but till next +Quarter Court, I will promise to restore you again to your place +there." But he decided not to wait so long, and the following day +permitted him to resume his seat. + +We are left in no doubt as to why Berkeley was so lenient. "Why did I +not put him to death when I had him in my power?" he asked later. "I +must have been judge, jury, and executioner to have done it, for the +Assembly ... were all picked for him. The Council frightened with +hearing 2000 men were armed to deliver him." Philip Ludwell wrote Lady +Berkeley who a few weeks before had sailed for England, that she must +wonder why instead of death "such favors were heaped on." But it was +unavoidable, since hundreds of enraged men were within a day's march +of Jamestown, and the forces at hand to oppose them secretly in +sympathy with Bacon. "There is not a part of the country free from the +infection. Never was there so great a madness as the people generally +were seized with." + +But in restoring Bacon to the Council Berkeley was no doubt actuated +as much by policy as by fear, for it was better to have him there +where he could keep his eye on him than in the House of Burgesses +where he might attempt to carry through reform legislation. + +By this time anyone less stubborn and arbitrary than Berkeley would +have learned his lesson. On June 12, when Bacon was still in the +governor's power, Philip Ludwell wrote his brother: "It now looks like +general ruin for the country.... The governor seems determined to +leave for England.... If he does he leaves a lost country." Had he +given Bacon a commission to fight the Indians and permitted the +Assembly to carry out adequate reforms in the government, the people +might have been satisfied. But when the Assembly met things seemed to +be going in the old way. + +If we are to understand the transactions of this historic Assembly it +is necessary to divide the session into two parts, the part when +Berkeley had Bacon in his power, and the part when Bacon had escaped +and was once more at the head of his army. During the first part +Berkeley seems to have dominated the Assembly despite the pro-Bacon +majority, during the second part the threat of coercion by Bacon's +angry frontiersmen undoubtedly affected all legislation. Without this +division many of the known facts seem incongruous and conflicting; +with it they fit together like the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. + +At the opening of the session "some gentlemen took this opportunity to +endeavor the redressing several grievances the country then labored +under," and a committee was about to be named for this purpose when +they "were interrupted by pressing messages from the governor to +meddle with nothing until the Indian business was dispatched." So the +matter of grievances was sidetracked. + +Then followed a heated debate on whether the House would ask that two +Councillors sit with the committee on Indian Affairs. In the end "this +was huddled off without coming to a vote, and so the committee must +submit to be overawed, and have every carped at expression carried +straight to the governor." + +And the governor, closing his eyes to the fact that the Pamunkeys +hated the English and were sullen and resentful, insisted that they +return to their towns and join in the defence of the colony. So their +queen was brought in and asked how many men she would furnish. In +reply she reproached the English for not giving her people +compensation for their aid in a former war in which her husband had +been killed. In the end she promised twelve men, but it must have been +obvious to all that she and they were not to be trusted. When she had +gone the committee proceeded with their plans for prosecuting the war. +Some of the forts were to be abandoned and their garrisons distributed +among fourteen frontier plantations, and an army of 1,000 men was to +be raised and sent out against the enemy. + +Bacon was a discontented spectator of these proceedings. The governor +was as overbearing as ever, the Burgesses were overawed, the plans for +reform were set aside, the Indian war was mismanaged. He must have +been disgusted that the Burgesses were too cowardly to vote down a +resolution requesting the governor not to resign. The Assembly did not +prove "answerable to our expectations", he said later, for which he +thought they should be censured. So, telling Berkeley that his wife +was ill, he got permission to visit her. No sooner had he gone than +the governor heard that he intended to place himself once more at the +head of his volunteer army. In desperate haste horsemen galloped off +to intercept him. But they were too late. Bacon had made good his +escape. + +In Henrico angry men gathered around him. And when he told them that +the governor had not given him a commission and that he still +persisted in carrying out essentially the old plan for the war, they +were furious. In Bacon's absence the Indians had renewed their raids, +and had wiped out many whole families. The frontiersmen vowed that +they would have a commission or they would march on Jamestown and +"pull down the town." + +So off they went, some mounted, others on foot. There was talk of +sharing the estates of the rich, of making Lady Berkeley discard her +fine gowns for "canvas linen," of ending all taxes. "Thus the raging +torrent came down to town." + +When the governor heard that they were coming he made desperate +efforts to gather a force to resist them. But it was too late. It was +rumored that Bacon had threatened that if a gun was fired at his men +he would "kill and destroy all." Since resistance was useless, +Berkeley threw the guns from their carriages and waited for Bacon's +arrival. + +So the motley band came streaming into town. "Now tag, rag and bobtail +carry a high hand." Bacon drew up a double line before the State House +and demanded that some members of the Council come out to confer with +him. When Colonel Spencer and Colonel Cole appeared he told them he +had come for a commission. Then he said that the people would not +submit to taxes to pay for the proposed new army. And his men shouted: +"No levies! No levies!" + +At this juncture Berkeley rushed out, gesticulating wildly and +denouncing Bacon to his face as a traitor. + +Then he threw back his coat and shouted: "Here, shoot me, 'fore God, +fair mark, shoot." + +Bacon replied that he would not hurt a hair of his head. They had come +for a commission to save their lives from the Indians, which had so +often been promised. + +The Burgesses hearing the noise below, crowded to the windows. But +they drew back when the soldiers pointed their fusils at them, calling +out: "We will have it. We will have it." One of the Burgesses called +back: "For God's sake hold your hands; forbear a little and you shall +have what you please." + +After walking up and down before the State House for some time, +muttering threats and "new coined oaths," Bacon mounted the steps to +the Long Room, where the Burgesses sat, and demanded a commission to +lead a force out against the Indians. One of them told him that +governor alone had the right to grant a commission. But when he left +they sent a message to Sir William advising him to issue the +commission. The Council, too, pointing out that he and they were in +Bacon's power, added their voices. At last, though with intense +bitterness, he yielded. + +But new humiliations awaited him. He was forced to write the King +justifying Bacon's conduct, sign blank commissions for Bacon's +officers, and imprison some of his most loyal friends. So long as it +did not concern "life and limb" he was willing to do anything to be +rid of him. + +In his determination to secure a commission Bacon did not neglect the +matter of reform. When Berkeley suggested that they decide their +controversy by a duel with swords, he replied that "he came for +redress of the people's grievances." In the Assembly he "pressed hard, +nigh an hour's harangue on preserving our lives from the Indians, +inspecting the revenues, the exorbitant taxes, and redressing the +grievances and calamities of that deplorable country." After this +impassioned plea he must have been greatly surprised when the Assembly +told him "that they had already redressed their grievances." Since, +had the so-called Bacon's Laws been passed while he was sitting in the +Council he would have known it, they must have been rushed through +during the brief period between his flight from Jamestown and his +return. + +It will be helpful to recall the situation in the little capital at +the time. With hundreds of enraged frontiersmen "within a day's +journey", with no force which could be trusted to oppose them, the +governor and his friends were in a state of panic. Even before Bacon's +escape Ludwell wrote: "We have all the reason in the world to suspect +their designs are ruinous." And now, with Bacon back at their head to +tell them of his humiliation and report that he still had no +commission, Berkeley feared the worst. Then came the certain +information that Bacon was marching on the town. + +Obviously the Assembly and the governor rushed Bacon's Laws through in +a desperate, last minute attempt to appease Bacon and his men. When +the governor affixed his signature he must have been almost within +hearing distance of the tramp of armed men. And it is significant that +both the governor and the Assembly wished to have the laws read before +Bacon's men "for their satisfaction." That Bacon, who was in no humor +to be appeased, refused to permit this, is no indication that he did +not heartily approve of the laws. + +We do not know who drew up Bacon's Laws. It may have been Lawrence and +Drummond, who introduced them through some ally in the House. It may +have been Bacon's neighbor, Thomas Blayton, whom Colonel Edward Hill +afterwards called "Bacon's great engine" in the Assembly. It may have +been James Minge, clerk of the Assembly, "another [of] Bacon's great +friends in forming the laws." More probably it was the committee on +grievances. But whoever drew them up, whoever introduced them, most of +the credit goes to Bacon. They were aimed at the abuses he repeatedly +denounced, they were passed in an Assembly which Bacon had incited the +people to demand and which Berkeley declared overwhelmingly pro-Bacon, +and signed under the threat of Bacon's armed forces. + +Although the governor and the King both voided Bacon's Laws and the +Assembly of February 1677 repealed them, they constitute a landmark in +the development of self-government in Virginia. They broadened the +franchise by giving the right to vote to all freemen; they gave the +voters representation in the county courts in assessing taxes; they +put an end to self-perpetuating vestries; they fixed the fees of +sheriffs, collectors, and other officials; they made it illegal for +sheriffs to serve more than one year at a time; no person could hold +two of the offices of sheriff, clerk of the court, surveyor, or +escheator at the same time; members of the Council were barred from +sitting on the county courts. + +It was long recognized in both England and America that liberty is +grounded on the principle that no man's money can be taken from him +without his own consent. Yet local taxes in Virginia, which often +exceeded those voted by the Assembly, were assessed by the county +courts made up of the governor's appointees. The self-perpetuating +vestries also had the right to tax, for they levied the parish +charges. Thus Bacon's Laws struck at an exceedingly dangerous abuse. +The use of fees to raise money without the consent of the voters was a +source of bitter controversy between the governors and the people for +many decades to come, a controversy which culminated in the celebrated +case of the pistole fee which got Governor Dinwiddie into so much +trouble. The restricting of local officers to one office at a time +struck a blow at Berkeley's system of government by placemen. But the +laws did not include an act to prohibit officeholders from sitting in +the Assembly. This would have gone to the root of the trouble, but it +was too much to expect the governor to assent to it even with Bacon +and his infuriated men marching on Jamestown. In fact, this step was +taken only more than half a century later. + +Bacon now began preparations for the Indian campaign. Riding from one +county to another he gathered armed bands, appointed their officers, +and sent them off to the falls of the James. Arms, ammunition, and +stores were sent up the rivers in sloops. The well-to-do planters were +angered when their horses and corn were taken for the expedition, but +at any show of resistance they were threatened and intimidated. One of +Bacon's men told John Mann, "with many fearful oaths, as God damn his +blood, sink him and rot him, he would ruin him." + +It was late in July when Bacon drew up his army of seven hundred horse +and six hundred foot. Riding out before them, he made a brief address. +He assured them of his loyalty to the King, and that it was "the +cries of his brethren's blood" that induced him to secure his +commission. He then took the oath of allegiance, and required the men +to swear fidelity to him as their general. Then they broke ranks for +the night, expecting the next day to march. + +At that moment word arrived that Berkeley was busy raising forces with +which to attack them in the rear. This forced Bacon to change all his +plans. After the rebels had left for the frontier, the Governor, +realizing that the sentiment of the colony was overwhelmingly against +him, at first had made no attempt to resist him. But Philip Ludwell +and Robert Beverley drew up a petition in the name of the people of +Gloucester, stating that Bacon had stripped them of arms and asking +the governor to protect them. Although "not five persons knew about +it," Berkeley accepted it as a call to action. "This petition is most +willingly granted," he wrote. It was his duty to protect the King's +loyal subjects. Bacon's commission was illegal, he added, since it had +been extracted by force. + +In a spirit of elation he rode over to Gloucester and sent out a call +for the militia to assemble. But when they learned that they were +expected to fight against Bacon, the popular hero, they demurred. "For +Bacon at that time was so much the hope and darling of the people that +the governor's interest proved but weak and his friends so very few +that he grew sick of the essay." As he rode out before the troops he +heard a murmur, "Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!" and saw them walk away. +Bitterly disappointed and wearied by his exertions, he fainted away in +the saddle. + +Upon receiving the news that the governor was trying to raise forces +to oppose him, Bacon "causes the drums to beat and trumpets to sound +for calling his men together." Then he addressed them. It was revenge +which hurried the governor and his advisors on without regard to the +people's safety. They would rather see them murdered and their ghosts +sent to join those of their slaughtered friends, than have them +disturb their trade with the Indians. So now they must use their +swords in their own defence. While they were sound at heart and not +wearied they must descend to find out why these men sought to destroy +their lives who sought to preserve theirs. + +At this there was a shout of "Amen! Amen!" They were all ready and +would rather die on the field of battle than be hanged like rogues or +perish in the woods at the hands of the merciless savages. So with +muttered oaths they turned their faces toward Gloucester. + +Hearing that Bacon's enraged men were pouring down upon them, Berkeley +and his friends were at a loss as to what to do. If they fell into his +hands imprisonment was the mildest treatment they could expect. It was +Robert Beverley who suggested that they flee to Accomac, where they +would be safe beyond the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Berkeley +agreed, and asked Sir Henry Chicheley to accompany him. Chicheley +promised to join him later, but before he could get away was captured. +Berkeley, Beverley, and three others procured a small vessel, and +reached the Eastern Shore in safety. And for the next few days the bay +was dotted with sails as one gentleman after another fled with his +wife and children, leaving his house, furniture, crops, horses, and +cattle to be plundered by Bacon's men. + +This was the situation when Bacon returned from the frontier. With +Berkeley in exile, and with the Council dispersed, the colony had been +left without a government. So Bacon had to become dictator, assume the +role of a Cromwell. He might well have become hopelessly confused had +he not had Lawrence and Drummond to advise him in every step in taking +over the government. Probably it was they who helped him draw up a +manifesto, in which he dwelt on Berkeley's tyranny and injustice. All +men were witnesses of the corruption of the government, it stated; how +men of lowly estate, elevated to important posts, had lined their +pockets at the public expense. If he had attacked the so-called allied +Indians, it was because they had committed "murder upon murder" upon +the settlers. Had the governor himself not supplied them with arms and +ammunition the frontier plantations would not now be deserted, the +blood of their brothers spilled. + +Bacon set up headquarters at Middle Plantation, the site of +Williamsburg. Here he issued a proclamation declaring Berkeley, +Chicheley, Ludwell, Beverley, and others, traitors, and threatened to +confiscate their estates unless they surrendered within four days. +Next he summoned all the leading planters to a conference. When +seventy had assembled, most of them because they feared to stay away, +some because they were dragged in by force, Bacon asked them to take +three oaths; that they would join with him against the Indians; that +they would arrest anyone trying to raise troops against him; and +lastly, to oppose any English troops sent to Virginia until Bacon +could plead his case before the King. Many of those present demurred +at the last oath, but in the end no less than sixty-nine signed, among +them such prominent men as Thomas Swan, John Page, Philip Lightfoot, +and Thomas Ballard. + +It was shortly after this that Bacon had a conversation with a certain +John Goode, of Henrico, which is revealing of his fears, hopes, and +plans for the future. + +"There is a report that Sir William Berkeley hath sent to the King for +2000 redcoats, and I do believe it may be true," said Bacon. "Tell me +your opinion, may not 500 Virginians beat them, we having the same +advantages against them the Indians have against us?" + +"I rather conceive 500 redcoats may either subject or ruin Virginia," +Goode replied. + +"You talk strangely. Are not we acquainted with the country, can lay +ambushes, and take to trees and put them by the use of their +discipline, and are doubtless as good or better shots than they." + +"But they can accomplish what I have said without hazard ... by taking +opportunities of landing where there shall be no opposition, firing +our houses and fences, destroying our stock and preventing all +trade...." + +"There may be such prevention that they shall not be able to make any +great progress in such mischiefs. And the country and clime not +agreeing with their constitutions, great mortality will happen amongst +them...." + +"You see, sir, ... all the principal men in the country dislike your +manner of proceedings. They, you may be sure, will join with the +redcoats." + +To this Bacon replied that he would see to it that they did not. + +"Sir, you speak as though you designed a total defection from his +Majesty and our country." + +"Why, have not many princes lost their dominions so?" he asked, +smiling. + +"They have been people as have been able to subsist without their +princes. The poverty of Virginia is such that the major part of the +inhabitants can scarce supply their wants from hand to mouth, and many +there are besides who can hardly shift without supply one year, and +you may be sure that the people which so fondly follow you, when they +come to feel the miserable wants of food and raiment, will be in +greater haste to leave you than they were to come after you. Besides, +here are many people in Virginia that receive considerable benefits +... in England, and many which expect patrimonies...." + +"For supply I know nothing the country will not be able to provide for +itself withal in a little time save ammunition and iron, and I believe +the King of France or States of Holland would either of them entertain +a trade with us." + +"Sir, our King is a great prince, and his amity is infinitely more +valuable to them than any advantage they could reap by Virginia.... +Besides I conceive that your followers do not think themselves engaged +against the King's authority, but against the Indians." + +"But I think otherwise, and am confident of it that it is the mind of +this country, and of Maryland, and Carolina also to cast off their +governors ... and if we cannot prevail by arms to make our conditions +for peace, or obtain the privilege to elect our own governor, we may +retire to Roanoke." + +"Sir, the prosecuting what you have discoursed will unavoidably +produce utter ruin." + +After a pause Bacon asked: "What should a gentleman engaged as I am +do? You do as good as tell me I must fly or hang for it." + +"I conceive a sensible submission to the Assembly...." + +So Goode left him to think over the various steps which had led him on +to his present desperate situation. But he did not take the advice to +submit. That would mean deserting the people before their wrongs had +been righted, it would mean going back to the old despotism with all +its injustices and oppressions. He would rather take his chances of +defeating the King's troops, confederating with other colonies, and +securing the aid of one or more of England's enemy nations. Desperate +though these plans seemed, it is possible that they might have +succeeded, had not an untimely death overtaken him. Holland, with +bitter recollections of two recent wars with England, might have +welcomed a chance to break up the British Empire and regain her +lucrative tobacco trade. In its essential points it was the same plan +which brought independence to America a century later almost to a day. + +While Bacon was dreaming of a complete break with England his father +was pleading with the King to pardon him. His only son had been +unhappily prevailed upon by the importunity of his distressed +neighbors to lead them forth against the cruel and perfidious enemies, +the Indians. In this way he had "become obnoxious to the letter of the +law." + +With his petition Thomas Bacon presented an appeal from his son's +followers called "The Virginians' Plea." They were in danger day and +night, especially those who lived dispersedly on the frontier, from +the murderous Indians, and many had been forced to desert their +plantations. So they offered their services to go out against them, +"having still so much English blood in us ... as to risk our lives in +opposing them ... rather than to be sneakingly murdered in our +beds.... Oh Heavens! what a sad dilemma! We confess we have vented our +discontents in complaints of other grievances also, too great to be +wholly smothered." But they had taken up arms not to relieve +themselves by the sword from them, since they thought it better to +wait patiently until they could appeal to the King, the governor, the +Assembly, and Parliament. + +But the period of patient waiting was now at an end. Bacon and his men +were in possession of all Virginia west of the Chesapeake Bay. The +immediate question was how to defend it against the governor and +perhaps an expedition from England. For this the control of the water +was vital. The four great rivers gave easy access to the heart of the +colony to an enemy fleet, but were serious obstacles to moving troops +by land. Without war vessels it would be necessary for Bacon to divide +his little army into numerous widely separated detachments in order to +defend hundreds of miles of shore. + +Lying in the James River were three merchantmen, the _Honour and +Dorothy_, the _Rebecca_, commanded by Captain Larrimore, and another +_Rebecca_, commanded by Captain Eveling. On August 1 Giles Bland and +William Carver, the latter "an able mariner and soldier," rowed out to +Larrimore's ship, and though fired on, captured her. They then drew +her up at Jamestown and mounted several guns on her from the fort. In +the meanwhile Bacon, thinking Berkeley might be aboard Eveling's +vessel, demanded permission to search her. But Eveling refused, +calling him a rebel and naming him "Oliver Bacon", and before +Larrimore's vessel could attack him, weighed anchor, slipped down the +river, and headed for England. + +Though disappointed at Eveling's escape Bland and Carver, with the +_Rebecca_, a small bark, and a sloop, carrying a force of two hundred +and fifty men, stationed themselves at the mouth of the James, ready +to seize and to press into service any incoming vessels. But they made +the mistake of moving across the bay and anchoring off Accomac to +treat with the governor. Carver, with 160 men, came ashore in a +pinnace. Berkeley tried to persuade him to desert Bacon, but he +replied that "if he served the devil he would be true to his trust." + +Berkeley ordered him to be gone within eight hours, but contrary winds +sprang up so that he had to delay. This Berkeley thought Carver was +glad of, since it gave him an opportunity to wean his soldiers away +from him. But it proved a godsend for Berkeley. At about midnight a +message came to him from Captain Larrimore, explaining that he and his +crew served under duress, that there were only forty soldiers left on +board the _Rebecca_, and that if he could send thirty or forty +gentlemen to the ship, he was sure they, with the help of the sailors, +could retake her. + +So Philip Ludwell with two boats went out under cover of darkness. As +they approached the ship the soldiers on deck hesitated to fire on +them, thinking they were coming at Carver's invitation. So they drew +up alongside and clambered in through the gunroom ports. As they +rushed up on deck they were joined by the sailors with handspikes, and +together they soon forced the soldiers to surrender. In the meanwhile +Carver too was approaching, and hearing the shouts, tried to veer +away. But Larrimore trained his guns on him and captured him and all +his men. Coming on board he "stormed, tore his hair off and cursed," +as well he might for he knew that he would soon be on the way to the +gallows. This was a major victory, for it gave the governor control of +the water. From now on he was safe from any attempt to invade the +Eastern Shore. On the other hand, he could at will strike at any point +up the great Virginia rivers. + +While these events were taking place Bacon was leading an army through +the woods and swamps of upper Gloucester and Middlesex. He had good +reason to believe that it was the Pamunkeys who had made some recent +incursions, and he was determined to ferret them out. But it proved a +difficult task. His men, tired of wandering here and there, soaked by +drenching rains, and half-starved, began to waver. But their dauntless +young leader, after permitting many to return, resumed the search with +the rest. + +They had gone but a few miles when they came upon an Indian village, +protected on three sides by swamps, and on the other by thickets and +bushes. As the English charged the terrified Indians fled. Many were +shot down, many others captured. The queen of the Pamunkeys escaped, +and wandered through the woods for days, half starved. Bacon led his +men back in triumph, bringing forty-five prisoners, and stores of +wampum, skins, furs, and English goods. + +But having broken the power of the Pamunkeys, Bacon had now to meet +forces raised by the governor. Soon after the capture of the _Rebecca_ +Captain Gardiner joined the little fleet with the _Adam and Eve_. So +Berkeley, embarking 200 men on the ships and on six or seven sloops, +crossed over to the Western Shore where another hundred joined them. +Then they sailed up the James to Jamestown. Bacon's garrison, perhaps +fearing the guns on the ships and thinking themselves outnumbered, +fled in the night without firing a shot. + +Bacon received this news calmly, though Berkeley declared that "he +swore one thousand of his usual execrable oaths." At the time he had +but one hundred and thirty-six tired and hungry men with him. But he +was determined to lead them to the attack. "Gentlemen and fellow +soldiers, how am I transported with gladness to find you thus +unanimous, bold and daring, brave and gallant!" he said. "You have the +victory before you fight, the conquest before the battle.... I know +you have the prayers and well-wishes of all the people of Virginia, +while the others are loaded with their curses." + +Of this they had abundant evidence, for as they trudged along the +people brought out "fruits and victuals," shouted encouragement, and +denounced the governor. There was a brief stop in New Kent while +recruits came in, before they set off for James City County. There the +youthful leader delivered another address to his men: "If ever you +have fought well and bravely, you must do so now.... They call us +rebels and traitors, but we will see whether their courage is as great +as their pretended loyalty. Come on, my hearts of gold, he who dies in +the field of battle dies in the bed of honor." + +When Bacon arrived before Jamestown the place seemed impregnable. The +narrow isthmus which was the only approach to the town was defended by +three heavy guns, the ships in the river were ready to give support, +the Back Creek and a series of marshes protected the north shore. But +Bacon was not discouraged. All night long his men labored to throw up +a makeshift fortress of "trees, bush and earth" facing the isthmus, as +a protection should Berkeley's force sally out. When the governor saw +what was going on he ordered the ships and shallops to move up to fire +on the crude structure, while his soldiers let loose with repeated +volleys. Thereupon Bacon sent out parties of horse through the +adjacent plantations to bring in the wives of some of the governor's +supporters, Elizabeth Page, Angelica Bray, Anna Ballard, Frances +Thorpe and even Elizabeth Bacon, wife of his cousin, Nathaniel Bacon, +Senior. The terrified ladies were placed upon the ramparts, where they +would be in great peril should the firing be resumed, and kept there +until Bacon had completed the work and mounted his guns. + +It was on September 15, that Berkeley's troops sallied out, formed in +front of Bacon's fort, and rushed forward, horse and foot "pressing +very close upon one another's shoulders." They made an excellent +target, so that when the rebels opened on them, those in front threw +down their arms and fled. Had Bacon pressed close on their heels he +might have taken the place, and with it Berkeley, and all his men. But +he held back and the opportunity was lost. + +The governor was furious, and reviled his officers in "passionate +terms." But it should have been obvious to him that he could not trust +men who fought under compulsion, many of them in sympathy with Bacon. +"The common soldiers mutinied, and the officers did not do their whole +duty to suppress them," he wrote afterwards. The officers urged on him +the necessity of abandoning the town. "One night having rode from +guard to guard and from quarter to quarter all day long to encourage +the men, I went to bed," Berkeley said. "I was no sooner lain down but +there came three or four of the chief officers and told me I must +presently rise and go to the ships for the soldiers were all mutinying +... and that 200 or 300 men were landed at the back of us." But when +he put on his clothes, mounted his horse, and rode to the spot they +had indicated, he found the report false. + +The next day the officers again urged the evacuation of the place. But +the governor demurred, "desiring them with all passionate earnestness +to keep the town ... I told them I could neither answer this to the +King nor to any man that ever was a soldier, unless they gave under +their hands the necessity of my dishonorable quitting the place." This +they immediately did and then hurried him away to the fleet. That +night guns were spiked, arms and stores were taken on board the +vessels, and the soldiers were embarked. Then silently the little +fleet slipped down the river. + +The next morning Bacon's men occupied the town. But now he was +uncertain as to what he should do with it. News had come that Giles +Brent, a former supporter of Bacon who had gone over to the governor, +had raised an army in the northern counties and was marching south to +attack him. Brent, who was half Indian, was a sacrilegious man who was +said to have drunk the devil's health, at the same time firing his +pistol "to give the devil a gun." His advance put Bacon in a +quandary. If he remained in Jamestown, he would be trapped between +Brent on land and Berkeley's fleet by water. If he deserted the town, +Berkeley would return and occupy it. In the end, he, Lawrence, +Drummond, and the others decided to burn the town. + +A few minutes later the village was a mass of flames. Lawrence applied +the torch to his own house, Drummond to his, and Bacon to the church. +They "burnt five houses of mine," reported Berkeley, "and twenty of +other gentlemen." It was a desperate deed of determined men, a deed +which foreshadowed the burning of Norfolk by patriots in the American +Revolution a century later to prevent the British from using it as a +base of operations. + +Turning his back on the ruins of Jamestown, Bacon led his men first to +Green Spring, then to the site of Yorktown, and crossing the York +River made his headquarters at the residence of Colonel Augustine +Warner, in Gloucester. But when word came that Brent's forces were +approaching, he wheeled his veterans into line, the "drums thundered +out the march," and away they went to meet him. But there was no +battle. Brent's men, many of them probably indentured workers who had +been forced into service, had no wish to risk their lives for the +governor. So, when they heard that Bacon's force was on the march, +they refused to fight, deserted their officers, and returned home. + +Now that once more Bacon was in possession of all Virginia except the +Eastern Shore, his chief concern was the redcoats, whose arrival was +reported to be close at hand. Would the people support him in opposing +them? So he summoned the Gloucester trained bands and asked them to +take an oath to stand by him, fight the English troops, and if they +found that they could not defend themselves, their lives, and +liberties, to desert the colony. + +At this the Gloucester men balked. To fight the King's troops was to +defy the might of England. So they asked to be permitted to remain +neutral. Deeply disappointed, Bacon reproved them as the worst of +sinners who were willing to be saved by others but would not do their +part. Then he dismissed them. When he was told that the Reverend James +Wadding had tried to dissuade the people from subscribing, he had him +arrested. "It is your place to preach in church, not in camps," he +said. + +Persuasion having failed, Bacon took sterner measures. Setting up a +court-martial, he put some of his opponents on trial. But though +Berkeley scorned his proposal that they be exchanged for Carver and +Bland, none was executed save one deserter. But the trials served +their purpose, for when he summoned the militia again they all +subscribed to his oath. + +Bacon now turned his attention to the Eastern Shore. He realized that +so long as Berkeley had there a base of operations, from which he +could launch sudden attacks, his position was insecure. So he sent +Captain George Farloe, "one of Cromwell's men," with forty soldiers +across the bay to surprise and capture Berkeley. But it was not easy +to cross so large a body of water in small boats, and Farloe was taken +and hanged. Equally futile was a manifesto to the people of the +Eastern Shore urging them to rise against the governor. + +Bacon gave orders that the estates of the governor and his friends be +ransacked for the use of his army, and Green Spring, King's Creek, +Warner Hall, and other places, were denuded of their cattle, sheep, +hogs, Indian corn, and even blankets and clothing. But when the rough +soldiers began to plunder friend and foe alike Bacon called a halt. +And instead of hanging every enemy who fell into his hands in +retaliation for Berkeley's executions, he released some without +bringing them to trial and pardoned others who had been condemned. + +To see that his orders were carried out he now planned, probably on +the advice of Lawrence and Drummond, to appoint three committees, one +"for settling the south side of James River," another to accompany the +army "to inquire into the cause of all seizures," and the third to +manage the Indian war. To prevent raids by the enemy from the Eastern +Shore Bacon ordered the banks of the great rivers "to be guarded all +along, to observe their motion, and as they moved to follow them and +prevent them from landing or having any provisions sent on board +them." + +But for the daring young commander the end was at hand. "Before he +could arrive at the perfection of his plans providence did that which +no other hand durst do." While at his headquarters in the house of +Major Thomas Pate, in Gloucester, a few miles east of West Point, he +became ill of dysentery. Bacon's enemies accused him of being an +atheist, but in his last hours he called in Mr. Wadding to prepare his +mind for death. "He died much dissatisfied in mind," we are told, +"inquiring ever and anon after the arrival of the frigates and +soldiers from England, and asking if the guards were strong about the +house." He died October 26, 1676. + +Bacon's enemies made much of the fact that he was so infected with +lice that his shirts had to be burned, and because of it spoke of his +death as infamous. But the lice probably had nothing to do with it, +since typhus seems to have been almost unknown in early America. On +the other hand, dysentery was fairly common. Bacon's body has never +been found. Thomas Mathews tells us that Berkeley wished to hang it on +a gibbet, but on exhuming his casket he found in it nothing but +stones. It was supposed that the faithful Lawrence, probably in the +dark of night, had buried the body in some secret place. + +Berkeley gloated over his arch enemy's death. "His usual oath which he +swore at least a thousand times a day was 'God damn my blood,'" he +wrote, "and God so infected his blood that it bred lice in an +incredible number, so that for twenty days he never washed his shirts +but burned them. To this God added the bloody flux, and an honest +minister wrote this epitaph on him: + + 'Bacon is dead, I am sorry at my heart + That lice and flux should take the hangman's part'." + + +But while his enemies scoffed, Bacon's followers mourned. One of them +expressed their sorrow and despair in excellent verse: + + "Death why so cruel! What, no other way + To manifest thy spleene, but thus to slay + Our hopes of safety, liberty, our all + Which, through thy tyranny, with him must fall + To its late chaos? Had thy rigid force + Been dealt by retail, and not thus in gross, + Grief had been silent: Now we must complain + Since thou, in him, hast more than thousand slain...." + +What, we may ask, should be Bacon's place in history? Is he to be +looked upon only as a rash young man, whose ambition and insistence on +having his own way brought disaster to the colony and death to many +brave men? Or should he be regarded as a martyr to the cause of +liberty? That Bacon was precipitate, that his judgement was faulty at +times there can be no doubt. But that he fought to put an end to +Berkeley's "French despotism", to restore true representative +government in the colony, to break the power of the group of parasites +who surrounded the governor, to end unjust and excessive taxes, to +make local government more democratic, is obvious. He said so +repeatedly. When Bacon and his men said they had enough English blood +in their veins not to be murdered in their beds by the Indians, they +might have added that they had enough English blood not to remain +passive while a despotic old governor robbed them of their liberty. +When Bacon's enemies tried to cast opprobrium upon him by calling him +the Oliver Cromwell of Virginia, they did not realize that future +generations would consider this an unintentional tribute. Certainly he +must have been a man of great magnetism, power of persuasion, and +sincerity, a man who had a cause to plead, who could arouse the +devotion of so many thousands. But it was true, as one sorrowing +follower wrote, that + + "none shall dare his obsequies to sing + In deserv'd measures, until time shall bring + Truth crown'd with freedom, and from danger free, + To sound his praises to posterity." + + [Illustration: SIR WILLIAM BERKELEY + From the Original Portrait by an Unknown Artist, now in the + possession of Maurice du Pont Lee, Greenwich. Connecticut. + Canvas measures 49-1/2 x 40-1/2 inches. + From Alexander W. Weddell, Virginia Historical Portraiture. + Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce] + + [Illustration: Photo by Flournoy, Virginia State Chamber of + Commerce + Bacon's Castle] + +Bacon's death left the rebels without a leader. Berkeley stated that +they would have made Bland their general had he not been his prisoner. +What was needed was a man with experience in both military and +governmental affairs. Had either Lawrence or Drummond been soldiers +one or the other might have been chosen, but apparently neither had +ever borne arms. So the army elected Joseph Ingram, who had been +second in command under Bacon. Colonel Nicholas Spencer called him "a +debauched young man, who this year came to Virginia, and said to be a +saddler in England." + +Ingram never had the full confidence of his men. He seems to have had +some ability as a general, but he was unequal to the task of +maintaining order and uniting the distracted colony. Berkeley said +that he continued the other officers, but that they "soon disagreed +amongst themselves, mistrusting each other." + +His task was difficult. If he divided his forces to protect every +exposed place along the river banks they might be overwhelmed one by +one. It might have been wise for him to carry out Bacon's plan for a +flying body of cavalry centered at West Point, within striking +distance of the south bank of the Rappahannock, both banks of the +York, and the north bank of the James. This would not have prevented +night raids by Berkeley's men, but it would have protected the heart +of the colony from serious invasion. But Ingram was faced with the +problem of feeding his men. The rivers had always been the chief means +of communication, but now barges or sloops bringing grain or meat +might be intercepted by the _Adam and Eve_, or the _Rebecca_, or the +newly arrived warship, the _Concord_. And there was a limit to what +could be had by plundering the neighboring plantations. + +So Ingram adopted the plan of keeping his main force at the head of +the York, and establishing small garrisons at selected points. On the +south side of the James he posted a "considerable number" of resolute +men in the residence of Major Arthur Allen, known today as Bacon's +Castle. At the governor's residence at Green Spring he left about one +hundred men under Captain Drew, who guarded the north bank of the +James and made away with what was left of Berkeley's cattle, sheep, +and grain. + +On the south side of the York Major Thomas Whaley, "a stout ignorant +fellow", was in command at King's Creek, the estate of Councillor +Bacon, while lower down Captain Thomas Hansford, a man of the highest +character, was stationed at the site of Yorktown. Across the river +another group fortified Mr. William Howard's house, while in +Westmoreland still another made their headquarters at the residence of +Colonel John Washington. + +Hansford, Whaley, Gregory Wakelett, and other officers were men of +ability, who could be trusted to remain firm in the cause for which +they took up arms. But after Bacon's death the rank and file were +filled up partly with slaves and indentured workers, who had little +interest in either the Indian war or in curbing the governor's +despotism. The garrison at Colonel West's house, near West Point, +consisted of about 400 men, of whom eighty were Negroes, and many +others were servants. What they wanted was their freedom. But among +them there must have been some of Bacon's veterans, for they continued +to fight well. + +But now the policy of dividing the army into isolated garrisons began +to bear bitter fruit. In November, Major Robert Beverley crossed the +bay with a strong force in a fleet of transports, entered the York +river, and surprised the men at the site of Yorktown. Hansford was +captured. A few days later Beverley returned to the York and after a +brief encounter captured Major Edmund Cheeseman and Captain Thomas +Wilford. + +Berkeley now began a series of executions marked by a brutality +unsurpassed in American history. One may excuse the tortures inflicted +by the Indians because they were savages. There can be no excuse for +an Englishman of culture and gentle birth. Extremely avaricious, he +had seen the accumulation of a lifetime taken from him; proud of his +ability as a ruler, he had seen his government overthrown and had been +forced to take refuge in an inaccessible corner of the colony; +revering, almost idolizing, the King, he must now explain to him his +failures. So his vindictiveness against the men he held responsible +knew no bounds. + +His first victim was Hansford. When he was condemned by Berkeley's +council of war, he pleaded that he might be shot like a soldier not +hanged like a dog. "But you are not condemned as a soldier, but as a +rebel taken in arms," he was told. As he stood on the scaffold he +spoke to the crowd, protesting "that he died a loyal subject and a +lover of his country." + +When Major Cheeseman was brought in, Berkeley sternly asked him why he +had joined the rebels. But as he was about to reply his wife rushed in +and told the governor that it was she who had urged him to take up +arms, and pleaded that she might be hanged in his place. Though the +governor knew that what she said "was near the truth," he spurned her +with a vile insult. Yet he was cheated of his revenge, for Cheeseman +died in prison, and so escaped the ignominy of the gallows. + +When Farloe was brought to trial he pointed out that he held a +commission to serve under Bacon signed by Berkeley himself. But this +did not save him. The court told him he had been authorized only to +fight the Indians, not to take up arms against the governor. "Be +silent, while sentence is pronounced on you." The executions of +Hansford, Carver, Farloe, Wilford, and John Johnson, "a stirrer up of +the people but no fighter," brought to an end the hangings on the +Eastern Shore. + +Word now reached Berkeley that Major Lawrence Smith had raised the +loyal standard in Gloucester, and had assembled a force so large that +they could have "beaten all the rebels in the country only with their +axes and hoes." In nearby Middlesex another large force was ready to +cooperate with him. This seemed the opportunity to crush the +rebellion. So the governor embarked 100 men on four ships and several +sloops and entered the York river to close in on Ingram from the south +while the others attacked from the north and east. But the plan failed +miserably. + +Ingram met the Middlesex threat by sending Gregory Wakelett out with a +body of horse. But when he arrived he found that the enemy had +dispersed. Nor were Smith's loyalists more resolute. As they faced +Ingram's force a certain Major Bristow stepped out of the ranks and +offered to try the justice of the governor's cause after the manner of +the Middle Ages by single combat. Ingram himself would have accepted +the challenge, but his men caught him by the arm and pulled him back. +As it turned out there was no battle, for the rank and file of the +so-called loyal forces tamely laid down their arms and went home. + +A raid on the right bank of the York also ended in failure. Berkeley +decided to send Captain Hubert Farrill with a strong force to surprise +the garrison at King's Creek. It was planned to drive in the sentries +and to "enter pell mell with them into the house." But they were met +by such a deadly fire that they fell back under the shelter of the +outbuildings, and then fled to their boats. Farrill was left dead, his +commission "dropping wet with blood in his pocket." + +But the colony was now in a deplorable condition. Many plantations had +been deserted, others had been plundered by the rebels, Ingram had not +been able to keep order, there was no money to meet governmental +expenses, the desertion of servants and slaves to the rebels, and the +absence from the fields of so many small farmers had caused a shortage +of the tobacco and corn crops, many houses had been burned, the courts +in some of the counties were closed. The rebel officers could not +restrain their rough soldiers from wanton destruction--throwing down +fences, destroying crops, burning barns. Soon the longing for peace +and order became general. Time was working for the governor. + +However, it was known that Colonel Herbert Jeffreys with 1000 men had +been ordered to go to Virginia to suppress the rebellion, and their +arrival was expected at any moment. + +In the meanwhile the tobacco ships began to come in with needed +supplies of clothing, cloth, medicines, etc. The planters still had +some hogsheads of tobacco on hand, and were anxious to resume trade +with the merchants, but when Berkeley issued a proclamation +threatening to denounce as a rebel anyone who traded with the Western +Shore the shippers held back. So the planters realized that the weapon +of economic pressure, of which Goode had warned Bacon, was to be +applied against them. + +And they must have been discouraged when, in November, the ship +_Concord_ of 500 tons, armed with 30 guns and commanded by Thomas +Grantham, entered through the capes and anchored in the York river. +Lawrence wrote Grantham a letter telling him that the people had been +grievously oppressed and begging him and the merchants to remain +neutral. Otherwise they were determined to burn their tobacco. +Grantham replied that he would not treat with men who had taken up +arms against the royal authority. + +But he did offer his services to effect a reconciliation. Sending a +boat for Berkeley, he received him on board the _Concord_, where he +tried to persuade him "to meekness," pointing out that an unrelenting +temper would only drive the rebels to a desperate resistance. Meekness +was something far from Berkeley's heart, but he was desperately +anxious to end the rebellion before the redcoats arrived. Then he +could tell the King that he, unassisted, had restored order. To +accomplish this he was even willing to forego the satisfaction of +hanging some of the leaders of the rebellion, provided Lawrence and +Drummond were not among them. + +So he sent Grantham up the river to the Pate house, where he found +Ingram with about 800 men. After prolonged negotiations Ingram yielded +and surrendered West Point together with 300 men, four great guns, and +many small arms. + +Grantham then went to Colonel John West's house, where he found a +garrison of about 400 English and Negroes. They accused him of +betraying them, and some were for shooting him, others for cutting him +in pieces. But after he had put them in better humor with a barrel of +brandy they "surrendered the post, with three cannon, 500 muskets and +fowling pieces, and 1000 pounds of bullets." + +Grantham now delivered Ingram, Colonel Langston, and other rebel +officers to Berkeley, who at once pardoned them. He next went to +Ingram's house, marched the garrison there down to Tindall's Point, +took their arms, drums, and colors, and gave them the oath of +allegiance. After the men had toasted the King and the governor, they +gave three shouts and dispersed. We may judge the extent of Berkeley's +elation at the collapse of the rebellion by the fact that he invited +Ingram and Langston to dine with him on shipboard. + +But Gregory Wakelett, one of the most active of the rebel leaders, was +still at large with a force of cavalry. So anxious was Berkeley to +secure his submission that he promised him, not only his pardon, but +part of the wampum his men had taken from the Indians. So he too +"declared for the King." When other posts on the James and the York +were surrendered or abandoned, Lawrence, Drummond, and Whaley, with a +force of several hundred men, were all that were left of the rebel +army. They well knew that for them there would be no mercy. But as +they retreated into New Kent their men began to fall off until they +were entirely deserted. + +Lawrence and Whaley with three others determined to risk torture at +the hands of the Indians rather than fall into the hands of the +governor. They were last seen on the extreme frontier, pushing on +through the snow into the forest. We shall probably never know their +fate. They may have died of hunger and exposure, they may have been +killed by the Indians; it is barely possible that they found refuge in +one of the northern colonies. + +But though the fate of Lawrence and Whaley is shrouded in mystery, +that of many others is known. The enraged governor drew up a long list +of those he had marked for the gallows. When the reports of Berkeley's +savagery reached Charles II, he is said to have remarked "That old +fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have for the +murder of my father." + +Drummond was found hiding in Chickahominy Swamp and brought before the +governor at King's Creek. The vindictive old man made a low bow, +saying, "Mr. Drummond, you are very welcome. I am more glad to see you +than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an +hour." However, he decided to give him at least the pretence of a +trial. But his ring was snatched from his finger, his clothes taken +from his back, and he was kept overnight in irons. The next morning he +was forced to walk, still in irons, in bitterly cold weather, all the +way to Middle Plantation. There, after a brief hearing, in which he +was not allowed to defend himself, he was hurried away to the +scaffold. His widow and five children were driven out of their house +and forced to flee into the woods and swamps, where they came near +starvation. + +When Anthony Arnold, who was one of the sturdiest supporters of the +rebellion, was brought into court, he boldly defended the right of the +people to resist oppression. "It is well known that I have no kindness +for Kings," he told the court. "They have no rights but what they got +by conquest and the sword, and he that can by force of the sword +deprive them of it has as good and just a title to it as the King +himself. If the King should deny to do me right I would make no more +to sheathe my sword in his heart or bowels than of my mortal +enemies." The court was sorry that the country was not "capable of +executing the sentence peculiar to traitors according to the laws and +custom of England." This was to hang the victim for several minutes, +cut him down when still alive, rip him open, cut off his head, and +then quarter him. So they contented themselves with hanging him in +chains, "to be a more remarkable example than the rest." + +The executions continued for several months. Thomas Young, James +Wilson, Henry Page, and Thomas Hall were executed on January 12, 1677; +William Drummond and John Baptista on January 20; James Crews, William +Cookson, and John Digbie on January 24; Giles Bland and Anthony Arnold +on March 8; John Isles and Richard Pomfrey on March 15; and John +Whitson and William Scarburgh on March 16. There is no telling how +many Berkeley might have hanged had not the Assembly asked him to +stop. + +The people were deeply angered at the governor's brutality. Governor +Notley thought that "were there any person bold and courageous in +Virginia that dared venture his neck, the commons of Virginia would +enmire themselves as deep in rebellion as ever they did in Bacon's +time." And for months in hundreds of humble cottages men were on the +lookout for the return of Lawrence, ready to seize their arms and +follow him in a new uprising. + +There was no hope of relief from the new Assembly which met at Green +Spring, February 20, 1677. William Sherwood said that most of the +Burgesses were the governor's "own creatures and chose by his +appointments." Jeffreys testified that they had been "not so legally +nor freely chosen," and that the "Council, Assembly, and people" were +"overawed" by Berkeley. That Berkeley allowed such an Assembly to +re-enact in substantially the same form several of Bacon's laws, shows +that he was not entirely deaf to the rumblings of a new rebellion. + +In the meanwhile King Charles had appointed Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, +Sir John Berry, and Colonel Francis Moryson commissioners to go to +Virginia to inquire into the people's grievances. At the same time he +ordered Berkeley to return to England "with all possible speed." +During his absence Jeffreys was to act in his place with the title of +Lieutenant Governor. With them came the redcoats. + +No sooner had the commissioners arrived than Berkeley became involved +in a bitter quarrel with them. When they told him to obey the King's +orders to come to England, he made excuses to linger until he had +taken his revenge on the rebels. Jeffreys brought with him a +proclamation pardoning all the rebels with the sole exception of +Bacon, but when Berkeley published it he had the audacity to exempt +from it not only two men who had died during the war, fourteen who had +already been executed, and twenty-six others whom he mentioned by +name, but all those "now in prison for rebellion or under bond for the +same." Of those in prison and not mentioned by name in the +proclamation Robert Stoakes, John Isles, Richard Pomfrey, John +Whitson, and William Scarburgh were later executed. + +Berkeley was also determined to make good his personal losses from the +estates of the rebels. "I have lost at least L8000 sterling in houses, +goods, plantation, servants, and cattle, and never expect to be +restored to a quarter of it," he complained. The rebels left "me not +one grain of corn, not one cow.... I have not L5 in the world." So he, +Beverley, Philip Ludwell, and others of the "loyal party," were +furious when Jeffreys insisted that they stop breaking open and +plundering the houses and barns of the former rebels, and take their +complaints to the courts. + +For three months Berkeley postponed his departure, but at last, on +April 25, he went on board the _Rebecca_, the vessel which had been of +such vital importance to him during the rebellion, and set sail for +England. But he was now a very ill man. "He came here alive but ... +unlike to live," wrote Secretary Coventry. He died on July 13, 1677, +and was interred at Twickenham. + +With the death of Berkeley a main cause of discontent and +insubordination in Virginia was removed. Though Culpeper and +Effingham, who succeeded in turn to the governorship, made onslaughts +on the liberties of the people, they acted, not from any overwhelming +desire to make themselves absolute, but because they reflected the +spirit of the Second Stuart Despotism. But this came to an end with +the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, and from that time to the passage +of the Stamp Act, the people of Virginia had no need to take arms to +defend their liberties. For decades after Bacon's Rebellion, the King +and the governors were wary of bearing down upon them too hard for +fear of causing another uprising. For the time they had learned their +lesson. And had they not forgotten it after the lapse of a century, +there might have been no American Revolution. + +When one reviews the tragic events in Virginia during the fateful year +of 1676, one may well ask: "Would the rebellion have occurred had +there been no Indian war?" Possibly not. Berkeley was aging and within +a few years he might have died, and a less despotic governor taken his +place. Had the planters waited, their lot would have been bettered by +the rising price of tobacco. On the other hand, it is possible that if +the war had not touched off the rebellion something else would have +done so. + +Would the Indian war have started the rebellion had the mass of the +people had no other grievances? This seems unlikely. When the news of +the uprising reached Charles II he thought it past belief that "so +considerable a body of men, without the least grievance or oppression, +should rise up in arms and overturn the government." And so it would +have been past belief had there been no grievance or oppression. + +Had the dispute between Bacon and Berkeley as to how the war should be +conducted been all there was at issue, the people would hardly have +risen in wild anger to overthrow the government, drive the governor +into exile, defy the King, make ready to resist his forces, and risk +death on the gallows. Philip Ludwell said that the rebel army was made +up of men "whose condition ... was such that a change could not make +worse." Had not the English trade laws, misgovernment, and injustice +practically eliminated the middle class there would have been hundreds +to whom the maintaining of law and order was the first consideration. +They would have supported Berkeley's Indian policy, however unwise, +rather than risk their estates. As it was, the governor found himself +practically deserted. Never before was there "so great a madness as +this base people are generally seized with," he complained. + +No one will contend that the firing on Fort Sumter was the cause of +the War between the States, or that the murder of the Archduke +Ferdinand was the cause of the first World War. These were but the +matches thrown into the powder kegs. The kegs had been filling up for +many years, and sooner or later explosions were inevitable. So in +Virginia had there been no powder keg, the lighted match of the Indian +war would probably have flickered and burnt itself out. + +In most great upheavals men have mixed motives. Of course Bacon and +his men rose in arms partly to protect themselves and their families +from the Indians. They said so repeatedly. But we have abundant +evidence from both sides that they were determined also to put an end +to oppression and misgovernment. "As for Bacon's designs of +prosecuting the Indian war it is most evident that he never intended +anything more in it than a covert under which to act all his +villanies," wrote Philip Ludwell. "If these had not been the chief +motives they had certainly understanding enough to have led them a +fairer way to presenting their grievances than on their swords' +points." + +The Council, in a long statement, written when the uprising was but a +few weeks old, declared that Bacon's "only aim has always been and is +nothing else but of total subversion of the government." Thomas +Ludwell and Robert Smith, who at the time were in England, on +receiving reports of the rebellion, said that when the Indian raids +began "some idle and poor people made use of the present conjunction +for their ill designs." William Sherwood, an eyewitness of what took +place, testified that "it is most true that the great oppressions and +abuses of the people by the governor's arbitrary will hath been the +cause of the late troubles there." Colonel Jeffreys, who was +commissioned by the King to investigate the causes of the uprising, +put the blame, not on the Indian war, but upon Philip Ludwell and +Robert Beverley, who "were the great advisors of Berkeley, and as it +may be proved were the chief causes of the miseries that befell the +country in the rebellion." + +Governor Notley, of Maryland, stated that "whatever palliations the +great men of Virginia may use at the Council board in England ... yet +you may be sure ... much ... if not every tittle of the accusations +against them is truth." If the new governor, Colonel Herbert Jeffreys +should "build his proceedings upon the old foundation, 'tis neither +him nor all his Majesty's soldiers in Virginia will either satisfy or +rule those people. They have been strangely dealt with by their former +magistracy." Just two days later Nicholas Spencer wrote that though +the rebellion was over, "the putrid humors of our unruly inhabitants +are not so allayed but that they do frequently vent themselves ... and +were they not awed by the overruling hand of his Majesty would soon +express themselves by violent acts." + +As for Bacon, he had been in command of the frontier forces but a few +days when he sent messengers to every part of the colony to blast +Berkeley's misgovernment. The Council reported to the Board of Trade +that he had traduced the governor "with many false and scandalous +charges." Later, in manifesto after manifesto, Bacon assailed the +corruption, the inefficiency, and the injustices of Berkeley's regime. +"We appeal to the country itself what and of what nature their +oppressions have been, and by what cabals ... carried on." By taking +on himself "the sole nominating" of civil and military officers he had +made himself master of the colony. He had permitted his favorites "to +lay and impose what levies and impositions upon us they should or did +please, which they for the most part converted to their own private +lucre and gain." As for seeking relief by petitioning the Burgesses, +he said: "Consider what hope there is of redress in appealing to the +very persons our complaints do accuse." + +Thomas Mathews tells us that it was "the received opinion in Virginia" +that the Indian war was the excuse for Bacon's Rebellion rather than +the cause. Since Mathews took part in the uprising and later wrote an +account of it, he should know. He even goes so far as to say that it +was Thomas Lawrence, not Bacon, who was chiefly responsible for the +uprising. Bacon "was too young," he points out, "too much a stranger +there, and of a disposition too precipitate to manage things to that +length they were carried, had not thoughtful Mr. Lawrence been at the +bottom." + +This man had his personal grievance, Mathews states, for he had been +cheated out of a "considerable estate on behalf of a corrupt +favorite." His wife kept a tavern at Jamestown, which gave him an +opportunity to meet persons from all parts of the colony. So he filled +their ears with complaints of the governor. Mathews himself had heard +him suggest "some expedient not only to repair his great loss, but +therewith to see those abuses rectified that the country was oppressed +with through ... the forwardness, avarice, and French despotic methods +of the governor." As for Bacon and his adherents, they "were esteemed +as but wheels agitated by the weight" of Lawrence's resentments, after +their rage had been raised to a high pitch by Berkeley's failure to +put a stop to the effusions of blood by the Indians. + +Lawrence had the hearty support of William Drummond, a Scotsman who +also resided in Jamestown. Like Lawrence he had a grievance against +Berkeley. In fact the governor was inclined to believe that he had +been "the original cause of the whole rebellion." We know that +Lawrence and Drummond stood at Bacon's elbow from the beginning to the +end. The importance of the part they played may be gauged by the +bitterness of Berkeley's resentment. "I so hate Drummond and Lawrence +that though they could put the country in peace in my hands, I would +not accept it from such villains," he declared. + +But whatever was the role of these two men, whatever the part played +by Bacon, the rebellion is a landmark in the development of +self-government in Virginia. Though Bacon met an untimely death, +though Drummond was led to the gallows, though Lawrence disappeared in +the icy forest, their efforts were not in vain. They, and the +thousands who supported them, had taught future governors that there +was a limit to oppression beyond which they dare not go. The roar of +their cannon proclaimed to the world that Virginians would resist to +the end all attempts to deprive them of their heritage of English +liberty. + + + + +ESSAY ON AUTHORITIES + + + The opening to investigators of the Marquess of Bath Papers by + the British Manuscripts Project has thrown new light on + Bacon's Rebellion. There are several letters from Bacon to + Berkeley and several from Berkeley to Bacon. They show that + Berkeley went to England during the Civil War to fight for the + King, that Bacon was related to Lady Berkeley, that Lady + Berkeley was in England during most of the rebellion, and that + she corresponded with Philip Ludwell. + + The Bath Papers add to the already abundant evidence that + Bacon fought partly to end misgovernment in Virginia. The + evidence comes not only from Bacon's supporters but from + Berkeley himself, Ludwell, and others. + + Berkeley's letters explain why he did not hang Bacon when he + had him in his power, why he dissolved the Long Assembly and + called for a new election based on a widened franchise, why he + evacuated the almost impregnable post of Jamestown. There are + several revealing letters by Philip Ludwell. + + Historians have long been acquainted with the county + grievances collected by the King's commissioners. They are to + be found in the British Public Record Office, CO5-1371, have + now been transcribed by the Library of Congress and some have + been published in the _Virginia Magazine_, Vols. II and III. + The most detailed and probably the least prejudiced account of + the rebellion is the _True Narrative of the Rise, Progress and + Cessation of the Late Rebellion in Virginia_, by the + commissioners. The only narrative we have of the transactions + of the Assembly of June, 1676, by one of the members is Thomas + Mathews' _The Beginning, Progress and Conclusion of Bacon's + Rebellion_, published in C.M. Andrews' _Narratives of + Insurrections_ and elsewhere. Important also are _Bacon's + Proceedings_ and _Ingram's Proceedings_, attributed to Mrs. + Ann Cotton. Bacon's expedition to the Roanoke river, the + defeat of the Susquehannocks, and the battle on Occaneechee + Island are described in a document entitled "A Description of + the Fight between the English and the Indians in May, 1676," + published in the _William and Mary Quarterly_, Series 1, Vol. + IX, pp. 1-4. The account given by the Council is in the Bath + Papers. + + W.W. Hening's _Virginia Statutes at Large_ is a storehouse of + information. It includes not only the laws of the Restoration + period, but many official reports, among them "The + Proclamation of Pardon of October 10, 1676," "Bacon's + Submission", and the proceedings of some of the + courts-martial. The details of the Susquehannock war in + Maryland may be pieced together from the accounts by Thomas + Mathews, the King's commissioners, Mrs. Cotton, and others. By + the aid of an old pen-and-ink diagram of the Susquehannock + fort, I have been able to locate the site, and Mrs. Alice L.L. + Ferguson to uncover parts of it. + + The "Dialogue between John Goode and Nathaniel Bacon," which + is in the British Public Record Office, throws light on + Bacon's plans to draw North Carolina and Maryland into his + rebellion, and to resist the redcoats. Important also are the + "Declaration of Thomas Swan and others on August 3, 1676", + (GO1-37-42); Philip Ludwell's letters to Lady Berkeley and to + Thomas Ludwell, and others (Bath Papers); the "Declaration of + the People" (Bath Papers); "Grantham's Account" (Bath Papers); + Berkeley's account of the rebellion written on board Sir John + Berry's ship, February 2, 1677 (Bath Papers). + + Among the secondary sources are Mary Newton Stanard, _The + Story of Bacon's Rebellion_; Thomas J. Wertenbaker, _Virginia + Under the Stuarts_; and _Torchbearer of the Revolution_; + Philip Alexander Bruce, _The Economic History of Virginia in + the Seventeenth Century_, and _The Institutional History of + Virginia in the Seventeenth Century_; Wesley Frank Craven, + _The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century_; John + Fiske, _Old Virginia and her Neighbors_; John Burk, _History + of Virginia_; Herbert L. Osgood, _The American Colonies in the + Seventeenth Century_. + + _The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography_, the _William + and Mary Quarterly_, 1st and 2d Series, and _Tyler's Magazine_ + have printed much material relating to the rebellion, and Dr. + E.G. Swem's splendid index covering these volumes has greatly + increased their value. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 1: necesssary replaced with necessary | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACON'S REBELLION, 1676*** + + +******* This file should be named 28010.txt or 28010.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/1/28010 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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