ii S^fiS^ ILEIBI^^IElf Bought with the income of the| dAA-vriX-.^.^.^^ Fund 19o8 The Story )f Bacon's Rebellion. The Story of Bacon's Rebellion By MARY NEWTON STANARD New York and Washington THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1907. Copyright, 1907, By The Weale Publishing Company. TO MY HUSBAND WILLIAM GLOVER STANARD, MY COMPANION AND GUIDE IN ALL MY PILGRIMAGES INTO THAT CHARMED REGION, VIRGINIA'S PAST. CONTENTS. CHAFTEB. PAOB. I. Sir William Berkeley 13 n. The People's Grievances 18 m. The Reign of Terror 29 IV. Enter, Mr. Bacon 40 V. The Indian War-Path 60 VI. The June Assembly 58 vn. The Commission 74 vm. Civil War 86 IX. The Indian War-Path Again .... 96 X. Governor Berkeley in Accomac 109 XI. Bacon Returns to Jamestown 114 xn. Jamestown Besieged and Burned . . . 122 xm. " The Prosperous Rebel " . . ... 132 XIV. Death of Bacon and End of the Rebellion 142 XV. Peace Restored 156 XVI. Conclusion 162 Appendix .... 171 PREFACE. After the thrilling scenes through which the Colony of Virginia passed during its earliest days, the most portentous, the most dramatic, the most picturesque event of its seventeenth century history was the insurrection known as "Bacon's Rebel lion." All writers upon the history of Virginia refer to it, and a few have treated it at some length, but it is only in quit© late years that facts unearthed in the English public records have enabled students to reach a proper understanding of the causes and the results of this famous uprising, and given them accurate and detailed in formation concerning it. The subject has long been one of popular interest, in spite of the imperfect knowledge touching it, and it is believed that a clear and simple presentation of the information now avail- 9 10 BACON'S REBELLION. able will be welcomed by those whose attention has been attracted to a man of most strikingi personality and to a stirring period of Colonial history. During the year 1907 thousands of persons from all parts of the world will visit the scenes of Nathaniel Baeon^s brief career, will see— while passing on James River— the site of his home at " Cnrlps Nfip.Tr. "win visit Richmond, where "Bacon's Quarter" is still a name, will linger in the historic city of Williamsburg, once the "Middle Plantation," will stand within the ancient tower of the church which the rebels bumed at Jamestown, and from, possibly, the very spot where Bacon and Sir William Berkeley had their famous quarrel, will see the foundations of the old State House— but lately excavated— before which the antagonists stood. "While the writer of this monograph has made a careful and thorough study of all records of the period, remaining in Eng land or America, and has earnestly endeavored to give an exact and unbiased account, and while she has made no state- PREFACE. 11 ment not based upon original sources, her story is addressed especially to the general reader. She has therefore not burdened her pages with references to the authori ties she has used, a list of which will be found iri the appendix. THE STORY OF BACON'S REBEL LION-VIRGINIA, 1676. I. SIB WILLIAM BERKELEY. The year 1676 dawned upon troublous scenes in Virginia. Being a time when men were wont to see in every unusual manifestation of Nature the warning shadow cast ahead by some coming ©vent, the colonists darkly reminded each other how the year past had been marked by three "Prodigies." The first of these was "a large comet every evening for a week or more, at southwest, thirty-five degrees high, streaming like a horse's tail west wards, until it reached (almost) the hori zon, and setting towards the northwest." The second consisted of "flights of pigecms, in breadth nigh a quarter of the mid-hemi sphere, and of their length was no visible 13 14 BACON'S REBELLION. end, whose weight brake down the limbs of large trees whereon they rested at nights, of which the fowlers shot abundance and ate 'em," and the third, of "swarms of flies about an inch long, and big as the top of a. man's little finger, rising out of spigot holes in the earth, which ate the new sprouted leaves from the tops of the trees, without other harm, and in a month left us." , Looking backward from the practical point of view of our day, and beholding that memorable year under the cold light of fact, it does not seem that any evil omen should have been needed to make clear that a veritable witch's caldron of dangers was brewing in Colonial Virginia, and that some radical change in the administration of the govemment alone could have pre vented it from reaching boiling point. ^ Sir William Berkeley had served two long terms as Govemor, during which his attractive personality and intellectual gifts had brought him wide popularity, and his home, "Green Spring," some four miles from Jamestown, had become famous for SIR WILLIAM BERKELEY. 15 its atmosphere of refinement and good cheer, and as a resort for wandering Cava liers] He was now— grown old in years and sadly changed in character— serving si' _ third term; reigning, one might almost say. Stem and selfish as he had become, bend ing his will only to the wishes of the young wife of wnom ne was ebildishly fond and who was, by many, blamed for the change^ in him, he makes an unlovely, but witFal a pathetic figure in the history of Virginia. Every inch a gallant soldier, every inch a gentleman, yet haughty, unsympathetic and unlovable; narrow in mind and in heart; clinging desperately to Old World traditions in a new country eager to ^orm traditions of its own; struggling blindly to train the people under him to a habit of unquestioning obedience and submission to the powers that be, however arbitrary and oppressive those powers might become— a habit which, however deep-rooted it might have been in its native soil, could hardly be expected to bear transplanting to a land so wide and free as America, and so far dis- . tant from its parent stem. 16 BACON'S REBELLION. To Sir William Berkeley his sovereign was literally "his most sacred Majesty." Whatever that sovereign's human frailties might be, the kingly purple covered them all. His slightest whim was holy; to ques tion his motives or the rightness and wis dom of his commands was little short of blasphemy. Furthermore, as the King's agei;it and representative in Virginia, Governor Berkeley expected like homage toward himself. In short, he was a bigoted -royalist and egotist, believing first in the King and second in himself, or rather, per haps, first in himself, and then in th© King, and the confession of faith which he lived up to with unswerving consistency was the aggrandizement of those already great and the keeping in subjection of thos© already lowly. Yet, high-spirited old Cavalier though he was, knowing nothing of personal coward ice nor fearing to match his good sword against any in the land, Th© People, whom his aristocratic soul despised, inspired him with continual dread. It most naturally follows that to such a SIR WILLIAM BERKELEY. 17 mind the unpardonable sin was rebellion. ( No matter what the provocation to rebel- : lion might be, the crime of presuming to '> resist the King's government was one that could not be justified,> and the chief policy of Sir William's administration was to keep the people Where they were as little as possible, likely to commit it. Recognizini that ideas might become dangerous wea pons in their possession, he took pains lesl they should, develop them, and thanked Goe th9,t there were no public schools or print Ingvpresses in Virginia. He even discour aged the persons from preaching for fear that the masses might gain too much of the poison of knowledge through sermons. He declared ithat "learning had brought dis^ obedience into the world," and his every act showed that, he was determined to give it , no cbaQce to bring disobedience to the English, government or to himself into Virginia. n. THE people's GEIBVANQES. Around the Governor had gathered a ring of favorites, called by the people "gran dees," who formed an inner circle whicET grew daily richer and more important as those outside of its magic boimds sunk into greater obscurity and wretchedness. The result was, under an outward show of unity, two distinct parties, deeply antagonistic in feeling, the one made up of the Governor and the Governor's friends— small in num bers but powerful in wealth and influence —and the other of the people, strong only in numbers and in hatred of their oppress ors. The one party making merry upon the fat of that goodly land, the other feed ing upon the husks and smarting under a scourge each several lash of which was an intolerable "grievance." 18 THE PEOPLE'S GRIEVANCES. 19 It would be impossible to gain a faithful picture of the time without a knowledge of the nature of some of these grievances. Most of them were summed up in the melan choly and inharmonious cry of "hard times," which made itself heard through" out th© broad land— a cry which in whatso ever country or time it be raised invariably gives rise to discontent with the existing govemment, and, in extreme cases, brings with it a readiness on the part of the dis tressed ones to catch at any measure, try any experiment that seems to hold out promise of relief. One cause of th© poverty/ of the people of Virginia in 1676 was^to be, found in the low price of tobacco — the solej money product of the colony— through a long series of years. For this and th© con- sequent suffering the govemment was, of course, not responsible. Indeed, it sought to find a remedy by attempting to bring about, for a time, a general cessation of, tobacco culture in the colonies. A scheme tO' better the condition of the people by introducing diversified industries was also started, and with this end in view tanneries '20 BACON'S REBELLION. were established in each county, and an effort was made to build new towns in several places, but it soon became plain that they could not be maintained. These unhappy attempts became,: by increasing tJie taxes, merely fresh causes of discon tent. Yet, while they were blunders, they were well meant, arid in accordance with the spirit of the times. Giving the government all honor due for taking even these misguided steps in behalf of the people, it must be confessed that there were other troubles greatly to its dis credit. The heaviest of these were the long^ continued Assembly,— while the people clamored, justly, for a new election,— the oppressive taxes, and the Indian troubles. As early as 1624 the Virginia Assembly had declared that the Governor (for all he was his Majesty's representative) could not levy taxes against the will of the^ Bur gesses, which, since the Burgesses were supposed to represent the people, was as much as to say against the will of the people. Governor Berkeley's Burgesses, TEE PEOPLE'S GRIEVANCES. 21 however, did not represent the people. The Assembly chosen in l)^62, and composed almost entirely of sympathizers with the Govemor, was so much to the old man's mind thatj saying that "men were more valuable ini any calling in proportion to their experience," he refused to permit a new election, arid"tEe consequence wasThat in the thirteen years before our story opens, during which this Assembly sat under Sir William's influence, he had brought it up to his hand, as it were, and it had ceased to represent anything but its own and the Governor's interests. With such a legislature to support him, Sir William could bid defiance to the re strictions upon the Governor's power to lay taxes, and the poor "tithable polls" (all males above sixteen years of age) were called upon to pay the expenses of any measures which were deemed proper' in carrying on the govemment; for the un righteous taxes were imposed always per capita— never upon property, though by act passed in 1670 only landholders could vote. 22 BACON'S REBELLION. It was by this system of poll-tax that the ample salaries of th© Burgesses were paid and also that the sundrv perquisites attached to the office of a Burgess were provided— such as the maintenance of a manservant and two horses apiece^ JaricL"^ fees for clerks t"^ pftrvft p,fi.TnTnit.teea, and liquors for the committees to drink their i own and each other's good heallb. Doubt- less many stately compliments were ex changed when the Burgesses, in an outburst of generosity, were pleased tO' present the Governor and others of high degree with "great gifts," but the grace and charm of the act were not perceptible to the eyes of the people who, enjoying neither the gifts nor the applause of presenting them, were taxed to pay the piper. The "poorer sort" complained that they) were "in the hardest condition— who hav ing nothing but their labor to maintain themselves, wives and children, pay as deeply to the public as he that hath 20,000 acres. ' ' Their complaints were just, but not likely to find a hearing, for the spirit of the ag© demanded that, in order that the THE PEOPLE'S GRIEVANCES. 23 wealthy might keep up the appearance of wealth and maintain the dignity of their position, thos© who had no wealth to be retained and no dignity to be maintained must keep the wolf from the door as best they might while the fruits of their daily toil were "engrossed" by their so-called representatives. In the mean time, these representatives, their pockets thus swelled, found public life too comfortable to feel any desire to return to agricultural pur suits, or to be content with the uncertain income afforded by the capricious crop. But this was not the worst. While Charles II was yet in exile, some of his courtiers who, for all their boasted sympathy in the sorrows of their "dear sovereign," were not unmindful of their own interests, prayed of his Majesty a grant of the Northern Neck of Virginia, and Charles, forgetful of the loyalty of the"^ little colony beyond the seas which had been faithful to him through all of his troubles, and utterly ignoring the right and title of those then in possession of the cov eted landS; yielded tbem- their wish. After 24 BACON'S REBELLION. the Restoration this grant was renewed, and in 1672 his Majesty went furiiher still and was pleased to grant away th© whole colony, with very few restrictions, to Lords Arlington: and Culpfeper. Not only were: their Lordships to be enriched by the royal quit-rents and escheats, and to enjoy the' sole right of grarltitig lands', but through the privilege likewise given them of ap pointment of sheriffs, surveyors, and other officers, the pOwer of executing the laws and collecting the taxes, and of dividing the colony into counties and parishes and setting boundary lines was to be practically in their hands. ^ Thus upon the fair bosom of Virginia, already tom and fretted by a host of dis tresses, was it purposed that these two "Lords Proprietors^' should be let loose- their greed for gain to be held in check only by the limitations of th6 colony's resources^ —through a dreary waste of thirty-one years. The colonists, foreseeing that all manner of dishonesty and corruption in public affairs would be the ceri;ain and swift THE PEOPLE'S GRIEVANCES. 25 result' of such large powers, cast about for a reiriedy, and at length determined to send a commission to England to raise a voice against the ruinous grant and' to bribe the hawks away from their prey. So' far so good; but to meet the expenses of' the com mission the poll-tax was' greatly increased, so that while the landholders were to be relieved by having the^ir rights restored, the "poorer sort" were=made poore£ than ever by being reqnired to pay sixty pounds of tobacco per hea-d for that relief. This unjust tax was a crowning point to all that the people had suffered, and a sup- presjsed groan, like the threatenings of a distant but surely and steadily approaching storm, arose, not in one settlement, not in one couflty, but from one end of Virginia to another, even to the remotest borders of the colony. While this black enough tempest was brewing about the path of the Governor and the "grandees," another and a still dairker cloud suddenly arose in an unex pected quarter and burst with frightful fury upon the heads of the unhappy people, 26 BACON'S REBELLION. the chiefest among whose "grievances" now became their daily and hourly terror of the Indians, made worse by the fact that tBeir Governor was deaf to all their cries for protection. Indeed, the savages, not the colonists, were the protected ones, for the gain from the Indian beaver and otter fur trade, which the Governor and his friends monopolized, was believed to be a stronger argument with Sir William Berkeley for keeping in league with the red men than the massacre of the King's subjects was for making war upon them. The helpless people could only shake their heads despairingly and whisper under their breath, "Bullets cannot pierce beaver skins." In a "Complaint from Heaven, wth a Huy and Crye and a Petition out of Vir ginia and Maryland. To Owr great Gra- tious Kinge and souveraigne Charles ye ii King of Engel'd etc. with his parliament," it is charged that "Old Govemr. Barkly, altered by marrying a young Wyff, from his wonted publicq good, to a covetous Fole-age, relished Indians presents with THE PEOPLE'S GRIEVANCES. 27 some that hath a like feelinge, so wel, that ' many Christians Blood is Pokketed up wth other mischievs, in so mutch that his lady tould, that it would bee the overthrow of i ye Country." The most ghastly accounts of the sly and savage incursions of the Indians, and of the way in which they served their victims, such as flaying them alive, knocking out their teeth with dubs and tearing out their finger-nails and toe-nails, flew from lip to lip. The terror-stricken planters upon the frontiers and more exposed places deserted their homes, left the crops upon which they depended for existence to waste and ruin, and huddled together in the more sheltered places, still not knowing "upon whom the storm would light." Truly was the colony under the "greatest distractions" it had known since the fright ful Indian massacre of the year 1622. In such a state of horror and demoraliz ation, and remembering all that those of earlier times had suffered, no wonder the colonists did not question whether the natives had any rights to be considered. 28 BACON'S REBELLION. and came to scarcely regard them as human beings, or that the sentiment "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" should have prevailed. Indeed, the one chance for the divine law of the survival of the fittest to be carried out in Virginia seemed to be in the prompt and total extermination of the red race. III. THE EEIGN OP TEEEOB. The beginning of serious war with the Indians happened in this wise. One Sun day morning in the summer of 1675, as some of the settlers of Stafford County took their way peacefully to church, with no thought of immediate danger in their minds, they were greeted, as they passed the house of one Robert Hen, a herdsman, by the ghastly spectacle of the blood stained bodies of Hen himself, and an Indian, lying across Hen's doorstep. Though scarred with the gashes ¦ of the deadly tomahawk, life was not quite gone out of the body of- the white man, and with his last breath he gasped, "Doegs— Doegs," the name of a most hostile tribe of Indians. ' At once the alarm was given and ; the 29 30 BACON'S REBELLION. neighborhood was in an uproar. Experi ence had taught the Virginians that such a deed as had been committed was but a beginning of horrors and that there was no telling who the next victim might be. Colonel Giles Brent, commander of the horse, and Colonel George Mason, com mander of the foot soldiers of Stafford County,— both of them living about six or eight miles from the seen© of the tragedy,— with all speed gathered a force of some thirty men and gave chase to the murder ers. They followed them for twenty miles up the Potomac River and then across into Maryland (which colony was then at peace with the Indians), firing upon all the red men they saw without taking time to find out whether or not they were of the offend ing tribe. In Maryland, Colonels Brent and Mason divided the men under them into two parties and continued their chase, taking different directions. Soon each party came upon, and surrounded, an Indian cabin. Colonel Brent shot the king of the Doegs who was in the cabin found by him, and took his son, a boy eight years THE REIGN OF TERROR. 31 old, prisoner. The Indians fired a few shots from within the cabin and were fired upon by the white men without. Finally the Indians rushed from the doors and fied. The noise of the guns aroused the Indians in the cabin— a short distance away— sur rounded by Colonel Mason's men, and they fled with Mason's men following and firing upon them, until one of them turning back rushed up to Mason and shaking him by both hands said, " Susquehannocks— friends ! ' ' and turned and fled. Whereupon Colonel Mason ran among his men, crying out, "For the Lord's sake, shoot no morel These are our friends the Susquehan nocks!" The Susquehannocks were an exceed ingly fierce tribe of Indians but were, just then, at peace with the English settlers. Colonels Mason and Brent returned to Virginia, taking with them the little son of the chief of the Doegs ; but as murders con tinued to be committed upon both sides of the Potomac, Maryland (which was now drawn into the embroglio) and Virginia soon afterward raised between them a thou- 32 oBACON'S REBELLION. sand men in the hope of putting a stop to the trouble. The Virginians were com manded by Col. John Washington (great grandfather of General Washington) and Col, Isaac AUerton. These troops laid siege to a stronghold of the Susquehannocks, in Maryland. The siege lasted seven weeks. During it the besiegers brought down upon themselves bitter hatred by putting to death five out of six of the Susquehan nocks' ''great men" who were sent out to treat of peace. They alleged, l>y way of excuse, that they recognized; in the "great men" some of the murderers of their fel low-countrymen. At the end of the seven weekS) I during, which fifty of the besiegers were killed, the Susquehannocks silently escaped from their fort in the middle of the night, "knocking on the head" ten of their "sleeping foes,; by way of a characteristic leave-taking, as, they passed them upon the way out. Leaving the rest to guard the cage in blissful ignorance that the birds were flown, the Indians crossed over into Virginia as far as the head of James River, Instead of the notched trees that were Wiont THE REIGN OF TERROR. 33 to serve as landmarks in the pioneer days, these infuriated Indians left behind them a pathway marked by gaping wounds upon the bodies of white men, women, and chil dren. They swore to have still further revenge for the loss of their "great men," each of whose lives, they said, was worth the lives of ten of the Englishmen, who were of inferior rank, while their ambassa dors were "men of quality." Sir William Berkeley afterward rebuked the besiegers before the Grand Assembly for their breach of faith, saying, "If they had killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother and all of my friends, yet if they had come to treat of peace they ought to have gone in peace. ' ' The English held that the savages were , utterly treacherous, their treaties of peace were dishonored by themselves and were therefore unworthy of being kept by others. An investigation made by Govemor Berkeley showed that neither of the Vir ginia officers was responsible for the shabby piece of work. 34 BACON'S REBELLION. However faithless the Indians may have been in most matters, they were as good as their word touching their vengeance for the loss of their "men of quality." About the first of the new year a party of them made a sudden raid upon the upper planta- tions of the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, massacred thirty-six persons, and fled to the woods. News of this disaster was quickly carried to the Governor, who for once seemed to respond to the need of his people. He called a court and placed a competent force to march against the Indians under command of Sir Henrj/ Chicheley and some other gentlemen of Rappahannock County, giving them full power, by commission, to make peace or war. When all things had been made ready for the party to set out, however, Govemor Berkeley, with exasperating ficklenes|j;; changed his mind, withdrew the commis sion, and ordered the men to be disbanded, and so no steps were taken for the defense of the colony against the daily and hourly dangers that lurked in the forests, threat ened the homes and haunted the steps of THE REIGN OF TERROR. 35 the planters— robbing life in Virginia of the freedom and peace which had been its chief charm. The poor Virginians were not "under continual and deadly fears and terrors of their lives" without reason. As a result of their Governor's unpardonable tardiness in giving them protection, the number of plantations in the neighborhood of the mas sacre was in about a fortnight's brief space reduced from seventy-one to eleven. Some of the settlers had deserted their firesides and taken refuge in the heart of the coun try, and others had been destroyed by the savages. Not until March did the Assembly meet to take steps for the safety and defense of the colonists, three hundred of whom had by that time been cut off, and then, under Govemor Berkeley's influence, the only action taken was the establishment of forts at the heads of the rivers and on the frontiers, and of course heavy taxes were laid upon the people to build and maintain them. These fortifications afforded no real defense, as the garrisons within them were 36 BACON'S REBELLION. prohibited from firing upon Indians with-' out special permission from the Governor, and were only a new burden upon the people. The building of the forts may have been an honest (though unwise and insuffi cient) attempt at protection of the colony, but the people would not believe it. They saw in them only expensive "mouse traps," for whose bait they were to pay, while they were sure that the shrewd Indians would continue their outrages with out coming dangerously near such easily avoided snares. They declared that, scat tered about as the forts were, they gave no more protection than so many extra planta tions with men in them ; that their erection was "a great grievance, juggle and cheat," and only "a design of the grandees to engross all of the tobacco into their own hands." In their indignation the planters vowed that rather than pay taxes to sup port the forts they would plant no more tobacco. So often had the Govemor of Virginia mocked them with fair but unfulfilled promises, so often temporized and parried THE ^EIGN OF TERROR 37 words with them while their lives were in jeopardy and the terror-stricken cries of their wives and children were sounding "grievous and intolerable" in their ears, that those whom he was in honor bound to protect had lost all faith in him and all hope of obtaining any relief from him or his Assembly. Finally, as Sir William Berkeley would not send his forces against - the murderers, the suffering planters re solved to take matters into their own hands and to raise forces amongst themselves, only they first humbly craved of him the, sanction of his commission for any com- ' | manders whom he should choose to lead' them in defense of their "lives and estates,'; which without speedy prevention, lie liable ; to the injury of such insulting enemies." The petitioners assured Sir William that; they had.no desire to "make any disturb-! ance or put the country to any charge," but with characteristic lack of sympathy he bluntly refused to grant their request and forbade a repetition of it, "under greatj penalty," The people's fears and discontent steadi- 38 BACON'S REBELLION. ly increased. It seemed more and more evi dent that Govemor Berkeley was protect ing their murderous enemies for his own gain, for (they charged) after having pro-/ hibited all traffic with the Indians, he had, privately, given commission to some of his friends to truck with them, and these favor-' ites had supplied them with the very axmSj and ammunition that were intended for me protection of the colonists against their! savagery. The red men were thus better provided with arms than his Majesty's subjects, who had "no other ingredients" from which to manufacture munitions of war but "prayers aud misspent intreaties, which having vented to no purpose, and finding their condition every whit as bad, if not worse, than before the forts were made," they resolved to cease looking to the Governor for aid and to take the steps that seemed to them necessary for defense and preservation of themselves and those dear to them. In other words, since their petition for a commission to march against the Indians was denied them, they would march without a commission, thus ventur- TEE REIGN OF TERROR. 39 ing not only their lives, but the tyrannical old Governor's displeasure for the sake of their firesides. With this end in view, the dwellers in the neighborhood of Merchant's Hope Plantation, in Charles City County, on James River, began to "beat up drums for Volunteers to go out against the Indians, and soe continued Sundry dayes drawing into Armes," The magistrates, either for fear or favor, made no attempt to prevent "soe dangerous a beginning & going on," and a commander and head seemed all that was needed to perfect the design and lead it on to success. Such, then, was the condition of the little .colony which had struggled and hoped and hoped and struggled again, until now hope seemed to have withdrawn her light alto gether, and a despairing struggle to be all that was left. IV, ENTER ME, BACON, Throughout all history of all lands, at the supreme moment when any country whatsoever has seemed to stand in sus pense debating whether to give itself over to despair or to gather its energies for one last blow at oppression, the mysterious star of destiny has seemed to plant itself — a fixed star — above the head of some one man who has been (it may be) raised up for the time and the need, and who has appeared, under that star's light, to have more of the divine in him than his brother mortals. To him other men turn as to a savior, vow ing to follow his guidance to the death; upon his head women call down Heaven's blessings, while in their hearts they en shrine him as something akin to a god. Oftentimes such men fall far short of their 40 ENTER MR. BACON. 41 aims, yet their failures are like to be more glorious than common victories. The star that led them on in life does not desert them in death — it casts a tender glow upon their memory, and through the tears of those who would have laid down their lives for them it takes on the softened radiance of the martyr's crown. Other times and other countries have had their leaders, their heroes, their martyrs — Virginia, in 1676, had her Nathaniel Bacon. This young man was said to be a "gen tleman of no obscure family." He was, indeed, a cousin of Nathaniel Bacon, Sr.,\ the highly esteemed president of the Vir-/ ginia Council of State, who remained loyal] to the government during the rebellion against Sir William Berkeley's rule, and is said to have offered to make his belliger ent relative his heir if he would remain loyal, too. The first of the family of whom anything is known was Robert Bacon, of Drinkstone, who married Isabella Cage and had two sons, one of whom was Sir Nicho las Bacon, Lord Keeper, and father of the great Lord Bacon j and the other James 42 BACON'S REBELLION. Bacon, Alderman of London, who died in 1573. Alderman Bacon's son, Sir James Bacon, of Friston Hall, married his cousin Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Francis Bacon, of Hessett, and had two sons, James Bacon, Rector of Burgate (father of Presi dent Nathaniel, of Virginia) , and Nathaniel Bacon, of Friston Hall, who married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas De Grasse, of Nor folk, England, and died in 1644. Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bacon were the parents of Thomas Bacon, of Friston, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Brooke, of Yexford. Nathaniel Bacon, Jr,, styled "the Rebel," was their son, This,ila±haniel Bacon was born on Janu ary 2,(l6^at Friston Hall, and was edu cated at Cambridge University— entering St. Catherine's College there in his four teenth year and taking his A,M, degree in his twenty-first. In the mean time he had seen "many Forraigne Parts," having set out with Ray, the naturalist ; Skipton, and a party of gentlemen, in April, 1663, upon "a joumey made through part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, France," A ENTER MR. BACON. 43 quaint account of all they saw, written by Skipi^on, may be found in "Churchill's Voyages." In 1664 young Bacon entered Grey's Inn. In lg74 he was married to Mistress Elizabeth Duke, daughter of Sir Edward Duke, and in that year his history becomes a subject of interest to Virginians, for in the autumn or winter he set sail with his bride, in a ship bound for Jamestown,^ to make or mar his forttme in a new world. The young couple soon made a hom© for themselves at "Curies Neck," some twenty miles below the site afterward chosen by Colonel William Byrd for the city of Rich mond, and about forty miles above James town. This plantation afterward became famous in Virginia as one of the seats of the Randolph family. Bacon had a second plantation, which he called "Bacon's Quarter," within the present limits of Richmond, but his residence was at "Curies." The newcomer's high connections, na tural talents— improved as they had been by cultivation and travel— and magnetic personality evidently brought him speedy 44 BACON'S REBELLION. distinction in Virginia, for he at once began to take a prominent part in public affairs, was made a member of his Ma jesty's Council, and soon enjoyed the reputation of being the "most accom plished man in the colony," Ere long, too, it became apparent that the heart of this marked man was with the people. Encouraged by his sympathy they poured their lamentations into his ears, and along with his pity for their help less and hopeless condition a mighty wrath against Govemor Berkeley, took possession of ^^is impetuous soul. "If th© redsEns" "meddle with me, damn my blood," he cried —with what Govemor Berkeley called his "usual" oath— "but I'll harry them, com- n!fesJ«Bjar-no commissioiL^'-^ Soon enough the "redskins" did "meddle^^'^^"fe"«Wfia^ murdering his overseer, to whom he was warmly attached, at "Bacon's Quarter,^' and, as will be seen, he proved himself to be a man as good as his word. And so it happened that upon this new comer the whole country, ripe for rebellion, casting about for a leading spirit to give ENTER MR. BACON. 45 the signal for the uprising, set its hope and its love. In him choice had fallen upon one who had the courage to plan and the ability to put into execution, and who, for want of a commission from the Governoi to lead a campaign against the Indians accepted one "from the people's affec tions, signed by the emergencies of affairs and the country's danger," Though only twenty-nine years of age when he was called, of a sudden, to take so large a part in the history of Virginia, Nathaniel Bacon looked to be "about four or five and thirty. ' ' No friendly brush or pen has left us a portrait of him, but the Royal Commissioners, sent over after the Rebellion to "enquire into the affairs of the colony," give us the impression which they gathered from all they heard of him. In their words he was "Indifferent tall but slender, black-haired, and of an omi nous, pensive, melancholy aspect, of a pes tilent and prevalent logical discourse tend ing to atheism in most companies, not given to much talk, or to make sudden replies ; of a most imperious and dangerous 46 BACON'S REBELLION. hidden pride of heart, despising the wisesV of his neighbors for their ignorance and very ambitious and arrogant." Verily, a lively and interesting picture, for even an enemy to paint. His temperament and personality were as striking as his appearance and manner. He was nervous and full of energy ; deter mined, self-reliant and fearless; quick and clear of thought and prompt to act. In speaking, he was enthusiastic and impas sioned, and full of eloquence and spiriL and if he had been born a hundred years^ or so later Would doubtless have been] Rubbed a ' ' silver-tongued orator, ' ' He was/ a man bom to sway the hearts of his fel lows, which he understood and drew after him with magnetic power, and upon which he could play with the sureness of a master of music touching the keys of a delicate musical instrument. Such was the man toward whom in the hour of despair the hopes of the Virginians turned— such the man who declared his willingness to "stand in the gap" between the comttionalty and the "grandees," and ENTER MR. BACON. 47 with true Patrick Henry-likg^ ^evotion. to risk home, Tortune, life itself, in the cause of freedom from tyranny. One day a group of four prominent Vir ginia planters were talking together and, naturally, made the "sadness of the times and the fear they all lived in" the subject of their conversation. These gentlemen were Captain James Crews, of "Turkey Island,"* Henrico County; Henry Isham, Colonel William Byrd (first of the name),/ and Nathaniel Bacon, They were all near| neighbors, and lived in the region most exposed and subject to the Indian horrors — Squire Bacon's overseer having been among the latest victims. Their talk also turned upon the little army of volunteers that was collecting in Charles City County, on the other side of the river, to march against the Indians, Captain Crews told them that he had suggested Bacon to lead the campaign, and the two other gentlemen "Afterward the seat of William Randolph, first of th« Randolph family in Virginia. 48 BACON'S REBELLION. at once joined him in urging Squire Bacon to go over ancT gee the troops, and finally persuaded him to do so. No sooner did the soldiers see him approaching than from every throat arose a great shout of, "A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon!" The young man's companions urged him to accept the proffered leadership and pro mised to serve under him; his own ambi tion and enthusiasm caught fire from the warmth of such an ardent greeting, and; without more ado he became "General,' Bacon, by consent of the people," In a letter to England, describing the] state of affairs in the colony, and Ms con-: .diection with them, he wrote how, "Finding) that the country was basely, for a small, \ sordid gain, betrayed, and the lives of the ;. poor inhabitants wretchedly sacrificed, ' ' 1 he "resolved to stand in this ruinous gap" ; and to expose his "life and fortune to all' hazards." His quick and sympathetic "response to their call "greatly cheered and animated the populace," who saw in him the "only patron of the country and pre server of their lives and fortunes, so that ENTER MR. BACON. 49 their whole hearts and hopes were set upon him." ^ To a man like Nathaniel' Bacon it would have been impossible to do anything by halves. Having once for all committed himself to the people's cause, he threw his whole heart and soul into the work before him, and recognizing the danger of delay and the importance of letting stroke follow stroke while the iron of enthusiasm was still aglow, he began at once to gather his forces and to plan the Indian campaign. The excited volunteers crowded around him and he "listed" them as fast as they offered themselves, "upon a large paper, writing their names circular-wise, that their ring leaders might not be found out." Having "conjured them into this circle," he "gave them brandy to wind up the charm," and drink success to the under taking, and had them to take an oath to "stick fast" to each other and to him, and then went on to New Kent County to enlist the people thereabouts. THE INDIAN WAB-PATH. It was about the end of April, when the glad sight of the countryside bursting into life and blossom and throbbing with the fair promise of spring doubtless added buoyancy to hearts already cheered by the hope of brighter days, that Nathaniel Bacon at the head of three hundred men- in-arms, set out upon the Indian warpath. Sir William Berkeley, in a rage at their daring to take steps for their own defense without a commission from him, but power less to put a stop to such unheard-of pro- ceeding.'^, prnniptly proclaimed leader and followers "rebels and mutineers," and getting a troop of soldieta together, set out toward the falls of James River, in hot pursuit, resolved either to overtake and icapture "General" Bacon, or to seize him on his return. This proved to be a wild- 50 THE INDIAN WAR-PATH. 51 goose chase, however, for the little army of "rebels" had already crossed to the south side of James River and was march-i ing, "through boush, through briar," to ward the haunts of the savages, whither the Governor's train-bands had little appetite to follow. The enraged Berkeley, finding his will thwarted, waited patiently for the return of the doughty three hundred, taking what grim satisfaction he could find in telling young Mistress Elizabeth Bacon that her husband would hang as soon as he came back, in issuing, upon May 10, another pro clamation against the "young, inexperi enced, rash and inconsiderate," general and his "rude, dissolute and tumultuous" followers, and in deposing Bacon fi'om his seat in the "honorable Council" and fromj his office as a magistrate. Meanwhile, Nathaniel Bacon and his me.n, regardless of the anxiety with which Governor Berkeley watched for their re turn, were pressing on through the wilder ness. When they had marched "a great way to the south"— had crossed into Caro- 52 BACON'S REBELLION. lina, indeed— and their supplies were nearly spent, they came upon a little island probably in Roanoke River) seated by the vl)ekinagee ^Indians, one of the tribes said to have been protected by Berkeley for sake of the fur trade, and doubtless the same as the Mangoaks, rumors of whose great trade with the Indians of the northwest, for copper, had been brought to Sir Walter Raleigh's colony. These Ockinagees, who were very likely a branch of the great Dakota family of Indians, were evidently a most enterprising people, and their isle was a veritable center of commerce among the red-skin inhabitants of that region. It was described as "commodious for trade, and the mart for all the Indians for at least five hundred miles" around. Its residents had at that time on hand no less than a thousand beaver skins of which Sir Wil liam Berkeley gnd his partners would in due time, doubtless, have become possessed, and it was supposed to have been through trade with these Islanders that arms and ammunition were passed on to the fierce Susquehannock braves. TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE. 53 When Bacon reached the island he saw at once that it would be nothing short of madness to pit his handful of foot-sore and half-starved men against the combined strength of the Ockinagees and th© Susque hannocks, so, adopting a policy patterned after the savages' own crafty methods of warfare, he made friends with one tribe and persuaded them to fall upon the other. The result was a furious battle between the two tribes in which thirty Susquehan nock warriors and all of their women and children were killed. By this time Bacon's men were in a sorry plight for the want of provisions. They offered to buy food from their new-made friends, the Ockin agees, who promised them relief on the morrow, but when the next day came put them off again with talk of still another "morrow." In the mean time, they were evidently making preparations for battle. They had reinforced their three forts upon the island, and were seen to grow more and more warlike in their attitude as the pale faces grew weaker in numbers and in phys ical strength. To add to the desperate 54 BACON'S REBELLION. situation, there came a report that the Indians had received private messages from Governor Berkeley, Bacon's men had, in their eagerness to procure food, "waded shoulder deep through the river," to one of the island forts, "still entreating and tendering pay for th© victuals, ' ' but all to no avail. While the half-starved creatures stood in the water, with hands stretched out, still beg ging for bread, one of them was struck by a shot fired from the mainland, by an Indian. The luckless shot proved to be the signal for a hideous battle. Bacon, know ing full well that retreat meant starvation for himself and his devoted little band of followers, believing that the savages within the fort had sent for others to cut them off in their rear, but not losing the presence of mind that armed him for every emer gency, quickly drew his men close against the fort where their enemies could get no range upon them, and ordering them to poke their guns between the stakes of the palisades, fired without discrimination— without mercy. All through the night and TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE. 55 until late into the next day the wildemess echoed with the yells of the wounded and dying savages and with the gun-shots of the hunger-crazed palefaces. Let us not forget that this battle was the last resort of an army which championed the cause of the people of Virginia, andj upon whose steps the horrors of murder,f torture, and starvation waited momently. Let us also not forget that the time was the seventeenth century, the place a wilder ness, the provocation an attempt not mere ly to shut the Anglo-Saxon race from the shores of the New World, but to wipe out with hatchet and torch the Anglo-Saxon homes which were already planted th'ere. When at last, after a loss of eleven of their own hardy comrades, the exhausted Baconians withdrew -from the fray, the island fort had been entirely demolished and vast numbers of the Indians slain. While Sir William Berkeley possessed his soul in as much patience as he could command at the Falls of the James, lying in wait for Bacon's return, the inhabitants farther dowB iQWB^Jd Jamestown began to 56 BACON'S REBELLION. "draw into arms," and to proclaim against the useless and costly forts. Open war .with the Indians was the one thing that ' _^35i©uld content them, and war they were bent upon having. They vowed that they would make war upon all Indians who would not "come in with their arms" and give hostages for their fidelity and pledge themselves to join with the English against all others. "If we must be hanged for rebels for killing those that will destroy us, ' ' said they, ' ' let them hang us ; we will^ venture that rather than lie at the mercy of a barbarous enemy and be murdered as we are. ' ' In a "Manifesto," defending the rights of the people, issued soon after his return. Bacon made a scornful and spirited reply to Governor Berkeley's charges of rebel lion and treason. "If virtue be a sin,"., said he, "if piety be 'gainst all the prin ciples of morality, goodness and justice ]b^ perverted, we must confess that those who are now called rebels may be in danger of those high imputations, those loud and several bulls would affright innocents and TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE. 57 render the defence of our brethren and the inquiry into our sad and heavy oppressions treason./But if here be, as sure is, a just God to appeal to, if religion and justice be a sanctuary here, if to plead the cause of the oppressed, if sincerely to aim at his Majesty's honor and the public good with out any reservation or by-interest, if to stand in the gap after so much blood of our dear brethren bought and sold, if after th© loss of a great part of his Majesty's colony, deserted and dispeopled, freely with olir lives and estates to endeavor to save the remainders, be treason. Lord Almighty judge and let the guilty die,^ Can it be that these words were in the mind of Patrick Henry, when, nearly a hundred years later, he cried, "If this be treason, Imake the most of it"? VI. THE JUNE ASSEMBLY, Governor Berkeley, finding the wrath of the people past his control, gave up for the time the chase after Bacon, returned home, and to appease the people, not only had the offensive forts dismantled, but even, upon the 18th of May, dissolved the legislature that had established them, and for the first time for fourteen years gave orders for the election of a new free Assembly. This Assembly, whose immediate work, the Gov ernor declared, should be to settle the "dis tracted" condition of Virginia, was "new" in more senses than one, for, departing! from the usual custom of electing only freeholders to represent them, some of the • counties chose men "that had but lately crept out of the condition of servants, ' ' for their Burgesses. Thus showing the strong democratic feeling that had arisen, to the exasperation of the aristocratic Berkeley: 58 TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. 59 Bacon had by this time returned from his march into the wilderness and th© country side was ringing with glowing reports of his success against the Indians. The people welcomed him with wild enthusiasm, for they not only regarded him as their cham pion against the brutalities of savages, but attributed to him the calling of the new As sembly, to which they looked for relief from the "hard times." Their hopes, as will be seen, were not doomed to disappointment. A short time before the meeting of this "June Assembly," as it was commonly called. Bacon made his friend and neighbor, Captain Crews, the bearer of a letter from him to Sir William Berkeley, in which he said : '^Sir: Loyalty to our King and obedi-/ ence to your Honor as his Majesty's ser-, vant or chief commander here, under him, \ this was generally the preface in all my proceedings to all men, declaring that I abhorred rebellion or the opposing of laws or government, and if that your Honor were in person to lead or command, I would follow and obey, and that if nobody 60 BACON'S REBELLION. were present, though I had no order, I would still adventure to go in defence of the country against all Indians in general, for that they were all our enemies; this I have always said and do maintain, but as to the injury or violation of your power, interest, or personal safety, I always ac counted magistracy sacred and the justness of your authority a sanctuary; I have never otherwise said, nor ever will have any other thoughts." Continuing, he says that he does not believe the rumors of the Governor's threats against his (Bacon's) life, which ar© ' ' daily and hourly brought to my ears, ' ' and wishes that "his Honor" were as will ing to distrust the various reports of him. He says his conscience is too clear to fear and his resolution too well grounded to let him discontinue his course, and closes his letter with these words : "I dare be as brave as I am innocent,^, who am, in spite of all your high resent ment, unfeignedly, your Honor's humble end obedient servant," TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. 61 Madam Byrd, who had been driven from her home by fear of the Indians, said in a letter to a friend in England that neither Mr. Bacon nor any with him had injured/ any Englishman in their persons or estates,' that the country was well pleased with what he had done, and she believed the councU was too, "so far as they durst show_it3 "Most of those with Mr. Bacon," she wrote, "were substantial householders who bore their own charges in this war against the Indians." She added that she had heard that Bacon had told his men that he "would punish any man severely that should dare to speak a word against the Governor or govemment." Henrico County chose Nathaniel Bacon to represent it in the new House of Burgesses, and Captain Crewes was also sent from that county. Although the voters were resolved to give their darling a voice in the Assembly, however, they were loth to trust his person in the midst of so many dangers as they knew lurked about Jamestown for him. Madam Eliz abeth Bacon, proudly writing of her young 62 BACON'S REBELLION. husband, to her sister in England, under date June 29, says, "The country does so really love him that they would not leave him alone anywhere." And so, accompanied by a body-guard of forty armed men, the newly elected Burgess of Henrico set sail in a sloop for Jamestown, When he had passed Swan's Point, . a mile or two above the town, he dropped anchor and sent a messenger ashore to inquire of the Governor whether or not he might land in safety and take his seat as a member of the Assembly, Gov ernor Berkeley's only answer was deliv ered promptly, and with no uncertain sound, from the savage mouths of the ' ' great guns ' ' on the ramparts of the town fort— whereupon Bacon moved his sloop higher up the river. After nightfall, accompanied by a party of his men, he ventured on shore and went to "Mr, Law rence's house" in the town, where he had an interview with his good friends Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, and then returned to the sloop without having been seen. These two friends of Bacon's were TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. 63 gentlemen of prominence and wealth in the colony. Their houses were the best built and the best furnished in Jamestown, and Richard Lawrence was a scholar as well as a "gentleman and a man of property," for he was a graduate of Oxford, and was known to his contemporaries as "thought ful Mr, Lawrence." His accomplish ments, added to a genial and gracious temper, made him a favorite with both the humble and the great, and he had the honor to represent Jamestown in the House of Burgesses. He had married a rich widow who kept a fashionable inn at Jamestown, and their house was a rendezvous for per sons of the best quality, Mr, Lawrence was cordially hated by Govemor Berkeley and his friends, one of whom dubbed him "that atheistical and scandalous person," Mr. Drummond, "a sober Scotch Gentle man of good repute, ' ' had at one tiirie been Govemor of North Carolina. He was noted for wisdom and honesty, and an admirer said of him, "His dimensions are not to be taken by the line of an ordinary capacity" ; but the Governor's caustic friend, already 64 BACON'S REBELLION. quoted, has placed him on record as "that perfidious Scot." We shall hear more of these two gentle men hereafter. At length, finding no hope of meeting with a more hospitable greeting from the Govemor of Virginia than that which he had already received, the "Rebel" set his sails homeward; but, in obedience to Gov emor Berkeley's orders. Captain Gardner, master of the ship Adam and Eve, which lay a little way up the river, headed him off, and "commanded his sloop in" by firing upon him from aboard ship, arrested him and his guard, and delivered them up to the Governor, in Jamestown. Within the State House there a bit of drama was then acted in. the presence of the amazed Assembly— Governor Berkeley and Mr, Bacon playing the principal parts. Ir this scene the fair-spoken Governor's feigned clemency was well-matched by the prisoner's feigned repentance, for Berke ley found it prudent to be careful of the person of a man in whose defense the ex cited people were ready to lay down their TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. ^5 \ lives, and Bacon found it equally prudent to seem to believe in the friendship of one who he knew hated him with all th© venom of his bitter heart, and doubtless aisa realized that to accept the proffered clem-\ ency, however insincere he might knowi it to be, was the likeliest way of obtaining the coveted commission to continue his Indian campaign, and to gain admission to his seat in the Assembly, by which he hoped to raise his voice in behalf of the oppressed commonalty of Virginia. The Govemor, looking at Bacon, but addressing himself to the Assembly, said: "Now I behold the greatest rebel that ever was in Virginia. ' ' Then, addressing himself to the prisoner, he questioned, "Sir, do you continue to be a gentleman, and may I take your word? If so you are at liberty upon your own parole." Upon which Mr. Bacon expressed deep gratitude for so much favor. On the next day the Govemor stood up during the session of the Council, sitting j as upper house of the Assembly, and said : "If there be joy in the presence of 66 BACON'S REBELLION. angels over one sinner that repenteth, there is joy now, for we have a penitent come before us. Call Mr. Bacon." Mr. Bacon came forward, and dropping upon his knee, in mock humility, presented his Honor with a paper which he had drawn up, pleading guilty of the crime of rebellion and disobedience and throwing himself upon the mercy of the court. Governor Berkeley forthwith declared him restored to favor, saying three times over, ' ' God forgive you, I forgive you ! ' ' Colonel Cole, of the Council, put in, indall that were with him." "Yea," quoth Sir William Berkeley, "and all that were with him"— meaning the Rebel's body-guard who had been captured in the sloop with him, and were then lying in irons. Governor Berkeley furthermore ex tended his clemency to the culprit by restoring him to his former place in the Council of State,— "his Majesty's Coun cil," as the Virginians loved to call it,— made him a positive promise of the much- desired commission to march against the TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. 67 Indians, and even suffered Captain Gard ner, of the ship Adam and Eve, to be fined the sum of seventy pounds damage and in default of payment to be thrown into jail, for seizing Bacon and his sloop, according to his own express orders. Bacon's friends had been thrown into an uproar at the news of his arrest, and some of them made "dreadful threatenings to double revenge all wrongs" to their cham pion and his guard; but aU were now so pleased at the happy turn of affairs that "every man with great gladness returned to his own home." And so it happened that Mr. Nathaniel Bacon, so lately dubbed a "rebel" and a "mutineer," took his seat, not merely in the House of Burgesses, but in the more distinguished body, "his Majesty's Coun cil." The Council chamber was upon the first floor of the State House, that occupied by the Burgesses upon the second. The Burgesses, as they filed upstairs to take their places, that afternoon, saw, through the open door of the Council chamber, a surprising sight,— "Mr. Bacon on his 68 BACON'S REBELLION. quondam seat,"— and to at least one of them it seemed "a marvelous indulgence" after all that had happened. The session was distinctly one of reform, Nathaniel Bacon was determined to make the best of his hard-earned advantage while he had it, and he at once made his influence felt in the Assembly. He was now strong with both Burgesses and Coun cil, who were won, in spite of any preju dices they may have had, to acknowledge the personal charm and the executive genius of the daring youth. He promptly set about revising and improving the laws. Universal suffrage was restored, a general inspection of public expenses and auditing of public accounts was ordered, and laws were enacted requiring frequent election of vestries by the people, and prohibiting all [trade with the Indians, long terms of office, lexcessive fees, and the sale of spirituous liquors. Some of the most unpopular leaders of the Governor's party were de barred from holding any public office. The wisdom of the Rebel's legislation was to be later set forth by the fact that TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. 69 after his death, when the fascination of a personality which had bent men's wills to ' its own was no longer felt, and when his name was held in contempt by many who failed to understand him or his motives, the? people of Virginia clamored for the re- establishment of "Bacon's Laws," which upon his downfall had been repealed; and in February, 1676-7, many of them were actually re-enacted— with only their titles changed. Govemor Berkeley, finding it beyond his power to stem the tide of reformation which tossed the old man about like a leaf whose little summer is past,— a tide by which hi^ former glory seemed to be utter ly submerged and blotted out,— pleaded sickness as an excuse to get away from it all, and take refuge within his own home, but in vain. Not until he had placed his signature to each one of the acts passed for the relief of the people and correction of the existing abuses would Bacon permit him to stir a step. But the Assembly was not wholly taken up with revising the laws. It devoted 70 BACON'S REBELLION. much attention to planning the Indian cam paign to be carried on under "General Bacon," for which 1,000 men and provi sions were provided. For this little army we are told that some volunteered to enlist and others were talked into doing so by members of the Council — Councillor Bal lard being especially zealous in the work. It was also decided to enlist the aid of the Pamunkey Indians, who were descendants of Powhatan's braves, and had been allies of the English against other tribes. Ac cordingly, the "Queen of Pamunkey" was invited to appear before the House of Burgesses and say what she would do. The "Queen" at this time commanded a hundred and fifty warriors. She was the widow of the "mighty Totapotamoy" who had led a hundred warriors, in aid of the English, at the battle of "Bloody Run," and was slain with most of his men. The Association for the Preservation of Vir ginia Antiquities possesses an interesting relic in what is known as the "Indian Crown,"— a silver frontlet presented to TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. 71 the "Queen of Pamunkey" by the English Govemment, as a testimonial of friendship. This forest queen is said to have "en tered the chamber with a comportment graceful to admiration, bringing on her right hand an Englishman interpreter, and on her left her son, a stripling twenty years of age, she having round her head a plait of black and white wampumpeag, three inches broad, in imitation of a crown, and was clothed in a mantle of dressed deerskins with the hair outwards and the edge cut round six inches deep, which made strings resembling twisted fringe from the shoulders to the feet; thus with grave eourtlike gestures and a majestic air in her face, she walked up our long room to the lower end of the table, where after a few entreaties, she sat down; the interpreter and her son standing by her on either side, as they had walked up." When the chairman of the House ad dressed her she refused to "answer except through the interpreter, though it was believed that she understood all that was said. Finally, when the interpreter had 72 BACON'S REBELLION. made known to her that the House desired to know how many men she would lend her English" friends for guides in the wilder ness against her own and their "enemy Indians," she uttered, "with an earnest, passionate countenance, as if tears were ready to gush out," and a "high, shrill voice," a "harangue," in which the only intelli^ble words were, '* Totapotamoy dead! Totapotamoy dead!" Colonel Edward Hill, whose father had commanded the English at the battle of "Bloody Run," and who was present, it is written, "shook his head." In spite of this tragic "harangue," the House pressed her to say how many In dians she would spare for the campaign. She "sat mute till that same question being pressed a third time, she, not returning her face to the board, answered, with a low, slighting voice, in her own language. Six. But being further importuned, she, sitting a little while sullen, without uttering a word between, said Twelve. . , . and so rose up and walked gravely away, as not pleased with her treatment." TEE JUNE ASSEMBLY. 73 While Bacon was dictating laws in Vir ginia, making ready for the march against the Indians and at the same time preparing a defense of himself for the King, his father, Thomas Bacon, of Friston Hall, England, was on bended knee before his Majesty pleading with him to withhold judgment against the rash young man until he could obtain a full account of his part in the troubles in the colony, concern ing which startling tales had already been carried across the water. vn, THE COMMISSION, At last the Grand Assembly's work was done and everything but one was ready for the march against the Indians— the commission which Sir William Berkeley had publicly promised Bacon, and for which alone Bacon and his army tarried at Jamestown, was not yet forthcoming. The perfidious old man, crazed with jeal ousy of his prosperous young rival in the affections of the people, postponed granting it from day to day, while he secretly plotted Bacon's ruin. His plots were discovered, however, by some of the friends of Bacon, who was "whispered to," not a moment too soon, and informed that the Govemor had given orders for him to be arrested again, and that road and river were beset with men lying in wait to assassinate him if he at- 74 TEE COMMISSION. 75 tempted to leave Jamestown. Thus warned, he took horse and made his escape through the dark streets and past the scattered homes of the sleeping town before the sun was up to show which course he had taken. In the morning the party sent out to cap ture him made a diligent search throughout the town, actually thrusting their swords through the beds in the house of his "thoughtful" friend, Mr. Lawrence, to make sure that he was not hidden in them. No sooner had the fugitive Bacon reached the "up country" than the inhabitants crowded around him, clamoring for news of the Assembly and eager to know the fate of his request for a commission to fight the Indians. When they learned the truth they "began to set up their throats in one com mon cry of oaths and curses." Toward evening of the same day a rumor reached Jamestown that Bacon was coming back at the head of a "raging tumult," who threat ened to pull down the town if the Govern or's promises to their leader were not kept. Governor Berkeley immediately ordered four "great guns" to be set up at Sandy 76 BACON'S REBELLION. Beach— the only approach, by land, to Jamestown— to welcome the invaders, and all the men who could be mustered— only thirty in all— were called out and other preparations made to defend the toWn, Next morning the little capital rang with the call to arms, but the despised Govemor, finding it impossible to get together enough soldiers to resist the people's favorite, re sorted to the stratagem of seeking to disarm the foe by the appearance of peace. The unfriendly cannon were taken from their carriages, the small arms put out of sight, and the whole town was made to present a picture of harmlessness and serenity. The Assembly was calmly sitting on that June day when, without meeting with the slightest attempt at resistance, Nathaniel Bacon marched into Jamestown at the head of four hundred foot soldiers and a hundred and twenty horse. He at once stationed guards at all the "principal places and avenues," so that "no place could be more securely guarded," and then drew his men up in front of the State House where the Councillors and Burgesses were in session, TEE COMMISSION. 77 and defiantly demanded the promised com mission. Some parleying through a com mittee sent out by the Council followed, but nothing was effected. Throughout the town panic reigned. The white head of the aged and almost friendless Govemor alone kept cool. At length, his Cavalier blood at boil ing point, he arose from the executive chair, and stalking out to where Bacon stood, while the gentlemen of the Council followed in a body, denounced him to his face: as a "rebel" and a "traitor." Then, baring his bosom, he shouted, "Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark, shoot ! ' ' repeating the words several times. Drawing his sword, he next proposed to settle the mat ter with Bacon, then and there, in single combat "Sir," said Bacon, "I came not, nor intend, to hurt a hair of your Honor's head, and as for your sword, your Honor may please to put it up ; it shall rust in the scab bard before ever I shall desire you to draw it. I come for a commission against the heathen who daily inhumanly murder us and spill our brethren's blood, and no care 78 BACON'S REBELLION. is taken to prevent it," adding, "God damn my blood, I came for a commission, and a commission I will have before I go !" During this dramatic interview, Bacon, his dark eyes burning, his black locks toss ing, strode back and forth betwixt his two lines of men-at-arms, resting his left hand upon his hip, and flinging his right from his hat to his sword-hilt, and back' again, while the Burgesses looked on breathless from the second-story windows of the State House. At length the baffled Governor wheeled about and, with haughty mien, walked toward his private apartment at the other end of the State House, the gentlemen of the Council still close following him, while Bacon, in turn, surrounded by his body guard, followed them, continuing to ges ticulate in the wild fashion that has been described. Finding Sir William deaf to every ap peal, the determined young leader swore another great oath, and exclaiming, "I'll till Govemor, Council, Assembly and all, a. "The tenor of the oath" was declared in the report of the "Royal Commissioners" to be as follows : "1, You are to oppose what forces shall be sent out of England by his Majesty against me, till such time I have acquainted the King with the state of this country, and have had an answer, "2. You shall swear that what the Gov ernor and Council have acted is illegal and destructive to the country, and what I have done is according to the laws of England. "3. You shall swear from your hearts that my commission is legal and lawfully obtained. 94 BACON'S REBELLION. "4. You shall swear to divulge what you have heard at any time spoken against me, "5, You shall keep my secrets and not discover them to any person," The men foremost in urging the oath were Colonel Swann jQolonel Beale. Colonel Ballard, and Squire'Bray, of the Council, and Colonel Jordan, Colonel Smith, Colonel Scarsbrook, Colonel Milner, Mr. Lawrence, and Mr. Drummond— all of them gentlemen of standing in the colony. Bacon himself pleaded hotly for the oath, and at last vowed that unless it were taken he would surrender up his commission to the Assembly, and "let them find other servants to do the country's work," This threat decided the question. The oath was agreed to and was administered by the regular magistrates in almost all of the counties, "none or very few" dodg ing it. Bacon's position, already so secure, was now made all the stronger by the arrival of the "gunner of York fort," breathless with the tidings that this, the "most consider- ablest fortress in the country," was in dan- CIVIL WAR. 95 ger of being surprised and attacked by the Indians, and imploring help to prevent it. The savages had made a bold raid into Gloucester, massacring some of the set tlers of the Carter's Creek neighborhood, and a number of the terror-stricken county folk had fled to York for refuge. The fort could offer them little protection, however, for Governor Berkeley had robbed it of its arms and ammunition, which he had stowed away in his own vessel and sailed away with them in his flight to th© Eastern Shore, TX. THE INDIAN WAE-PATH AGAIN. Bacon at once began making ready to continue his oft-interrupted Indian cam paign, but first, to be sure of leaving the country safe from Berkeley's ire,— for he feared lest "while he went abroad to de stroy the wolves, the foxes, in the mean time, should come and devour the sheep," —he seized Captain Larrimore's ship, then lying in the James, and manned her with two hundred men and guns. This ship he sent under command of Captain Carver, "a person acquainted with navigation," and Squire Bland, "a gentleman of an active and stirring disposition, and no great admirer of Sir William's goodness," to arrest Sir William Berkeley for the pur pose of sending him— as those of earlier times had sent Governor Harvey— home to 96 TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE AGAIN. 97 England, to stand trial for his "demerits toward his Majesty's subjects of Virginia," and for the "likely loss of that colony," for lack of defence against the "native sav ages," Before leaving "Middle Plantation" the Rebel issued a summons, in the name of the King, and signed by four members of Kis Majesty's Council, for a meeting of the Grand Assembly, to be held upon Septem ber 4, to manage the affairs of the colony in his absence, Jamestown he left under the command of Colonel Hansford, whom he commis sioned to raise forces for the safety of the country, if any should be needed. He then set out, with a mind at rest, upon his Indian warfare. The few who had had the hardi hood to openly oppose his plans he left behind him safe within prison bars ; others, who were at first unfriendly to him, he had won over to his way of thinking by argu ment; while any that he suspected might raise any party against him in his absence, he took along with him. For the third time, then, he marched to 98 BACON'S REBELLION. the "Falls of James River," where it is written that he "bestirred himself lustily," to speedily make up for lost time in carry ing on the war against the Ockinagees and Susquehannocks; but seems to have been unsuccessful in his search for these tribes, which had probably fled far into the depths of the wildemess to escape Bacon's fury, for he soon abandoned the chase after them and marched over to the "freshes of York," in pursuit of the Pamunkey s, whose "propinquity and neighborhood to the Eng lish, and courses among them" was said to "render the rebels suspicious of them, as being acquainted and knowing both the manners, customs and nature of our people, and the strength, situation and advantages of the country, and so, capable of doing hurt and damage to the English." The "Royal Commissioners" condemn the pursuit of the Pamunkeys, saying that "it was well known that the Queen of Pamunkey and her people had ne'er at any time betrayed or injured the English," and adding, "but among the vulgar it matters TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE AGAIN. 99 not whether they be friends or foes, so they be Indians," It is indeed evident that the war with the Indians was intended to be a war of extermination, for by such war only did the Virginians believe they would ever secure safety for themselves, their homes, and their families. Governor Berkeley himself had no faith in the friendship of the Indians, however. While Bacon was gone upon his expedition against the Ockinagees, the Governor sent forces under Colonel Claiborae^nd others to the headwaters of Pamunkey River. They found there fhe Pamunkey Indians established in a fort in the Dragon Swamp —probably somewhere between the present Essex and King and Queen Counties. The red men said that they had fled to this stronghold for fear of Bacon, but their explanation did not satisfy the Governor, who declared that as soon as his difficulty with Bacon was settled he would advance upon the fort himself. The Queen of Pamunkey herself was in the fort, and when requested by Berkeley to return to 100 BACON'S REBELLION. her usual place of residence said "she most willingly would return to be tmder the Gov ernor 's protection, but that she did under stand the Governor and those gentlemen could not protect themselves from Mr, Bacon 's violence, ' ' At the "freshes of York" Bacon was met and joined by "all the northern forces from Potomac, Rappahannock, and those parts," imder the command of Colonel Giles Brent, and the two armies marched together to the plantations farthest up York River, where they were brought to an enforced rest by rainy weather, which continued for several days. Eiven this dismal interruption could not chill Bacon's ardor, but it fiUed him with anxiety lest the delay should cause his provisions to run short. Calling his men together he told them frankly of his fears, and gave all leave to return to their homes whose regard for food was stronger than their courage and resolution to put down the savages, and revenge the blood of their friends and neighbors shed by them. He bade them (if there were any such) with all speed begone, TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE AGAIN. 101 for, said he, he knew he would find them the "worst of cowards, serving for number and not for service," starving his best men, who were willing to "bear the brunt of it all," and disheartening others of "half mettle," In response to this speech, only three of the soldiers withdrew, and these were dis armed and sent home. The sullen clouds at length lifted, and the army tramped joyfully onward. Ere long they struck into an Indian trail, leading to a wider one, and supposed from this that they must be near the main camp of some tribe. Some scouts were sent out, but re ported only a continuation of the wide path through the woods. The army broke ranks and, to save time, and make the rough march under the sultry August sun as little uncomfortable as possible, followed the trail at random. They soon came in sight of a settlement of the Pamunkey tribe, standing upon a point of high land, sur rounded upon three sides by a swamp. Some ten Indian scouts who served Bacon's army were sent ahead to recon- 102 BACON'S REBELLION. noiter. The Pamunkeys, seeing the scouts, suffered them to come within range of their guns, and then opened fire upon them. The report of the guns gave the alarm to Bacon and his troops, who were about half a mile distant, and who marched in great haste and conifusion to the settlement. The In dians took refuge in the edge of the swamp, which was so miry that (their pursuers could not follow, and the only result of the chase, to the Englishmen, was the not over- glorious feat of killing a woman and cap turing a child. It so happened that the "good Queen of Pamunkey," as the "Royal Commission ers" styled her, with some of her chiefs and friends, was in the neighborhood of the settlement. Being warned that Bacon and his men were coming, she took fright and fled, leaving behind her provisions and Indian wares, as a peace offering, and charging her subjects that if they saw any "pale faces" coming they must "neither fire a gun nor draw an arrow upon them. ' ' The "pale faces," in their chase, overtook an aged squaw who had been th© "good TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE AGAIN. 103 queen's" nurse, and took her prisoner, hoping to make her their guide to th© hid ing-places of the Indians. She led them in quite the opposite way, through the rest of that day and the greater part of the next, however, until, in a rage at finding them selves fooled, they brutally knocked her upon the head and left her dead in the wil derness. They soon afterward came upon another trail which led to a large swamp, where several tribes of Indians were en camped, and made an attack upon them, but with small fruits, as the red men took to their heels, and most of them made good their escape. Bacon now found himself at the head of an army wearied by the rough march through swamp and forest, weak: for want of food, and out of heart at the contempla tion of their thus far bootless errand. Moreover, the time appointed for the meeting of the Assembly was drawing nigh, and he knew that the people at home were looking anxiously for the return of their champion, and expecting glorious tidings of his campaign.'*°Tn this strait he gave the 104 BACON'S REBELLION. troops commanded by Colonel Brent pro visions sufficient for two days, and sent them, with any others who were pleased to accompany them, home ahead of him, to make report of the expedition and to carry the news that he would follow soon. With the four hundred of his own soldiers that were left the indefatigable Bacon now continued to diligently hunt the swamps for the savages, for he was determined not to show his face in Jamestown again without a story to tell of battles won and foes put to confusion. At length he struck a trail on hard ground, which he followed for a great distance without finding the "Indian enemy." What he did find was that his provisions were almost entirely spent, which melancholy discovery forced him to reduce rations to "quarter allowances." His pluck did not desert him, however. In the depths of the wilderness, miles away from white man's habitation, hungry and wom, and with four hundred wearied and half-starved men looking entirely to him, his fortitude was still unbroken, his faith in his mission undimmed, his heart stout. TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE AGAIN. 105 Finally, he saw that the only hope of escape from death by starvation was to reduce his numbers by still another division of his army. Drawing the forlorn littie band up before him he made the dark forest ring with the eloquence that had never failed to quicken the hearts of his followers and which made them eager to endure hard ship under his leadership. ' ' Gentlemen, ' ' he said, ' ' the indefatigable pains which hitherto we have taken doth require abundantly better success than as yet we have met with. But there is nothing so hard but by labor and industry it may, be overcome, which makes me not without hope of obtaining my desires against the heathen, in meeting with them to quit scores for all their barbarous cruelties done us. "I had rather my carcass should lie rot ting in the woods, and never see English man's face in Virginia, than miss of doing that service the country expects of me, and I vowed to perform against these heathen, which should I not return successful in some manner to damnify and affright them. 106 BACON'S REBELLION. we should have them as much animated as the English discouraged, and my adver saries to insult and reflect on me, that my defense of the country is but pretended and not real, and (as they already say) I have other desi,gnR, nnd malTf this but mv pre- tense and cloak. But that all shall see how "^flevoted I am to it, considering the great charge the country is at in fitting me forth, and the hopes and expectation they have in me, all you gentlemen that intend to abide with me must resolve to undergo all the hardships this wild can afford, dangers and successes, and if need be to eat chinquapins and horseflesh before he returns. Which resolve I have taken, therefore desire none but those which will so freely adventure; the other to return in, and for the better knowledge of them, I will separate my camp some distance from them bound home. ' ' Next morning, as the sun arose above the tree-tops it looked down upon the divided forces— one body moving with hea^^y step, but doubtless lightened hearts, toward TEE INDIAN WAR-PATE AGAIN. 107 Jamestown, the other pressing deeper into the wilds. A few hours after the parting Bacon's remnant fell upon a party of the Pamunkey tribe, whom they found encamped— after the wonted Indian fashion— upon a piece of wooded land bounded by swamps. The savages made little show of resistance, but fled, the English giving close chase. Forty- five Indian captives were taken, besides three horse-loads of plunder, consisting of mats, baskets, shell-money, furs, and pieces of English linen and cloth. A trumpet blast was the signal for the-j prisoners to be brought together and deliv-) ered up to Bacon, by whom some of them were afterward sold for slaves while the rest were disposed of by Sir William' Berkeley, saving five of them, whom In-! gram. Bacon's successor, presented to the) Queen of Pamunkey. As for the poor queen, the story goes that she fled during the skirmish between Bacon's men and her subjects, and, with only a little Indian boy to bear her com- 108 BACON'S REBELLION. pany, was lost in the woods for fourteen days, during which she was kept aUve by gnawing upon the "leg of a terrapin," which the little boy found for her when she was "ready to die for want of food." GOVEENOE BEEKELY IN ACCOMAC. While Bacon was scouring the wilderness in his pursuit of the Indians, the colony, which he was pleased to think he had left safe from serious harms, was in a state of wildest panic. A plot had been formed by Govemor Berkeley and Captain Larrimore to recap ture the ship which, it will be remembered. Bacon had sent to the Eastern Shore after the Governor. When the ship cast anchor before Accomac, Berkeley sent for her commander. Captain Carver, to come ashore and hold a parley with him, promising him a safe return. Unfortunately for himself, the Captain seems to have forgotten for the moment how little Governor Berkeley's promises were worth. Leaving his ship in charge of Bland, he went well armed, and accompanied by his most trusty men, to 109 110 BACON'S REBELLION. obey the summons. While Sir William was closeted with Captain Carver, trying to per suade him to desert the rebel party. Cap tain Larrimore, who had a boat in readiness for the purpose, rowed a party of men, imder command of Colonel Philip Ludwell, of the Council, out to the ship. The Baco nians, supposing that the approaching boat came in peace, were taken entirely by sur prise, and all on board were made prison ers. Soon afterward, Captain Carver, his conference with §ir William over, set out for the ship, in blissful ignorance of what had happened in his absence until he came within gun-shot, when he, too, fell an easy prey into the trap, and soon found himself in irons with Bland and the others. A few days later Sir William Berkeley rewarded the unfortunate Captain Carver for his thus thwarted designs against the liberty of his Majesty's representative, with the ungracious "gift of the halter." Governor Berkeley was now having his turn in sweeping things before him. At the time of the seizure by Carver and Bland of Captain Larrimore 's ship, another ship. GOV. BERKELEY IN ACCOMAC. Ill lying hard by, in the James, commanded by Captain Christopher Evelyn, eluded the efforts of the Baconians to seize her also, and some days later slipped away to Eng land, carrying aboard her a paper setting forth the Governor's own story of the doings of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., in Virginia, It was upon the first day of August that the Baconians had seized Captain Larri more 's ship and made her ready to go to Accomac after Berkeley. Upon the seventh of September Berkeley set sail for Jamestown, not as a prisoner, but with a fleet consisting of the recaptured ship and some sixteen or seventeen sloops manned by six hundred sturdy denizens of Acco mac, whom he is said to have bribed to his service with promises of plunder of all who had taken Bacon's oath,— "catch that catch could,"— twenty-one years' exemp tion from all taxes except church dues, and regular pay of twelvepence per day so long as they should serve under his colors. He was, moreover, said to have offered like benefits, and their freedom besides, to all 112 BACON'S REBELLION. servants of Bacon's adherents who would take up arms against the Rebel, The direful news of Sir William's ap proach, and of the strength with which he came, "outstripping the canvas wings," reached Jamestown before any signs of his fleet were spied from the landing. The handful of Baconians who had been left on guard there to "see the King's peace kept by resisting the Bang's vice-gerent," as their enemies sarcastically put it, were filled with dismay, for they realized them selves to be "a people utterly undone, being equally exposed to the Governor's displeas ure and the Indians' bloody cruelties." To prove the too great truth of the re port, the Governor's ships were before long seen sailing up the river, and the Govern or's messenger soon afterward landed, bearing commands for the immediate sur render of the town, with promise of pardony to all who would desert to the Governor's] cause, excepting only Bacon's two strongest friends, Mr. Drummond and "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence," GOV. BERKELEY IN ACCOMAC. 113 The Baconians had caught too much of the spirit of their leader to consider such terms as were offered them, and scornfully spurned them; but seeing that it would be madness to attempt to hold the town against such numbers, made their escape, leaving abundant reward in the way of plunder for the Governor and his six hun dred men of Accomac. Mr. Lawrence, whose leave-taking was perhaps the more speedy by reason of the compliment Sir William had paid him in making him one of the honorable exceptions in his offer of mercy, left "all his wealth and a fair cup board of plate entire standing, which fell into the Governor's hands the next morn ing." About noonday, on September 8, the day following the evacuation, Sir William entered the little capital. He immediately fortified it as strongly as possible, and then once more proclaimed Nathaniel Bacon and his followers rebels and traitors, threaten ing them with the utmost extremity of the law. XI. BACON EETUENS TO JAMESTOWN. Let us now return to the venturesome young man who was voluntarily placing himself under this oft-repeated and por tentous ban. We will find him and his ragged and foot-sore remnant on their way back to Jamestown, for after the successful meeting with the Pamunkeys he withdrew his forces from the wildemess and turned his face homewards to gather strength for the next march. He had already been met by the news of the reception that awaited him at Jamestown from Sir William. His army consisted now of only one hundred and thirty-six tired-out, soiled, tattered and hungry men— not a very formidable array with which to attack the fortified town, held by his wrathful enemy and the six hun dred fresh men-at-arms from Accomac. 114 BACON RETURNS. 115 Pathetic a show as the little band presented, however, the gallant young General called them about him, and with the frankness with which he always opened the eyes of his soldiers to every possible danger to which they might be exposed in his service, laid before them Governor Berkeley's schemes for their undoing. Verily must this impetuous youth have had magic in his tongue. Perhaps it was because he was able to throw into his tones his passion for the people's cause and earnest belief in the righteousness of the Rebellion, that his voice had ever the effect of martial music upon the spirits of his followers. Their hearts were never so faint but the sound of it could make them stout, their bodies never so weary but they were ready to greet a word from him with a hurrah. Nothing daunted by the appalling news he told them, the brave men shouted that they would stand by their General to the end. Deeply touched by their faithfulness. Bacon was quick to express his appreci ation. 116 BACON'S REBELLION. "Gentlemen and Fellow Soldiers," he cried: "How am I transported with glad ness to find you thus unanimous, bold aud daring, brave and gallant. You have the victory before you fight, the conquest be fore battle. I know you can and dare fight, while they will lie in their place of refuge and dare not so much as appear in the field before you. Your hardiness shall invite all the country along, as we march, to come in and second you. ' ' The Indians we bear along with us shall be as so many motives to cause relief from every hand to be brought to you. The igno miny of their actions cannot but so reflect upon their spirits as they will have no cour age left to fight you. I know you have th© prayers and well wishes of all the people of Virginia, while the others are loaded with their curses." As if "animated with new courage," the bit of an army marched onward toward Jamestown, with speed "out-stripping the swift wings of fame," for love and faith lightened their steps. The only stop was in New Kent County, where, halting long BACON RETURNS. 117 enough to gain some new troops, their num ber was increased to three hundred. Weak and weary, ragged and soiled as was the little army, the home-coming was a veritable triumphal progress. The dwellers along the way came out of their houses praying aloud for the happiness of the people's champion, and railing against the Governor and his party. Seeing the Indian captives whom Bacon's men led along, they shouted their thanks for his care and his pains for their preservation, and brought forth fruits and bread for the refreshment of himself and his soldiers. Women cried out that if need be they would come and serve under him. His young wife proudly wrote a friend in England: "You never knew any better beloved than he is. I do verily be lieve that rather than he should come to any hurt by the Govemor or anybody else, they would most of them lose their lives. ' ' Rumors of the Governor's warlike prepa rations for his coming were received by Bacon with a coolness bound to inspire those under him with confidence in his and their own strength. Hearing that Sir Will- 118 BACON'S REBELLION. iam had with him in Jamestown a thousand men, "well armed and resolute," he non chalantly made answer that he would soon see how resolute they were, for he was going to try them. When told that the Gov emor had sent out a party of sixty mounted scouts to watch his movements, he said, with a smile, that they were welcome to come near enough to say "How d'ye," for he feared them not. Toward evening upon September 13, after a march of between thirty and forty miles since daybreak, the army reached "Green Spring," Sir William Berkeley's own fair estate near Jamestown— the home which had been the centre of so much that was distinguished and charming in the social life of the colony during the Cavalier days. In a green field here Bacon again gathered his men around him for a final word to them before marching upon the capital. In a ringing appeal he told them that if they would ever fight they would do so now, against all the odds that confronted them— the enemy having every advantage of position, places of retreat, and men BACON RETURNS. 119 fresh and unwearied, whUe they were "so few, weak, and tired." "But I speak not this to discourage you," he added, "but to acquaint you with what advantages they will neglect and lose." He assured them that their ene mies had not the courage to maintain the charges so boldly made that they were rebels and traitors. "Come on, my hearts of gold!" he cried.. "He that dies in the field, lies in the bed of honor!" With these words the Rebel once more moved onward, and drew up his "small tired body of men" in an old Indian field just outside of Jamestown. .He promptly announced his presence there in the dra matic and picturesque fashion that belonged to the time. Riding forward upon the "Sandy Beach"— a narrow neck of land which then connected the town with the mainland, but has since been washed away, making Jamestown an island— he com- mandedaj;rumpet-blast toJbe-SQnaded, and fired off his carbine. From out the still ness of the night the salute was heard, and 120 BACON'S REBELLION. immediately, and with all due ceremony, answered by a trumpeter within the town. The'se martial greetings exchanged. Bacon dismounted from his horse, surveyed the situation and ordered an earthwork to be cast up across the neck of land, thus cut ing off all communication between the capi tal and the rest of the colony except by water. Two axes and two spades were all the tools at the Rebel's command, but all night long his faithful men worked like beavers beneath the bright September moon. Trees came crashing down, bushes were cut aud earth heaped up, and before daybreak the fortification was complete and the besiegers were ready for battle. When Sir William Berkeley looked abroad next morning and found the gate way between town and country so hostilely barred he did not suffer his complacency to forsake him for a moment, for he at once resolved to try his old trick, in which he had perfect confidence, of seeking to dis arm the enemy by an affectation of friend ship. He could not believe that Bacon would have the hardihood to open war with BACON RETURNS. 121 such a pitiful force against his Majesty's representative, and pretending to desire a reconciliation with the Rebel on account of his service against the Indians, he ordered his men not to make attack. xn. .JAMESTOWN BESIEGED AND BURNED. But Sir WUliam Berkeley had played his favorite trick at least twice too often. Moreover, he little knew of what stem stuff Bacon and his handful of ragamuffins were made, though they were far too well acquainted with the silver-haired old Cava lier's ways and wiles to pin any faith to the fair words that could so glibly slip off of his tongue and out of his memory. Early that morning the beginning of the siege was formally announced by six of Bacon's soldiers, who ran up to the pali sades of the town fort, "fired briskly upon the guard," and retreated safely within their own earthwork. The fight now began in earnest. Upon a signal from within the town the Governor's fleet in the river shot off their ""great guns," while at the same 122 JAMESTOWN BESIEGED. 123 time the guard in the palisades let fly their small shot. Though thus assailed from two sides at once, the rebels lying under their earthwork were entirely protected from both, and safe in their little fortress, returned the fire as fast as it was given. Even under fire. Bacon, the resourceful, strengthened and enlarged his fort by hav ing a party of his soldiers to bind fagots into bundles, which they held before them selves for protection while they made them fast along the top and at the ends of the earthwork. A sentinel from the top of a chimney upon Colonel Moryson's plantation, hard by Jamestown, watched Berkeley's maneu vers all day, and constantly reported to Bacon how the men in town "posted and reposted, drew on and off, what number they were and how they moved. ' ' For three days the cross-firing continued, during which the besiegers were so well shielded that they do not seem to have lost a single man. Upon the third day the Governor decided to make a sally upon the rebels. It is writ- 124 BACON'S REBELLION. ten that when he gave the order for the attack some of his officers made such "crabbed faces" that the "gunner of York Fort," who, it seems, was humorously in clined, offered too buy a colonel's or a cap tain's commission for whomsoever would have one for "a chunk of a pipe," It is also written that the Governor's Accomac soldiers "went out with hea^-y hearts, but returned with light heels," for the Baconians received them so warmly that they retired in great disorder, throw ing down their arms and leaving them and their drum on the field behind them, with the dead bodies of two of their comrades, which the rebels took into their trenches and buried with their arms. This taste of success made the besiegers so bold and daring that Bacon could hardly keep them from attempting to storm and capture Jamestown forthwith; but he warned them against being over rash, say ing that he expected to take the town with out loss of a man, in due season, and that one of their lives was worth more to him than the whole world. JAMESTOWN BESIEGED. 125 Upon the day after the s^Uy some of Bacon's Indian captives were exhibited on top of the earthworks, and this primitive bit of bravado served as an object-lesson to quicken the enthusiasm of the neighbor hood folk, who were coming over to the Rebel in great numbers. News was brought that "great multi- tudes" were also declaring for the popular cause in Nansemond and Isle of Wight Counties, ' ' as also all the south side of the river." Bacon sent a letter from camp to two of his sea-faring friends. Captain William Cookson and Captain Edward Skewon, de scribing the progress of the siege and urg ing them to protect the "Upper parts of the country" against pirates, and to bid his friends in those parts "be courageous, for that aU the country is bravely resolute. ' ' , In the midst of the siege Bacon resorted to one measure which for pure originality i has not been surpassed in the history of; military tactics, and which, though up to| the present writing no other general suffi-; ciently picturesque in his methods to imi-i^ 126 BACON'S REBELLION. tate it has * arisen, has furnished much "copy" for writers of historical romances. The Rebel had the good fortune to cap ture two pieces of artillery, but a dilemma arose as to how he should mount them with out endangering the lives of some of his men. His ingenious brain was quick to solve the riddle. Dispatching some of his officers to the plantations near Jamestown, he had them to bring into his camp Madam Bacon (the wife of his cousin Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., President of the CouncU), Madam Bray, Madam Page, Madam Bal lard, and other ladies of the households of members of his Majesty's Council who had remained loyal to the Governor. He then sent one of these fair ones, under escort, into Jamestown, to let her husband and the husbands of her companions know with what delicate and precious material their audacious foe was strengthening his fort, and to give them fair warning not to shoot. The remaining ladies (alas for the age of chivalry!) he stationed in front of his breastworks and kept thftm therp until the captured "great guns" had been duly JAMESTOWN BESIEGED. 127 mounted; after which he sent them all safely home. Most truly was it said that Bacon "knit more knots by his own head in on© day than all the hands in town were able to untie in a whole week!" So effectual a fortification did the glim-/ mer of a few fluttering white aprons upon his breastworks prove to be, that, as though confronted by a line of warriors from Ghostland, the Governor's soldiers stood aghast, and powerless to level a gun, while to add still further to their discomfiture they had to bear with what grace they could command having their ladies dubbed the "guardian angels" of the rebel camp. The cannon mounted under such gentle protection were never given a chance to prove their service. Jamestown stood upon low ground, full of marshes and swamps. The climate, at all times malarious and unhealthy, was at this season made more so than usual by the hot September suns. There were no fresh water springs, and the water from the wells was brackish and unwholesome, making the 128 BACON'S REBELLION. place especially "improper for the com mencement of a siege," While the Gov- emor had the advantage of numbers, and his men were fresh and^^inwearied. Bacon had the greater advantage of motive. Sir William Berkeley's soldiers were bent upon plunder, and when they found that the Rebel's determined "hearts of gold" meant to keep them blocked up in such comfortless quarters, and that the prospects were that there was nothing to be gained, in Sir Will- iam's service, they began to fall away from him in such numbers that, upon th© day after th© placing of Bacon's great guns, the old man found that there was nothing left for him but a second flight. That night he, with the gentlemen who remained true to him-^about twentyln all— stole out of thei? •stronghold in great secrecy, and taking to the ships, "fell silently down the river," The fleet came to anchor a few mUes away, perhaps that those on board might re- occupy the town again as soon as the siege should be raised, perhaps that they might, in turn, block up the rebels in it if they shoiUd quarter there. JAMESTOWN BESIEGED. 129 Bacon found a way to thwart either design. The first rays of morning light brought knowledge to the rebels that the Governor had fled, and that they were free to take possession of the deserted capital. That night, as Berkeley and his friends rocked on th© river below, doubtless straining eyes and ears toward Jamestown, and eagerly awaiting news of Bacon's doings there, the sickening sight of jets of flame leaping skv::, ward through the darkness told them in signals all too .plain that the hospitable little city would shelter them nevermore. Filled with horror, they weighed anchor and sailed with as great speed as th© winds would vouchsafe to bear them out of James River and across the Chesapeak© 's broad waters, where Govemor Berkeley found, for a second time, a haven of refuge upon the shores of Accomac County. This great city of Jamestown, which though insignificant in number of inhab itants and in the area it covered, was a truly great city, for its achievements had been great, was thus laid low at the very 130 BACON'S REBELLION. height of its modest magnificence and power. Though but Uttie more than a half century old, it was already historic James town, for with its foundations had beeri laid, in the virgin soil of a new world, the foundations of the Anglo-Saxon home, the Anglo-Saxon religion, and Anglo-Saxon law. This town, so small in size, so great in import, could proudly boast of a brick church, ' ' f aire and large, ' ' twelve new brick I houses and half a dozen frame ones, with ( brick chimneys. There was also a brick state house the foundations of which have lately been discovered. The inhabitants are facetiously de scribed by a writer of the time as for the most part "getting their livings by keep ing ordinaries at eiciro-ordinary rates." ' ' Thoughtful Mr. Lawrence ' ' — devoted Mr. Lawrence (whose silver plate the Gov ernor had not forgotten to carry off with him, for all his leave-taking was so abrupt) —and Mr. Drummond heroically began the work of ruin by setting the torch to their own substantial dwellings. The soldiers were quick to follow this example, and soon JAMESTOWN BESIEGED. 131 aU that remained of Jamestown was a memory, a heap of ashes, and a smoke- stained church tower, which still reaches heavenward and tells the wayfarer how the most enduring pile the builders of that first little capital of Virginia had heaped up was a Christian temple, Mr. Drummond (to his honor be it said) rushed into the burning State House and rescued th© official records of the colony. In a letter written the following Febru ary Sir William Berkeley said that Bacon entered Jamestown and "bumed five houses of mine and twenty of other gentle men 's, and a very commodious church. They say he set to with his own sacrilegious hand." XIII, "the peospeeous eebel," The firebrand's uncanny work complete, Bacon marched his men back to "Green Spring" and quartered them there. That commodious plantation, noted among other things for its variety of fruits and its de lightful spring water, must have been a welcome change from the trenches before Jamestown, haunted by malaria and mos quitoes. Comfortably established in Sir WiUiam Berkeley's own house, the Rebel's next step was to draw up an oath of fidelity to the people's cause, denouncing Sir William as a traitor and an enemy to the public good, and again binding his followers to resist any forces that might be sent from England until such time as his Majesty should "fully understand the miserable case of the coun- 132 "TEE PROSPEROUS REBEL." 133 try, and the justice of our proceedings," and if they should find themselves no longer strong enough to defend their "Uves and liberties," to quit the colony rather than , submit to "any such miserable a slavery^/! as they had been undergoing. ^ Though the "prosperous rebel," as the Royal Commissioners call Bacon, had now everything his own way, his hour of tri umph was marked by diginity and moder ation. Even those who opposed him bore witness that he "was not bloodily inclined in the whole progress of this rebellion. ' ' He had only one man— a deserter— executed, and even in that ease he declared that he would spare the victim if any single one of his soldiers would speak a word to save him. The Royal Commissioners, who had made a careful study of Bacon's character, expressed the belief that he at last had the poor fellow's life taken, not from cruelty, but as a wholesome object-lesson for his army. He suggested an exchange of prisoners of war to Berkeley— offering the Reverend ^hn Clough (minister at Jamestown), 134 BACON'S REBELLION. Captain Thomas Hawkins, and Major John West, in return for Captain Carver (of whose execution, it seems, he had not heard). Bland, and Farloe, Governor Berkeley scorned to consider the propo sition, and instead of releasing the gentle men asked for, afterward sent the remain ing two after the luckless Captain Carver, although Bacon spared the lives of all those he had offered in exchange, and though Mr, Bland's friends in England had procured the King's pardon for him, which he pleaded at his trial was even then in the Governor's pocket. Though Bacon himself was never accused of putting any one to death in cold blood, or of plundering any house, he found that the people began <;ft f>nmplm'T< >.utn,TilY nf tVio depredations, rudeness, and disff^rder of his men;__He therefore set a strict discipline over his army and became more moderate than ever himself. After a few days' rest at "Green Spring" the Rebel marched on to Tindall's Point, Gloucester County, where he made the home "TEE PROSPEROUS REBEL." 135 of Colonel Augustine Warner, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, his headquarters. From there he sent out a notice to all the people of th© county to meet himatthe^ court-house for the purpose of taking his oath, — His plans were now suddenly interrupted by a report from Rappahannock County that Colonel Brent, who, it seems, had gone over to the Governor 's side, was advancing upon him at the head of eleven hundred militia. No sooner had he heard this news than he ordered the drums to beat up his soldiers, under their colors, and told them of the strength of the approaching army, and of Brent's "resolution" to fight him, and "demanded theirs." With their wonted heartiness, his men made answer in "shouts and acclamations, while the drums thunder a march to meet the promised conflict." Thus encouraged. Bacon set out without delay to give the enemy even an earlier chance to unload his guns than he had bar gained for. He had been on the march for several days when, instead of meeting a 136 BACON'S REBELLION. hostile army, he was greeted with the cheer ful tidings that Brent's followers, who were described as "men, not soldiers," had left their commander to "shift for himself." They had heard how the Rebel had beat the Governor out of town, and lest he should "beat them out of their lives," some of them determined to keep a safe distance from him, while most of them unblushingly deserted to him, deeming it the part of wis- dom '^with the Persians, to go and worship the rising sun." Bacon now hastened back to Gloucester Court House to meet the county folk there, in accordance with his appointment. The cautious denizens of Gloucester, reckoning that in such uncertain times there might be dajflgbi' iri declaring too warmly for either the Trne"SiaeoFtEe other, petitioned through Councillor Cole, who acted as spokesman, that they migEtlJe excused from taking the oath of fidelity, and "indulged in thejimie- fit of neutrality." Lukewarmness in his service was a thing wholly new to Bacon, and utterly contemptible in his eyes. He haughtily refused to grant so unworthy a "TEE PROSPEROUS" REBEL." 137 request, telling those who made it that they put him in mind of the worst of sinners, wrio desired to be saved with the righteous,_ •yet would do nothing whereby they might fairT He was about to lea,ve the place in disgust when one of the nei:|tra,\g^ stopped him and told him that he had o'rily spoken "to the horse"— meaning the troopers— and had said nothing to the "foot." Bacon cuttingly made answer that he had "spoken to the men, and not to the horse, having left that service for him to do, be cause one beast would best understand the meaning of another." Mr WflHinp;, a, parsou. not on1y_refused to take the oath himself, but tried to per suade others against it, whereupon Bacon had him arrested, telling him that "it was his place to preaAjn^*^ p.Tmrp'h— rmt. in the camp," and~TEat in the one place he might say what he pleased^ in the other only what Bacon pleased^ "unless he could "ligh't " M LLerThan he could preach." It was clearly the clause regarding resist ance of the English forces that made the 138 BACON'S REBELLION. people suspicious and afraid of the oath. JohnGoode, a Virginia planter, and a near neighbor of Bacon's, had been one of^ th© first among the volunteers to eriUstjunder him, but afterward went^over to Govemor Berkeley. He wrote the Governor a letter reporting a conversation between himself and Bacon which he said they had had upon the second of September. This must hav© been during Bacon's last Indian march, and about ten days before the siege of James town. According to Goode, Bacon had spoken to him of a rumor that the King had sent two thousand "red-coats" to put down th© insurgents, saying that if it were true he beUeved that the Virginians could beat them— having the advantages of Enowing the country, understanding how to make ambuscades, etc., and being accustomed to the climate— which last would doubtless' play havoc in the King's army. Goode writes that he discouraged resist ance of the ' ' red-coats, ' ' and charged Bacon with designing a total overthrow of the M^ptjiftr Country's government in Virginia "TEE PROSPEROUS REBEL." 139 —to which Bacon coolly made answer, "Have not many princes lost their domin ions in like manner?" and frankly ex- ¦ pi'eiijsecl tne opinion that not only Virginia, but Maryland and Carolina wouldTcasToff his Majesty's yoke as soon as they shouldT become strong enough. ^ The writer adds that Bacon furthermore suggested that if the people could not obtain redress for their grievances from the Crown, and have the privileg© of electing their own governors, they might "retire to Roanoke," and that he then "fell into a discourse of seating a plantation in a great island in the river as a fit place to retire to for a refuge." Goode describes his horror at such a dar ing suggestion, and says he assured Bacon that he would get no aid from him in carry ing it out, and that the Rebel replied that "he was glad to know his mind, but charged that "this ^[read of putting his hand to the promoting" of suoh^a design was prompted by cowardice, and that Gnn