THE SWORD OF DEFENCE.
He stood--some dread was on his face,
Soon hatred settled in its place:
It rose not with the reddening flush
Of transient anger's hasty blush,
But pale as marble o'er the tomb,
Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom.
--BYRON.
Robert Stevens returned home, his mind filled with strange, wild
thoughts. It was a lovely evening in early spring. The moon, round and
full, rose from out its watery bed and shed a soft, refulgent glow on
this most delightful of all climes. Below was the bay, on which floated
many barks, and among them the vessel which had so recently brought him
from Boston. The little town lay quiet and peaceful on the hill where
his grandfather and Captain John Smith sixty years ago had planted it.
Beyond were the dark forests, gloomy and forbidding, as if they
concealed many foes of the white men; but those woods were not all dark
and forbidding. From them issued the sweet perfumes of wild flowers and
the songs of night birds, such as are known in Virginia.
Young Stevens was in no mood to be impressed by the surrounding scenery.
He was repeating under his breath:
"_Tyranny! tyranny! tyranny!_"
Robert loved freedom as dearly as he loved Ester Goffe, and one was as
necessary to his existence as the other. Now, on his return to the land
of his nativity, he found the ruler, once so mild and popular, grown
to a tyrant.
"His office is for life," sighed Robert. "And too much power hath made
him mad."
Reaching the house, he heard voices in the front room and among them
that of his sister. She was greatly agitated, and he heard her saying:
"No, no, Mr. Peram. I--don't understand you."
"Not understand me? I love you, sweet maid. Do I not make myself plain?"
"No, no; do not talk that way; pray do not."
"But you must promise, sweet maid, to wed me. I adore you."
At this the scoundrel caught her hand, and Rebecca uttered a scream of
terror. Her brother waited to hear no more, but leaped boldly into the
room and, seizing Mr. Giles Peram by the collar of his coat and the
waistband of his costly knee-breeches, held him at arm's length, and
began applying first one and then another pedal extremity to
his anatomy.
Mr. Peram squirmed and howled:
"Oh, dear! Oh, let me go! This is very extraordinary!" his small eyes
growing dim and his fat cheeks pale.
"You knave! How dare you thus annoy my sister?" cried Robert, still
kicking the rascal. At last he led him to the door and flung him down
the front steps, where he fell in a heap on the ground with such force,
that one might have thought his neck was broken. Robert turned to his
sister and asked:
"Where is mother?"
"She hath gone with her husband to Greensprings."
"And left you alone?"
"It was thought you would come."
Robert Stevens felt guilty of neglect in lingering too long in the
company of men whom Berkeley would regard as conspirators; but he
immediately excused himself on the ground that he had had no knowledge
of the intended departure of his mother, or that his sister would be
left alone.
"Have you suffered annoyances from him before?"
"Yes."
"Does mother know of it?"
"She does."
"And makes no effort to protect you?"
[Illustration: HE FLUNG HIM DOWN THE FRONT STEPS, WHERE HE FELL IN A
HEAP ON THE GROUND.]
"She does all she can; but--but Mr. Price sanctions the marriage."
"I think I understand why you were left," said Robert, bitterly; "but I
will protect you, never fear. That disgusting pigmy of humanity, that
silly idiot and false swearer shall not harm you. I will take you
to uncle's."
"Alas, he is dead. He was appointed governor to Carolinia and died."
"But our father's sister will give you a home, if the persecution
becomes too hard for you to endure."
With such assurances, he consoled her as only a stout, brave brother
can, and to win her mind from the subject that tormented her most, he
told her of Ester Goffe and their betrothal, with a few of his wild
adventures in New England, where, at this time, King Philip's war was
raging with relentless fury.
Then his sister retired, and he sought repose. Next morning his mother
was at breakfast; but Hugh Price was absent. He asked no questions about
him. Nothing was said of the summary manner in which he had disposed of
Mr. Peram, and it was a week before he saw his sister's
unwelcome suitor.
The little fellow was standing on a platform making a speech to some
sailors and idlers. The harangue was silly, as all his speeches were.
"If the king wants brave soldiers to cope with these rebels, let him
send me to command them. Fain would I lead an army against the
vagabonds."
At this, some wag in the crowd made a remark about the diminutive size
of the speaker, and the ludicrous figure he would cut as a general, at
which he became enraged and cried:
"Begone, knave! Do you think I talk to fools? Nay, I speak sense."
"Which is very extraordinary," put in the wag. This so exasperated the
orator, that he fumed and raged about the platform and, not taking heed
which way he went, tumbled backward off the stage, which brought his
harangue to an inglorious close.
Shouts of laughter went up from the assembled group at his mishap, and
the orator retired in disgust.
Robert Stevens was more amused than any other person at the manner in
which Giles Peram had terminated his speech. He went home and told his
sister, who laughed as much as he did.
That night, near midnight, Robert was awakened from a sound sleep by
some one tapping on his window lattice. He rose, at first hardly able to
believe his senses; but the moon was shining quite brightly, and he
distinctly saw the outline of a man standing outside his window, and
there came a tapping unquestionably intended to wake him.
"Who are you?" he asked, going to the window.
"I am Drummond," was the answer, and he now recognized his father's
friend standing on the rounds of a ladder which he had placed against
the house at the side of his window. On the ground below were two more
men, whom he recognized as Mr. Cheeseman and the thoughtful
Mr. Lawrence.
"What will you, Mr. Drummond?"
"Come forth; we have something to say to you. Dress for a journey and
bring what weapons you have, as you may need them."
Robert hurriedly dressed and buckled on a breastplate and sword with a
brace of pistols. He had a very fine rifle, which he brought away with
him, as well as a supply of flints, a horn full of powder to the very
throat, and plenty of bullets. With these, he crept from the house and
joined the three men under the tree. Mr. Drummond said:
"The Indians have again risen in their fury, and attacked the frontier,
killing many, and have carried some of your kinspeople away captives."
Robert was roused. He was in a frenzy and vowed that if no one else
would go, he would himself pursue the savages and rescue his relatives.
"You will have aid," assured Mr. Drummond. "The people are enraged at
the carelessness of the governor, and if they can secure a leader, they
will go and punish the Indians."
"Leader or no leader, I shall go to the rescue of my relatives. My
father's sister and children are captives; think you I would remain at
home for lack of a leader?"
"We will find one in Nathaniel Bacon."
"Who is he?" asked Robert, as if he still feared the willingness or
ability of the proposed leader to conduct the crusade against the
savages. Mr. Drummond answered:
"Bacon is a young man who has not yet arrived at thirty years. His
family belongs to the English gentry, for he is a cousin of Lord
Culpepper and married a daughter of Sir John Duke. He run out his
patrimony in England and hath, by his liberality, exhausted the most of
what he brought to Virginia. He came here four years ago and settled at
Curies on the upper James River. His uncle, who lives in Virginia, was a
member of the king's council. He is Nathaniel Bacon, senior, a very rich
politic man and childless, who designs his nephew, Nathaniel Bacon,
junior, for his heir."
"Has he ability for a leader?" asked Robert.
"He hath; his abilities have been so highly recognized, that he was
appointed soon after his arrival to a place in the council."
This was a position of great dignity, rarely conferred upon any but men
of matured age and large estate, and Bacon was only twenty-eight, and
his estate small. His personal character is seen on the face of his
public career. He was impulsive and subject to fits of passion, or, as
the old writers say, "of a precipitate disposition."
Bacon came near being the Virginia Cromwell. Though he never wholly
redeemed his adopted country from tyranny, he put the miscreant Berkeley
to flight. On that May night in 1676, Bacon was at his Curles
plantation, just below the old city of Henricus, living quietly on his
estate with his beautiful young wife Elizabeth. He had another estate in
what is now the suburbs of the present city of Richmond, which is to-day
known as "Bacon's Quarter Branch." His servants and overseers lived
here, and he could easily go thither in a morning's journey on his
favorite dapple gray, or by rowing seven miles around the Dutch Gap
peninsula, could make the journey in his barge. When not at his upper
plantation or in attendance at the council, he was living the quiet and
unassuming life of a planter at Curles, where he entertained his
neighbors, and being by nature a lover of the divine rights of man, he
boldly denounced the trade laws, the Arlington and Culpepper grants, and
the governor for his lukewarmness in defending the frontier against the
Indians. Though one of the gentry, who had it in his power to become a
favorite, the manifest tyranny of Governor Berkeley so shocked his sense
of right and justice, that he was ready to condemn the whole system of
government.
When the report came to him that the Indians were about to renew their
outrages on the upper waters of the James River, Bacon flew into a rage
and, tossing his arms about in a wild gesticulation, as was his
manner, declared:
"If they kill any of my people, d--n my blood, I will make war on them,
with or without authority, commission or no commission."
The hour was not long in coming when his resolution was put to the test.
In May, 1676, two days before Robert was awakened from his midnight
slumbers by Drummond, the Indians had attacked his estate at the Falls,
killed his overseer and one of his servants, and were going to carry
fire and hatchet through the frontier. The wild news flew from house to
house. The planters and frontiersmen sprang to arms and began to form a
combination against these dangerous enemies.
Governor Berkeley had refused to commission any one as commander of the
forces, and the colonists were without a head. The silly old egotist who
ruled Virginia declared that there was no danger from the Indians, and
even while the frontiersmen were battling with them for their lives,
he wrote to the home government that all trouble with the natives was
happily over. When the Virginians assembled, they were without a leader.
It was on this occasion that Robert was awakened at night, as we have
seen, and asked to arm himself and prepare for a journey. That midnight
journey was to Curies where the planters were assembled preparatory to
making a descent on the enemy, which they were long to remember. When
Robert was informed of the plan, he asked for a moment's time to confer
with his sister, that he might notify her of his departure.
He knew the room in which Rebecca slept, and going to her door, tapped
lightly until he heard her stirring, and the voice within asked:
"Who are you?"
"It is your brother," he whispered. A moment later the pretty face of
the sleepy girl, surrounded by the neat border of a night-cap, appeared,
and he hastily informed her that the Indians, in ravaging the frontier,
had carried away their relatives, and he was going to set out to recover
them. She knew the political situation of the country and the danger of
the governor's wrath; but she could not detain her brother from such
a mission.
Having explained to her that he was going to recover the captives and
knew not when he would return, he went hurriedly away to join his
companions. A horse was ready saddled for him, and they rode nearly all
the remainder of the night, and at dawn were at Curies where was found a
considerable number of riflemen. As they came upon the group, Robert saw
a young man with dark eyes and hair, a face that was ruddy, yet denoting
nervous temperament. He was tall and graceful, and his bold, vehement
spirit seemed at once to take fire, and his enthusiasm kindled a
conflagration in the breasts of his hearers. He spoke of their wrongs,
of their governor's avarice, who would for the sake of his traffic with
the Indians sacrifice their lives. They were not assembled for
vengeance, but for defence against a ruthless foe. There was no outward
expression of rebellion in his speech, yet he enlarged on the grievances
of the time. That speech was an ominous indication of coming events.
"Who is that man?" Robert asked.
"Nathaniel Bacon," was the answer.
This was the first time he had ever seen the man so noted in history as
the great Virginia rebel, yet from the very first Robert was strangely
impressed with the earnestness of the stranger.
Bacon had been chosen as commander of the Virginians, and had sent to
Berkeley for his commission. The governor did not refuse the
commission; but he did what practically amounted to the same, failed to
send it. It was to this that Bacon was referring when Robert Stevens and
his friends joined the group.
"Instead of sending the commission which I desired, he hath politely
notified me that the times are troubled," Bacon said, "that the issue of
my business might be dangerous, that, unhappily, my character and
fortunes might become imperiled if I proceed. The commission is refused;
his complimentary expressions amount to nothing; the veil is too thin to
impose on us; the Indians are still ravaging the frontier. They have
been furnished with firelocks and powder--by whom? By the governor in
his traffic with them. If you, good housekeepers, will sustain me, I
will assault the savages in their stronghold."
All, with one accord, assented and declared themselves willing to be led
to the assault. Bacon was at once chosen as the commander of the army.
When he learned that Robert and his friends had come from Jamestown to
aid the people on the frontier, he came to welcome them to his ranks and
to assure them that he appreciated their courage and humanity.
"I have relatives and friends who are captives of the Indians," Robert
explained, "and I shall rescue them or perish in the effort."
"Bravo! spoken like an Englishman. We are kindling a fire which may yet
consume royalty in Virginia."
Nathaniel Bacon was politic, however, and before setting out against the
Indians dispatched another messenger to Jamestown for a commission as
commander. The game between the man of twenty-eight and the man of
seventy had begun. Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and
resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous. The prospects
were good for a bitter warfare. The old cavalier attempted to end it by
striking a sudden blow at his adversary. Bacon and his army were on
their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an
emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation,
denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and
ordered them to disperse. If they persisted in their illegal
proceedings, it would be at their peril.
Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of
crippling the expedition. The resolution of the most wealthy of the
armed housekeepers were shaken. They feared a confiscation more than
hanging or decapitation. One hundred and seventy of the followers of
Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.
Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast. Among them was Robert Stevens,
who was young and reckless as his daring leader.
The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city
of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent
forth a flag of truce to parley with them. The men who remained with
Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from
the savages.
John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife
and child slain by the Indians. While the parley was going on, John
discovered the Indian who had slain his wife and child, and, recognizing
their scalps hanging at the savage's girdle, he levelled his rifle at
the savage and shot him dead.
The Indians gave utterance to yells of rage, and from the hill-top
poured down a volley at the white men; but the bullets and arrows passed
quite over their heads. Bacon saw that the moment for a charge had
arrived, and, raising himself in his stirrups, he shouted:
"There are the devils who slew your friends and kindred. It is their
lives or ours. Strike for vengeance! Charge!"
Not a man faltered. Never did husbands, fathers and brothers dash
forward into battle more fearlessly. Each man thought only of his own
little home exposed to the ravages of the enemy, and the whistling of
balls and arrows did not deter him. The enemy were entrenched in a fort
of logs. They outnumbered the Virginians ten to one; but the latter
charged nobly forward, plunging into the stream which lay between them
and the fort, and wading through the water shoulder deep.
"There are the enemy; storm the fort!" cried Bacon. Ever in the van,
mounted on his dapple gray, where bullets flew thickest, he was here and
there and everywhere, urging and encouraging the men by word and
example. They needed little encouragement, for the atrocities of the
Indian had fired the blood of the Virginians, until the most timid among
them became brave as a lion.
Robert Stevens kept at the side of Bacon, imitating his example. Robert
was mounted on an English bay, a famous fox-hunter, and accustomed to
leaping barriers. Bacon knew nothing of the science of Indian warfare,
even if he knew anything of war at all. Indian tactics are entirely
different from civilized warfare and require a different mode to meet
them; but though the hero of Virginia four years before was thoroughly
ignorant of Indians, he seemed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a
moment. He was the man for the occasion.
Side by side Bacon and Robert dashed at the palisade and leaped their
horses over it. They emptied their rifles and fired their pistols at
such close range, that the effect was murderous. Others followed,
leaping down among the savages, and opened fire. When guns and pistols
had belched forth their deadly contents, the more deadly sabre was
drawn, and the Indians were slain without mercy.
The buildings were fired, and the four thousand pounds of powder, which
the Indians had procured of the governor, were blown up. One hundred and
fifty Indians were slain, while Bacon lost only three of his own party.
This victory is famous in history as the "Battle of Bloody Run," so
called from the fact that the blood of the Indians ran down into the
stream beneath the hill. Among some of the captives taken by the
Indians, Robert Stevens found his relatives and restored them to their
homes and friends.
The Indians were routed and sent flying toward the mountains, and Bacon
went back toward Curles.
Meanwhile Berkeley was not idle. He raised a troop of horse to pursue
and conquer the rebels; but to his alarm he found the people quite
outspoken and, in fact, in open rebellion in the lower tiers
of counties.
When the burgesses met in June, Bacon embarked in his sloop and went to
Jamestown, taking Robert Stevens and about thirty friends with him. No
sooner had the sloop landed than the cannon of a ship were trained on
it, and Bacon was arrested and taken to Governor Berkeley in the
statehouse.
The haughty governor was somewhat awed by the turmoil and confusion
which prevailed throughout Jamestown, and feared to appear stern with so
popular a man as Bacon.
"Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?" the governor asked.
"No, may it please your honor," Bacon answered, quite coolly.
"Then I will take your parole," said Berkeley.
Bacon was consequently paroled, though not given privilege to leave
Jamestown. There was much murmuring and discontent among the people, who
vowed that they had only "appealed to the sword as a defence against the
bloody heathen."