1676.
Bacon succeeded by Ingram--Hansford and others executed--
Ingram and others hold West Point--They surrender--Close of
Rebellion--Proceedings of Court-Martial--Execution of
Drummond--His Character--Mrs. Afra Behn--Richard Lawrence--His
Character.
UPON Bacon's death, toward the end of 1676, the exact date of which can
hardly be ascertained, he was succeeded by his lieutenant-general,
Joseph Ingram, (whose real name was said to be Johnson,) who had lately
arrived in Virginia. Ingram, supported by George Wakelet, or Walklett,
his major-general, who was very young, Langston, Richard Lawrence, and
their adherents, took possession of West Point, at the head of York
River, fortified it, and made it their place of arms. West Point, or
West's Point, so called from the family name of Lord Delaware, was at
one time known as "De la War," and is so laid down on John Henry's Map,
dated 1770. There is still extant there[313:A] a ruinous house of
stone-marl, which was probably occupied by Ingram and his confederates.
A bake-oven serves to strengthen the conjecture.
As soon as Berkley heard of Bacon's death, he sent over Robert Beverley,
with a party, in a sloop to York River, where they captured Colonel
Hansford and some twenty soldiers, at the house where Colonel Reade had
lived, which appears to have been at or near where Yorktown now stands.
Hansford was taken to Accomac, tried, and condemned to be hanged, and
was the first native of Virginia that perished in that ignominious form,
and in America the first martyr that fell in defending the rights of the
people. He was described by Sir William Berkley as "one Hansford, a
valiant stout man, and a most resolved rebel." When he came to the place
of execution, distant about a mile from the place of his confinement,
he appeared well resolved to bear his fate, complaining only of the
manner of his death. Neither during his trial before the court-martial,
nor afterwards, did he supplicate any favor, save that "he might be shot
like a soldier, and not hanged like a dog;" but he was told that he was
condemned not as a soldier, but as a rebel. During the short respite
allowed him after his sentence, he professed repentance and contrition
for all the sins of his past life, but refused to acknowledge what was
charged against him as rebellion, to be one of them; desiring the people
present to take notice that "he died a loyal subject and lover of his
country, and that he had never taken up arms but for the destruction of
the Indians, who had murdered so many Christians." His execution took
place on the 13th of November, 1676.[314:A]
Captain Wilford, Captain Farloe, and several others of less note, were
put to death in Accomac. Wilford, younger son of a knight who had lost
his estate and life in defence of Charles the First, had taken refuge in
Virginia, where he became an Indian interpreter, in which capacity he
was very serviceable to Bacon. Farloe had been made an officer by Bacon,
upon the recommendation of Sir William Berkley, or some of the council.
He was a mathematical scholar, and of a peaceable disposition, and his
untimely end excited much commiseration. Major Cheesman died in prison,
probably from ill usage. His wife took to herself the entire blame for
his having joined Bacon, and on her bended knees implored Sir William
Berkley to put her to death in his stead. The governor answered by
applying to her an epithet of infamy. Several other prisoners came to
their death in prison in the same way with Cheesman.
Sir William Berkley now repaired to York River with four merchant-ships,
two or three sloops, and one hundred and fifty men.[314:B] According to
another account,[314:C] he sent Colonel Ludwell with part of his forces
to York River, while he himself with the rest repaired to Jamestown; but
this appears to be erroneous. Sir William proclaimed a general pardon,
excepting certain persons named, especially Lawrence and Drummond.
Greenspring, the governor's residence, still held out, being garrisoned
with a hundred men under a captain Drew, previously a miller, the
approaches barricaded, and three pieces of cannon planted. A party of
one hundred and twenty, dispatched by the governor to surprise at night
a guard of about thirty men and boys, under Major Whaley, at Colonel
Bacon's house on Queen's Creek, were defeated, with the loss of their
commander, named Farrel. Colonel Bacon and Colonel Ludwell were present
at this affair. Major Lawrence Smith, with six hundred Gloucester men,
was likewise defeated by Ingram at Colonel Pate's house, Smith saving
himself by flight, and his men being all made prisoners. The officer
next in command under Smith was a minister. Captain Couset with a party
being sent against Raines, who headed the insurgents on the south side
of James River, Raines was killed, and his men captured.
Meanwhile Ingram, Wakelet, and their companions in arms, foraged with
impunity on the estates of the loyalists, and bade defiance to the aged
governor. They defended themselves against the assaults of Ludwell and
others with such resolution and gallantry, that Berkley, fatigued and
exhausted, at length sent, by Captain Grantham, a complaisant letter to
Wakelet--or, as some say, to Ingram--offering an amnesty, on condition
of surrender. This was agreed to, and in reward for his submission,
Berkley presented to Wakelet all the Indian plunder deposited at West
Point. Greenspring was also surrendered by Drew upon terms offered by
Sir William Berkley. A court-martial was held on board of a vessel in
York River, January the 11th, 1676-7.[315:A] Four of the insurgents were
condemned by this court: one of them, by name Young, had, according to
Sir William Berkley, held a commission under General Monk long before he
declared for the king; another, a carpenter, who had formerly been a
servant of the governor, but had been made a colonel in Bacon's army;
one, Hall, was a clerk of a county court, but, by his writings, "more
useful to the rebels than forty armed men."
When West Point was surrendered, Lawrence and Drummond were at the
Brick-house in New Kent, on the opposite side of the river. On the
nineteenth day of January, Drummond was taken in the Chickahominy Swamp,
half famished, and on the following day was brought in a prisoner to Sir
William Berkley, who was then on board of a vessel at Colonel Bacon's,
on Queen's Creek. The governor, who, through personal hostility, had
vowed that Drummond should not live an hour after he fell into his
power, upon hearing of his arrival, immediately went on shore and
saluted him with a courtly bow, saying, "Mr. Drummond, you are very
_un_welcome; I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia. Mr.
Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an hour." He replied, "What your
honor pleases." A court-martial was immediately held, in time of peace,
at the house of James Bray, Esq., whither the prisoner was conveyed in
irons. He was stripped; and a ring--a pledge of domestic affection--was
torn from his finger before his conviction; he was condemned without any
charge being alleged, and although he had never borne arms; and he was
not permitted to defend himself. Condemned at one o'clock, he was
hurried away to execution on a gibbet at four o'clock, at Middle
Plantation, with one John Baptista, "a common Frenchman, that had been
very bloody." Drummond was a sedate Scotch gentleman, who had been
governor of the infant colony of North Carolina, of estimable character,
unsullied integrity, and signal ability. He had rendered himself
extremely obnoxious to the governor's hatred by the lively concern which
he had always evinced in the public grievances. Sir William Berkley
mentions him as "one Drummond, a Scotchman, that we all suppose was the
original cause of the whole rebellion." When afterwards the petition of
his widow, Sarah Drummond, depicting the cruel treatment of her husband,
was read in the king's council in England, the lord chancellor, Finch,
said: "I know not whether it be lawful to wish a person alive, otherwise
I could wish Sir William Berkley so, to see what could be answered to
such barbarity; but he has answered it before this."[317:A]
Mrs. Afra Behn celebrated Bacon's Rebellion in a tragi-comedy, entitled
"The Widow Ranter, or the History of Bacon in Virginia." Dryden honored
it with a prologue. The play failed on the stage, and was published in
1690; there is a copy of it in the British Museum.[317:B] It sets
historical truth at defiance, and is replete with coarse humor and
indelicate wit. It is probable that Sarah Drummond may have been
intended by "The Widow Ranter." It appears that one or two expressions
in the Declaration of Independence occur in this old play.
On the 24th of January, 1677, six other insurgents were condemned to
death at Greenspring, and executed. Henry West was banished for seven
years, and his estate confiscated, save five pounds allowed him to pay
his passage. William West and John Turner, sentenced to death at the
same time, escaped from prison. William Rookings, likewise sentenced,
died in prison. Richard Lawrence, with four companions, disappeared
from the frontier, proceeding on horseback and armed, through a deep
snow, preferring to perish in the wilderness rather than to share
Drummond's fate. Lawrence was educated at Oxford, and for wit, learning,
and sobriety, was equalled by few there. He had been one of the
commissioners for adjusting the boundary line between Maryland and
Virginia in 1663. He had been defrauded of a handsome estate by
Berkley's corrupt partiality in behalf of a favorite. The rebellion, as
it was called, was by most people mainly attributed to Lawrence; and it
is said that he had before thrown out intimations that he hoped to find
means by which he not only should be able to repair his own losses, but
also see the country relieved from the governor's "avarice and French
despotic modes." Lawrence had married a rich widow, who kept a large
house of entertainment at Jamestown, which gave him an extensive
influence. Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., probably had lodged at his house when
search was made for him on the morning of his escape. The author of T.
M.'s Account says: "But Mr. Bacon was too young, too much a stranger
there, and of a disposition too precipitate, to manage things to that
length those were carried, had not thoughtful Mr. Lawrence been at the
bottom."
FOOTNOTES:
[313:A] 1847.
[314:A] Ingram's Proceedings, 33; Force's Hist. Tracts, i.
[314:B] T. M. and Mrs. Cotton.
[314:C] In Va. Gazette.
[315:A] Consisting of the Right Honorable Sir William Berkley, Knight,
Governor and Captain-General of Virginia; Colonel Nathaniel Bacon,
Colonel William Clayborne, Colonel Thomas Ballard, Colonel Southy
Littleton, Colonel Philip Ludwell, Lieutenant-Colonel John West, Colonel
Augustine Warner, Major Lawrence Smith, Major Robert Beverley, Captain
Anthony Armistead, Colonel Matthew Kemp, and Captain Daniel Jenifer.
[317:A] Morrison's Letter, in Burk, ii. 268.
[317:B] Thomas H. Wynne, Esq., of Richmond, who is laudably curious in
matters connected with Virginia history, has a copy of this play, and I
have been indebted to him for the use of that and several other rare
books.