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 bargained for. He had been
on the march for several days when, instead of meeting a hostile army,
he was greeted with the cheerful 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 wisdom "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 danger
in declaring too warmly for either the one side or the other, petitioned
through Councillor Cole, who acted as spokesman, that they might be
excused from taking the oath of fidelity, and "indulged in the benefit
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 request, telling those who made it that they put
him in mind of the worst of sinners, who desired to be saved with the
righteous, "yet would do nothing whereby they might obtain their
salvation."
He was about to leave the place in disgust when one of the neutrals
stopped him and told him that he had only 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, because one beast
would best understand the meaning of another."
Mr. Wading, a parson, not only refused to take the oath himself, but
tried to persuade others against it, whereupon Bacon had him arrested,
telling him that "it was his place to preach in the church--not in the
camp," and that in the one place he might say what he pleased, in the
other only what Bacon pleased, "unless he could fight better than he
could preach."
It was clearly the clause regarding resistance of the English forces
that made the people suspicious and afraid of the oath. John Goode, a
Virginia planter, and a near neighbor of Bacon's, had been one of the
first among the volunteers to enlist under him, but afterward went over
to Governor 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 have been during Bacon's last Indian
march, and about ten days before the siege of Jamestown.
According to Goode, Bacon had spoken to him of a rumor that the King had
sent two thousand "red-coats" to put down the insurgents, saying that if
it were true he believed that the Virginians could beat them--having the
advantages of knowing 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 resistance of the "red-coats," and
charged Bacon with designing a total overthrow of the Mother Country's
government in Virginia--to which Bacon coolly made answer, "Have not
many princes lost their dominions in like manner?" and frankly expressed
the opinion that not only Virginia, but Maryland and Carolina would cast
off his Majesty's yoke as soon as they should 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 privilege 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 daring suggestion, and says he
assured Bacon that he would get no aid from him in carrying it out, and
that the Rebel replied that he was glad to know his mind, but charged
that "this dread of putting his hand to the promoting" of such a design
was prompted by cowardice, and that Goode's attitude would seem to hint
that a gentleman engaged as he (Bacon) was, must either "fly or hang
for it."
The writer says that he suggested to the Rebel that "a seasonable
submission to authority and acknowledgment of errors past" would be the
wisest course for one in his ticklish position, and, after giving this
prudent advice, Mr. Goode, fearing that alliance with Bacon was growing
to be a risky business, asked leave to go home for a few days, which was
granted, and he never saw the Rebel again--for which, he piously adds,
he was very thankful.
Gloucester folk, who evidently did not realize as fully as Mr. Goode
that discretion is the better part of valor, finally came to terms, and
took the dangerous oath. Six hundred men are said to have subscribed to
it in one place, besides others in other parts of the county.
Bacon next turned his attention to making plans for the regulation of
affairs in the colony. One of his schemes was to visit all "the northern
parts of Virginia," and inquire personally into their needs, so as to
meet them as seemed most fit. He appointed a committee to look after
the south side of James River, and inquire into the plundering reported
to have been done there by his army; another committee was to be always
with the army, with authority to restrain rudeness, disorder, and
depredations, while still another was to have the management of the
Indian war.
XIV.
DEATH OF BACON AND END OF THE REBELLION.
Full many "knots" the busy brain of Bacon was "knitting" indeed, among
them a design to go over to the Eastern Shore, where Sir William
Berkeley was still in retreat, and return the "kind-hearted visit" which
Sir William and his Accomac eight hundred had made Hansford and the
other Baconians at Jamestown, during his absence, and that the
Accomackians might be ready to give him a warm reception, he had his
coming heralded with meet ceremony.
The "prosperous Rebel" was never to see the fulfilment of his hopes and
purposes, however. The week of exposure to the damps and vapors of the
Jamestown swamps, during the siege, added to the physical and mental
strain he had been under since the beginning of the Rebellion, had done
its deadly work. The dauntless and brilliant young General met an
unexpected and, for the first time during his career, an unprepared-for
enemy in the deadly fever, against which he had no weapon of defense.
It is written that he was "besieged by sickness" at the house of Mr.
Pate, in Gloucester. He made the brave struggle that was to be expected
from one of his fibre, but at length, upon the first day of October, he
who had seemed invincible to human foes "surrendered up that fort he was
no longer able to keep into the hands of that grim and all-conquering
captain, Death."
He died much dissatisfied in mind at leaving his work unfinished, and
"inquiring ever and anon after the arrival of the frigates and forces
from England."
Sir William Berkeley, writing of his enemy's illness and death in a tone
of great satisfaction, says that Bacon swore his "usual oath"--"God damn
my blood!"--at least "a thousand times a day," and that "God so
infected his blood" that it bred vermin in "an incredible number," to
which "God added" his sickness. Sir William adds that "an honest
minister"--evidently one of the Governor's own adherents--wrote an
epitaph upon Bacon declaring that he was "sorry" at his "heart" that
vermin and disease "should act the hangman's part."
Was this "honest minister" the Reverend Mr. Wading--the same whom Bacon
had arrested and debarred from "preaching in camp"? Perhaps, but the
deponent saith not.
Those who had loved the Rebel in life were faithful to him in death, and
tenderly laid his body away beyond the reach of the insults of his
enemies. So closely guarded was the secret of the place and manner of
his burial that it is unto this day a mystery; but tradition has it that
stones were placed in his coffin and he was put to bed beneath the deep
waters of the majestic York River, whose waves chant him a perpetual
"_requiescat in pace_."
A feeble attempt was made by Bacon's followers, under Ingram as
commander-in-chief, to carry on the rebellion, but in their leader the
people of Virginia had not only lost their "hope and darling" but the
organizer, the inspiration of their party. Their "arms, though ne'er so
strong," wanted the "aid of his commanding tongue." Without Bacon the
movement was as a ship without captain, pilot, or even guiding star. As
soon as the news of his death was carried across the Chesapeake, to
Berkeley, the Governor sent a party of men, under command of Maj. Robert
Beverley, in a sloop over to York to reconnoiter. These "snapped up,"
young Colonel Hansford and about twenty soldiers who kept guard under
his command at Colonel Reade's house, and sailed away with them to
Accomac. Upon his arrival there Hansford was accorded the unenviable
"honor to be the first Virginian that ever was hanged" (which probably
means the first Englishman born in Virginia), while the soldiers under
him were cast into prison. The young officer met his death, heroically,
asking of men no other favor than that he might be "shot, like a
soldier, and not hanged, like a dog" (which was heartlessly denied him),
and praying Heaven to forgive his sins.
With his last breath Colonel Hansford protested that he "died a loyal
subject and a 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."
Major Cheesman and Captain Wilford, who was the son of a knight, and was
but "a little man, yet had a great heart, and was known to be no
coward," were taken by the same party that captured Hansford, and
Wilford was hanged, while Cheesman only escaped a like fate by dying in
prison, of hard usage.
When Major Cheesman was brought into the Governor's presence and asked
why he had taken up arms with Bacon, his devoted and heroic wife stepped
forward and declared that she had persuaded him to do so, and upon her
knees pleaded that she might be executed in his stead.
Berkeley answered her with insult, and ordered that her husband be taken
to prison.
Encouraged by Major Beverley's "nimble and timely service" in ridding
him of so many Baconians, Berkeley, with an armed force, took ship and
sailed in person to York River. A party of his soldiers under one
Farrill, and accompanied by Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, President of the
Council, and Colonel Ludwell, who went along to see the thing well done,
made an unsuccessful attack upon a garrison of Baconians under Major
Whaly, at President Bacon's own house. During the fray Farrill was
killed and some of his men were taken prisoners.
Another party of the Governor's troops which, under command of Maj.
Lawrence Smith, had taken possession of Mr. Pate's house, where the
Rebel died, was besieged by the Baconians, under Ingram. Although Major
Smith was said to have been "a gentleman that in his time had hewed out
many a knotty piece of work," and so the better knew how to handle such
rugged fellows as the Baconians were famed to be, "he only saved
himself by leaving his men in the lurch."
The whole party tamely surrendered to Ingram, who dismissed them all to
their homes, unharmed.
In spite of these little victories, however, the Rebellion was doomed.
Only a few days after his raid upon Pate's house, Ingram decided to give
up the struggle, and made terms with Captain Grantham, of Governor
Berkeley's following.
The Governor's own home, "Green Spring," which Bacon had left in charge
of about a hundred men and boys, under command of Captain Drew, now
stood ready to throw open its doors once more to its master.
It was said that the "main service that was done for the reducing the
rebels to their obedience, was done by the seamen and commanders of
ships then riding in the rivers." In the lower part of Surry County,
upon the banks of James River, stands an ancient brick mansion, still
known as "Bacon's Castle," which tradition says was fortified by the
Rebel. This relic of the famous rebellion is mentioned in the records
as "Allen's Brick House," where Bacon had a guard under Major Rookins.
The place was captured by a force from the Governor's ship _Young
Prince_, Robert Morris, commander. Major Rookins, being "taken in open
rebellion," was one of those afterward sentenced to death by court
martial, at "Green Spring," but was so happy as to die in prison and
thus, like Major Cheesman, cheat the gallows.
Drummond and Lawrence alone remained inflexible, in command of a brick
house in New Kent County, on the opposite side of the river from where
Grantham and the Governor's forces were quartered. Seeing that they
could not long hold out against such odds, but determined not to
surrender to Berkeley, or to become his prisoners, they at length fled
from their stronghold.
Poor Mr. Drummond was overtaken by some of the Governor's soldiers in
Chickahominy Swamp, half starved. He had been from the very beginning
one of the staunchest adherents of Bacon and the people's party. A
friend had advised him to be cautious in his opposition to the
Governor, but the only answer he deigned to make was, "I am in over
shoes, I will be in over boots."
And he was as good as his word. When he was brought under arrest, before
Berkeley, Sir William greeted him with a low bow, saying, in mock
hospitality:
"Mr. Drummond, you are very welcome. I am more glad to see you than any
man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an hour."
The sturdy Scotchman replied, with perfect equanimity, and like show of
courtesy:
"What your Honor pleases."
Sir William, too, was for once as good as his word, and the sentence was
executed without delay.
Governor Berkeley was evidently bent upon enjoying whatever satisfaction
was to be found in the humiliation and death of his enemies. Those who
shared Mr. Drummond's fate numbered no less than twenty, among them
Bacon's friend and neighbor, Captain James Crews.
The end of "thoughtful Mr. Lawrence" is not known. When last seen he, in
company with four other Baconians, mounted and armed, was making good
his escape through a snow ankle deep. They were supposed to have cast
themselves into some river rather than die by Sir William Berkeley's
rope.
Mr. Lawrence was thought by many to have been the chief instigator of
the Rebellion, and it was rumored that it was he that laid the stones in
Bacon's coffin.
By the middle of January of the new year the whole colony had been
reduced to submission, and upon January 22 Governor Berkeley went home
to "Green Spring," and issued a summons for an Assembly to meet at his
own house--for since the destruction of Jamestown the colony was without
a legislative hall.
Sir William sent a message to the Assembly directing that some mark of
distinction be set upon his loyal friends of Accomac, who had twice
given him shelter during the uprising. It fell to the lot of a Baconian,
Col. Augustine Warner, as Speaker of the House, to read the Governor's
message, but that fiery gentleman consoled himself by adding, upon his
own account, that he did not know what the "distinction" should be
unless to give them "earmarks or burnt marks"--which was the common
manner of branding criminals and hogs.
So many persons had been put to death by Governor Berkeley, "divers
whereof were persons of honest reputations and handsome estates," and
among them some of the members of the last Assembly, that the new
Assembly petitioned him to spill no more blood. A member from
Northumberland, Mr. William Presley by name, said that he "believed the
Governor would have hanged half the country if they had let him alone."
His Majesty King Charles II is said to have declared when accounts of
Berkeley's punishment of the rebels reached his ears, that the "old fool
had hanged more men in that naked country than he [Charles] had done for
the murder of his father."
With the completion of Sir William Berkeley's wholesale and pitiless
revenge fell the curtain upon the final act in the tragedy of Bacon's
Rebellion.
As soon as the country was quiet many suits were brought by members of
the Governor's party for damages to their property during the commotion.
These suits serve to show how widespread throughout the colony was the
uprising.
The records of Henrico County contain sundry charges of depredations
committed by Bacon's soldiers, showing that the people's cause was
strong in that section. Major John Lewis, of Middlesex, laid claim of
damages at the hands of "one Matt Bentley," with "forty or fifty
men-of-arms," in the "time of the late rebellion." Major Lewis's
inventory of his losses includes "400 meals" (which he declares were
eaten at his house by Bacon's men during their two days encampment on
his plantation), the killing of some of his stock, and carrying off of
meal "for the whole rebel army," at Major Pate's house.
The records of Westmoreland County show that the Baconians, under
"General" Thomas Goodrich, had control in the Northern Neck of Virginia
as late as November, 1676. Major Isaac Allerton, of Westmoreland,
brought suit for thirteen thousand pounds of tobacco for damages his
estate had suffered at the hands of a rebel garrison which had seized
and fortified the house of his neighbor, Colonel John Washington. The
jury gave him sixty-four hundred pounds.
Many illustrations of the unbroken spirit of Bacon's followers are
preserved in the old records.
When Stephen Mannering, the rebel officer who had given the order for
the seizure of Colonel Washington's house, inquired how many prisoners
had been taken there, and how they were armed, he was told fourteen,
with "guns loaden." Whereupon he exclaimed that if he had been there
with fourteen men, he would "uphold the house from five hundred men, or
else die at their feet."
Mannering furthermore expressed the opinion that "General Ingram was a
cowardly, treacherous dog for laying down his arms, or otherwise he
would die himself at the face of his enemies."
John Pygott, of Henrico, showed how far from recantation he was by
uttering a curse against all men who would not "pledge the juice and
quintessence of Bacon."
XV.
PEACE RESTORED.
About the time of meeting of the "Green Spring" Assembly, a small fleet
arrived from England, bringing the long-looked-for "red-coats" and also
three gentlemen--Sir John Berry, Colonel Herbert Jeffreys, and Colonel
Francis Moryson--commissioned by the King to inquire into and report
upon the state of affairs in the colony. His Majesty's "red-coats" found
that their services were not needed, but the conciliatory attitude of
the "Commissioners" doubtless aided in restoring peace, and their
official report makes interesting reading. In a tactful address to the
Assembly they expressed the hope that the "debates and consultations" of
that body might be for the "glory of God, the honor of his most sacred
Majesty, and the happy restoration, public good, and long lasting
welfare and resettlement of this so miserable, shattered, and lacerated
colony," and that the Assembly might gain for itself the "name and
memorable reputation of the _healing_ Assembly," and in order that it
might be the "more truly styled so," the Commissioners advised that it
would thoroughly "inspect and search into the depth and yet hidden root
and course of these late rebellious distempers that have broke out and
been so contagious and spreading over the whole country," that it might
thus decide "what apt and wholesome laws" might be "most properly
applied, not only to prevent the like evil consequences for the future
but also effectually to staunch and heal the fresh and bleeding wounds
these unnatural wars have caused among you, that there may as few and
small scars and marks remain, as you in your prudent care and tenderness
can possibly bring them to."
They "most heartily" assured the Assembly that in accordance with "his
Majesty's royal commission," granted to them, "under the great seal of
England," and his "instructions therewith given," they would "most
readily assist, promote and advise" it, and would be "happy" to bear
home to his Majesty the "burthens" which had disturbed "that peace and
tranquillity which his good subjects had so long enjoyed under his
Majesty's happy government," and which "by reason of the great and
remote distance" of Virginia from "the usual place of his royal
residence," could not be "so easily made known to him" as the troubles
of "other his subjects who live at a nearer distance." They promised
that the people's grievances, "be they few or many, great or less,"
should be received and "most sincerely reported" to the King, who, they
declared, "out of his royal favor and compassion" had been pleased to
promise a "speedy redress thereof, as to his royal wisdom shall seem
meet."
The Commissioners furthermore promised to aid in bringing about a "truly
good and just peace" with the Indians, and exhorted the Virginians to
keep peace among themselves, that the Indians might not again "look on"
while they were "murdering, burning, plundering and ruining one another,
without remorse or consideration." They recommended to the Assembly
various measures for the relief of the people's grievances--among them
reduction of salaries of the Burgesses to "such moderate rates as may
render them less grievous and burdensome to the country," a new election
of representatives every two years, cutting off the allowance for
"liquors drank by any members of committees," and other perquisites for
which the "tithable polls" had to pay so dearly.
The Commissioners refused to consider anonymous complaints, but
appointed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as days to receive and examine
"grievances" that were duly signed and sworn to.
The Commissioners' address to the Assembly is dated, "Swann's Point,
Feb. 27th, 1676-7," and is signed, "Your friends to serve you, Herbert
Jeffreys, John Berry, Francis Moryson."
In a proclamation dated "Whitehall, October 27, 1676," the King declared
that every man engaged in the Rebellion who would submit to the
government and take the oath of obedience within twenty days after the
royal proclamation should be published, would be "pardoned and forgiven
the rebellion and treason by him committed," and "be free from all
punishments for or by reason of the same."
Upon February 10 of the following year Sir William Berkeley published at
"Green Spring" a proclamation, similar to that of his Majesty, save that
it announced the "exception and expulsion of divers and sundry persons"
from the offer of pardon.
Upon May 15 still another proclamation was issued from Whitehall,
wherein his Majesty condemned Governor Berkeley's proclamation as "so
different from ours and so derogatory to our princely clemency toward
all our subjects," that it was declared to be of "no validity," and his
Majesty's own directions were ordered to be "punctually obeyed in all
points."
When the fleet of the Royal Commissioners sailed again for England, Sir
William Berkeley sailed with it to plead his own side of the question
before King Charles. Happily for himself, perhaps, he died not long
after he reached his native land, and without having seen the King. In a
letter written "on board Sir John Berry's ship," however (which has
already been quoted), he expressed some very energetic opinions
concerning Bacon and the Rebellion, which still live to bear witness to
the bitter old man's views.