II. REBELLION
When the wealthy land-owners of the southern part of the colonized area started buying up land in lower Fairfax County for speculation, they did not buy out the title of the Doeg Indians, who occupied this area at that time. (The white man established no relations with the Doeg except to hold him off whenever possible). A series of murders were committed on the frontier by Doegs and in retaliation the colonists mistakenly killed Indians who were not Doegs. By 1675, through a series of hot-headed misunderstandings the Susquehannock Indians became involved and they struck whenever and wherever they could. Captain John Smith described the Susquehannocks as having booming voices, being seven feet tall and treading on the earth with much pride, contempt and disdain.
Although no records were kept at the time, we can assume that many homes were burned, women and children killed, etc. It is a known fact that thirty-six people were killed on the Rappahannock in one raid and that Indian retaliations of one nature or another caused the English settlements that had reached Hunting Creek to recede to Aquia, where they stayed for the next ten years.
Sir William Berkeley in order to help the frontiersmen, unwisely, and at great expense to the people, commanded a fort to be built at the mouth of each head river; e.g., one was built at Colchester on the Occoquan. These forts proved of no value, being made of mud and dirt. Other precarious forts were built in place of the mud ones. These proved useless too and the governor and gentry declined to do more.
Taking matters into their own hands, two hundred men (including men from the Fairfax County area) joined under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon. They incited the Occannechi to massacre the Susquehannock. Then, having disposed of the worst enemy, they turned on the Occannechi and murdered them. The few Indians who survived stabbed at the colonists occasionally but gradually drifted into Pennsylvania taking the Doegs with them. The frontiersmen and governing gentry, however, still remained at odds and another cleavage began to appear. This one was centered around the men's livelihood—tobacco.
From the first, tobacco had been their staple product. It was Virginia's principal export crop. It was used as money. Salaries of ministers and civil officers were paid with it. Bounty for wolves and Indian scalps were offered in it and necessary equipment was bought with it.
However, due to English navigation laws forbidding the colonists to export to other countries, by 1682 England became over-supplied with tobacco and the planters soon began to feel the effect of this surplus. Growers began to go deeper and deeper into debt.
Major Robert Beverly and William Fitzhugh, young planter-lawyer from this area, concluded along with other prominent men that the solution lay in some type of crop control but England refused. She did not want to lose the two shillings tax on each hogshead of tobacco. She advised the colonists to wait until Thomas, Lord Culpeper, the titular governor of the colony returned to Virginia.
Lord Culpeper had received the titular grant to all of this area and a great deal more besides. He was happy in England, however, and not at all anxious to come to Virginia. He was 47 years old at the time and described as "able, lazy, unscrupulous".
While waiting for his return, the people became desperate. Taking hoes and farm tools, they roamed the countryside pulling up and cutting tobacco plants wherever they went. Some destroyed their own crops. The county militia was called out and plant cutting was brought under control but by this time 30,000 to 50,000 pounds of tobacco had been destroyed.
A few months later the people again became impatient and the government in Jamestown reacted by declaring the destruction of tobacco "open and actual rebellion". It promised a reward of 2000 lbs. of tobacco for information and promised to pardon the "squealer".
Finally, in December, Thomas, Lord Culpeper, departed from London and the arms of his mistress. He was briefed by the Privy Council before he left and as soon as he arrived in Virginia declared the offense to be treason. He had several planters executed as examples and granted amnesty to almost every plant cutter who would take the oath of loyalty to the king. There were approximately twenty men from this general area who took the oath.
In the meantime economic conditions improved for the colonists. The English began dumping their surplus tobacco upon the continent of Europe and the diminished colonial supply found a quick market.
As far as the Indian situation and forts were concerned, Lord Culpeper suggested that a small band of volunteer light horsemen be hired to range the woods of the heads of the rivers to protect the frontiersmen against surprise attack by the Indians. His suggestion was accepted by the Assembly and the "Rangers" were organized.
They were comprised of one lieutenant, eleven soldiers, and two Indians. They were supplied with horses and other necessities to range and scout the areas they served.
Lord Culpeper then proceeded to return to England where he was relieved as governor and his commission was turned over to Lord Howard of Effingham. It is rather ironic that neither Lord Culpeper nor Lord Fairfax, who inherited his estate and for whom the County and Town were named, cared particularly for Virginia. Lord Culpeper came under duress and returned as soon as possible to England. Lord Fairfax came, according to tradition, only after he had been disappointed in love in England and because his holdings demanded his attention. The people struggled on, however, and gradually the wealthy land owners began to move northward to occupy the tracts of land upon which their grandfathers had speculated.
