Original Sources of Information for "The Story of Bacon's Rebellion."
Most of the official records and other contemporary manuscript documents—including private letters—which supply material for a history of Bacon's Rebellion have been printed and copies of them may be found in collections of Virginiana owned by historical societies and libraries.
No one of these documents, however, sheds more than an imperfect side-light upon this interesting subject. To understand the man Bacon, and the merits of the rebellion led by him, familiarity with all contemporary evidences, and a painstaking sifting of them, is necessary.
From the aforesaid evidences the author of this modest work has made a sincere attempt to draw the real facts, bit by bit, and to patch them together into a true story.
The items of the list which here follows
have not been arranged in chronological order—indeed, a number of the most important papers bear no date. The collections where the original manuscripts may be or once could have been found are indicated by italics. In some instances it has been impossible to locate the original.
The British Public Record Office is referred to as P. R. O. and Colonial Papers and Colonial Entry Books mentioned are classes of records in that great depository.
The list does not include the abstracts in the English Calendar of State Papers, and the acts in Hening's Statutes at Large of Virginia. All the papers referred to are full copies.
THE LIST.
The Beginning, Progress and Conclusion of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia in the year 1675 and 1676. Known as "T. M's" account—printed in the Richmond (Va.) Enquirer, Sept., 1804, from the original, formerly in the Harleian Collection, subsequently included in Force's Tracts.