Bacon's Rebellion, 1676

by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker

Berkeley was astonished. Hastening back to Green Spring he questioned his Council. What do they want? What have I done in all the years I have been governor to turn so many thousands against me? What do you advise me to do? The Council replied that his keeping the Assembly for so many years was one of the chief grievances and advised him to have a new election. Later he stated that it was Bacon who made "the rabble cry out for a new Assembly." Reluctantly he complied. He had every reason to expect that the new House of Burgesses would be overwhelmingly hostile to him, and as the returns came in he saw that his worst fears would be realized. The final count showed that one after another the old Burgesses were defeated at the polls until in the end all but eight of the new House were of "Bacon's faction."

When Bacon returned from the Occaneechee fight, he was elated with the acclaim of the people, not only on the frontier but in all parts of the colony, but he was aggrieved that the governor had proclaimed him a rebel and threatened his life. On May 25, he wrote to Berkeley: "I am sorry to find that for the expence of our estates and hazard of our lives in the country's service we should by misinformers have our true intentions so falsely represented to you.... We have all along manifested our abhorrence of mutiny and rebellion.... If your honor were in person to lead or command I would follow and obey." But then he continued with a veiled threat. If he sought to revenge himself he had only to listen to all the stories of "your honor's falsehood, cowardice, treachery, receiving bribes." He had heard that Lady Berkeley had raised "several scandalous and false reports" against him, that he was not worth a groat and that his notes had been protested. He could hear enough about her, he retorted, if he would permit himself to listen.

When Berkeley showed this letter to the Council, they wrote Bacon: "Our advice to you is that the most honorable, the most secure, and most safe way for yourself [is for] you forthwith in the most humble manner present yourself to the governor and, acknowledging your errors, humbly crave his pardon." If he preferred to justify his conduct, they promised him a fair trial either in Virginia or in England.

But with the plaudits of the people ringing in his ears, Bacon was unwilling to humble himself. "My submissions are unacceptable, my real intentions misunderstood," he wrote Berkeley. "I am sorry that your honor's resentments are of such violence and growth as to command my appearance with all contempt and disgrace and my disowning and belying so glorious a cause as the country's defence. I know my person safe in your honor's word, but only beg what pledge or warranty I shall have for my reputation."

So, when the sheriff of Henrico rose in court to read Berkeley's proclamation, he was interrupted by Bacon, who was there with thirty or forty of his men. "If you dare read a line of that proclamation, I will make you regret it," he said. Then, as though to show their defiance of the governor, the people elected Bacon and his ardent friend, Captain James Crews, to represent them in the House of Burgesses.

It would have been well for Bacon had he chosen to ride down to Jamestown with a heavy escort. Instead he decided on the easier and usual method of travel by boat, and so set out in his sloop with forty armed men. On June 6, when they came abreast Jamestown, they were fired on by the guns of the fort. So they turned about and sailed further up the river. With the coming of darkness Bacon, with twenty of his men, rowed ashore, and held a long conference with Richard Lawrence and William Drummond, Berkeley's inveterate enemies. It is obvious that Bacon had known these men before. It is even possible that he had boarded at Mrs. Lawrence's tavern while a member of the Council, and that her husband had done his best to turn him against Sir William with charges of arbitrary and corrupt government.

One wishes that one might have sat in on that night meeting. What did the young popular leader discuss with these two embittered men? The Indian war beyond doubt. But also Berkeley's "French despotism," and how best to curb it. With an Assembly hostile to Berkeley in session, Lawrence and Drummond must have recognized their chance. In fact Berkeley had warned the Burgesses not to be misled by these "two rogues." So it seems extremely probable that they drilled Bacon on what measures to propose when he took his seat in the House.

At early dawn, when Bacon was returning, he was discovered and chased up the river by several armed boats. He seems to have reached his sloop, but when he tried to escape up the river, he was forced under the guns of the Adam and Eve, a warship commanded by Captain Thomas Gardiner, and forced to surrender.

When Bacon was led before the governor, the old man exclaimed: "Now I behold the greatest rebel that ever was in Virginia."

Then, after a pause, he asked: "Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?"