Berkeley an Oppressor: Bacon and Middle Plantation
Fired by this treachery, the savages swept over the country between the Rappahannock and the James rivers, strewing their pathway with death and desolation. They ceased not to kill until their wrath was appeased by the slaughter of at least ten Englishmen for each of their chiefs slain. Insecurity was everywhere felt, and dread filled every cabin. The apparent supineness of the governor in the presence of the great peril, aroused the people to vigorous action. Led by the young and wealthy Nathaniel Bacon, a planter and lawyer on the James, who was fluent in speech and bold in action, and who was very popular, they petitioned the governor for leave to arm and protect themselves. The governor had reason to suspect Bacon of ambitious rather than patriotic motives, for he had been concerned in a partial insurrection the previous year, suffered imprisonment and had been generously pardoned by the executive. So Berkeley refused their petition.
The impetuous Bacon took fire at this refusal. He knew the hidden cause. He at once proclaimed that he was ready to lead the people against the dusky invaders, without permission, if another white person should be murdered. Very soon the news came that some on his own plantation, near Richmond, had been slain. The people gathered under the shadows of a great tulip tree to consult. Bacon was among them. He mounted a stump, and with impassioned eloquence stirred their hearts as if with electric fire. He denounced the governor as neglectful or imbecile, and advised his hearers to take up arms in their own defence.
The excited colonists followed Bacon's advice. The multitude were soon embodied in military form, and chose Bacon to be their general. He asked the governor to give him a commission in confirmation of the expressed will of the people. Berkeley refused, and Bacon marched against the Indians. He had not yet crossed the York River, when the governor, yielding to the bad advice of an aristocratic faction in the Assembly, proclaimed him to be a rebel and ordered his followers to disperse. A few weak-kneed Peters obeyed, but a large portion clung to Bacon's standard. He led the expedition forward. At the same time the lower settlements arose in insurrection, and demanded the immediate dissolution of the aristocratic Assembly.
Bacon drove the Indians back toward the Rappahannock. A new Assembly was chosen, and he was elected to a seat in the House of Burgesses, from Henrico county.
The new Assembly represented popular opinion in Virginia, and in their legislation they proceeded upon the principles of freedom, justice and humanity, and the governor and his fellow cavaliers were compelled to yield at all points. The Assembly voted to give the required commission to Bacon, but Berkeley refused to sign it. Some of the members were disposed to support him in the refusal. Bacon, fearing treachery, retired to the Middle Plantation (now Williamsburg), where he was soon surrounded by about five hundred followers who proclaimed him commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces. With these he marched to Jamestown and demanded his commission. The governor, regarding the movement as rebellious, again refused to sign it. In an angry moment the old cavalier went out and confronted the insurgents. Baring his bosom to their weapons, he cried out: "Shoot! shoot! it is a fair mark!" Bacon said respectfully: "Not a hair of your head shall be hurt; we have come for our commissions to save our lives from the Indians."
The passion of the governor soon yielded to his judgement or his fears, and he not only signed the commission but joined his council in commending Bacon to the king as a zealous, loyal, and patriotic citizen. That was done on the 4th of July, 1676, just one hundred years to a day before the representatives of English-American colonies signed the famous document written by a Virginia "rebel," which declared these colonies to be free and independent States.
On receiving his commission, Bacon marched against the savages beyond the York River. Berkeley appears to have learned lessons of faithlessness from his immoral king, in his old age, for as soon as Bacon had departed, the governor went over the York into Gloucester country, called a convention of the inhabitants, and proposed to proclaim Bacon a traitor. The convention, though loyal, spurned the proposition, when the proud and obstinate baron issued such a proclamation in spite of their remonstrances. When the news of this perfidy reached Bacon, in his camp on the Pamunkey River, he said: "It vexes me to the heart, that while I am hunting the wolves and tigers that destroy our lands, I should, myself, be pursued as a savage. Shall persons wholly devoted to their king and country-men hazarding their lives against the public enemy-deserve the appellation of rebels and traitors? The whole country is witness to our peaceable behavior. But those in authority, how have they obtained their estates? Have they not devoured the common treasury? What arts, what sciences, what learning have they promoted? I appeal to the king and Parliament, where the cause of the people will be heard impartially."
Bacon felt compelled, by the action of the governor, to lead in a revolution. He invited the Virginias to meet in convention at the Middle Plantation, to devise means for saving the colony from the grasp of tyranny. The best men in the colony hastened to the gathering. From noon until midnight on a warm August day, that convention debated and deliberated.
Bacon's eloquence and logic led them to vigorous action, and the whole assemblage took an oath to support their leader in subduing the Indians and preventing civil war.