Part 5

The new burgesses were summoned to meet at Jamestown early that June, and they traveled there through the wilderness in many ways. Some rode on horseback, fording or swimming the numerous streams and rivers, for bridges were few, some came by coach, and some went down the river by barge or by sloop, the easiest way for those who lived near the James. Bacon chose the last way, and on a bright morning in June left his house at Curles, and with thirty neighbors sailed down the river. Mr. Porter and Edmund went with him, for the father had often promised his son to take him to Jamestown, and this seemed a good opportunity.

The voyage started pleasantly, but ended in disaster. Sir William now considered himself doubly flouted by this man from Curles, and vowed that the rebel Bacon should never sit in the new House of Burgesses. As the sloop came quietly sailing down to Jamestown a ship that was lying at anchor in front of the town trained its cannon on the smaller vessel, and the sheriff, who was on board the ship, sent men to the sloop to arrest Bacon and certain of his friends. There was no use in resisting; the cannon could blow the sloop out of the water at a word. Bacon surrendered to the sheriff's men, and he and the others who were wanted were landed and marched up to the State House, while Edmund Porter and the others rowed themselves ashore, wondering what was going to happen to their friend.

Governor Berkeley was at the State House when Bacon was brought in. Each of the two men was quick-tempered and haughty, but they managed to keep their anger out of their words. Sir William said coldly, "Mr. Bacon, have you forgot to be a gentleman?"

Bacon answered in the same tone, "No, may it please your honor."

"Then," said Sir William, "I'll take your parole."

That was all that was said, and Bacon was released on his word as a gentleman that he would do no more mischief. Doubtless the haughty governor would have liked to lodge the other man in jail, but he didn't dare attempt that, for the newly elected burgesses were reaching Jamestown every hour. Further almost all of them were known to side with Bacon, and in addition the town was fast filling with planters from the counties along the river that had revolted against the governor. So for the second time that spring Sir William saw the advantage of bending his stiff pride in order to ride out the storm.

The governor knew, however, that Bacon would be a thorn in his side unless he could be made to bend the knee to his own authority. So Sir William went to Bacon's cousin, a man who was very rich and prominent in the colony, and a member of the governor's council. He urged this man, who was known as Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Senior, to go to his cousin, Nathaniel, Junior, and try to induce him to yield to Sir William's wishes. Colonel Bacon agreed, and was so successful with his arguments that the younger man, proud and headstrong as he was, at last consented to write out a statement, admitting that he had been in the wrong in disobeying Sir William Berkeley's orders, and to read it on his knees before the members of the Assembly, which was another name for the House of Burgesses. This was a great victory for the governor. Events had followed one another fast. In the space of little more than a week the owner of Curles Plantation had been proclaimed a rebel, had marched against the Indians and beaten them, had been a candidate for the House of Burgesses and been elected, had sailed down to Jamestown, been arrested, and paroled, and was now to admit on his knees that he had indeed been a rebel.

On June 5, 1676, Bacon went to the State House. The governor and his council sat with the burgesses, and Sir William Berkeley spoke to them about recent border fights between Virginians and Indians. He denounced the killing of six Indian chiefs in Maryland, who, he said, had come to treat of peace with white soldiers, and he added, "If they had killed my grandfather and grandmother, my father and mother and all my friends, yet if they had come to treat of peace, they ought to have gone in peace."

Sir William sat down; then after a few minutes stood up again. "If there be joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth," said he, with solemn humor, "there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before us. Call Mr. Bacon."

Bacon came in, and knelt down before the governor and his council and his fellow Virginians. He read from a paper he held, confessing that he had been guilty of "unlawful, mutinous, and rebellious practices," and promised that if the governor would pardon him he would act "dutifully, faithfully, and peaceably," under a penalty of two thousand pounds sterling. He pledged his whole estate for his good behavior for one year.

When Bacon had finished, Sir William said, "God forgive you; I forgive you." And to make the words more impressive he repeated them three times.

"And all that were with him," said Colonel Cole, a member of the council, meaning the men who had rebelled with Bacon and fought the Indians.

"Yes, and all that were with him," the governor agreed. Then Sir William added, "Mr. Bacon, if you will live civilly but till next quarter-day,--but till next quarter-day," he repeated the words, "I'll promise to restore you to your place there!" and he pointed to the seat which Bacon had sometimes occupied during meetings of the council.

All was peace again; the black sheep had repented and been allowed to return to the fold. It was generally understood that in return for Bacon's apology the governor would now give him the commission he had asked for before, the commission as "General of the Indian Wars," which would allow him to protect outlying plantations against Indian raids. Sir William pardoned the rebel on Saturday, and "General Bacon," as many people in Jamestown already spoke of him, took up his lodgings at the house of a Mr. Lawrence, there to wait until his expected commission should be sent him early the next week. Mr. Porter and his son, and many of the friends who had come in Bacon's sloop, took rooms at near-by houses, for their leader might be going back to Curles as soon as he had his commission, and they wanted to go with him.

Monday came and Tuesday, but no commission arrived from Sir William. On Wednesday there was no message for Bacon from the governor. Instead rumors began to spread abroad. Mr. Lawrence, who had an old grudge against Sir William, was reported to be busy with some plot against him; men of doubtful reputation were seen about the house, and it was whispered that possibly there might be further trouble. Edmund heard these rumors; he knew that there were men in Jamestown who wanted Nathaniel Bacon to defy the governor, and he kept his eyes and ears wide open. Then one morning, as he and his father came out from the house where they were staying, they met a crowd of their friends. "Bacon is fled!" cried these men. "Bacon is fled!"

Edmund listened to the excited words. Sir William had been frightened as he heard that more and more planters were flocking into Jamestown, he doubted that Bacon meant to keep his word, he knew that Lawrence's house was a hot-bed of disorder, and he determined that he would crush any rebellion before it got a start, and put the popular leader where he could do no harm. Bacon's cousin, the colonel, who was fond of his kinsman, though he disapproved of what he had done, had sent word the night before to Nathaniel, bidding him fly for his life. At daybreak the governor's officers had gone to Lawrence's house; but the man they wanted was gone; he had fled into the country, wisely heeding his cousin's warning.

"Bacon is fled!" were the words that sped through Jamestown that June morning. And many who heard the words were glad, for now they hoped that the rebel would raise a force and overthrow Sir William, who had made many enemies in his long and strict rule as governor. Men stole away from the capital in twos and threes, some by the river, more on horseback through the country. They were afraid to stay lest Berkeley should put them in irons as partisans of Bacon's. Mr. Porter found a man with horses to sell, bought two, and with his son rode out of Jamestown before noon. West along the river bank they galloped. Bacon would make for Henrico County, and there they wanted to join him. "And I may ride with you and General Bacon, father?" Edmund begged.

"I don't know," said the father. "This may be more serious business than looking after the rear-guard in a skirmish with Indians."

"But I'm almost a man, father," Edmund urged. "And even if I didn't fight, there's other things I could do."

"I hope there'll be no fighting. It's bad when settlers turn their guns against each other. We'll have to wait till we find Nat, Edmund, and learn what he's going to do. If it's a fight it's a fight for liberty and the safety of our homes. The governor's wrong; he hasn't treated us fair."

All that day they rode through the river country, and wherever they came to settlements they found armed men mounting, for the news had spread rapidly that Nathaniel Bacon was raising an army to fight the governor.

II

From big plantations and from small farms, from manor-houses in the lowlands and from log cabins in the uplands, grown men and half-grown boys, armed with guns or swords, hurried to join General Bacon, who was sending out his call for recruits from his headquarters up the James River. The colonists were a hardy lot, used to hunting and fighting, and well pleased now at the prospect of upsetting the tyrannical governor at Jamestown. Within three days after Bacon's escape from the capital he was at the head of about six hundred men, stirring them with his speeches, for he was a very fine and fiery orator, until they were ready to follow wherever he led. The Porters, father and son, succeeded in joining his ranks, and when the young commander set out on his march to Jamestown they rode among his men.

What was Sir William Berkeley doing meantime? Bacon was a fighter, but the white-haired governor was a fighter also. He sent riders from Jamestown to summon what were called the "train-bands" of York and Gloucester, counties that lay along Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. But the spirit of rebellion had spread from the plantations along the James down to the seaboard settlements, and only a hundred soldiers, and not all of them very loyal to the governor, answered his summons. They marched so slowly that Bacon reached Jamestown before they were in sight of the town. At two in the afternoon the rebel leader entered the capital at the head of his men and drew up his troops on the green, not an arrow's flight from the State House where he had knelt for the governor's pardon less than ten days before.

At his order his men sentineled the roads, seized all the firearms they could find, and disarmed or arrested all men coming into Jamestown by land or river, except such as joined their own ranks.

The little capital was in a turmoil. Sir William and his council sat in a room at the State House, debating what course to take. They ordered a drummer to summon the burgesses, and those burgesses who were not already in Bacon's army came trooping to the State House. It seemed as if war was to break out then and there. Bacon marched across the green with a file of fusileers on either side, and reached the corner of the State House. Sir William and his council came out, and the two leaders fronted one another, Bacon fairly cool and collected, but the aged governor raging at this affront to his dignity.

Sir William walked up to Bacon, and tearing open the lace at the breast of his coat, cried angrily, "Here! Shoot me! 'Fore God, a fair mark--shoot!"

Bacon answered calmly, "No, may it please your honor; we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it before we go."

But though his words were mild, Bacon was really very angry. As the governor, still raging and shaking his fist, turned and walked back to the State House with his council, Bacon followed him with his soldiers, one hand on his sword-hilt, the other threatening Berkeley. As the governor and council continued their retreat, Bacon and his men grew more threatening. The leader shook his fist, the fusileers cocked their guns. And as they came to the windows of the room where the burgesses sat some of the soldiers pointed their guns at the men inside, shouting again and again, "We will have it! We will have it!"

Presently one of the burgesses waved his handkerchief from the window, and called out, "You shall have it! You shall have it!" by which he meant the commission that Bacon wanted. The soldiers uncocked their guns, and stood back, waiting further orders from their leader. Bacon had grown as angry meantime as the governor had been before, and had cried, "I'll kill governor, council, Assembly and all, and then I'll sheathe my sword in my own heart's blood." And it was afterward said that Bacon had ordered his men, if he drew his sword, to fire on the burgesses. But the handkerchief waved from the window, and the words, "You shall have it!" calmed him somewhat, and soon afterward he went into the State House and discussed the matter fully with Sir William and his council.

Later that same day Bacon went to the room of the burgesses and repeated his request for a commission. The speaker answered that it was "Not in their province, or power, nor of any other save the king's vicegerent, their governor, to grant it." Bacon replied by saying that the purpose of his coming to Jamestown was to secure some safe way of protecting the settlers from the Indians, to reduce the very heavy taxes, and to right the calamities that had come upon the country. The burgesses gave him no definite answer, and he left, much dissatisfied. Next day, however, Sir William and his council yielded, Nathaniel Bacon was appointed general and commander-in-chief against the Indians, and pardon was granted to him and all his followers for their acts against the Indians in the west.

This was a great triumph for the rebel leader. Berkeley hated and feared him as much as ever, but had seen that he must pocket his pride in the face of such a popular uprising.

The owner of Curles Plantation was now commander-in-chief of the Virginia troops, and although it was intended that he should use his army only in defending the colony from Indian attacks, it was generally believed that he could do whatever he wished with his men. The colony was practically under his absolute control. The colonists would do whatever he ordered, and as they hailed Bacon's leadership they paid less and less heed to Sir William Berkeley. And the governor, knowing that many adventurers, many men of doubtful reputation, and many who were his own enemies, were now much in Bacon's company, feared for their influence on the impulsive young commander.

Having seen their neighbor win his commission, Mr. Porter and Edmund rode back to their own plantation, and took up the work that was always waiting to be done in summer. They were busy, and heard only from time to time of what Nathaniel was doing. They knew he was planning to take the field against the Indians with a good-sized troop of men.

Full of energy, and eager to show the colony that he was in truth a great commander, Bacon made his headquarters near West Point, at the head of the York River, a place frequently called "De la War," from Lord Delaware, who belonged to the West family. He disarmed all the men who opposed his command, and then set out, with an army of between five hundred and a thousand men, to attack the Indians in the neighborhood of the head waters of the Pamunkey. His scouts scoured the woods and drove out all hostile Indians; he cleared that part of the frontier of red men, and in a short time had made the border plantations safer than they had ever been before. He had justified all his friends had said of him, he had acted as a loyal Virginian, and he had proved his worth as general-in-chief of the colony's army.

Edmund Porter, going to the store at the crossroads on a July day, heard men discussing news that had just come from Jamestown. The rumor was that, despite Nathaniel Bacon's success as a commander, Sir William Berkeley had again denounced him as a rebel and traitor, and had fled to York River and set up his banner there not only as governor, but as general also. The report proved true. Sir William had nursed his anger for a short time, and now it flamed forth afresh and even more bitterly than before. In spite of Bacon's success he was still a rebel in the governor's eyes; he had forced the Assembly at Jamestown to do his bidding, and had acted as if the colony belonged to Bacon and his followers, and not to the king of England and the royal officers. This matter the governor meant to decide when he flew his flag at York River and summoned all loyal Virginians to come to his aid. Some came; there were many planters who honestly believed that Berkeley was in the right and Bacon in the wrong; but the great mass of the people sided with the latter, and it began to look as if Sir William might still call himself the governor, but would find that he had no people to govern.

Then, when the old Cavalier, proud in his defeat as the Cavaliers of England had been when the Roundheads beat them in battle after battle, was beginning to see his men desert him, a messenger came post-haste from Gloucester County, to the north of the York River, with word that the planters there were still loyal to the king's governor, and begged him to come to their county and to protect them from the Indians. The loyalists of Gloucester, some of whom Bacon had disarmed, were ready to rally round Sir William.

Sir William was overjoyed; he went to Gloucester at once, he flew his flag there, and called all loyalists to join him. Twelve hundred people came on the day Sir William set. But, with the exception of the wealthy planters who had sent the message, even these men of Gloucester were unwilling to take the field against General Bacon, as Sir William wanted. Some of them said that Bacon was fighting the common enemy, the Indians, with great success, and that as good Virginians they ought to help, and not to hinder, his work. The governor urged and argued with them, but as he talked men began to leave, muttering "Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!" as they went. A short stay showed that Sir William was not to find, even in Gloucester, the support he wished. Where could he go? There was one place where men might yet listen to him, the distant country that was sometimes called the "Kingdom of Accomac." It lay across Chesapeake Bay, remote from the rest of Virginia. The governor took ship and sailed across the thirty miles that divided it from the mainland, a romantic, apparently defeated figure, like some of the English Royalists who fled before the victorious troops of Oliver Cromwell.

On July 29, 1676, Berkeley posted his proclamation, declaring that Nathaniel Bacon was a traitor and outlaw. Bacon heard the news as he was in camp on the upper waters of the James. He was hurt at what he felt was the governor's injustice to him. To a friend he said, "It vexes me to the heart to think that while I am hunting wolves, tigers, and foxes (meaning Indians), which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, that I and those with me should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or a no less ravenous beast."

The general marched his men down the river, arresting such as were known to side with the governor, but leaving their property unharmed. Presently he made his quarters at Middle-Plantation, which was situated half-way between Jamestown and the York River. Here his riders bivouacked around the small group of houses that formed the settlement, and their commander set to work to try to bring some sort of order out of the tangle into which Virginia had fallen. Sir William Berkeley was away in the distant country of Accomac, a country that was hardly looked upon at that time as part of Virginia, and Bacon was to all intents now the governor as well as the general-in-chief. Some of his friends advised him to do one thing, some another. Mr. Drummond, an old enemy of Berkeley's, who knew what Sir William thought of him, and who had once said of himself as a rebel, "I am in, over shoes; I will be over boots," now advised Bacon to proclaim that Berkeley was deposed from the governorship and that Sir Henry Chicheley should rule in his place. But Bacon would not go so far as that; he was quick-tempered, but fairly cool when it came to planning action, and he knew that to overthrow Sir William would make him clearly a rebel in the eyes of England.

So, instead of acting rashly, he issued what he called a "Remonstrance," which protested against Sir William's calling him and his men traitors and rebels, when they were really faithful subjects of His Majesty the King of England, and had only taken up arms to protect themselves against the savages. Besides that, he complained that the colony was not well managed, and called on all who were interested in Virginia to meet at Middle-Plantation on August 3d, and make a formal protest to the English king and Parliament.

Many men met at the village on that day, four members of the governors council among them. Bacon made a fiery speech, and all agreed to pledge themselves not to aid Sir William Berkeley in any attack on General Bacon or his army. Then Bacon went further; he asked the meeting to promise that each and every man there would rise in arms against Sir William if he should try to resist General Bacon, and further that if any soldiers should be sent from England to aid Sir William each man there would fight such troops until they had a chance to explain matters to the king of England.

That was going too far; the men had no desire to rebel against their king. They were willing to sign the first pledge, but not the second. In the midst of their arguing Bacon interrupted angrily. "Then I will surrender my commission, and let the country find some other servant to go abroad and do its work!" he exclaimed. "Sir William Berkeley hath proclaimed me a rebel, and it is not unknown to himself that I both can and shall charge _him_ with no less than treason!" He added that Governor Berkeley would never forgive them for signing either part of the pledge, and that they might as well sign both as one. Then into the stormy meeting rushed a gunner from York Fort, shouting out that the Indians were marching on his fort, that the governor had taken all the arms from the fort, and that he had no protection for all the people who had fled there from the woods of Gloucester in fear of the Indians' tomahawks.

The gunner's words settled the matter. All the men agreed to sign the whole pledge, promised to fight not only Sir William Berkeley but the king's troops as well if they came to Virginia to support him. The oath was taken, the paper signed by the light of torches near midnight on that third day of August, 1676. Just a hundred years later another Declaration of Independence was to be signed by men, some from this same colony of Virginia, in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

The next business was to organize a new government, and Bacon sent word through the colony for men to choose representatives to meet early in September. Then the general marched off with his army to protect the people who had fled to York Fort, and try to finish his war with the Indians.