The Legacy of Bacon's Rebellion

this time Bacon demanded his commission at gunpoint, and the reluctantly governor acceded. He was also granted the authority to gather volunteers and to enslave all Indians captured in battle. Thus he and his men now became government troops. ¹⁴

Nathaniel Bacon would now use this as an opportunity not only to plunder Indians but also to garner more support through the denunciation of the governor and his tax policies. Bacon's artful playing of the race and class cards would win him support all over the countryside. Of course, his first object was a war of extermination against the Indians. But if he believed that he now had the true support of the governor he was gravely mistaken. Berkeley declared Bacon's commission, obtained under force, to be null and void. He then formed a contingent of his own supporters to put down the rebellion and restore relative peace to the colony. For the rest of the summer the two forces would chase and maneuver around each other, "sniping at each other's heels in quasimilitary forays." A civil war had broken out over what was initially a disagreement between two groups over Indian policy, and there seemed no way to bring it to an end.¹⁵

Things seemed to be going Bacon's way come September. He recruited thousands of men to outnumber Berkeley's forces. He promised freedom to all servants and black slaves who joined his cause. He laid siege to Jamestown and forced Berkeley and his followers to escape on boat. Jamestown was burned to the ground on September 19. English authority in the colony itself was besieged and there seemed to be no way to preserve it.

The momentum ran out for Bacon's followers in October. On October 26 Nathaniel Bacon succumbed to dysentery and died, and with him so did the spirit of his rebellion. Soon after a vessel carrying a thousand British troops arrived to restore order. Many who followed Bacon immediately changed their allegiance once again to the governor and King. The last Bacon supporters to surrender were eighty black slaves and twenty English servants, apparently still fighting for their own freedom. By November Berkeley was settled once again in his office of governor and the rebellion was over, though certainly the issues and grievances that led to violence remained.¹⁶

IV

Bacon's rebellion seemed to happen out of nowhere, fulminating into an uprising stemming from land greed, racism, and class issues. "It

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