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| Bacon's Rebellion (1675 - 1676): |
The Synopsis: Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1675-76 of between 500 and 800 Virginia farmers, under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon (1647-76), against the colonial authorities headed by Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia. The initial conflict centered on the colonist's fear of attacks by local Indians, and the lack of protection provided by Governor. It expanded to encompass a range of grievances that divided the colony into poorer farmers on one side and wealthy and powerful landowner's on the other. Among the grievances of the colonists were the Navigation Acts of 1651 and 1660, which forced them to trade only with English firms and individuals at prices established in England, and the intolerably high export duties levied by colonial officials. In addition, the colonists were outraged by Governor Berkeley's monopoly of the fur trade with the Indians. The Rebellion ended when Bacon died suddenly, in Ocrober of 1676, and no other leader rose to take his place. Berkeley returned to Jamestown and the various garrisons of Bacon's men surrendered to Royal forces. Berkeley tried and sentenced to death at least 20 of the leadership, and forced the remainder of the rebel group to take an Oath of Allegiance. Those Loyalist landowners who had suffered losses during the Rebellion were allowed to sue the rebels for damages and to take their property. The results of the Rebellion were more profound than the rebels could have contemplated. Governor Berkeley was recalled to England, where he died; it forced the King, and Colonial Proprietors of other colonies, to rethink core issues of colonial policy; and it began the change in indentured agricultural labor, that evolved into a system of racially-based slavery.
The Details: Nathaniel Bacon was a young lawyer who had emigrated from London to become a planter in Virginia. It is said that he had been asked to leave Cambridge University, that he married Elizabeth Duke over the objections of her father, and that his father gave him 1800 pounds, English Money, and put him on a tobacco ship for Virginia, to get he and his wife out of England ! The Virginia colony at that time was badly misgoverned by Sir William Berkeley. In addition, the Indians regularly attacked outlying plantations. When no official measures were taken to stop the Indian outrages, Bacon organized his neighbors and punished the guilty tribes. The movement broadened into a rebellion of the democratic element among the colonists against the aristocratic clique who supported the governor. In the course of the conflict Bacon burned Jamestown, and the governor took refuge on an English ship. Soon after this Bacon died suddenly and the rebellion collapsed. Governor Berkeley hanged more than 20 of his foes. King Charles II was emphatic in his disapproval of Berkeley. The affair created a great stir in London and brought more attention to the needs and wishes of the colonists.
Toward the end of 1675 the Indians began a series of raids on the frontier plantations of Virginia. Fearful of jeopardizing his trade with them, Berkeley made only a half-hearted attempt to repel the attacks. The colonists then formed an army of their own and named as its leader Nathaniel Bacon, a plantation owner and member of the Governor's Council. Bacon marched his army against the Indians on his own authority, defeated them, and then occupied Jamestown, the capital of the colony. Forcing the governor to give him a commission, Bacon led another expedition against the Indians, defeating them at the Battle of Bloody Run. While Bacon was engaged in this effort, Berkeley began to raise a force to fight him. Marching against Jamestown a second time, Bacon captured the city and burned it in September 1676. The following month, while marching to meet a hostile force sent against him by the governor, Bacon died of malaria. His rebellion immediately collapsed. The governor took revenge upon Bacon's followers, executing some and confiscating the property of others. Some historians interpret Bacon's Rebellion as the forerunner of the American Revolution.
The Indians: The Occanneechee Indians originally came from lands to the west, over the Appalachian and Blue Ridge, known today as the Ohio river valley, to what is now the piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina. The village of Occaneechi , in 1675, was located on one of three islands on the Roanoke river, near present-day Clarksville, Virginia. This village occupied a position of strategic importance since it was situated on the Great Trading Path (or the Occaneechi Trading Path) to the Catawbas and Cherokees. From their island stronghold, the Occaneechi were able to control trade throughout the southeast. The Occaneechi enforced their power and authority through warfare and intimidation, controlling access to the interior or western tribes. In May of the year 1676, the independence of the Occaneechee came to an abrupt end. An army, led by a man named Nathaniel Bacon, approached the King of the Occaneechee for help in defeating bands of the Susquehanna Indians who were attacking colonial outposts and killing colonists. One of Bacon's own servants had been killed in such an Indian raid. Bacon was also aware of the jealous felt by many of his neighbors, toward the lucrative trade in furs and copper, which the Governor of Virginia enjoyed, exclusively, with the Occaneechis. After the Ocaneechee captured and killed a number of the Susquehanna Indians for Bacon, he provoked a fight with, or simply attacked, these friendly Indians, killing their King and many of their men, and proudly portraying himself as the protector of the colony, in opposition to Governor Berkeley. The survivors of the attack by Bacon's militia, were forced to move south, and settled along the Eno river near present day Hillsborough, North Carolina. It was at this site that English explorer John Lawson visited the tribe, in 1701. It seems that some groups also moved down the Roanoke River, near present-day Halifax, as a large area of land there is still known as "Ocaneechee Neck". In 1713, the colony of Virginia signed a treaty of peace with the Occaneechi , and were given a reservation in Brunswick County and a Trading fort called Fort Christianna. At that time, all of the tribes at the fort adopted the name of the Saponi and were thereafter known as the Saponi Nation. The fort closed around 1717. As late as the year 1775 the author James Adair reported that the Saponi Nation was still living in southside Virginia. Bacon's Castle: The name applied to the home of Arthur Allen, near the town of Surry, in Surry County, is derived from an event in 1676. That year, Nathaniel Bacon and his men led an uprising in Virginia against the Colonial government. After burning Jamestown to the ground, some of Bacon's forces retreated to Gloucester County and others went to other counties, seizing the properties of supporters of Governor Berkeley and turning them into rebel garrisons. Bacon sent William Rookings and seventy men to establish a stronghold in Surry County. Rookings took over Arthur Allen's home and occupied it for four months. It is likely that Nathaniel Bacon never saw or set foot in the house that, to this day, bears his name! The men ate Allen's cattle and depleted his stock of wine. The Rebellion came to an end when Bacon died of an illness at his headquarters in Gloucester. His men deserted their posts at the house allowing the family to return. Allen, a supporter of the colonial governor, William Berkeley later sued the men who had occupied the house for the damages incurred |
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