145-718: The Chesapeake Colonies were the Colony and Dominion of Virginia , later the Commonwealth of Virginia , and Province of Maryland , later Maryland , both colonies located in British America and centered on the Chesapeake Bay . Settlements of the Chesapeake region grew slowly due to diseases such as malaria . Most of these settlers were male immigrants from England who died soon after their arrival. Due to
290-476: A Royal Navy squadron under the command of Thomas Larimore sent to aid Berkeley. Neither Lawrence nor Drummond had military experience, and Giles Bland who had such experience was already Berkeley's prisoner, having been captured along with Carver during the failed kidnapping attempt. Thus, the remaining rebels elected John Ingram , Bacon's second in command but a saddler by trade, as their leader. However, he faced daunting problems in feeding his men, as well as
435-586: A Revolution: Bacon's Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America , whose emphasis on Bacon's flaws echoes The Governor and the Rebel , integrates the rebellion into a larger story emphasizing the actions of multiple Native Americans, as well as placing it in the context of politics in Europe. In this telling, the climax of Bacon's Rebellion comes with the " Glorious Revolution " of 1688/89. According to
580-634: A body of horse troops. Thus Berkeley's plan to close in on Ingram from the south of the York River, while other loyalists attacked from the north and east failed miserably. In November 1676, the royal navy arrived. Thomas Grantham , captain of the ship Concord cruised the York River , despite pleas from Lawrence about the people having been grievously oppressed and requests to remain neutral. Grantham tried to persuade Berkeley to use meekness, which Berkeley soon used to good effect, but insisted that
725-470: A cause alarmed the ruling class. Historians believe the rebellion hastened the hardening of racial lines associated with slavery, as a way for planters and the colony to control some of the poor. For example, historian Eric Foner writes, "The fear of civil war among whites frightened Virginia's ruling elite, who took steps to consolidate power and improve their image: for example, restoration of property qualifications for voting, reducing taxes, and adoption of
870-658: A colonial governor . Jamestown remained the capital of the Virginia Colony until 1699; from 1699 until its dissolution, the capital was in Williamsburg . The colony experienced its first significant political turmoil with Bacon's Rebellion of 1676. After declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1775, before the Declaration of Independence was officially adopted, the Virginia Colony became
1015-493: A decade during the English Civil Wars (during part of which Puritan-leaning Richard Bennett , Edward Digges and Samuel Mathews had replaced him as the colony's chief executive during the "Long Assembly"). He also issued large land grants to favorites (of 2000, 10,000 or even 30,000 acres) and was extremely wealthy compared to small planters (owning Green Spring Plantation outside Jamestown, as well as 5 houses in
1160-718: A fence around it... Thomas Young, James Wilson ("Harris" per Berkeley), Henry Page and Thomas Hall were executed on January 12, 1677. Then William Drummond and John Baptista (the latter not mentioned by Berkeley) were tried at Middle Plantation (Williamsburg) not far from Green Spring and executed on January 20. James Crewes , William Cookson and John Digbie ("Darby" being named as a former servant in Berkeley's list) were tried at Jamestown and hanged on January 24. However, despite receiving orders to return to England, Berkeley delayed his departure for several months, during which he presided over additional trials, apparently disregarding
1305-666: A landed proprietor such as Gilbert or Raleigh. King James granted a proprietary charter to two competing branches of the Virginia Company, which investors supported. These were the Plymouth Company and the Virginia Company of London . By the terms of the charter, the Plymouth Company was permitted to establish a colony of 100 sq mi (260 km ) between the 38th parallel and
1450-627: A letter to let him know that the current governor was making a bet that the king would refuse to receive him. However, William Berkeley died in July 1677, shortly after he landed in England. In November 1676, Herbert Jeffreys was appointed by Charles II as a lieutenant governor of Virginia colony and arrived in Virginia in February 1677. During Bacon's Rebellion, Jeffreys was commander-in-chief of
1595-858: A memorial window in Colonial Williamsburg and a prominent tablet in the Virginia House of Delegates chamber of the State Capitol in Richmond , which recalls Bacon as "A great Patriot Leader of the Virginia People who died while defending their rights October 26, 1676." Subsequent to the rebellion, the Virginia colonial legislature enacted the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 , which created several strict laws upon people of African background. Additionally,
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#17327729381831740-490: A military commission to lead forces against the Indians, as well as blank commissions for his officers. Governor Berkeley, however, initially refused to yield to the pressure, rushing out to meet Bacon in the street and declaring him a traitor. When Bacon had his men take aim at Berkeley, he responded by "baring his breast" and told Bacon to shoot him. Seeing that the governor would not be moved, Bacon then had his men take aim at
1885-476: A more aggressive American Indian policy." Some of these measures, by appeasing the poor white population, may have had the purpose of inhibiting any future unification with the enslaved black population. In 1676, Ann Cotton wrote a personal account of Bacon's Rebellion. Her account was in the form of a letter written in 1676 and published in its original form in 1804 in the Richmond Enquirer under
2030-528: A pardon, but part of the wampum Bacon's former men had taken from the Indians. Lawrence, Whaley and three others fled westward, risking torture at the hands of natives rather than fall into the governor's control. They were last seen pushing through the snow on the extreme frontier, and may have died of hunger and exposure, or found refuge in some other colony. Drummond was found hiding in Chickahominy Swamp. Although rebel forces were suppressed,
2175-477: A power struggle between two stubborn, selfish leaders rather than a glorious fight against tyranny." Nonetheless, many in the early United States , including Thomas Jefferson , saw Bacon as a patriot and believed that Bacon's Rebellion truly was a prelude to the later American Revolution against the control of the Crown . This understanding of the conflict was reflected in 20th-century commemorations, including
2320-664: A relatively low percentage of the overall population, as opposed to the earlier massacre (the 1622 attack had wiped out a third; that of 1644 barely a tenth). This was followed by an effort by the settlers to decimate the Powhatan. In July, they marched against the Pamunkey , Chickahominy , and Powhatan proper; and south of the James, against the Appomattoc , Weyanoke , Warraskoyak, and Nansemond , as well as two Carolina tribes,
2465-515: A royal monopoly of the important beaver fur trade, and charged fur traders in the interior a license fee for bringing furs which they or Native Americans gathered and which the traders then sold to Berkeley's company. Berkeley grew unpopular after the Dutch were defeated, in part because the tobacco boom had ended, as well as because of the conflict and more personal reasons. Like King Charles, Berkeley refused to call for legislative elections for more than
2610-512: A shot. When Bacon's forces again reached Jamestown, it seemed impregnable, approachable only via a narrow isthmus defended by three heavy guns. Nonetheless, Bacon ordered a crude fortification constructed at the end of the isthmus, and when Berkeley's forces fired on the crude structure, sent out parties of horse troops to gather the wives of some of the governor's supporters. Thus, Elizabeth Page, Angelica Bray, Anna Ballard, Frances Thorpe and Elizabeth Bacon (wife of his senior cousin) were placed on
2755-648: A six-mile-long palisade was completed across the Virginia Peninsula . The palisade provided some security from attacks by the Virginia Indians for colonists farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula from that point. On April 18, 1644, Opechancanough again tried to force the English to abandon the region with another series of coordinated attacks, killing almost 500 colonists. However, this was
2900-621: A smaller proportion of the growing population than had been killed in the 1622 attacks. In 1620, a successor to the Plymouth Company sent colonists to the New World aboard the Mayflower . Known as Pilgrims , they successfully established a settlement in what became Massachusetts . The portion of what had been Virginia north of the 40th parallel became known as New England , according to books written by Captain John Smith , who had made
3045-579: A tavern. However, he was discovered returning to his sloop, chased upriver, and forced to surrender to Capt. Thomas Gardiner of the warship Adam and Eve . Upon being taken to the Governor, Bacon behaved as a gentleman and was granted leniency—parole upon signing a paper promising to refrain from further disobedience to the government, then allowed to plead his submission before the Governor's Council. Despite most new members being sympathetic to Bacon's grievances, Governor Berkeley at first exerted control over
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#17327729381833190-419: A truce with the Powhatan and proposed a toast using liquor laced with poison. 200 Virginia Indians were killed or made ill by the poison, and 50 more were slaughtered by the colonists. For over a decade, the English settlers attacked the Powhatan, targeting their settlements as part of a scorched earth policy. The settlers systematically razed villages, captured children, and seized or destroyed crops. By 1634,
3335-521: A voyage there. In 1624, the charter of the Virginia Company was revoked by King James I, and the Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority in the form of a crown colony . Subsequent charters for the Maryland Colony in 1632 and to the eight lords proprietors of the Province of Carolina in 1663 and 1665 further reduced the Virginia Colony to roughly the coastal borders it held until
3480-592: A well-coordinated series of surprise attacks on multiple English colonial settlements along both sides of a 50-mile (80 km) long stretch of the James River, which took place early on the morning of March 22, 1622. This event resulted in the deaths of 347 colonists (including men, women, and children) and the abduction of many others. The massacre caught most of the Virginia Colony by surprise and virtually wiped out several entire communities, including Henricus and Wolstenholme Towne at Martin's Hundred . Jamestown
3625-494: Is Bacon's controversial character and complex disposition, as illustrated by Wilcomb E. Washburn 's The Governor and the Rebel (1957). Rather than singing Bacon's praises and chastising Berkeley's tyranny, Washburn found the roots of the rebellion in the colonists' intolerable demand to "authorize the slaughter and dispossession of the innocent as well as the guilty." More nuanced approaches on Berkeley's supposed tyranny or mismanagement entertained specialist historians throughout
3770-608: Is now Maine . Approximately three months later, the group landed on a wooded peninsula where the Kennebec River meets the Atlantic Ocean and began building Fort St. George. By the end of the year, limited resources caused half of the colonists to return to England. The remaining 45 sailed home late the next year, and the Plymouth company fell dormant. In 1609, with the abandonment of the Plymouth Company settlement,
3915-647: Is now Georgia ( San Miguel de Gualdape , 1526–1527; several Spanish missions in Georgia between 1568 and 1684), South Carolina ( Santa Elena , 1566–1587), North Carolina ( Joara , 1567–1568) and Virginia ( Ajacán Mission , 1570–1571); and by the French in South Carolina ( Charlesfort , 1562–1563). Farther south, the Spanish colony of Spanish Florida , centered on St. Augustine , was established in 1565, while to
4060-547: Is the oldest designation for English claims in North America. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore what is now the North Carolina coast. They returned with word of a regional king ( weroance ) named Wingina , who ruled a land supposedly called Wingandacoa . "Virginia" was originally a term used to refer to England's entire North American possession and claim along
4205-571: The Susan Constant , and two smaller ships, the Godspeed , and the Discovery , with 105 men and boys, plus 39 sailors. After an unusually long voyage of 144 days, they arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and came ashore at the point where the southern side of the bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, an event that has come to be called the "First Landing". They erected a cross and named
4350-479: The weroance Necotowance and the subtribes formerly in the confederacy each became tributaries to the King of England. At the same time, a racial frontier was delineated between Indian and English settlements, with members of each group forbidden to cross to the other side except by a special pass obtained at one of the newly erected border forts. The extent of the Virginia Colony open to patent by English colonists
4495-514: The 45th parallel (roughly between Chesapeake Bay and the current U.S.–Canada border). The London Company was permitted to establish between the 34th parallel and the 41st parallel (approximately between Cape Fear and Long Island Sound ) and also owned a large portion of Atlantic and Inland Canada. In the area of overlap, the two companies were not permitted to establish colonies within one hundred miles of each other. During 1606, each company organized expeditions to establish settlements within
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4640-650: The American Revolution . (The border with North Carolina was disputed until surveyed by William Byrd II in 1728.) After twelve years of peace following the Indian Wars of 1622–1632, another Anglo–Powhatan War began on March 18, 1644, as a last effort by the remnants of the Powhatan Confederacy, still under Opechancanough, to dislodge the English settlers of the Virginia Colony. Around 500 colonists were killed, but that number represented
4785-670: The Chowanoke and Secotan . In February–March 1645, the colony ordered the construction of four frontier forts: Fort Charles at the falls of the James, Fort James on the Chickahominy , Fort Royal at the falls of the York and Fort Henry at the falls of the Appomattox , where the modern city of Petersburg is located. In August 1645, the forces of Governor William Berkeley stormed Opechancanough's stronghold. All captured males in
4930-561: The Commonwealth of Virginia , one of the original thirteen states of the United States, adopting as its official slogan "The Old Dominion". The entire modern states of West Virginia , Kentucky , Indiana , and Illinois , and portions of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania were later created from the territory encompassed, or claimed by, the colony of Virginia at the time of further American independence in July 1776. "Virginia"
5075-572: The Discovery for the colonists' use. However, death from disease and conflicts with the Native Americans took a fearsome toll on the colonists. Despite attempts at mining minerals, growing silk, and exporting the native Virginia tobacco, no profitable exports had been identified, and it was unclear whether the settlement would survive financially. The Powhatan Confederacy was a confederation of numerous linguistically related tribes in
5220-559: The English Civil War . Under the tenure of Crown Governor William Berkeley (1642–1652; 1660–1677), the population expanded from 8,000 in 1642 to 40,000 in 1677. Despite the resistance of the Virginia Cavaliers , Virginian Puritan Richard Bennett was made governor answering to Oliver Cromwell in 1652, followed by two more nominal "commonwealth governors". Nonetheless, the colony was rewarded for its loyalty to
5365-609: The Historic Jamestowne website, "For many years, historians considered the Virginia Rebellion of 1676 to be the first stirring of revolutionary sentiment in [North] America, which culminated in the American Revolution almost exactly one hundred years later. However, in the past few decades, based on findings from a more distant viewpoint, historians have come to understand Bacon's Rebellion as
5510-671: The House of Burgesses to better address the Native American raids and other matters. Ignoring the sheriff's reading of Berkeley's proclamation against Bacon, voters elected Bacon and his friend Capt. James Crews to represent them in the House of Burgesses. However, when Bacon and 40 of his armed followers attempted to dock their sloop at Jamestown, they were fired on by the fort, and so disembarked under cover of darkness to consult with followers Richard Lawrence and William Drummond at
5655-472: The Sea Venture was the mission's Vice Admiral Christopher Newport. Hundreds of new colonists were aboard the ships. However, the weather was to affect the mission drastically. A few days out of London, the nine ships of the third supply mission encountered a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. They became separated during the three days the storm lasted. Admiral Somers had the Sea Venture , carrying most of
5800-622: The University of Virginia are known as the " Cavaliers ", referring to supporters of Charles II, and Virginia has a public university called " Old Dominion University ". Although Spain, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands all had competing claims to the region, none of these prevented the English from becoming the first European power to colonize successfully the Mid-Atlantic coastline. The Spanish had made earlier attempts in what
5945-668: The Chickahominy River into New Kent County nominally seeking the Susquehannock warriors responsible for recent raids, and so traveled first toward the Pamunkey lands, only to find the people had fled into Dragon Swamp . They then continued westward toward the Seneca Trail , a travel and trading path along the Appalachian Mountains . Governor Berkeley was furious that Bacon's militia had driven
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6090-823: The Crown . The Virginia Company's two settlements, Virginia and Bermuda (Bermuda's Puritans were expelled as the Eleutheran Adventurers , settling the Bahamas under William Sayle ), Antigua and Barbados were conspicuous in their loyalty to the Crown and were singled out by the Rump Parliament in An Act for prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego in October 1650. This dictated that: [D]ue punishment [be] inflicted upon
6235-781: The Crown by Charles II following the Stuart Restoration when he dubbed it the ''Old Dominion''. Bacon%27s Rebellion Nathaniel Bacon # John Ingram William Berkeley # Herbert Jeffreys King Charles II Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley , after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia. Thousands of Virginians from all classes (including those in indentured servitude ) and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching
6380-637: The Doeg out of the Virginia colony and into Maryland—apart from those living beside the Nanzatico /Portobago in Caroline County, Virginia . Bacon's rebellion was motivated by both class and ethnic conflict. On the one hand, the Rebellion featured a coalition of both black and white laborers, including women, against the Virginia aristocracy represented by Governor Berkeley. At the same time,
6525-407: The Eastern Shore, Berkeley condemned many rebels and executed five. Hansford pleaded that he be shot as a soldier not hanged like a dog, and protested his loyalty as he stood on the scaffold. Major Cheeseman died in prison, though his wife pleaded that she be hung in his place. Farloe produced his military commission and was told that it authorized fighting only against Indians, not the Governor, and so
6670-425: The English either stay in their fort or leave Virginia. Enraged, De la Warr had the hand of a Paspahegh captive cut off and sent him to the paramount chief with another ultimatum: Return all English subjects and property, or the neighboring villages would be burned. This time, Powhatan did not respond. On August 9, 1610, tired of waiting for a response from the Powhatan, West sent George Percy with 70 men to attack
6815-408: The English monarchy following the English Civil War , fewer people chose to emigrate from England to flee that internal conflict. Between the First Anglo-Dutch War and the Second Anglo-Dutch War , the Crown adopted Navigation Acts , in particular a new rule that tobacco grown in the colonies could only be sold to English merchants and shipped to England on English ships. Since much colonial tobacco
6960-546: The Indians, (2) that they would arrest anyone trying to raise troops against him, and (3) (with demurrers) that they would oppose any English troops sent to Virginia until Bacon could plead his case before the King. Among the oath's signers were burgesses or councillors Thomas Swan , John Page, Philip Lightfoot and Thomas Ballard . Meanwhile, Bacon's father, Thomas Bacon, was pleading with the King to pardon his son, presenting "The Virginians' Plea". Bacon then led his army through upper Gloucester and Middlesex Counties against
7105-405: The London Company organized another supply mission. They set sail from London on April 1, 1610. Just after the survivors of the Starving Time and those who had joined them from Bermuda had abandoned Jamestown, the ships of the new supply mission sailed up the James River with food, supplies, a doctor, and more colonists. Lord Delaware was determined that the colony was to survive, and he intercepted
7250-430: The London Company's Virginia charter was adjusted to include the territory north of the 34th parallel and south of the 40th parallel , with its original coastal grant extended "from sea to sea". Thus, according to James I's writ, the Virginia Colony in its original sense extended to the coast of the Pacific Ocean, in what is now California, with all the land in between belonging to Virginia. For practical purposes, though,
7395-482: The Native Americans from Virginia, it did result in Berkeley being recalled to England, where he died shortly thereafter. Bacon's rebellion was the first rebellion in the North American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part. A somewhat similar uprising in Maryland involving John Coode and Josias Fendall took place in 1689. The alliance between European indentured servants and Africans (a mix of indentured, enslaved, and Free Negroes ) disturbed
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#17327729381837540-419: The Native Americans' raids, farmers in Charles City County gathered near Merchant's Hope on the James River, the scene of a massacre in 1622 upon hearing rumors of a new raiding party. Nathaniel Bacon arrived with a quantity of brandy; after it was distributed, he was elected leader. Against Berkeley's previous order, and as Bacon sought a commission to go and attack Indians, his armed militiamen crossed
7685-483: The Northern Neck region as they were displaced from Maryland as well as rapidly settling areas of eastern Virginia, and joined local tribes in defending their land and resources. In June 1666, Governor Berkeley told General Robert Smith of Rappahanock County that Native Americans in the colony's northern part could be destroyed, in order to provide a "great Terror and Example and Instruction to all other Indians", and that an expedition against them could be funded by enslaving
7830-441: The Pamunkey, finding a village in the swamps and capturing 45 prisoners (although the queen of the Pamunkeys escaped) as well as stores of wampum, skins, fur and English goods. Meanwhile, on August 1, Bacon's followers Giles Bland and William Carver captured a ship 'Rebecca" commanded by Captain Larrimore and refitted her with guns, although two other ships escaped. Bland and Carver and 250 men with three ships then attempted to block
7975-517: The Pamunkeys into hiding and declared the action illegal and rebellious, notwithstanding Bacon's letter ordering payment of monies he owed the governor and reiterating that he had no evil intentions against the government nor him. However, not finding Susquehannocks, Bacon's militiamen turned their back upon settlements and struck south until they came to the Roanoke River and the Occaneechi people in May. After convincing Occaneechi warriors (and their Mannikin allies ) to leave their villages and attack
8120-434: The Paspahegh capital, burning the houses and cutting down their cornfields. They killed 65 to 75 Powhatan and captured one of Wowinchopunk's wives and her children. Returning downstream, Percy's men threw the children overboard and shot out "their Braynes in the water". The queen was put to the sword in Jamestown. The Paspahegh never recovered from this attack and abandoned their town. Another small force sent with Argall against
8265-478: The Roanoke Colony (in modern eastern North Carolina ) by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 1580s. The founder of the Jamestown colony was the Virginia Company , chartered by King James I , with its first two settlements being in Jamestown on the north bank of the James River and Popham Colony on the Kennebec River in modern-day Maine , both in 1607. The Popham colony quickly failed because of famine, disease, and conflicts with local Native American tribes in
8410-546: The Stafford County attack with the Doeg. On September 26, 1,000 members of Maryland militia led by Major Thomas Trueman marched to the Susquehannock stronghold in Maryland. They were soon joined by Virginia militia led by Col. John Washington and Col. Isaac Allerton Jr. Trueman invited five Susquehannock chiefs to a parley. After the chiefs denied responsibility for the July attacks in Stafford County despite witnesses having noticed Susquehannocks wearing clothing of some murdered settlers, they were killed without trial and despite
8555-448: The Susquehannock to the west, Bacon and his men refused to pay for those services, but instead demanded provisions and beaver pelts. Not receiving them, they murdered the Occaneechi chief and most of the Occaneechi men, women, and children, which ranged from 100 to 400 people, remaining at the villages, then plundered their larders before proceeding eastward back toward Jamestown. Meanwhile, Berkeley had gathered about 300 men and led them to
8700-444: The Virginia Colony was transferred to royal authority as a crown colony . After the English Civil War in the 1640s and 1650s, the Virginia colony was nicknamed "The Old Dominion" by King Charles II for its perceived loyalty to the English monarchy during the era of the Protectorate and Commonwealth of England . From 1619 to 1775/1776, the colonial legislature of Virginia was the General Assembly, which governed in conjunction with
8845-517: The Warraskoyaks found that they had already fled, and they destroyed an abandoned Warraskoyak village and the surrounding cornfields. This event triggered the first Anglo-Powhatan War . Among the individuals who had briefly abandoned Jamestown was John Rolfe , a Sea Venture survivor who had lost his wife and son in Bermuda. He was a businessman from London with some untried seeds for new, sweeter strains of tobacco he brought from Bermuda and some novel marketing ideas. It would turn out that Rolfe held
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#17327729381838990-423: The York (Pamunkey) river. Necotowance thus ceded the English vast tracts of still-uncolonized land, much of it between the James and Blackwater. English settlements on the peninsula north of the York and below the Poropotank were also allowed, as they had already been there since 1640. While the newer Puritan colonies, most notably Massachusetts , were dominated by Parliamentarians , the older colonies sided with
9135-433: The York River garrison at King's Creek ended with the death of its leader, Capt. Hubert Farril. Major Lawrence Smith had gathered loyalists in Gloucester county, but when they faced Ingram's forces, Major Bristow offered single combat in the medieval style, and the loyalists' rank and file laid down their arms and went home. Another large force gathered in Middlesex County but dispersed after Ingram sent out Gregory Wakelett and
9280-489: The York River) as well as Col. John Washington's house in Westmoreland County to the north. Berkeley launched a series of successful amphibious attacks across the Chesapeake Bay and defeated the small pockets of insurgents spread across Tidewater Virginia . Major Beverley captured Captain Thomas Hansford and his Yorktown garrison, then returned to capture Major Edmund Cheesemen and Capt. Thomas Wilford. However, Berkeley's forces also suffered losses. A planned surprise raid on
9425-493: The area of their rights. The London company formed Jamestown in its exclusive territory, while the Plymouth company formed the Popham Colony in its exclusive territory near what is now Phippsburg, Maine. The Popham colony quickly failed because of famine, disease, and conflicts with local Native American tribes in the first two years. The London Company hired Captain Christopher Newport to lead its expedition. On December 20, 1606, he set sail from England with his flagship ,
9570-566: The assembly). Although repealed by the burgesses in the 1677 session, they limited the governor's powers, set certain fees for governmental actions, made it illegal for one person to hold more than one important county office at one time (the offices being sheriff, clerk of court, surveyor and escheator) and restored suffrage to landless freemen (including in taxes levied by county courts and vestries). In late July, Bacon completed preparations for his Indian campaign, including enlisting officers and armed bands from many counties, which were to meet at
9715-592: The burgesses authorized an army of 1000 men. The recomposed House of Burgesses ultimately enacted a number of sweeping reforms, known as Bacon's Laws discussed below. However, by this time Bacon had escaped Jamestown, telling Berkeley that his own wife was ill, but soon placing himself at the head of a volunteer army in Henrico County , where natives had renewed raids and killed 8 settlers, including wiping out families. Bacon returned to Jamestown with hundreds of enraged followers demanding "no levies" (meaning no additional taxes nor military conscription). Bacon demanded
9860-442: The burgesses viewing the street spectacle from the windows of nearby houses. When the burgesses invited Bacon into their Long Room, the governor yielded and signed the military commissions, as well as wrote the King justifying Bacon's conduct. The assembly in Bacon's absence had also rushed through "Bacon's Laws", possibly drafted by Lawrence and Drummond, or by Thomas Blayton (whom Edward Hill later called "Bacon's great engine" in
10005-418: The calamity of Bacon's Rebellion, namely the potential for lower-class revolt, with the colony's transition over to slavery, saying, "But for those with eyes to see, there was an obvious lesson in the rebellion. Resentment of an alien race might be more powerful than resentment of an upper class. Virginians did not immediately grasp it. It would sink in as time went on." James Rice's 2012 narrative, Tales from
10150-506: The chief of the Secotans was indeed called Wingina, the expression wingandacoa heard by the English upon arrival actually meant "What good clothes you wear!" in Carolina Algonquian and was not the name of the country as previously misunderstood. The colony was also known as the Virginia Colony , the Province of Virginia , and occasionally as the Dominion and Colony of Virginia or His Majesty's Most Ancient Colloney and Dominion of Virginia . According to tradition, in gratitude for
10295-416: The claim. The company's possession of Bermuda was made official in 1612 when the third and final charter extended the boundaries of Virginia far enough out to sea to encompass Bermuda. Upon their arrival at Jamestown, the survivors of the Sea Venture discovered that the 10-month delay had greatly aggravated other adverse conditions. Seven of the other ships had arrived carrying more colonists but little in
10440-454: The clemency suggested by the royal representatives. Bacon's wealthy landowning followers returned their loyalty to the Virginia government after Bacon's death. Some former rebels of lower classes were ordered to make public apologies, and many were fined or ordered to pay court costs. The childless, elderly Governor's seizing property of several (but not all) rebels for the colony provoked considerable unrest and dissatisfaction. However, whereas in
10585-494: The codes were intended to socially segregate the white and black races. Jimsonweed is a hallucination inducing plant that was first documented by a Virginian colonist named Robert Beverly. Robert Beverley reported, in his 1705 book on the history of Virginia, that some soldiers who had been dispatched to Jamestown to quell Bacon's Rebellion gathered and ate leaves of Datura stramonium and spent eleven days acting in bizarre and foolish ways before recovering. After recovery from
10730-438: The colonial capital which he mostly rented out, 400 cattle and 60 horses, as well as several hundred sheep, valuable household silver and nearly a thousand pounds sterling worth of grain in storage). Berkeley's favorites often commanded the local militia in various counties, as well as charged quitrents to smaller farmers who cleared and farmed the land on their vast estates. In 1662 Governor Berkeley warned English officials that
10875-683: The colonial upper class. They responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 . Starting in the 1650s, when high tobacco prices encouraged both tobacco planting and immigration, colonists began cutting forests as well as trying to farm tobacco on land already cleared by Native Americans. Whereas decades earlier, Native Americans had been able to trade foodstuffs which they had grown and captured for trade goods, colonists had learned to farm grain and raise livestock for themselves; furs (caught and prepared by natives or frontiersmen) became
11020-526: The colonists from raising the crop." Charles II was reported to have commented, "That old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father ." No record of the king's comments have been found, and the origin of the story appears to have been colonial legend that arose at least 30 years after the events. The king prided himself on the clemency he had shown to his father's enemies. Berkeley left his wife, Frances Berkeley, in Virginia and returned to England. She sent
11165-478: The colonists rarely ventured far inland to what was known as the "Virginia Wilderness." For the third supply, the London Company had a new ship built. The Sea Venture was designed to emit additional colonists and transport supplies. It became the flagship of the admiral of the convoy, Sir George Somers . The third supply was the largest, with eight other ships joining the Sea Venture . The captain of
11310-467: The colony in the summer of 1586, the colonists opted to return to England because there was a lack of supply ships, abandoning the colony. Supply ships arrived at the abandoned colony later in 1586; 15 soldiers were left behind to hold the island, but no trace of these men was later found. In 1587, Raleigh sent another group to attempt to establish a permanent settlement. The expedition leader, John White , returned to England for supplies that same year but
11455-469: The colony shortly before the English Civil War began, and remained in office or with significant power for about 35 years. Berkeley had traveled back to England to fight (unsuccessfully) for King Charles before returning to the colony in 1645 after Natives had massacred settlers in 1644 . He led military forces which captured the chief Opechancanough and suppressed the revolt. Berkeley also had
11600-439: The colony was in a deplorable condition, with many plantations deserted or plundered. The government lacked money, and the absence of labor had resulted in small harvests of both tobacco and grain. Nonetheless, at year's end, tobacco ships began to come in with supplies of clothing, cloth, medicines, and sundries. Executions continued for several months. Berkeley acknowledged executing 13 rebels. While his headquarters remained on
11745-470: The cost of the Atlantic crossing. When finished, they might be given land, or goods consisting of a suit of clothes, some farm tools, seed, and perhaps a gun. Colony and Dominion of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America between 1606 and 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585;
11890-566: The departing ships about 10 miles (16 km) downstream of Jamestown. The colonists thanked Providence for the colony's salvation. West proved far harsher and more belligerent toward the Indians than any of his predecessors, engaging in wars of conquest against them. He first sent Thomas Gates to drive off the Kecoughtan from their village on July 9, 1610, then gave Chief Powhatan an ultimatum to either return all English subjects and property, or face war. Powhatan responded by insisting that
12035-445: The east coast from the 34th parallel (close to Cape Fear ) north to 45th parallel . This area included a large section of Canada and the shores of Acadia . The name Virginia for a region in North America may have been originally suggested by Raleigh, who named it for Queen Elizabeth I in approximately 1584. In addition, the term Wingandacoa may have influenced the name Virginia." On his next voyage, Raleigh learned that while
12180-494: The eastern part of Virginia. The Powhatan Confederacy controlled a territory known as Tsenacommacah, which roughly corresponded with the Tidewater region of Virginia. It was in this territory that the English established Jamestown. At the time of the English arrival, the Powhatan were led by the paramount chief Wahunsenacawh, known to the English as Chief Powhatan . On May 31, 1607, about 100 men and boys left England for what
12325-817: The falls of the James River (modern day Richmond ), but too late to intercept Bacon's forces. So he issued another proclamation declaring Bacon and his followers as unlawful, mutinous and rebellious, and his wife issued her own proclamation that Bacon's promises to provide for his follower's wives and children only promoted vain hopes. Lady Berkeley declared that Bacon owed his trading partner William Byrd I 400 pounds sterling and his cousin Nathaniel Bacon Sr. 200 pounds sterling and that his own father had refused to honor his bills of exchange. Upon returning to their lands in Henrico County , Bacon's faction discovered that Berkeley had called for new elections to
12470-482: The falls of the James River. Bacon addressed seven hundred gathered horse and six hundred gathered foot troops, took the oath of allegiance and expected to march the next day, only to learn that Philip Ludwell and Robert Beverley were recruiting other troops on behalf of Governor Berkeley in Gloucester County to their rear, alleging that Bacon's commission was illegal because it had been procured by force, but
12615-485: The first two years. Jamestown occupied land belonging to the Powhatan Confederacy ; it was also on the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies by ship in 1610. Tobacco became Virginia's first profitable export, the production of which had a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns. In 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked by King James I, and
12760-433: The future, in 1705 the assembly revived the headright system by promising each freedman fifty acres of land, a promise that obliged the government to continue taking land from the Indians." Bacon promised his army tax breaks, predetermined wages, and freedom from indentures , "so long as they should serve under his colors." Indentured servants both black and white had joined the frontier rebellion. Seeing them united in
12905-466: The governor's express permission, and meanwhile outlying plantations were burned, livestock stolen, and settlers killed or taken captive. Frontier planters demanded the right to defend themselves. Bacon later attributed these actions to Berkeley's desire not to impede the beaver fur trade, but historians also note that militia were often unwilling to distinguish between friendly and unfriendly natives. Upset at Governor Berkeley's refusal to retaliate against
13050-490: The house of Major Thomas Pate , in Gloucester County a few miles east of West Point , but fell ill of dysentery and after calling in Rev. Wadding for last rites, died on October 26, 1676. His body was never found; upon being exhumed on Berkeley's orders, the casket contained only stones. Bacon and his rebels never encountered a Crown force consisting of 1,000 English Army troops led by Colonel Herbert Jeffreys transported by
13195-492: The inhabitants of this Colony will quickly find a difference between your management and mine." As acting governor, Jeffreys was responsible for appeasing the remaining factions of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control. Jeffreys presided over the Treaty of 1677 , the formal peace treaty between the Crown and representatives from various Virginia Native American tribes that
13340-436: The initial trials, many of the accused were denied counsel, such were present in several of the later trials. Berkeley in particular grew displeased with his former King's Counsel, William Sherwood for defending former rebels. Former customs collector Giles Bland and Anthony Arnold were executed on March 8, then John Isles and Richard Pomfrey on March 15 and John Whitson and William Scarburgh on March 16. Scholars differ as to
13485-488: The key to the colony's economic success. By 1612, Rolfe's strains of tobacco had been successfully cultivated and exported, establishing a first cash crop for export. Plantations and new outposts sprung up starting with Henricus , initially both upriver and downriver along the navigable portion of the James and thereafter along the other rivers and waterways of the area. The settlement at Jamestown could finally be considered permanently established. A period of peace followed
13630-484: The late Rebellion in Virginia," which provided an official report and history of the insurrection. On 27 April 1677, with the support of the King, Jeffreys assumed the role of acting colonial governor following Bacon's Rebellion, succeeding Berkeley. Shortly after Jeffreys took over as acting governor, Berkeley angrily remarked that Jeffreys had an "irresistible desire to rule this country" and that his action could not be justified. He wrote to Jeffreys, "I believe that
13775-649: The low tobacco prices did not even cover freight and customs charges, much less provide a subsistence income for small farmers, who grew discontent, and in 1667 several weather events cause the tobacco crop to fail. Nonetheless, after the Restoration of the monarchy, the king granted English-based favorites the Northern Neck Proprietary and the right to 11 years worth of quitrents in arrears (which seemed like additional taxes). Discontent had become widespread by 1670, when most landless taxpayers lost
13920-438: The loyalty of Virginians to the crown during the English Civil War , Charles II gave it the title of "Old Dominion". The colony seal stated from Latin en dat virginia quintum , in English 'Behold, Virginia gives the fifth', with Virginia claimed as the fifth English dominion after England, France , Scotland and Ireland . The Commonwealth of Virginia maintains "Old Dominion" as its state nickname . The athletic teams of
14065-470: The majority being men, eligible women did not remain single for long. The native-born population eventually became immune to the Chesapeake diseases and these colonies were able to continue through all the hardships. The Chesapeake region had a one-crop economy, based on tobacco. This contributed to the demand for slave labor in the Southern colonies. Tobacco also depleted nutrients in the soil, and new land
14210-551: The marriage in 1614 of colonist Rolfe to Pocahontas , the daughter of Chief Powhatan. Another colonial charter was issued in 1611. The relations with the Natives took a turn for the worse after the death of Pocahontas in England and the return of Rolfe and other colonial leaders in May 1617. Disease, poor harvests, and the growing demand for land to cultivate tobacco caused hostilities to escalate. After Chief Powhatan died in 1618, he
14355-557: The massacre. In January 1676, Susquehannocks retaliated by attacking plantations, killing 60 settlers in Maryland and a further 36 in Virginia. Other tribes joined in, killing settlers, burning houses and fields and slaughtering livestock as far south as the James and York River watersheds . After raids in Virginia in February 1676, Berkeley initially called up the Virginia militia under Sir Henry Chicheley and Col. Goodrich to pursue
14500-629: The middle of the twentieth century, leading to a diversification of factors responsible for Virginia's contemporary instability. Wesley Frank Craven in the 1968 publication, The Colonies in Transition , argues that Berkeley's greatest failings took place during the revolt, near the end of his life. Bernard Bailyn pushed the novel thesis that it was a question of access to resources, a failure to fully transplant Old World society to New. Edmund S. Morgan 's 1975 classic, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia , connected
14645-548: The militarily strategic need to cover hundreds of thousands of acres of land with many vulnerable areas. The rebellion did not last long after that. Ingram kept his main force at the head of the York River, with small garrisons at strategic points—including Governor Berkeley's residence at Green Spring and Major Arthur Allen's across the James River (at what came to be called Bacon's Castle though Bacon had never lived there), as well as Colonel West's house near West Point, Councillor Bacon's house at King's Creek and Yorktown (both on
14790-411: The mission's supplies, deliberately driven aground onto the reefs of Bermuda to avoid sinking. However, while there was no loss of life, the ship was wrecked beyond repair, stranding its survivors on the uninhabited archipelago , to which they laid claim for England. The survivors at Bermuda eventually built two smaller ships, and most of them continued to Jamestown, leaving a few on Bermuda to secure
14935-556: The mouth of the James River, but ended up anchoring off Accomac, where Captain Larrimore sent a message to Governor Berkeley about serving with his crew under duress, so Philip Ludwell and two boats of soldiers sailed out and recaptured the ship. Berkeley then embarked 200 men on two ships and six or seven sloops and returned to the Western Sore, sailing up the James River toward Jamestown, where Bacon's garrison fled without firing
15080-628: The new primary trade good. Tensions arose because native croplands were attractive not only to the colonists' generally free-roving pigs (which damaged their crops), but also as easily switched to tobacco. Because colonists' farming methods drained fields of nutrients (both because of erosion and because fertilization was rarely practiced or effective for more than another century), new fields constantly were sought. Furthermore, more emigrants were surviving their indentures, and thus wanted to establish themselves with their new skills as tobacco farmers. In Virginia's Northern Neck (a relatively undeveloped area in
15225-566: The newly elected House of Burgesses. Berkeley first insisted upon the legislature taking care of Indian business, but a debate as to whether the House would ask for two Councillors to sit with the committee on Indian Affairs never came to a vote, and the Queen of the Pamunkeys demanded compensation for the former war in which her husband had been killed assisting the English as a precondition to furnishing warriors in this conflict, although ultimately
15370-652: The north, the French were establishing settlements in what is now Canada ( Charlesbourg-Royal briefly occupied 1541–1543; Port Royal , established in 1605). In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert established a charter in Newfoundland . Once established, he and his crew abandoned the site and returned to England. On the return trip, Gilbert's ship capsized, and all aboard perished. The charter was abandoned. In 1585, Raleigh sent his first colonization mission to Roanoke Island (in present-day North Carolina) with over 100 male settlers. However, when Sir Francis Drake arrived at
15515-453: The northern counties and was marching south to attack Bacon and his men. Thus, Bacon, Lawrence, Drummond and others decided to torch Jamestown, the colony's capital, on September 19. After Bacon's followers torched the capital and left their encampment at Berkeley's Green Spring Plantation outside Jamestown, the main body traveled east to Yorktown . They then crossed the York River and encamped in Gloucester County at Warner Hall , home of
15660-486: The number of men executed, although roughly double the number in Berkeley's report. One scholar counted 25 executions another states 23 men were executed by hanging. Meanwhile, after an investigative committee returned its report to King Charles II , Berkeley was relieved of the governorship and recalled to England. According to one historian, "Because the tobacco trade generated a crown revenue of about £5–£10 per laboring man, King Charles II wanted no rebellion to distract
15805-528: The pardons not be allowed to Lawrence and Drummond. Grantham then went up the York River to the Pate house at West Point, and used cunning and force to disarm the rebels there. Ingram yielded the West Point garrison with 300 men, four great guns and many small arms, then Grantham tricked his way into the rebel garrison at John West's house with a barrel of brandy and promises of pardon. However, after surrendering
15950-412: The parley promises as well as a medal of Lord Baltimore and paper pledge from a former Maryland governor produced by one of the chiefs. Although the tribesmen in the fort continued to resist despite their leaders' unexplained disappearance, many ultimately managed to escape with their wives and children. Maryland authorities impeached Major Trueman, and Governor Berkeley expressed outrage when he heard about
16095-632: The plantation of council member John Custis in Accomack County on Virginia's Eastern Shore, but the raid failed, and Farloe was captured and hanged. Nor was a manifesto to the people of the Eastern Shore effective. Thus, Bacon issued orders that the estates of the governor and his friends be ransacked to supply his army. Taking cattle, sheep, hogs, Indian corn and household furnishings, Bacon's soldiers seemed to plunder both friend and foe, eroding his support. Bacon made his final headquarters at
16240-468: The point of land Cape Henry in honor of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales , the eldest son of King James. They were instructed to select a location inland along a waterway where they would be less vulnerable to the Spanish or other Europeans seeking to establish colonies. They sailed westward into the Bay and reached the mouth of Hampton Roads , stopping at a location now known as Old Point Comfort . Keeping
16385-459: The post with 3 cannon, 500 muskets and fowling pieces and 1000 pounds of bullets, and once they were safely in the hold, he turned the ship's guns on them and disarmed the rebels. Berkeley invited Ingram and Langston to dine with him on shipboard, after their surrender at Tindall's Point, after the men had toasted the King and governor, they were allowed to disperse. Then to secure the submission of Gregory Wakelett's cavalry, Berkeley offered not only
16530-798: The primary policy disagreement between Bacon and Berkeley was in how to handle the Native American population, with Bacon favoring harsher measures. Berkeley believed that it would be useful to keep some as subjects, stating, "I would have preserved those Indians that I knew were hoeurly at our mercy to have beene our spies and intelligence to find out the more bloudy Ennimies", whereas Bacon found this approach too compassionate, stating, "Our Design [is] ... to ruin and extirpate all Indians in General." In July 1675, Doeg Indians in Stafford County, Virginia , killed two settlers and destroyed fields of corn and cattle. The Stafford County militia tracked down
16675-515: The raiders, but soon recalled that expedition and decided upon a defensive war. The House of Burgesses approved of Berkeley's plan to build and staff eight forts along the frontier with 500 men, provided for the enlistment of friendly natives, and prohibited selling firearms to "savages". When no militia deaths were reported in April and May, Berkeley proclaimed his plan a success, but Bacon's people complained that garrisons could not pursue raiders without
16820-497: The raiders, killing 10 Doeg in a cabin. Meanwhile, another militia, led by Colonel Mason and Captain George Brent , attacked a nearby cabin of the friendly Susquehannock tribe and killed 14 of them. The attack ceased only when someone from the cabin managed to escape and confront Mason, telling him that they were not Doegs. On August 31, Virginia Governor William Berkeley proclaimed that the Susquehannock had been involved in
16965-442: The ramparts together with some Native American prisoners, to be endangered should firing resume. On September 15, some of Berkeley's troops sallied out, but without success, so Berkeley's Councillors advised abandoning the town. They spiked the guns, took stores aboard vessels and slipped down the river at night. Bacon's forces thus retook the town. However, Bacon also learned that his former follower, Giles Brent had raised an army in
17110-532: The rebellion by Bacon against Berkeley in 1676 had any lasting significance for the more-successful American Revolution a century later. The most idolizing portrait of Bacon is found in Torchbearer of the Revolution (1940) by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker , which one scholar in 2011 called "one of the worst books on Virginia that a reputable scholarly historian ever published." The central area of debate
17255-471: The rebellion. In order for the Virginia elite to maintain the loyalty of the common planters in order to avert future rebellions, one historian commented, they "needed to lead, rather than oppose, wars meant to dispossess and destroy frontier Indians." He elaborated that this bonded the elite to the common planter in wars against Indians, their common enemy, and enabled the elites to appease free whites with land. Taylor writes, "To give servants greater hope for
17400-471: The regiment of six warships carrying over 1,100 troops, tasked with quelling and pacifying the rebellion upon their arrival. He served as leader of a three-member commission (alongside Sir John Berry and Francis Moryson ) to inquire into the causes of discontent and political strife in the colony. The commission published a report for the King titled "A True Narrative of the Rise, Progresse, and Cessation of
17545-499: The resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for three attempts totaling six years. In 1590, the colony was abandoned. But nearly 20 years later, the colony was re-settled at Jamestown , not far north of the original site. A second charter was issued in 1606 and settled in 1607, becoming the first enduring English colony in North America . It followed failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583 and
17690-712: The right to vote for representatives in the House of Burgesses. One set of aggrieved petitioners met at Lawne's Creek parish church across from Jamestown in December 1673, and in 1674 two rebellions in Virginia failed for want of leaders. Meanwhile, Susquehannock peoples from Pennsylvania and northern Maryland had been displaced by the peoples aligned with the Iroquois Confederation , and moved south into Maryland (where they were initially welcomed) and Virginia. Secocowon (then known as Chicacoan) , Doeg , Patawomeck and Rappahannock natives began moving into
17835-645: The said Delinquents, do[es] Declare all and every the said persons in Barbada's, Antego, Bermuda's and Virginia, that have contrived, abetted, aided or assisted those horrid Rebellions, or have since willingly joyned with them, to be notorious Robbers and Traitors, and such as by the Law of Nations are not to be permitted any maner of Commerce or Traffique with any people whatsoever; and do[es] forbid to all maner of persons, Foreiners, and others, all maner of Commerce, Traffique and Correspondency whatsoever, to be used or held with
17980-643: The said Rebels in the Barbada's, Bermuda's, Virginia and Antego, or either of them. The act authorized Parliamentary privateers to act against English vessels trading with the rebellious colonies: "All Ships that Trade with the Rebels may be surprized. Goods and tackle of such ships not to be embezeled, till judgement in the Admiralty; Two or three of the Officers of every ship to be examined upon oath." Virginia's population swelled with Cavaliers during and after
18125-421: The settlement. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists . Government forces led by Herbert Jeffreys arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control. While the rebellion did not succeed in the initial goal of driving
18270-622: The shoreline to their right, they then ventured up the largest river, which they named the James , for their king. After exploring at least as far upriver as the confluence of the Appomattox River at present-day Hopewell , they returned downstream to Jamestown Island , which offered a favorable defensive position against enemy ships and deep water anchorage adjacent to the land. Within two weeks, they had constructed their first fort and named their settlement Jamestown. In addition to securing gold and other precious minerals to send back to
18415-610: The speaker of the House of Burgesses, Augustine Warner Jr. However, the Gloucester troops balked at further oaths. This disappointed Bacon, so he arrested Rev. James Wadding, who had tried to dissuade the people from subscribing. Bacon also set up courts martial to try some of this opponents, or exchange them for Carver and Bland, but only executed one deserter. Bacon also sent Captain George Farlow (formerly one of Cromwell's men) and 40 soldiers to capture Governor Berkeley at
18560-419: The title, An account of our late troubles in Virginia . The following year, the same paper published The Beginning, Progress, and Conclusion of Bacon's Rebellion , which former participant Thomas Mathew wrote in 1704 (the year before his death), and which had been acquired for President Thomas Jefferson , who gave his former mentor George Wythe permission to have it published. Historians question whether
18705-539: The troops refused to gather for the governor upon learning they were to oppose the popular hero Bacon. On July 30, 1676, Bacon and his army issued the " Declaration of the People ". The declaration criticized Berkeley's administration in detail. It leveled several accusations against Berkeley: Berkeley then followed Robert Beverley's advice and fled across Chesapeake Bay to Accomack County on Virginia's Eastern Shore . Chicheley promised to meet him shortly thereafter, but
18850-402: The village over age 11 were deported to Tangier Island . Opechancanough, variously reported to be 92 to 100 years old, was taken to Jamestown. While a prisoner, Opechancanough was shot in the back and killed by a soldier assigned to guard him. His death disintegrated the Powhatan Confederacy into its component tribes, whom the colonists continued to attack. In the peace treaty of October 1646,
18995-611: The waiting investors in England, the survival plan for the Jamestown colonists depended upon regular supplies from England and trade with the Native Americans . They selected a location largely cut off from the mainland with little game for hunting, no natural fresh drinking water, and minimal ground for farming. Captain Newport returned to England twice, delivering the first and second supply missions during 1608 and leaving
19140-544: The watersheds of the Rappahannock River and Potomac Rivers between cleared and farmed land in southeastern Virginia and cleared and farmed land in eastern Maryland), rather than rent farmland from their former employers, freed indentured servants and other European immigrants began clearing and squatting on land which the Crown had reserved for Native Americans since 1634. However, with the Restoration of
19285-636: The way of food and supplies. Combined with drought and hostile relations with the Native Americans , the loss of the supplies that had been aboard the Sea Venture resulted in the Starving Time in late 1609 to May 1610, during which over 80% of the colonists perished. Conditions were so adverse it appears, from skeletal evidence, that the survivors engaged in cannibalism. The survivors from Bermuda had brought few supplies and food with them, and it appeared to all that Jamestown must be abandoned, and it would be necessary to return to England. Samuel Argall
19430-652: The women and children and selling them outside the colony. Allowing enslavement of Indians for damages done to frontiersman had been permitted by the General Assembly in the case of John Powell of Northumberland County. Thus, soon colonists declared war on the nearby natives. By 1669, colonists had patented the land on the west of the Potomac as far north as My Lord's Island (now Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C. ). By 1670, they had driven most of
19575-439: Was also executed, as were Carver , Wilford, and John Johnson. The 71-year-old governor Berkeley returned to the burned capital and his looted Green Spring home at the end of January 1677. His wife described their Green Spring Plantation in a letter to her cousin: It looked like one of those the boys pull down at Shrovetide , and was almost as much to repair as if it had been new to build, and no sign that ever there had been
19720-436: Was captured. Bacon and his followers established a camp at Middle Plantation (modern Williamsburg ) and issued a proclamation declaring Berkeley, Chicheley, Ludwell, Beverley and others traitors, as well as threatened to confiscate their estates unless they surrendered within four days. Bacon also summoned all the leading planters to a conference. Seventy assembled and 69 took three oaths: (1) that they would join with him against
19865-502: Was continually needed for its cultivation. White indentured servants were also common in this region early in its settlement, gradually being replaced by African slaves by the latter half of the seventeenth century due to improved economic conditions in Europe and the resulting decrease in emigration to the Chesapeake region. Indentured servants were people who signed a contract of indenture requiring them to work for their Chesapeake masters for an average of five to seven years, in return for
20010-681: Was defined as: All the land between the Blackwater and York rivers, and up to the navigable point of each of the major rivers – which were connected by a straight line running directly from modern Franklin on the Blackwater, northwesterly to the Appomattoc village beside Fort Henry, and continuing in the same direction to the Monocan village above the falls of the James, where Fort Charles was built, then turning sharp right, to Fort Royal on
20155-485: Was low quality and usually sold to Dutch traders or to the Continental market, English merchants had an oversupply of tobacco by the mid-1600s and its price plummeted. Thus, while the Dutch had paid three pence per pound for tobacco and a small planter could grow 1000 pounds in a year, English traders would only pay a half penny per pound or less. Virginia's governor, William Berkeley , had taken office and sailed to
20300-408: Was named Virginia Dare ( Dare County, North Carolina , was named in her honor), who was among those whose fate is unknown. The word Croatoan was found carved into a tree, the name of a tribe on a nearby island. Following the failure of the previous colonization attempts, England resumed attempts to set up colonies. This time, joint-stock companies were used rather than giving extensive grants to
20445-536: Was signed on 28 May 1677. In October 1677, Jeffreys persuaded the Virginia General Assembly to pass an act of amnesty for all of the participants in Bacon's Rebellion, and levied fines against any citizen of the colony that called another a "traitor" or "rebel." Jeffreys led efforts to rebuild and restore the state house and colonial capital of Jamestown which had been burned and looted during
20590-526: Was spared from destruction because an Indian boy named Chanco learned of the planned attacks from his brother and warned colonist Richard Pace with whom he lived. Pace, after securing himself and his neighbors on the south side of the James River, took a canoe across the river to warn Jamestown, which narrowly escaped destruction. However, there was no time to warn the other settlements. A year later, Captain William Tucker and John Pott worked out
20735-407: Was succeeded by his own younger brother, Opechancanough . On the surface, he maintained friendly relations with the English, negotiating with them through his warrior Nemattanew . Still, by 1622, after Nemattanew had been slain, Opechancanough was ready to order a limited surprise attack on the colonists, hoping to persuade them to move on and settle elsewhere. Chief Opechancanough organized and led
20880-425: Was the captain of one of the seven ships of the third supply that arrived at Jamestown in 1609 after being separated from the Sea Venture , whose fate was unknown. Depositing his passengers and limited supplies, he returned to England with word of the colonists' plight at Jamestown. The king authorized another leader, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr , later better known as "Lord Delaware", to have greater powers, and
21025-400: Was unable to return to the colony because of the war between England and Spain. When he finally did return in 1590, he found the colony abandoned. The houses were intact, but the colonists had disappeared. Although there are numerous theories about the fate of the colony, it remains a mystery and has come to be known as the "Lost Colony" . Two English children were born in this colony; the first
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