Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion or the Virginia Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony, led by Nathaniel Bacon. It was the first rebellion in the American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part; a similar uprising in Maryland occurred later that year.
Plot
By the end of the seventeenth century in the Chesapeake, the elite farmers on the Atlantic coast, called the "tidewater gentry" owned much of the best farmland in the area and exercised political power disproportionate to their numbers, to the discontent of the majority of the population who were small farmers, indentured servants and slaves. Small farmers, being unable to afford the best lands, were drawn to the backcountry lands that were vulnerable to attack by Native Americans. Backcountry farmers also had difficulty moving their goods to markets. Taxes were high, especially on tobacco after 1660. The colonial governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley had levied a new tax for the construction of forts but there was widespread complaint about government corruption and the uselessness of the forts.
Bacon had broad support among the colonists and demanded a commission to raise a militia and fight the Indians. After much political haggling, Bacon was granted the commission and led a campaign against some of the Indians of the frontier. After returning to Jamestown, conflicts arose between Bacon and Berkeley and their followers. The so-called Baconites overpowered the Berkeley faction and the governor then fled to the Eastern Shore. Bacon's followers ravaged the capital for three months, destroying the symbols of the aristocratic gentry and seizing property. A volunteer army was raised, somewhat in the image of the New Model Army of the recent English Civil War. The Baconites plundered Tidewater estates whose owners refused to join them. Few Virginians were able to remain neutral.
A revolutionary government was established, echoing the Commonwealth of England, which had ended 16 years earlier. Bacon died on October 26, 1676, of the "bloody flux" or dysentery. The rebellion continued until several well-armed London-based merchant ships arrived in Virginia, loyal to Berkeley. These were trading ships whose captains were not aware of the rebellion until they arrived. A fleet of the Royal Navy set sail for Virginia upon hearing of the rebellion but would not arrive until several months after the merchant ships. With these merchant ships, cannon and crews, Berkeley was able to put down the rebellion. In the aftermath, before the arrival of the Royal Navy, Berkeley tried and executed many rebels in what began to resemble a reign of terror. When the Royal Navy and Royal Commissioners arrived, Berkeley's revenge campaign was halted and mass pardons were issued. A significant number of rebels fled to the Albemarle Settlements of North Carolina.
Causes
Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion can be attributed to several causes. Economic problems such as declining tobacco prices, growing commercial competition from Maryland and the Carolinas, an increasingly restricted English market and the rising price of English manufactured goods (mercantilism) caused problems for the Virginians. There were many problems caused by weather; several natural disasters including hailstorms, floods, drought and hurricanes rocked the colony in one year. Virginia had also become a haven for Roundheads and Cavaliers during the English Civil War. Bacon's Rebellion was partly an echo of the English Civil War. The revolutionary government established by the Baconites had ties to the republican Commonwealth of England.
In July 1675, a raid by the Doeg group of American Indians on the plantation of Thomas Mathew in the Northern Neck section of Virginia near the Potomac River occurred. Several of the Doegs were killed in the raid, which began over a dispute over the nonpayment of items Mathews had apparently obtained from the tribe. Things got worse when the colonists launched a retaliatory attack but on the wrong tribe - the powerful Susquehannocks - which caused large Indian raids in reprisal.
Berkeley ordered an investigation into the reasons for the attacks, during which he pleaded for restraint on all sides but many Virginians claimed that Berkeley had monopolized the Indian trade and was making large profits from the Indians so found his call for restraint insincere. Nathaniel Bacon, ignored the Governor's orders and seized some friendly Appomattox natives on a charge of stealing corn. He was reprimanded and his fellow farmers were aggrieved at this seemingly one-sided action. In attempting to find a compromise, the Governor called what was known as the Long Assembly which declared war on all the "bad Indians" by setting up a defensive zone around the state. To do this taxes were levied, to the disgust of the frontiersmen, who were already overtaxed. There was an ill-feeling among the middle and lower classes that "favored traders" were allowed to trade with the Indians at the expense of regular traders who had dealt with the Indians for generations.
Bacon came out as leader of those most in opposition to the policies being pursued by Berkeley and he became the elected "general" of a group of local volunteer Indian fighters, having promised to bear the cost of the campaigns. During the campaign against the Indians, the governor nonetheless declared Bacon a rebel.
Bacon and the House of Burgesses
Bacon and his men continued to attack the tribes. Since Bacon's forces outnumbered Berkeley's, the governor was forced into agreeing to issue a pardon if Bacon turned himself in, to be then sent to England for trial before King Charles II of England. Many of the members of the House of Burgesses were sympathetic to Bacon's cause, which led to him being elected a member of the House.
Bacon, by virtue of this election, attended the important Legislative Assembly of June 1676, where he was made to apologize for his previous actions. Berkeley immediately pardoned Bacon and allowed him to take his seat in the assembly. Bacon and his followers were pushing for more than defense against the Indians. They were demanding major reforms to the colonial government. Matters came to a head during a debate on the Indian situation when Bacon and his men surrounded the capitol building in Jamestown and forced the Governor to give in to Bacon's demand for campaigns against the Indians without government interference. This concession was short-lived and when Berkeley reneged on the commission, the rebels took over Jamestown between July 30 (when Bacon issued his Declaration of the People of Virginia) and September 1676.
When Berkeley returned to recapture the town, aided by well-armed London-based merchant ships, Bacon burned it. For a short time Nathaniel Bacon was in charge of Virginia but his success quickly ended. On October 26th, 1676, Bacon died of the "Bloodie Flux" and "Lousey Disease" (body lice). It is thought that his soldiers burned his body because it was never found. Some of the rebels were executed or had their property confiscated. After the Royal Navy and Royal Commissioners arrived, the rebels were allowed to express their grievances and mass pardons were issued. The commissioners realized that the majority of Virginians had supported the rebellion. For the colony of Virginia to survive, compromises had to be made. Berkeley was relieved of the governorship by the Royal Commissioners. He died in England on July 9, 1677.
Effects of the Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion also the Virginia Rebellion was the result of discontent among backcountry farmers who had taken the law into their own hands against government corruption and oppression. Many Virginians were debtors. Borrowing on the strength of paper money was stopped by the British Government, leading to more discontent against the merchant classes. Many of the supporters of the rebellion were indentured servants and slaves, who were a majority of Virginia's population.
Historian Helen Hill Miller has pointed out that one of the most important reforms made during Bacon's government was the recognition of the right to bear arms, so that the common man could defend himself from hostile Indians but also to oppose a despotic regime. After Berkeley's resumption of power, this right was one of the first he repealed. Miller suggests it was Bacon's Rebellion that may have served as one of the motives for later colonists' insistence the right to bear arms. Historian Stephen Saunders Webb goes suggests that Bacon's Rebellion was a revolution, with roots in the English Civil War and with consequences including the American Revolutionary War.
It was largely the slaves, servants and poor farmers many of whom were former indentured servants who rebelled. Before the rebellion, African slaves were rare in Virginia, mainly due to their expense and the lack of slave traders bringing Africans to Virginia. Many Africans were brought as indentured servants, becoming free after serving their term of labor. While indentured servants from Europe continued to play a role in Virginia after the rebellion, African slave imports grew rapidly and new laws made slavery lifelong and passed on to one's children, creating a racially-based class system with Africans at the bottom and even the poorest European indentured servants above. This broke the common interest between the poor English and the Africans of Virginia which had existed during Bacon's Rebellion.
The rebellion strengthened the ties between Virginia south of the James River and the Albemarle Settlements in present-day North Carolina, while creating a long-lasting animosity between the two colonies' governments. The Albemarle region offered refuge for rebels in the aftermath. In the longer term, North Carolina offered an alternative to colonists disenchanted with Virginia.
In culture
The book My Brother, My Enemy is a fictitious tale about Bacon's Rebellion.
The Book "A Different Mirror" by Ronald Takaki. Pages 62-67
See also
References
- John B. Frantz, Bacon's Rebellion: Prologue to the Revolution? (1969), readings
- Lovejoy, David S., "The Virginia Charter and Bacon's Rebellion," The Glorious Revolution in America (1972), 32-52.
- Edmund Sears Morgan, "Rebellion," in American Slavery, American Freedom:The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (New York: Norton, 1975), 250-70.
- W. E. Washburn, The Governor and the Rebel (1957, repr. 1967).
- T. J. Wertenbaker, Torchbearer of the Revolution (1940, rpt. 1965)
- T. J. Wertenbaker Bacon's Rebellion, 1676 (1957)
- Paul Johnson, "A History of the American People" (1997), 77-78
- Webb, Stephen Saunders, "1676 - The End of American Independence." (New York: 1984).
Trivia
In Surry County, the Allen family's circa 1665 brick home became known as "Bacon's Castle" because it was occupied as a fort or "castle" in 1676 during Bacon's Rebellion. Contrary to popular folklore, Nathaniel Bacon never lived at Bacon's Castle nor is even known to have occupied it. Nathaniel Bacon was the proprietor of Curles Neck Plantation in Henrico County, about 30 miles upriver on the northern bank of the James River.
The tragedy, The Widow Ranter; or, The History of Bacon in Virginia, by Aphra Behn (1689) presents an extremely romanticized version of the story.