1. Nathaniel Bradford of Accomack County, Virginia - Lower ...

Mathews’ lack of payment for certain items he had purchased from the tribe. When the colonists executed
their own raid in retaliation they killed some Susquehannock as well as Doeg, and in revenge for this attack
the Susquehannocks began to conduct raids against the colonists, and to involve allied tribes. The war grew
more serious, and the threat to the inhabitants of the outlying regions was real. In an effort to make peace,
Governor Berkeley set up a meeting between the colonists of the Northern Neck and the Susquehannocks
in which several tribal chiefs were murdered, leading to more mistrust and anger on both sides, and more
violence. In an attempt to control the situation, the government made efforts both to restrain the colonists
and to pacify the Indians. In March 1676, the Assembly declared war on certain tribes and set up a military
zone on the border; it also passed laws regulating trade with the Indians, probably in an effort to prevent
events like the one at Mathews’ plantation which could so easily spiral out of control. To many colonists
these measures seemed an onerous burden which had nothing to do with the fight against the Indians. All
men probably felt the sting of the higher taxes which were necessary to support the colony’s heightened
state of defenses. And those residents of the outlying areas who felt the brunt of the Indian incursions must
have wondered what good any laws, taxes or regulations were which failed to protect them. A source of
particular bitterness was the fact that William Berkeley and many other leaders of the colony had a great
personal stake in the Indian trade, a fact which led some to allege that the government’s regulation of the
Indian trade was effected more from a desire for material gain than in the spirit of a wise policy.
The point normally fixed as the beginning of the rebellion is the moment when Nathaniel Bacon, a recent
immigrant and member of the governor’s council, took command of an extralegal militia of volunteers.
These men had determined to fight the Indians themselves since they felt the protection of the regular
colonial forces to be insufficient, and they elected Bacon their leader. Bacon quickly took action with this
force against the Pumunkeys, a tribe living near his own estates, and promised more action to come. To
subdue Bacon’s extralegal army Berkeley rode personally to Bacon’s headquarters with a troop of
horseman, but Bacon was able to flee with his men before Berkeley’s arrival. The Governor declared
Bacon a rebel and removed him from the Council, at the same time promising a new election of burgesses
to the Assembly in order to air and settle all grievances. Bacon himself, popular with his neighbors thanks
to his exploits, was elected to the Assembly for this session, but instead of being allowed to sit with the
burgesses he was captured. After his capture, Bacon acknowledged the error of his ways and for such
contrition was reinstated to the council. He then absented himself for most of the sessions of the Assembly
which followed. However, near the end of the Assembly’s term Bacon reappeared in Jamestown with a
troop of 500 men and forced the burgesses to give him command over the government’s forces being raised
against the Indians. This the Assembly did and, having apparently gotten what he came for, Bacon departed
to wage war. However, while on campaign Bacon learned that Berkeley had again declared him a rebel and
was plotting his capture. Speedily Bacon returned to the Capital with his men to confront the Governor, but
when he arrived found that Berkeley had fled to the eastern shore, which now became a kind of capital of
the government-in-exile.
Page 41 of 74 Copyright 2008 Adam M. Bradford