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, . , in short what wee did in that<br />
short time and poor condition wee were in was to destroy the King of the Susquahamocks<br />
and the King of Oconogee (i.e., Occaneechee} and the Manakin<br />
King with a IOO men, besides what (was?} unknown to us. The King's<br />
daughter wee took Prisonner with some others and could have brought more,<br />
But in the heat of the Fight wee regarded not the advantage of the Prisoners<br />
nor any plunder, but burn't and destroid all. And what we reckon most material!<br />
is That wee have left all nations of Indians [where wee have bin)<br />
ingaged in a civil1 warre amongst themselves, soe that with great ease wee<br />
hope to manadge this advantage to their utter Ruine and destruction.<br />
--from Nathaniel Bacon's report on<br />
the 1676 expedition against the Indians<br />
too soft, almost treasonous; he believed in wiping out all Bacon's force should rest while the Occaneeche would<br />
Indians, including allied and subject Indians. As he put it defeat the Susquehannock for them. Naturally, Bacon<br />
in his "Manifesto": "Our Design " was "to ruin and extir- agreed. Using treachery the Occaneeche overran the Suspate<br />
all Indians in General". Thus did Bacon's Rebellion quehannock, killing some thirty of them. The surviving<br />
define its main program. This was a classic settler liberal- prisoners were either publicly executed or given to Bacon<br />
conservative debate, which still echoes into our own times, as slaves.<br />
like that between Robert F. Kennedy vs. George Wallace,<br />
O.E.O. vs. KKK, C.I.A. vs. F.B.I., and so on.<br />
But this did not end the battle, for Bacon and his<br />
vigilante band had really come to kill and enslave all the<br />
Bacon had been denied a militia officer's commis- Indians. The Occaneeche were rumored to have a store of<br />
sion by Gov. Berkeley on the grounds that he refused to beaver furs worth some d 1,000. At least some of Bacon's<br />
follow British policy. But in May, 1676, Bacon refused to men later confessed "that the great designe was to gett the<br />
be blocked by Gov. Berkeley any longer. He had become a beaver ..." In any case, Bacon demanded that the Occharismatic<br />
leader among the frontier settlers, and he and caneeche give him all the loot from the Susquehannock<br />
his neighbors were determined to reach a "Final Solution" camp plus additional friendly Indians as slaves. Even at<br />
to their Indian problem. This was an increasingly popular that, the servile Occaneeche leader tried to temporize, ofprogram<br />
among the settler masses, since it also promised fering to give him hostages. Suddenly Bacon's force<br />
to end their economic depression by a new round of assaulted the unprepared Occaneeche. Most of the Indians<br />
looting Indian lands and goods. Nothing raises more en- inside the fort were killed, although they did stand off the<br />
thusiasm among Euro-Amerikan settlers than attacking settler assault. The surprised Occaneeche outside their fort<br />
people of color-they embrace it as something between a were helpless, however. As Bacon proudly reported, his<br />
team sport and a national religion. Thus did the Rebellion heroic settler comrades 'yell upon the men, woemen and<br />
win over the settler masses. children without, disarmed and destroid them all ..."<br />
Bacon's Rebellion had won its first important victory, and<br />
In May, 1676, word came to the settlers on the he and his men marched homeward, loaded with loot and<br />
frontier from their Occaneechee Indian allies that a band new slaves, as heroes.<br />
of Susquehannock had camped near the Occaneechee fort<br />
on the Roanoke River. Bacon and his friends formed a Bacon was now the most popular figure in the<br />
vigilante group, against government orders, and promptly Virginia Colony, famed and respected as an Indian killer.<br />
rode off to begin their war against all Indians. This marks Berkeley's refusal to grant him a military commission<br />
the beginning of Bacon's Rebellion.<br />
meant nothing, for Bacon was acclaimed as "The Peoples'<br />
General". He, much more than any Governor or Coun-<br />
When Bacon and his men arrived at the Oc- cilor, commanded the loyalty of the settler masses. Nor did<br />
caneeche fort they were exhausted, out of food, and clearly he find any trouble attracting armed volunteers to do his<br />
in no shape to fight. The fawning Occaneeche treated the bidding. Wiping out and looting all the Indians around<br />
settlers to a festive dinner. They even proposed that 14 was a program many whites could relate to, particularly