questioning the wisdom of Bacon’s action, for
they began deserting him in droves. With his
defenses beginning to unravel, Bacon ordered
Jamestown abandoned—although the town
was callously burned to the ground before-
hand. He also began recruiting from the ranks
of indentured servants and African American
slaves to bolster his flagging forces. These
moves shocked many colonists into rejoining
Governor Berkeley’s camp, whose forces had
reoccupied the remnants of Jamestown in an-
ticipation of campaigning inland. Fortunately,
Virginia was spared the specter of further vio-
lence when, on October 26, 1676, Bacon died
suddenly of dysentery. His successors were
far less capable in cobbling together the dis-
contented factions, and by January 1677 the
rebellion had petered out.
Order had finally been restored to Virginia,
but repercussions ensued for all involved.
Surviving rebel leaders were summarily exe-
cuted and their property confiscated by the
ruling elites, actions that did little to endear
them to the lower classes. Furthermore, in
the spring of 1677 several British ships ar-
rived bearing 1,000 soldiers sent by King
Charles II to restore order. These were the
first-ever regular British soldiers to be sta-
tioned in the colonies, however briefly, but a
precedent had been set. Moreover, their com-
mander, Sir Herbert Jeffreys, carried a royal
commission of investigation. Having as-
sessed Berkeley’s behavior as arbitrary and
provocative, he dismissed the governor and
returned him to England for possible trial.
Thus, Berkeley’s unbroken tenure of 36 years
as governor ended under a cloud, and he died
before his reputation could be cleared. Jef-
freys subsequently appointed himself gover-
nor and attempted to hear grievances and
make reparations, but the bitterness engen-
dered by Bacon’s Rebellion endured for
years. Apparently, the rebel leader and his
followers espoused little ideology beyond
helping themselves to the property of Loyal-
ist opponents. For this reason, historians re-
main in disagreement over assessing Bacon’s
Rebellion as an attempt to address genuine
economic grievances—and thereby a precur-
sor to the American Revolution a century
hence—or simply as the actions of an rabble-
rousing opportunist.Bibliography
Franz, John B. Bacon’s Rebellion: Prologue to the Revo-
lution?Lexington, MA: Heath, 1969; Middlekauff,
Robert, ed. Bacon’s Rebellion.Chicago: Rand Mc-
Nally, 1964; Powell, Phelan. Governor William
Berkeley. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000;
Roundtree, Helen C. Pocohantas’ People: The
Powhattan Indians of Virginia Through Four Cen-
turies.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990;
Shea, William L. The Virginia Militia in the Seven-
teenth Century.Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Uni-
versity Press, 1983; Sprinkle, John H. “Loyalists and
Baconians: The Participants in Bacon’s Rebellion in
Virginia, 1676–1677.” Unpublished Ph.D. disserta-
tion, College of William and Mary, 1992; Tisdale, D.
A., and Don W. Barnes. Soldiers of the Virginia
Colony, 1607–1699: A Study of Virginia’s Militia,
Its Origins, Tactics, Equipment, and Development.
Richmond, VA: Dietz, 2000; Washburn, Wilcomb E.
The Governor and the Rebel: A History of Bacon’s
Rebellion in Virginia.Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1957; Webb, Stephen S. 1676:
The End of American Independence.New York:
Knopf, 1984.BACON, NATHANIEL