THE GRAND REBELLION IN VIRGINIA. 227 XIV. Jamestown. The trumpet sounds defiance; and, CHAP. under the mild light of a September moon, a rude intrenchment is thrown up. Civil war was begun. 1676. Night, the season, nature, freedom, all, demanded peace. If the New World could not create friendship among the outcasts from Europe, were not the woods wide enough to hide men from each other's anger? Victory did not hesitate. The followers of Berkeley were too cowardly to succeed in a sally; and to secure plunder they made grounds to desert.2 No considerable service was done, except by the seamen. What availed the passionate fury and desperate courage of a brave and irascible old man? The royalists deserted the town, and escaped in their fleet by night. On the morning after the retreat, Bacon entered the little capital of Virginia. There lay the ashes of Gosnold; there the gallant Smith had told the tale of his adventures of romance; there English wives had been offered for sale to eager colonists; there Pocahontas had sported in the simplicity of innocence. For nearly seventy years, it had been the abode of Anglo-Saxons. But could Bacon retain possession of the town? And should he abandon it as a strong-hold for the enemies of his country? The rumor prevailed that a party of royalists from the northern counties was drawing near. In a council of war, it was resolved to burn Jamestown, the only town in Virginia, that no shelter might remain for an enemy. Should troops arrive from England, every man was ordered to retire into the wilderness. Tyrants would hardly chase the 1 Burwell Account, 53, 54. 2 Review, in Burk, ii. 252. 3 For the motive, Cotton, p. 8, and T. M.'s Account, p. 21. "The rogues should harbor no men there." 228 THE GRAND REBELLION IN VIRGINIA. CHAP. planters into their scattered homes, among the woods. XIV. And, as the shades of night descended, the village 1676. was set on fire. Two of the best houses belonged to Lawrence and Drummond; each of them, with his own hand, kindled the flames that were to lay his dwelling in ashes.1 The little church, the oldest in the Dominion, the newly-erected statehouse, were consumed. In the darkness of night, the conflagration blazed high in the air, and was seen by the fleet that lay at anchor twenty miles below the town. Virginia offered its only village as a victim for its freedom. Patriots fired their own houses, lest they should harbor enemies to their country. Thus fell Jamestown; the ruins of the tower of the church, and the memorials in the adjacent grave-yard, are all that mark for the stranger the peninsula of Jamestown.3 From the smoking ruins, Bacon hastened to meet the royalists from the Rappahannock. No engage'ment ensued; the troops in a body joined the patriot party; and Brent, their royalist leader, was left at the mercy of the insurgents. Even the inhabitants of Gloucester, the most loyal county in Virginia, were induced to take the engagement. Nothing remained but to cross the bay, and revolutionize the eastern shore. The little army of Bacon had been exposed, by night, to the damp dews of the lowlands; and the evening air of the balmy autumn was laden with death. Bacon himself suddenly sickened; his vital energies vainly struggled with the uncertain disease, and on the first 1 T. M.'s Account, 21. ning rashly ventures the conjec 2 Review, in Burk, ii. 252, and ture, ii. 374. Yet in 1680, Hening, Burwell Account, 54. 3 Hawks's Contributions, 20. ii. 460, his death is called "infamous and exemplary;" and, in 1677, Hening, ii. 374, it is called THE GRAND REBELLION IN VIRGINIA. 229 XIV. day of October he died. Seldom has a political leader CHAP. been more honored by his friends "Who is there now, said they, "to plead our cause? His eloquence could 1676. animate the coldest hearts; his pen and sword alike compelled the admiration of his foes, and it was but their own guilt that styled him a criminal. His name must bleed for a season; but when time shall bring to Virginia truth crowned with freedom, and safe against danger, posterity shall sound his praises."1 An uneducated people obeys promptly the first call to action for freedom; it is less capable of union and The death of Bacon left his party perseverance. without a head. A series of petty insurrections followed; but in Robert Beverley the royalists found an agent superior to any of the remaining insurgents. The ships in the river were at his disposal, and a continued warfare in detail restored the supremacy of the governor. Thomas Hansford, a native Virginian, was the first partisan leader whom Beverley surprised. Young, gay, and gallant, nursed among the forests of the Old Dominion, fond of amusement, not indifferent to pleasure, impatient of restraint, keenly sensitive to honor, fearless of death, and passionately fond of the land that had given him birth, he was a true representative of the Virginia character. Summoned before 13. "just, and most exemplary." In "Virginia's foes, dreading their just desert, And a royalist, in reply, p. 59, does "Then how can it be counted for a sin, bribed been, To guide the fatal shaft? We honor all, 1 In the old chronicle, p. 59- In deserved measures, until time shall bring To sound his praises to posterity." Nov. 230 XIV. THE GRAND REBELLION IN VIRGINIA. CHAP. the vindictive Berkeley, he disdained to shrink from the malice of destiny, and Berkeley condemned him to 1676. be hanged. Neither at his trial nor afterwards did he show any diminution of fortitude. He demanded no favor, but that "he might be shot like a soldier, and not hanged like a dog." "You die," it was answered, "not as a soldier, but as a rebel." During the short respite after sentence, his soul was filled with the prospect of immortality. Reviewing his life, he expressed penitence for every sin. What was charged on him as rebellion, he denied to have been a sin. "Take notice," said he, as he came to the gallows, "I die a loyal subject and a lover of my country." That country was Virginia. Hansford perished, the first native of America, on the gallows, a martyr to the right of the people to govern themselves.' Taking advantage of their naval superiority, a party of royalists entered York River, and surprised the troops that were led by Edmund Cheesman and Thomas Wilford. The latter, a younger son of a royalist knight, who had fallen in the wars for Charles I., a truly brave man, and now by his industry a successful emigrant, lost an eye in the skirmish. "Were I stark blind," said he, "the governor would afford me a guide to the gallows." When Cheesman was arraigned for trial, Berkeley demanded, "Why did you engage in Bacon's designs?" Before the prisoner could frame an answer, his wife, a young woman, stepped forward:-"My provocations" -such were her words" made my húsband join in the cause for which Bacon contended; but for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is 1 Burwell Account, 62. Cotton, 9. Hening, iii. 567. 4 THE GRAND REBELLION IN VIRGINIA. 231 XIV. done," she added, falling on her knees, "was done by CHAP. my means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment; let me be hanged, but let my husband be 1676. pardoned." She spoke truth: but the governor angrily cried, "Away!" adding reproach to the purity of her nuptial bed. Proud insolence! As if woman would die for one she had dishonored!1 As the power of Berkeley increased, his passions were whetted by the opportunity of indulgence. Nothing is so merciless as offended pride; a former affront is remembered as proof of weakness; and it seeks to restore self-esteem by a flagrant exercise of recovered power. Avarice also found delight in fines and confiscations; no sentiment of clemency was tolerated. From fear that a jury would bring in verdicts of acquittal, men were hurried to death from courts martial.2 On meeting William Drummond, 1677. Berkeley could not repress his exultation. "You are very welcome," he cried, with a low bow; "I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia; you shall be hanged in half an hour." The patriot, avowing boldly the part he had acted, was condemned at one o'clock, and hanged at four. His children and wife were driven from their home, to depend on the charity of the planters. At length it was deemed safe to resort to the civil tribunal, where the judges proceeded with the virulence of accusers. Of those who put themselves on trial, none escaped being convicted and hanged. A panic paralyzed the juries, there was in most men so much guilt or fear. What 1 Burwell Account, 64. He- ii. 370, 546, 558. Burk, i. 201, ning, ii. 375. Cotton, 9. 263, 264, 266. 2 True Account, in Burk, ii. 254. 3 Bonds, &c. pp. 87 and 111. Burwell Account, 79. Hening, 4 True Account, in Burk, ii. 255. N. B. Let the reader not be led astray by the very ridiculous error Jan. 20. |