Bacon's Rebellion

Nathaniel Bacon was a settler who came to Virginia in 1674. He became a farmer but was not satisfied by the way that the governor, William Berkley, ran Jamestown.

Jamestown was at this point one of the world's largest exporters of tobacco, and this continuous sale of the plant lowered prices, affecting the poor tobacco farmers. Berkley was constantly trying to help his rich planter friends and the natives at the same time while sacrificing the poor colonists' interests.

Bacon wanted to do something about this, so he attacked a friendly tribe, accusing them of stealing his corn. He asked Berkley to summon a militia so that they could fight the tribe for them to stop “stealing peoples' things”. Berkley refused, which messed up his plans, enraging him.

This made Bacon start his militia, and he used it to attack the Susquehannock tribe. Bacon was helped by the Occaneechi tribe, and “repaid” them by slaughtering most of their people and destroying their village.

When returning to Jamestown, Bacon was labeled a rebel by the governor, but he was elected to the legislative body soon after. Later, Bacon tried to start a new campaign against the Native Americans, and was kicked out of the legislative body by the governor.

Bacon kept trying to start a war with the Natives, but the governor kept refusing him. He traveled around Virginia, gaining more supporters and destroying Native villages. Meanwhile, Berkley was also gathering supporters. This all came to a head in Jamestown, when the governor condemned Bacon for rebellion.

Because of this, the aforementioned Nathaniel Bacon rushed Jamestown with his mob, and promptly burned it down, looting as they went. Word of this rebellion eventually reached the Crown, but one day before Charles II's proclamation of the rebellion, Bacon died of dysentery and his rebellion fell apart.