Bacon’s Revolt on Jamestown, Va. And the Virginia Governor Bacon's revolt which started in 1676 didn’t actually start with Bacon, but rather in a planter and merchant along the Potomac River in Virginia named Thomas Mathew in 1675. Mathew and a local Doeg Indian tribe had a trading dispute which triggered a chain of events that would cause havoc among the early colonialist. In an article written by James Douglas Rice for the Encyclopedia Virginia, Rice points out that the events along the Potomac River not only started an eventual revolt but also started two different wars as well. A war against both enemy and ally Native Americans as well as a civil war against the loyalists of the Governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley. (Rice, 2014)
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The disagreement resulted in the Doeg raiding Mathew’s plantation where several Indians were killed as well as one of Mathew’s cattle hands. With the Indian raid on the plantation, local frustrations mounting over the economy ranging from competition with neighboring states Maryland and the Carolinas in growing tobacco, to a weather pattern that was extremely unfavorable to the years crops, many of the colonialists took out their anger on the local Indian tribes. With the raid on the Mathew Plantation taking place the Virginia militia tracked the Doeg back to their cabin where they attacked them. In the process of the attack on the Doeg, the militia attacked a separate cabin with a group of innocent Indians from the Susquehannock tribe. The Susquehannock Indians retaliated after the attack on them from the militia. They began raiding the Virginia lands. With a full-scale war taking place between colonist and the Indian tribes, the people of Virginia started debating on how to fight the war. The Governor at the time was Sir William Berkeley and his plan was to build forts and send out patrols throughout the land. Many disagreed completely on this method. The attitude towards the Native American population was growing more unfriendly by the day. Even the local Indians living inside the colonies were losing the trust and were deemed enemies by …show more content…
They demanded that the Governor put together an army to fight the Indians, but Berkeley couldn’t get enough men together. Bacon took matters into his own hands and raised a volunteer army and began attacking the Indians again. This did not sit well with the Governor who was trying to play both sides by keeping his trade options open with the Indians and making the population feel safe from murderous Indians. Tensions between Bacon and the governor almost came to a bloody end after Bacon was expelled from the council for the second time. He and his army marched back into Jamestown and in front of the statehouse, a dramatic scene unfolded. Berkeley came outside to confront Bacon and in doing so literally bared his chest yelling for Bacon to shoot him. (TARTER,
The disagreement resulted in the Doeg raiding Mathew’s plantation where several Indians were killed as well as one of Mathew’s cattle hands. With the Indian raid on the plantation, local frustrations mounting over the economy ranging from competition with neighboring states Maryland and the Carolinas in growing tobacco, to a weather pattern that was extremely unfavorable to the years crops, many of the colonialists took out their anger on the local Indian tribes. With the raid on the Mathew Plantation taking place the Virginia militia tracked the Doeg back to their cabin where they attacked them. In the process of the attack on the Doeg, the militia attacked a separate cabin with a group of innocent Indians from the Susquehannock tribe. The Susquehannock Indians retaliated after the attack on them from the militia. They began raiding the Virginia lands. With a full-scale war taking place between colonist and the Indian tribes, the people of Virginia started debating on how to fight the war. The Governor at the time was Sir William Berkeley and his plan was to build forts and send out patrols throughout the land. Many disagreed completely on this method. The attitude towards the Native American population was growing more unfriendly by the day. Even the local Indians living inside the colonies were losing the trust and were deemed enemies by …show more content…
They demanded that the Governor put together an army to fight the Indians, but Berkeley couldn’t get enough men together. Bacon took matters into his own hands and raised a volunteer army and began attacking the Indians again. This did not sit well with the Governor who was trying to play both sides by keeping his trade options open with the Indians and making the population feel safe from murderous Indians. Tensions between Bacon and the governor almost came to a bloody end after Bacon was expelled from the council for the second time. He and his army marched back into Jamestown and in front of the statehouse, a dramatic scene unfolded. Berkeley came outside to confront Bacon and in doing so literally bared his chest yelling for Bacon to shoot him. (TARTER,