6}

He applied to the governor for a commission appointing him general to
prosecute the war against the Indians. A temporising policy being
pursued, he entered Jamestown at the head of six hundred armed men,
and obtained all he demanded, from an intimidated government. No
sooner had he withdrawn from the capital than the governor, at the
request of the assembly which was then in session, issued a
proclamation declaring him a rebel, and commanding his followers to
deliver him up, and to retire to their respective homes. Bacon and his
army, equally incensed at this piece of impotent indiscretion,
returned to Jamestown, and the governor fled to Accomack.

The general of the insurgents called a convention of his friends, who
inveighed against the governor, for having, without cause, endeavoured
to foment a civil war in the country, and after failing in this
attempt, for having abdicated the government, to the great
astonishment of the people. They stated farther that, the governor
having informed the King "that their commander and his followers were
rebellious, and having advised his majesty to send forces to reduce
them, it consisted with the welfare of the colony, and with their
allegiance to his sacred majesty, to oppose and suppress all forces
whatsoever until the King be fully informed of the state of the case
by such persons as shall be sent by Nathaniel Bacon in behalf of the
people." This extraordinary manifesto was concluded with the
recommendation of an oath, first taken by the members of the
convention, to join the general and his army against the common enemy
in all points whatever; and to endeavour to discover and apprehend
such evil disposed persons as design to create a civil war by raising
forces against him, and the army under his command.

[Sidenote: His death.]

In the mean time, the governor collected a considerable force which
crossed the bay under the command of major Robert Beverly, and several
sharp skirmishes were fought. A civil war was commenced; agriculture
declined; Jamestown was burnt by the insurgents; those parts of the
country which remained in peace were pillaged; and the wives of those
who supported the government were carried to camp, where they were
very harshly treated. Virginia was relieved from this threatening
state of things, and from the increasing calamities it portended, by
the sudden death of Bacon.

{1677}

Having lost their leader, the malcontents were incapable of far