ny of them and destroying their towns,
Berkeley repudiated all he had done. He proclaimed Bacon a rebel and
traitor and issued a summons for the train-bands to the number of twelve
hundred men, bidding them pursue and put down Bacon the rebel. The men
assembled, but when they heard for what they were wanted they broke out
into a shout of "Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!" and dispersed again, leaving the
old tyrant and his attendants alone. News of these events quickly
reached Bacon and his men in the field. He at once turned and marched
back.

"While I am hunting wolves which are destroying innocent lambs," he
exclaimed, indignantly, "here are the governor and his men after me like
hounds in full cry. I am like one between two millstones, which will
grind me to powder if I do not look to it."

As he came near Jamestown the governor fled, crossing Chesapeake Bay to
Accomac, and leaving Bacon in full possession. A new House of Burgesses
was called into session and Bacon's men pledged themselves not to lay
down their arms. Sir William had sent to England for soldiers, they
said, and they would stand ready to fight these soldiers, as they had
fought the governor. A paper to this effect was drawn up and signed,
dated August, 1676. It was the first American declaration of
independence.

[Illustration: JAMESTOWN RUIN.]

The tide of rebellion was now in full flow. The movement against the
Indians had, by the unwarranted behavior of the governor, been converted
into civil war, nearly the whole colony supporting Bacon and demanding
that the tyrant governor should be deposed.

But, while this was going on, the Indians took to the war-path again,
and Bacon at once marched against them, leaving Sir William to his own
devices. His first movement was against the Appomattox tribe, which
dwelt on the river of the same name, where Petersburg now stands. Taking
them by surprise, he burned their town, killed many of them, and
dispersed the remainder. Then he marched south and attacked other
tribes, driving them before him and punishing them so severely as quite
to cure them of all desire to meddle with the whites.

From that time forward Eastern Virginia was free from Indian troubles,
and Bacon was looked upon as the deliverer of the colony. But lack of
provisions forced him to return and disband his forces, only a few men
remaining with him. He soon learned that he had a worse enemy than the
Indians to fight at home. Some of his leading suppo