Settlers - San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center

, . , in short what wee did in that
short time and poor condition wee were in was to destroy the King of the Susquahamocks
and the King of Oconogee (i.e., Occaneechee} and the Manakin
King with a IOO men, besides what (was?} unknown to us. The King's
daughter wee took Prisonner with some others and could have brought more,
But in the heat of the Fight wee regarded not the advantage of the Prisoners
nor any plunder, but burn't and destroid all. And what we reckon most material!
is That wee have left all nations of Indians [where wee have bin)
ingaged in a civil1 warre amongst themselves, soe that with great ease wee
hope to manadge this advantage to their utter Ruine and destruction.
--from Nathaniel Bacon's report on
the 1676 expedition against the Indians
too soft, almost treasonous; he believed in wiping out all Bacon's force should rest while the Occaneeche would
Indians, including allied and subject Indians. As he put it defeat the Susquehannock for them. Naturally, Bacon
in his "Manifesto": "Our Design " was "to ruin and extir- agreed. Using treachery the Occaneeche overran the Suspate
all Indians in General". Thus did Bacon's Rebellion quehannock, killing some thirty of them. The surviving
define its main program. This was a classic settler liberal- prisoners were either publicly executed or given to Bacon
conservative debate, which still echoes into our own times, as slaves.
like that between Robert F. Kennedy vs. George Wallace,
O.E.O. vs. KKK, C.I.A. vs. F.B.I., and so on.
But this did not end the battle, for Bacon and his
vigilante band had really come to kill and enslave all the
Bacon had been denied a militia officer's commis- Indians. The Occaneeche were rumored to have a store of
sion by Gov. Berkeley on the grounds that he refused to beaver furs worth some d 1,000. At least some of Bacon's
follow British policy. But in May, 1676, Bacon refused to men later confessed "that the great designe was to gett the
be blocked by Gov. Berkeley any longer. He had become a beaver ..." In any case, Bacon demanded that the Occharismatic
leader among the frontier settlers, and he and caneeche give him all the loot from the Susquehannock
his neighbors were determined to reach a "Final Solution" camp plus additional friendly Indians as slaves. Even at
to their Indian problem. This was an increasingly popular that, the servile Occaneeche leader tried to temporize, ofprogram
among the settler masses, since it also promised fering to give him hostages. Suddenly Bacon's force
to end their economic depression by a new round of assaulted the unprepared Occaneeche. Most of the Indians
looting Indian lands and goods. Nothing raises more en- inside the fort were killed, although they did stand off the
thusiasm among Euro-Amerikan settlers than attacking settler assault. The surprised Occaneeche outside their fort
people of color-they embrace it as something between a were helpless, however. As Bacon proudly reported, his
team sport and a national religion. Thus did the Rebellion heroic settler comrades 'yell upon the men, woemen and
win over the settler masses. children without, disarmed and destroid them all ..."
Bacon's Rebellion had won its first important victory, and
In May, 1676, word came to the settlers on the he and his men marched homeward, loaded with loot and
frontier from their Occaneechee Indian allies that a band new slaves, as heroes.
of Susquehannock had camped near the Occaneechee fort
on the Roanoke River. Bacon and his friends formed a Bacon was now the most popular figure in the
vigilante group, against government orders, and promptly Virginia Colony, famed and respected as an Indian killer.
rode off to begin their war against all Indians. This marks Berkeley's refusal to grant him a military commission
the beginning of Bacon's Rebellion.
meant nothing, for Bacon was acclaimed as "The Peoples'
General". He, much more than any Governor or Coun-
When Bacon and his men arrived at the Oc- cilor, commanded the loyalty of the settler masses. Nor did
caneeche fort they were exhausted, out of food, and clearly he find any trouble attracting armed volunteers to do his
in no shape to fight. The fawning Occaneeche treated the bidding. Wiping out and looting all the Indians around
settlers to a festive dinner. They even proposed that 14 was a program many whites could relate to, particularly