The Story of Jamestown (continued)
BRICK ARCHITECTURE. When Governor Harvey reached
Jamestown in January 1637 he made a special effort to promote the growth
of the town. The assembly passed an act offering a "portion of land for
a house and garden" to every person who would undertake to build on it
within 2 years. This was the beginning of considerable activity at
Jamestown. A number of new patents were issued, and, in January 1639,
the governor and his council could report that 12 houses and stores had
been constructed and others had been begun. One of those already built
was the house of Richard Kemp, secretary of the colony. His house was
described as "one of brick" and "the fairest ever known in this country
for substance and uniformity. " Kemp's house is the earliest all-brick
house in Virginia that it has been possible to date conclusively up to
the present time. It was in 1639, too, that the first brick church was
begun, and a levy was collected for the acquisition of a statehouse.
Among the new land holders at Jamestown in this period of activity were
Capt. Thomas Hill, Rev. Thomas Hampton, and Alexander Stoner, a
"brick-maker." As the area along the river was occupied, additional
patentees obtained holdings just outside of the town proper and others
settled in the few lots that were not in use. Sir William Berkeley, who
became governor in 1641, continued the emphasis on the construction of
substantial houses. In that same year, the colony acquired its first
state house, formerly the property of Harvey and a building in which
public business had been transacted for, perhaps, as much as 10
years.
In March 1646, measures were taken to discourage the
sale of liquors on the island, and a system of licensed ordinary keepers
was adopted. Later in the year, houses for the encouragement of linen
manufacture were projected for Jamestown. In 1649, the General Assembly
established a market and near the market area was the landing for the
ferry that ran across the James to Surry County. Even this new action,
however, failed to develop a town of any great extent. The same was true
of the Act of 1662 which attempted to encourage a substantial building
program for the capital town. Only a few houses were erected before the
new impetus had spent itself, and, in 1676, it is known that the town
was still little more than a large village. One of the more detailed
descriptions at this time relates that "The Towne . . . [extended] east
and west, about 3 quarters of a mile . . . [and] comprehended som[e] 16
or 18 houses, most as is the church built of brick, faire and large; and
in them about a dozen families (for all the howses are not inhabited)
getting their liveings by keeping of ordnaries, at extreordnary
rates."
THE COMMONWEALTH PERIOD. The decade of 165060
corresponds to the period of the Commonwealth Government in England.
Virginia, for the most part, appeared loyal to the crown, yet in 1652
the colony submitted to the new government when it demonstrated its
power before Jamestown. Governor Berkeley withdrew to his home at Green
Spring, just above Jamestown, and the General Assembly assumed the
governing role, acting under the Parliament of England. Virginia was
given liberal treatment, with considerable freedom in taxation and
matters of government. The governors in this interval, elected by the
assembly, were Richard Bennett, Edward Digges (an active supporter of
the production of silk in Virginia), and Samuel Mathews. In 1660, on the
death of Mathews, the assembly recalled Berkeley to the governor's
office, an act that was approved by Charles II, who was restored to the
English throne in that year. The decade passed quietly for the colony,
although, in the years that followed, it had occasion to remember the
liberal control that it had enjoyed. It had witnessed an increased wave
of immigration that brought some of those who were fleeing from England,
and this more than offset the loss of the Puritans whom Berkeley had
forced out of the colony prior to 1650.
In matters of religion, Virginia continued loyal to
the Church of England, although there was considerable freedom for the
individual. The Puritans found it uncomfortable to remain, however, and
two Quaker preachers, William Cole and George Wilson, soon found
themselves in prison at Jamestown. Writing "From that dirty dungeon in
Jamestown," in 1662, they described the prison as a place ". . . where
we have not the benefit to do what nature requireth, nor so much as air,
to blow in at a window, but close made up with brick and lime . . ."
Lord Baltimore (George Calvert) did not find the colony hospitable when
he visited Jamestown with his family in 1629, for, being a Roman
Catholic, he could not take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy which
denied the authority of the Pope.
BACON'S REBELLION, 167677. Bacon's Rebellion,
one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the English
colonies, stands out as a highlight in 17th-century Virginia. It broke
in spectacular fashion and is often hailed as a forerunner of the
Revolution. It constituted the only serious civil disturbance
experienced by Virginia during its entire life as a British colony. It
occupies a prominent spot in the annals of the times, and in any
chronicle of Jamestown its significance can be multiplied many times,
for a number of its stirring events took place at the seat of government
and resulted in excessive physical destruction in the town.
The rebellion had its origin in Indian frontier
difficulties and a royal Governor (Sir William Berkeley) who, possibly
as a result of his involvement in the Indian trade, had become somewhat
dictatorial, tyrannical, and a firm advocate of the status quo.
The leader for the exposed frontiersmen and the generally disgruntled
Virginians came in the person of Nathaniel Bacon, a young man of good
birth, training, and education who had come to Virginia in 1674. A
distant kinsman of Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon and a relative of
another Nathaniel Bacon, who was a leading citizen of Virginia, he soon
became established as a first-rate planter at Curles, in Henrico County,
and was admitted to the Governor's Council not long after his
arrival.
Considerable underlying discontent had been aroused
in Virginia by the low prices for tobacco, the cumulative effects of the
Navigation Acts, high taxes, and autocratic rule by Berkeley, whose
loyal supporters permeated the government structure and had not allowed
an election of burgesses for 15 years. The spark came from the
depredations of the Susquehanna Indians who were being forced south by
the powerful Iroquois. They made attacks all along the Virginia
frontier. Berkeley ordered a counterattack, but cancelled it in favor of
maintaining a system of forts along the edge of the western settlements.
In March 1676, the Assembly at Jamestown made plans for new forts; this
measure, however, was both time-consuming and ineffective. Among the
leaders who assembled at the falls of the James for consultation
regarding the Indian menace was the young Nathaniel Bacon. William Byrd
I was there, too, and, even though he was the officer who had been named
to guard the frontier, Bacon was placed in command of the men sent to
attack the enemy Indians. A messenger left to request a commission for
him from the governor. Berkeley replied that he would discuss the matter
with his Council. Bacon then set out with his men to collect allies from
among the friendly Indians. While Bacon was on the march he received
word from Berkeley ordering him to return or be declared a rebel. Bacon
did not turn back but continued into the wilderness in search of the
enemy. Action came at Occaneechee Island. Bacon returned with captives
and was hailed as a hero by those who had heard of his exploits.
Governor Berkeley realized that the situation was
becoming critical and that he could lose control of his government.
Prompt action was necessary. He dissolved the House of Burgesses and
ordered a new election. The result was that many of his loyal adherents
were replaced by representatives, some of whom were unfriendly, even
hostile, to him. The new assembly convened in the statehouse at "James
Citty" on June 5, 1676, and among the burgesses was the defiant Bacon
who had been returned by the voters of Henrico. An announced rebel and
not yet formally removed from the council, it is doubtful that he was
eligible for his seat, yet he determined to go to Jamestown and present
his credentials.
He boarded his sloop, accompanied by about 40
supporters, and sailed down the James. When near Jamestown he sent ahead
to inquire whether he would be allowed to enter the town in peace. A
shot from a cannon in the fort gave the negative answer. Despite this,
Bacon secretly went ashore at night to confer with two of his friends
then living in JamestownWilliam Drummond, a former governor in
Carolina, and Richard Lawrence, a former Oxford student. Later that
night he returned to his boat and started, back up the James, but was
taken by an officer whom Berkeley had sent out to apprehend him. A
dramatic scene followed at Jamestown.
Bacon was brought before the governor, paroled, and
restored to the council. Berkeley knew that his opponent had the upper
hand and that the House of Burgesses, then in session, was against him.
Bacon seemingly could have remained in the capital and personally
directed a full program of economic and political reform. This evidently
was not his aim. He demanded a commission to go against the Indians,
and, when Berkeley delayed, he disappeared from Jamestown, later saying
that his person was in danger, although this appears unlikely. Bacon now
entered a course from which he could not turn back. With a sizable group
of supporters, on June 23, he returned again to Jamestown. He crossed
the isthmus ". . . there le[a]veing a party to secure the passage, then
marched into Towne, . . . [sent] partyes to the ferry, River & fort,
& . . . [drew] his forces against the state house." In the face of
this show of force, the governor gave him a commission, and the
burgesses passed measures designed to correct many old abuses. Among the
new laws was one establishing the bounds of Jamestown to include the
entire island and giving the residents within these bounds the right,
for the first time, to make their own local ordinances.
By this time Bacon and his men were arrayed solidly
against both governor and royal government. The issue was defeat or
independence for Virginia, but Virginia was not yet ready and did not
elect to face the issue. Bacon, it seems, wanted extreme measures, and
there is evidence to indicate that he visualized the formation of an
American Republic. Yet when Bacon established himself as the opponent of
royal government in Virginia and subordinated his role as supporter of
the frontier settlers against misrule, he lost popular support. Had he
lived and succeeded in arms, it is questionable that the people would
have backed him, for they had not shown much disposition to defy royal
authority. The discontent at this time was not so much against that
authority as against the misuse of it by Sir William Berkeley.
The issues having been drawn, Bacon pursued his
course to the bitter end. He returned to Henrico. When about to move a
second time against the Indians, news came that Berkeley was attempting
to raise troops in Gloucester County. Consequently, it was to Gloucester
that Bacon first moved, only to find that his opponent had withdrawn to
Accomac, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. On August 1, at Middle
Plantation (later Williamsburg), Bacon sought to administer his oath of
loyalty and to announce his "Declaration of the People" to those
assembled there at his summons. His next move was against the Pamunkey
Indians. Then it seemed necessary that he move again on Berkeley who now
had returned to Jamestown.

A prepared drawing of the plat of a survey made
for William Sherwood at Jamestown in 1680. "Roades" indicates the course
of the "Greate Road" that connected the town with the mainland. On the
left the isthmus that joined the "island" to Glasshouse Point is
shown.
On September 13, 1676, he drew up his "few weake and
Tyr'd [tired]" men in the "Green Spring Old Field," just above
Jamestown, and posted lookouts on Glasshouse Point. Then he ordered the
construction of a trench across the island end of the isthmus. A raiding
party advanced as far as the palisade, near the edge of Jamestown
proper. Berkeley ordered several ships brought up as close to the shore
as possible. Their guns and the small arms of the men along the
palisades opened fire against Bacon, but proved ineffective in routing
him from his entrenchments. On September 15, Berkeley organized a sally,
"with horse and foote in the Van," which retreated under hot fire from
Bacon's entrenchments. At this point Berkeley's force lost heart, while
his opponent's spirit reached a new high. In any event, after a week of
siege, the governor felt compelled to withdraw from Jamestown. This he
did, by boat, with many of his supporters. This was the high point of
Bacon's fortune in arms, and a costly one. Seemingly, it was during the
fatiguing siege, which came "in a wett Season," that he contracted the
illness that caused his death and brought an abrupt end to the
rebellion.
Following Berkeley's withdrawal, Bacon and his tired
force marched into Jamestown for rest. Wholesale destruction followed.
As a contemporary put it, "Here resting a few daies they concerted the
burning of the town, wherein Mr. Laurence [Richard Lawrence] and Mr.
[William] Drummond owning the two best houses save one, set fire each to
his own house, which example the souldiers following laid the whole town
(with church and State house) in ashes...." It is known from the records
that the destruction was systematic and that the town suffered heavily
from the burning. Among those losing homes and possessions of high value
were Col. Thomas Swann, Maj. Theophilus Hone "high sheriff of
Jamestown," William Sherwood, and Mr. James "orphan," the last to the
value of £1,000. It was estimated that total losses reached a
value of 1,500,000 pounds of tobacco. Again the idea was advanced to
move the seat of government from Jamestown to some more desirable
location. A little later, Tindall's (now Gloucester) Point, on the York,
was given preferential consideration by the assembly as a fit location.
The move was not made, however, and the capital remained at James town
for another quarter of a century.
From Jamestown, Berkeley moved once more to the
Eastern Shore. Bacon, whose men pillaged Green Spring (Berkeley's home
on the mainland, just above Jamestown) on the way, marched to
Gloucester, where he became ill and died on October 26, 1676. The
rebellion, now without a real leader, quickly collapsed. Joseph Ingram,
successor to Bacon, and Gregory Wakelett, cavalry leader in Gloucester
County, surrendered in January 1677; Lawrence disappeared in the
Chickahominy marshes; and Drummond was promptly hanged. Berkeley moved
with haste to silence his opponents, making ready use of the death
sentence.
Accommodations for the conduct of government were now
wholly inadequate at Jamestown. Consequently, Berkeley called the
assembly to meet at Green Spring, which functioned for a time almost as
the temporary capital. In February 1677, the commissioners who were sent
to investigate Bacon's Rebellion arrived in Virginia. With them came
about 1,000 troops who encamped at Jamestown for the remainder of the
winter and ensuing spring. The commissioners, among them Col. Herbert
Jeffreys, the next governor, finding so much ruin and desolation at
Jamestown, made their headquarters in the home of Col. Thomas Swann
across the James from the capital town. Berkeley left for England in
May, and Jeffreys took control in Virginia. It was not until March 1679,
however, that definite action (following a recommendation of the
investigating commissioners) was taken for the restoration of Jamestown.
Then it was ordered, in England, that the town be rebuilt and made the
metropolis of Virginia "as the most ancient and convenient place."

A section from the "Plan du Terrein a la Rive Gauche de la Riviere
de James vis-a-vis JamesTown en Virginie ..." done by Colonel
Desandronins, of the French Army, in 1781.
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