Crisis in the Chesapeake Colonies:
Bacon’s Rebellion

In 1676, Bacon’s Rebellion erupted as a dispute over Virginia’s Indian policy. Opechancanough, an Algonquian Indian chief, mounted a surprise attack in 1644 and killed about five hundred Virginia colonists in two days. During the next two years of bitter fighting, the colonists eventually gained the upper hand, capturing and murdering the old chief. The treaty that concluded the war established policies toward the Indians that the government tried to maintain for the next thirty years. The Indians relinquished[1]all claims to land already settled by the English. Wilderness land beyond the fringe of English settlement was supposed to be reserved exclusively for Indian use. The colonial government hoped to minimize contact between settlers and Indians and thereby maintain peace.

If Virginia’s population had not grown, the policy might have worked. But the number of land hungry colonists, especially poor, recently freed indentured servants[2], continued to multiply. In their quest for land, they pushed beyond the treaty limits of English settlement and encroached[3]steadily on Indian land. During the 1660s and 1670s, violence between colonists and Indians repeatedly flared along the advancing frontier. Frontier farmers became increasingly frustrated when the government, headquartered far from the danger of Indian raids, failed to provide protection. These settlers thirsted for revenge against what their leader, Nathanial Bacon, termed “the protected and Darling Indians.” Indians were not the only enemies Bacon and his men singled out. Bacon charged that the elite planters operated a government only for their private gain.

Hoping to maintain the fragile peace on the frontier in 1676, Governor Berkeley pronounced Bacon a rebel and threatened to punish him for treason. When Bacon learned of Berkeley’s charge, he declared war against Berkeley and the other elite government officials. For three months, Bacon’s forces fought the Indians, sacked the elite plantations, and attacked Jamestown. Berkeley’s loyalists retaliated by plundering the homes of Bacon’s supporters. The fighting continued until late October, when Bacon unexpectedly died, most likely from dysentery[4], and several English warships arrived to bolster Berkeley’s strength. With the rebellion crushed, Berkeley hanged several of Bacon’s allies and destroyed farms that belonged to Bacon’s supporters.

Questions:

  • Why did the peace treaty with the Algonquians fail?
  • Which 2 groups did Nathaniel Bacon consider to be enemies?
  • Why did the rebellion suddenly end in October?

Crisis in the New England Colonies:
King Philip’s War

Directions: Read the essay and answer the questions below.

The spread of English settlements inevitably led to clashes with the Indians, who were particularly weak in New England. Shortly before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth in 1620, an epidemic, probably triggered by contact with English fishermen, swept through the coastal tribes and killed more than three-quarters of the native people. In no position to resist the English arrival, the local Indians befriended the settlers. Interactions were facilitated by Squanto, a Wampanoag (wam-puh-NO-ag) who had learned English from a ship’s captain who kidnapped him some years earlier. The Wampanoag chieftain Massasoit signed a treaty with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621 and helped them celebrate the first Thanksgiving after the autumn harvests that same year.

As more English settlers arrived and pushed inland into the Connecticut River valley, confrontations between Indians and whites threatened these peaceful relations. Hostilities exploded in 1637 between the English settlers and the powerful Pequot tribe. English militiamen set fire to the Indian wigwams and shot the fleeing survivors. The slaughter virtually annihilated the Pequot tribe and inaugurated[5] four decades of uneasy peace between Puritans and New England Indians.

The Indians’ only hope for resisting English encroachment lay in intertribal unity – a pan Indian alliance against the swiftly spreading English settlements. Metacomet – the chief of the Wampanoags whom the colonists called King Philip[6] – forged an alliance and mounted a series of coordinated assaults on English villages throughout New England. When the war ended in 1676, 52 Puritan towns had been attacked, and 12 destroyed entirely. Metacom’s wife and son were sold into slavery; he himself was captured, beheaded, and drawn[7] and quartered.[8] His head was carried on a pike back to Plymouth, where it was mounted on grisly display for years. King Philip’s War left the New England colonists with an enduring hatred of Indians, a large war debt, and a devastated frontier.

Questions:

  • Why were the Wampanoag unable to resist the English settlers’ arrival in 1621?
  • Why did the peaceful relationship with New England Indians change?
  • How did Metacomet (King Philip) seek to resist English encroachment?
  • How did the war end?

[1]gave up; surrendered; handed over

[2] A laborer who works unpaid for 3-7 years in exchange for transportation, food, drink, lodging, etc

[3]trespassed; infringed

[4]Digestive disorder that causes severe diarrhea

[5] launched; initiated; began

[6] In an attempt to live in harmony with the colonists, he changed his name to Philip and bought his clothes in Boston

[7] Disemboweled (intestines and genitals removed)

[8] Body is torn into 4 pieces; arms and legs are ripped off