Background
Bacon was born on January 2, 1647, in Friston Hall in Suffolk, England, the son of Thomas Bacon of Friston Hall, Suffolk, and a cousin of Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon.
Bacon was born on January 2, 1647, in Friston Hall in Suffolk, England, the son of Thomas Bacon of Friston Hall, Suffolk, and a cousin of Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon.
He was educated at Cambridge University and at Gray's Inn.
His talents and kinship to the astute senior Nathaniel Bacon of the Council led to his appointment to a seat in that body soon after his arrival in Virginia. From the beginning, his sympathies were with the people at large; and he chafed under the wrongs which they were made to suffer. In 1676, when Gov. Berkeley's failure to check the Indian invasion brought the popular discontent to a head, Bacon was chosen by the people to lead them in an excursion against the common foe. Having lost an overseer by the tomahawk and resenting the Governor's delays, he entered the campaign with fierce ardor. But the conquest of the savages was not the limit of his plans.
He aimed at a reform of the whole system of colonial laws in order to remove the grinding inequalities that existed. At the head of a small army, he penetrated the forest domain of the Pamunkey Indians without waiting for Berkeley to give him a commission; and he next forced the Governor to summon a new assembly to exact the reform measures so generally desired. Before this assembly convened, Bacon, with a strong following, assaulted the forts of the Susquehannocks and Occaneechees in the Fork of Roanoke River, and having dispersed these tribes, returned to the settlements. He was soon elected a member of the projected reform assembly and, with an escort, sailed down the river to Jamestown. On arriving there, his sloop was seized, and he and his companions were brought before Berkeley, who, after violent reproaches, pardoned him, and readmitted him to the Council. Fearing secret plots against his life, Bacon deserted Jamestown at night; then returning with a large body of incensed supporters, he held a stormy interview with the infuriated Governor, and extorted from him a commission to march against the Indians. The Falls in the James was named as the rendezvous; but hardly had his soldiers assembled there, when news arrived that Berkeley was riding up and down the country trying to raise a force to put down "the rebels. " The cry arose: "To Jamestown"; but before Bacon could get there, the Governor had fled to the Eastern Shore. Bacon now, by proclamation, called upon the principal planters of the colony to co"perate with him in restoring peace and reforming the laws. He next seized the colony's guard-ship in order to transport commissioners across the bay and to demand the Governor's surrender. r. But Berkeley, instead of being captured by these commissioners, was successful in capturing them.
In the meanwhile, Bacon had invaded the villages of the Pamunkey Indians. While this expedition was in progress, Berkeley returned in triumph to Jamestown. Informed of this fact, Bacon made a rush for that place with a large force, and after a sharp battle on its outskirts, captured it, and burnt it to the ground. Berkeley again fled to the Eastern Shore. Withdrawing to Green Spring near the town, Bacon drafted an oath of fidelity to himself which he compelled every citizen in his power to sign. All opposition to his supremacy having ceased, he became conciliatory in spirit, so as to consolidate his support; but before he could fully develop this statesmanlike policy, he was taken ill in Gloucester County, died, and was buried in the waters of one of its rivers. The spot of his interment has never been known down to the present day. With the withdrawal of his guiding hand, the rebellion gradually collapsed.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Duke.