Bacon, Nathaniel

Bacon, Nathaniel,

1647–76, leader of Bacon's RebellionBacon's Rebellion,
popular revolt in colonial Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon. High taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against special privileges given those close to the governor, Sir William Berkeley, provided the background for the uprising, which was
..... Click the link for more information.  in colonial Virginia. An aristocrat (he was kin to Francis Bacon, had been educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn, and was a member of the governor's council), Bacon nevertheless became the champion of the discontented frontiersmen after only two years' residence in the colony. When he died suddenly from the effects of malaria, the revolt collapsed.

Bacon, Nathaniel

 

Born 1642 or 1647; died 1676. Leader of an uprising by farmers in the English colony of Virginia in North America.

Bacon was born in England into an impoverished aristocratic family. In 1673 he immigrated to North America and founded two small plantations. In 1676 he headed an uprising against the English colonizers, thus becoming a herald of later actions by the North American colonies in their demands for independence. Bacon died at the height of the uprising. (According to recent evidence of American historians, he was poisoned by hired assassins.)

Bacon, Nathaniel

(1647–76) colonial leader; born in Suffolk, England. He emigrated to Virginia c. 1674. A landowner and planter, he opposed Governor Sir William Berkeley's Indian policies. In 1676, Bacon attacked the Pamunkey, Susquehanna, and Occaneechi tribes without a commission from Berkeley. After Berkeley denounced him as a traitor, Bacon marched on Jamestown. When a compromise settlement failed, Bacon captured and burned Jamestown. At one point he controlled nearly all of Virginia, but troops were on their way from England to support Berkeley. Bacon died of influenza in October 1676 and the rebellion soon collapsed.