loucester, the most populous and loyal county,
having been disarmed by Bacon, petitioned the governor for protection
against the savages. Reanimated by this petition, he again proclaimed
Bacon a rebel and a traitor, and hastened over to Gloucester. Summoning
the train-bands of that county and Middlesex, to the number of twelve
hundred men, he proposed to them to pursue and put down the rebel
Bacon--when the whole assembly unanimously shouted, "Bacon! Bacon!
Bacon!" and withdrew from the field, still repeating the name of that
popular leader, the Patrick Henry of his day, and leaving the aged
cavalier governor and his attendants to themselves. The issue was now
fairly joined between the people and the governor. Francis Morryson,
afterwards one of the king's commissioners, in a letter dated at London,
November 28th, 1677, and addressed to Secretary Ludwell, says: "I fear
when that part of the narrative comes to be read that mentions the
Gloucester petitions, your brother may be prejudiced, for there are two
or three that will be summoned, will lay the contrivance at your
brother's door and Beverley's, but more upon your brother, who, they
say, was the drawer of it. For at the first sight, all the lords judged
that that was the unhappy accident that made the Indian war recoil into
a civil war; for the reason you alleged that bond and oath were
proffered the governor, intended not against Bacon but the Indians,
confirmed the people that Bacon's commission was good, it never being
before disavowed by proclamation, but by letters writ to his majesty in
commendation of Bacon's acting, copies thereof dispersed among the
people."[299:A] According to another authority[299:B] the people of
Gloucester refused to march against Bacon, but pledged themselves to
defend the governor against him, if he should turn against Sir William
Berkley and his government, which they hoped would never happen. From
the result of this affair of the Gloucester petitions, we may conclude
that either they contained nothing unfavorable to Bacon, or if they did,
that they were gotten up by designing leaders without the consent of the
people. It is certain that now, when Bacon's violent proceedings at
Jamestown were known, the great body of the people espoused his cause
and approved his designs.

Bacon, before he reached the head of York River, hearing from Lawrence
and Drummond of the governor's movements, exclaimed, that "it vexed him
to the heart, that w