tle. Brent's men, many of them probably indentured workers who had
been forced into service, had no wish to risk their lives for the
governor. So, when they heard that Bacon's force was on the march,
they refused to fight, deserted their officers, and returned home.

Now that once more Bacon was in possession of all Virginia except the
Eastern Shore, his chief concern was the redcoats, whose arrival was
reported to be close at hand. Would the people support him in opposing
them? So he summoned the Gloucester trained bands and asked them to
take an oath to stand by him, fight the English troops, and if they
found that they could not defend themselves, their lives, and
liberties, to desert the colony.

At this the Gloucester men balked. To fight the King's troops was to
defy the might of England. So they asked to be permitted to remain
neutral. Deeply disappointed, Bacon reproved them as the worst of
sinners who were willing to be saved by others but would not do their
part. Then he dismissed them. When he was told that the Reverend James
Wadding had tried to dissuade the people from subscribing, he had him
arrested. "It is your place to preach in church, not in camps," he
said.

Persuasion having failed, Bacon took sterner measures. Setting up a
court-martial, he put some of his opponents on trial. But though
Berkeley scorned his proposal that they be exchanged for Carver and
Bland, none was executed save one deserter. But the trials served
their purpose, for when he summoned the militia again they all
subscribed to his oath.

Bacon now turned his attention to the Eastern Shore. He realized that
so long as Berkeley had there a base of operations, from which he
could launch sudden attacks, his position was insecure. So he sent
Captain George Farloe, "one of Cromwell's men," with forty soldiers
across the bay to surprise and capture Berkeley. But it was not easy
to cross so large a body of water in small boats, and Farloe was taken
and hanged. Equally futile was a manifesto to the people of the
Eastern Shore urging them to rise against the governor.

Bacon gave orders that the estates of the governor and his friends be
ransacked for the use of his army, and Green Spring, King's Creek,
Warner Hall, and other places, were denuded of their cattle, sheep,
hogs, Indian corn, and even blankets and clothing. But when the rough
soldiers began to plunder friend and foe alike Bacon called a halt.
And instead of hanging every e