arms, and pleaded that she might be hanged in his place. Though the
governor knew that what she said "was near the truth," he spurned her
with a vile insult. Yet he was cheated of his revenge, for Cheeseman
died in prison, and so escaped the ignominy of the gallows.

When Farloe was brought to trial he pointed out that he held a
commission to serve under Bacon signed by Berkeley himself. But this
did not save him. The court told him he had been authorized only to
fight the Indians, not to take up arms against the governor. "Be
silent, while sentence is pronounced on you." The executions of
Hansford, Carver, Farloe, Wilford, and John Johnson, "a stirrer up of
the people but no fighter," brought to an end the hangings on the
Eastern Shore.

Word now reached Berkeley that Major Lawrence Smith had raised the
loyal standard in Gloucester, and had assembled a force so large that
they could have "beaten all the rebels in the country only with their
axes and hoes." In nearby Middlesex another large force was ready to
cooperate with him. This seemed the opportunity to crush the
rebellion. So the governor embarked 100 men on four ships and several
sloops and entered the York river to close in on Ingram from the south
while the others attacked from the north and east. But the plan failed
miserably.

Ingram met the Middlesex threat by sending Gregory Wakelett out with a
body of horse. But when he arrived he found that the enemy had
dispersed. Nor were Smith's loyalists more resolute. As they faced
Ingram's force a certain Major Bristow stepped out of the ranks and
offered to try the justice of the governor's cause after the manner of
the Middle Ages by single combat. Ingram himself would have accepted
the challenge, but his men caught him by the arm and pulled him back.
As it turned out there was no battle, for the rank and file of the
so-called loyal forces tamely laid down their arms and went home.

A raid on the right bank of the York also ended in failure. Berkeley
decided to send Captain Hubert Farrill with a strong force to surprise
the garrison at King's Creek. It was planned to drive in the sentries
and to "enter pell mell with them into the house." But they were met
by such a deadly fire that they fell back under the shelter of the
outbuildings, and then fled to their boats. Farrill was left dead, his
commission "dropping wet with blood in his pocket."

But the colony was now in a deplorable condition. Many plantati