Tales from a Revolution Bacon's Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America

by Rice, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780195386950
• ISBN10: 0195386957
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-09-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In the spring of 1676 Nathanial Bacon, a hotheaded young newcomer to Virginia, led a revolt against the Indian policies of the colony's veteran governor William Berkeley. Bacon's Rebellion turned into a civil war within Virginia and a war of extermination against the colony's Indian allies that lasted into the following winter, sending shock waves throughout the British colonies and into England itself. Bacon died in the midst of the uprising and Berkeley shortly afterwards, but the profoundly important issues at the heart of the rebellion took another generation to resolve. Bacon's Rebellion, one of the most important events in American history, was interwined with critical developments in race relations, slavery, the conquest of Native America, and changing ideas about empire, gender, and society. Yet this is the first account of Bacon's Rebellion to integrate cutting-edge research into a dramatic narrative. Here the characters come to life: the powerful, charismatic Governor Berkeley, the sorrowful Susquehannock warrior Monges, the wiley Indian trader and tobacco planter William Byrd, the regal Pamunkey chieftain Cockacoeske, and the Rebel himself, Nathanial Bacon. The late seventeenth century was a pivotal moment in American history, full of upheavals and wild tales of magic, far-flung conspiracies, and impending doom.Tales From a Revolutionbrilliantly captures the swirling rumors and events of Bacon's Rebellion and its aftermath, weaving them into a dramatic tale that is part of the founding story of America itself.

Author Biography

James Rice is Professor of History at SUNY Plattsburgh. He is the author of Nature and History in the Potomac Country: From Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of Jefferson.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
A Note on Language

PART ONE: THE UPROARS OF VIRGINIA
1. Doegs! Doegs!
2. The Susquehannocks' Dilemma
3. The Governor and the Rebel
4. "I Am in Over Shoes, I Will be in Over Boots"
5. Jamestown Burning
6. "The Uproars of Virginia Have Been Stupendious"
7. "A Seasonable Submission"

PART TWO: THE SECOND PART OF THE LATE TRAGEDY
8. "Now Begins the Second Part of the Late Tragedy"
9. "An Itching Desire"
10. Tales of a Revolution
11. Bacon's Heirs

Afterword
Abbreviations
Notes
Select Bibliography