He rode on into the forest
after the Indians, and the others followed him. Here were the Falls of the
Far West, and here on a hill the Indians had a "fort." This the Virginia
planters attacked. The hills above the James echoed to the sound of the
small, desperate fray. In the end the red men were routed. Some were slain;
some were taken prisoner; others escaped into the deep woods stretching
westward.
In the meantime another force of horsemen had been gathered. It was headed
by Berkeley and was addressed to the pursuit and apprehension of Nathaniel
Bacon, who had thus defied authority. But before Berkeley could move far,
fire broke out around him. The grievances of the people were many and just,
and not without a family resemblance to those that precipitated the
Revolution a hundred years later. Not Bacon alone, but many others who were
in despair of any good under their present masters were ready for heroic
measures. Berkeley found himself ringed about by a genuine popular revolt.
He therefore lacked the time now to pursue Nathaniel Bacon, but spurred
back to Jamestown there to deal as best he might with dangerous affairs. At
Jamestown, willy-nilly, the old Governor was forced to promise reforms. The
Long Assembly should be dissolved and a new Assembly, more conformable to
the wishes of the people, should come into being ready to consider all
their troubles. So writs went out; and there presently followed a hot and
turbulent election, in which that "restricted franchise" of the Long
Assembly was often defied and in part set aside.
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