He sent horsemen to neighboring loyalist plantations to
gather up and bring to camp, not the planters -- for they are with Berkeley
in Jamestown -- but the planters' wives. Here are Mistress Bacon (wife of the
elder Nathaniel Bacon), Mistress Bray; Mistress Ballard, Mistress Page, and
others. Protesting, these ladies enter Bacon's camp, who sends one as envoy
into the town with the message that, if Berkeley attacks, the whole number
of women shall be placed as shield to Bacon's men who build earthworks.
He was as good -- or as bad -- as his word. At the first show of action against
his workmen these royalist women were placed in the front and were kept
there until Bacon had made his counter-line of defense. Sir William
Berkeley had great faults, but at times -- not always -- he displayed chivalry.
For that day "the ladies' white aprons" guarded General Bacon and all his
works. The next day, the defenses completed, this "white garde" was withdrawn.
Berkeley waited no longer but, though now at a disadvantage, opened fire
and charged with his men through gate and over earthworks. The battle that
followed was short and decisive. Berkeley's chance-gathered army was no
match for Bacon's seasoned Indian fighters and for desperate men who knew
that they must win or be hanged for traitors. The Governor's force wavered
and, unable to stand its ground, turned and fled, leaving behind some dead
and wounded. Then Bacon, who also had cannon, opened upon the town and the
ships that rode before it.
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