Bacon's Rebellion

In summer sixteen se’enty-four,
Nathaniel Bacon arrived on shore
Of Virginia Colony in the New World.
A fresh life soon would be unfurled.
Curles Neck Plantation near Jamestown he bought,
A peaceful life on the frontier was sought;
However, it soon became very clear
That there was indeed much danger to fear.
Attacks were constant from Indian groups
Without the defense of government troops.
“Protection from Indians!” the settlers demand.
When it wasn’t forthcoming, Bacon assumed command
Of a group of frontiersmen who took up arms
To attack the Indians raiding their farms.

Bacon’s militia had men black and white.
They were men with a cause, and ready to fight.
Of the government, too, they were quite critical
In its handling of matters political.
Sir William Berkeley, the governor,
Could not condone this anymore.
“Bacon’s a rebel!” Berkeley declared,
And for a counterattack he prepared.
But Bacon had the upper hand,
So Berkeley then did flee the land.
Aboard ship off Virginia’s shore,
Berkeley's army mapped their war.
They planned to march a thousand strong
To subjugate the rebel throng.

But Bacon was a step ahead
Because he was advised, it’s said,
To set the Jamestown site ablaze
And leave the gove’nor in a daze.
So Jamestown was burned to the ground,
The nighttime blaze seen far around.
From there the conflict continued to grow,
Though neither side struck a decisive blow.
Then, in October, Bacon’s sudden demise,
Which took the rebels quite by surprise.
Bacon’s Rebellion lost its course,
And Berkeley answered with vengeful force.
With Bacon’s lieutenants from gallows suspended,
It became clear that the battle had ended.

Once they were hanged and out of the way,
The Rebellion fell into disarray.
Back then it all was ineffective,
But looking from today’s perspective
It seems it foreshadowed events later on;
including the American Revolution.
And in the struggle's aftermath,
Slavery was a much-used path.
The example of black and white fighting en masse
Struck fear in the hearts of the ruling class.
One could say the Rebellion influenced two wars:
The Revolution and Civil were doors
That opened the colonies to become today
The country we know as the US of A.