Annotated Bibliography
Washburn, W. E. (1957). The Governor and the rebel; a history of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia. Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg by the University of North Carolina Press.
This book gives a very good and in depth analysis of the events surrounding the attacks on native villages and the burning of Jamestown that happened during Bacon's Rebellion. One particular thing that I liked about this book is that it includes several accounts of the events that happened during Bacon's rebellion. The best example of this is several different accounts of what led to Bacon and his rebels attacking the Occaneechee tribe. However after the sections where the author addresses the different viewpoints he states what most scholars agreed on, that Bacon attacked first. The main issue that I have with this book is that it is relatively old and some of the author's viewpoints seem a bit archaic if not outright racist. Specifically, the author says "Later historians have almost without exception found nothing unjustified in Bacon's Occaneechee expedition despite the questionable consistency of the account by Bacon's Follower..." This struck me as odd considering that Bacon attacked a group of peaceful natives without any warning. All in all though, this book does present the facts of what happened in a fair manner even if some of the author's opinions are a bit objectionable.
-Annotated by Nick Custalow
Berry, J. Moryson, F. (1896) Narrative of Bacon's rebellion. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 4. Number 2. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4241946
This journal article gave a pretty good examination of Bacon's rebellion. Although it did cover all of the major events that happened, I found that it was a lot less analytical and more of a basic narrative than the other sources that I found on Bacon's rebellion. The whole thing read more like a story than an official account of the events. I could clearly tell that the author was siding with Berkeley and the loyalists over Bacon and the rebels because of the way that things were phrased. For example: the author describes Bacon's apology to Berkeley by saying "Bacon feignes a most deep sense of shame and sorrow for his Guilt, and expresses the greatest kind of obligacion to Gratitude towards the Governour imaginable. [Sic]" while it is rather clear that Bacon was not repentant for his actions against the natives it still seems like the author had an agenda in writing this article. The last thing I noticed about this article is that the English seems very old. Although it was written in 1896 it seems closer to what I imagine the writing style of the late 1600s would be like.
-Annotated by Nick Custalow
(1900)Bacon's Rebellion. William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1914836
This article is also rather old as well. It was written in 1900 and covers Bacon's attack on the Occaneechee village. This is the least expansive of the sources I managed to find but it does go in depth about that portion of Bacon's rebellion. As with the other journal article the English does seem quite old which can make it rather hard to read and understand at times. This article has less of a bias compared to the other article which had quite a noticeable bias against Bacon. This article was also more analytical in that it explained what happened in various events without seeming as much like storytelling. Another interesting thing about this article was that it included first hand sources more so than the other sources I found about Bacon's rebellion. This article even included a letter which was written by Nathaniel Bacon's wife expressing her concern about the natives.
-Annotated by Nick Custalow
Rice, James D. Bacon's Rebellion (1676–1677). SUNY Plattsburgh, 25 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This article is a very detailed article about the rebellion as a whole. It covers the wide range of detail of the topic. The article is more detailed in the after effects of the rebellion. It talks about the results in which the rebellion produced. The following topics are in the article: burning of Jamestown, time line, legacy, the rebellion after bacon, and From Indian war to Civil war. It goes in to more detail about the after effects rather then what actually took place and what was leading up to it. However it did have some good information about the rebellion. The topic of from Indian war to civil war was helpful in determining the causes of the war.
-Annotated by John Grove
Giersbach, Walter. Bacon's Rebellion: America's First Revolutionary? . SUNY Plattsburgh, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
This article was very useful in the military aspect of the rebellion. The relations between each side were clearly discussed in the article along with other useful information. The interactions of the groups predicted the outcome of the revolution along with Bacon as a leader made the rebellion a very persuasive army. It discussed the strong and weak attributes of each side and went into great detail in each subject. The article was helpful in a more tactical sense. It was focused on the actual details and the actual outcomes of each event. The details of the mistakes on each side were clearly represented.
-Annotated by John Grove
McCulley, Susan. Bacon's Rebellion. Ed. Jen Loux. N.p., June 1987. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
This was extremely helpful in finding the overall information of the rebellion. The article was extremely easy to read and had great insight in what actually happened. The information given was very helpful in determining the causes of the rebellion. It goes into great detail of the actual events and the interaction of the groups. The information given was very helpful in determining the relationships between the groups which was very important in the actual rebellion. This article was by far the most helpful in helping me understand the information.
-Annotated by John Grove
Tarter, B. (2011). Bacon's Rebellion, the Grievances of the People, and the Political Culture of Seventeenth-Century Virginia. Virginia Magazine Of History & Biography, 119(1), 1-41.
This article explores the beginning on American colonization in Virginia. It gauges the mood of the colonists during the seventeenth century and explains the issues they had with Governor Berkeley. It details the events of Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 from the view that the colonists were concerned with Native Americans causing potential problems. Berkeley ignored the colonists concerns while Nathaniel Bacon did not. The article goes on to argue that history overlooks the concerns of the people as a major cause for rebellion.
-Annotated by Nigel Wright
Wilson, G. (2009). Nathaniel Bacon. Founders of America. Retrieved October 30, 2012, from http://www.foundersofamerica.org/bacon.html
This is one of the most extensive biographies found on the life of Nathaniel Bacon. It focuses more on Bacon himself than the rebellion, and goes into depth on the relationship between Bacon and Governor Berkeley. This article makes it sound like the Governor treated Bacon reasonably before the rebellion, while most articles I looked at portrayed Berkeley in a negative light. The article also mentioned that Bacon was fond of the phrase “damn my blood,” which is both funny and interesting if his blood is taken literally to mean Berkeley, since they were related.
-Annotated by Nigel Wright
Zipfel, N. (n.d.). Early Indian History on the Susquehanna. Clearfield county pennsylvania geneology project. Retrieved October 30, 2012, from http://www.pa-roots.com/clearfield/earlyindianhistory/earlyindianhistory.html
This is an extremely extensive summary of Captain John Smith’s diary kept during his exploration of Virginia and the Chesapeake. It focuses on Smith’s interactions with the Indians he met. For the purpose of Bacon’s Rebellion, I looked at his interactions with the Susquehannock, whom he was fond of. Although some sources describe them as violent and savage, Smith found the Indians gentle and generous. They looked at him to lead them against their enemy, the Massawomakes. This journey occurred in the early seventeenth century, Bacon’s Rebellion came almost seventy years later, but it gives us a good idea of the Susquehannack and Potomack tribes.
-Annotated by Nigel Wright