Bacon’s Rebellion was a short-lived revolt in Virginia. It began in May 1676 when Nathaniel Bacon led a small army of his fellow colonists in battle against the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley, and the Indians on the frontier. The participants in the rebellion were motivated by a variety of concerns, but its major cause was the belligerent nature of Bacon.
Nathaniel Bacon, often characterized as a troublemaker, was actually Berkeley's cousin by marriage. Bacon was sent to Virginia by his fath