The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 1 of 2

by William Alexander Caruthers

  CHAPTER IX.

  The night was dark and lowering, and masses of heavy clouds envelopedthe city, a bright red column of fire ever and anon shot fitfully upfrom the smouldering ruins of the magazine, tipping the clouds with acrimson tinge, and illuminating the city to the light of noonday, andagain suddenly giving place to volumes of thick sulphureous smoke whichinvolved the surrounding objects in tenfold darkness. Drums were heardbeating to arms--trumpets sounding the charge--fifes piercing theair--bells ringing the alarm--muskets and petronels discharged in quicksuccession, swords clashing, women shrieking, and men were seen runninghither and thither in all the tumult of popular commotion. Bacon had nosooner lifted his frightened protegees into the carriage, than rushinginto the back court, he found Dudley at the head of their youthful corpsalready desperately engaged with the Roundheads. He immediately threwhimself into the thickest of the fight. With all their desperate valour,however, the two young officers were quickly sensible that they hadentirely miscalculated the number and appointments of their enemies. Invain they endeavoured to repulse the hardy veterans who forced their wayto the doors and windows of the gubernatorial mansion. The assailantsmoved to their work in a solid phalanx, that veteran soldier Worley,conspicuous at their head, and literally hewing down all opposition. Oneline after another of the valiant and high born youths fell before themurderous weapons of the insurgents. In vain did Bacon and Dudley, andBeverly and Ludwell, all now united in a common cause, enact prodigiesof valour; their impetuous lunges fell powerless upon the iron frames oftheir opponents. Crowds of citizens now rushed against the insurgentssome armed with swords, others with scythe blades, others again withbludgeons, and the rest with such means of destruction as they couldseize in the street as they hurried to the contest. The accession ofstrength to the cause of the government was as yet of little avail,Bacon and his followers being driven to the walls, while the insurgentswere protected on each side by a high wooden fence or barricade. Tables,chairs and bedsteads were hurled upon the heads of the besiegers, andthe lower windows were thronged with eager citizens throwing theirhastily seized weapons upon the heads of the foe in a vain effort tocome within reach. The Cromwellians were now likewise receivingmomentary reinforcements of those who leapt the high fences, and filledup the vacancies in the rear, as the front ranks fell in the desperateencounter with the youths and citizens. To whom the victory would fallcould not long prove doubtful, situated as they now were; this SirWilliam Berkley and his kinsman Fairfax had no doubt perceived early inthe engagement, for a shout from a multitude without the enclosure, inthe midst of which might be heard the voice of Brian O'Reily, nowannounced the presence of the Governor. The welcome sound was speedilyand cheerily answered by the sinking youths within, who took courage atthe approach of succour, and fought with renewed spirit. The woodenbarricade, was now seen to heave and shake, with every motion and creakof which O'Reily shouted in chorus, until at length the whole yieldedand fell with aloud crash. A rush of citizens quickly filled up thebreach, and poured their blows into the flank of the Roundheads, who nowchanging their front charged upon their new assailants at the head ofwhom were the Governor and Gideon Fairfax. The two old Cavaliers laidabout them in a style worthy of their best and most chivalrous days, andthe citizens as stoutly supported them although but poorly armed andequipped for such a rencounter. By this change of front the gallantlittle corps which had so long maintained its ground, was now in somemeasure relieved, and no longer subject to the murderous strokes of theiron-handed Cromwellians. By the order of Bacon they now poured theirfire into the flank of the enemy, and by this double annoyance to theirphalanx, would doubtless have speedily terminated the conflict, but thefriends of the Insurgents without, taking example by the manoeuvre ofthe governor and his party, now broke down the barricade on the otherside, and rushed in their turn to the scene of conflict. As this newreinforcement were pushing through the court to join their friends, instorming the first breach, a loud explosion from Sir William's quarterwas heard, followed by the groans and shrieks of a whole phalanx of theold and new assailants, in whose ranks a perfect lane was cut by thisdischarge of grape shot through the very centre of their column. A rushwas now instantly made for the possession of the cannon, and as thecitizens poured through the governor's house and the Roundheads throughthe new breach in the party-wall, a deadly scuffle ensued, which becamemore and more ferocious and sanguinary as each party received freshaccessions from their friends without. And though the Cavaliers andtheir supporters outnumbered their enemies, the latter had decidedly theadvantage in equipment, strength and discipline; more especially in thehand-to-hand mode of warfare which now became necessary from the numberscrowded into so small a space. But there was another advantage whichthey possessed--they had but one commander, the veteran Worley, whilethe Cavaliers and citizens of the town were at one time commanded byBacon, and at another by Sir William Berkley.

  Bacon perceiving the effect of this circumstance, singled out andattacked the opposite leader in person, determined, if he lost his lifein the unequal conflict, to make the attempt at least to place the twoparties on a more equal footing. But Worley quickly detected his aim,and being a not less expert swordsman than his antagonist, tookadvantage of an impetuous thrust, and quickly brought him to the grappleof close quarters. One excelled in strength, and the other in activity,but notwithstanding the latter, superior powers of endurance would soonhave ended the duel unfavourably for our hero, had not a blow frombehind brought his powerful enemy to the ground. Before Bacon discoveredO'Reily, he was well convinced that the bludgeon which had interfered soopportunely in his behalf, was wielded by no tyro at the weapon.However, he lost but few seconds, either upon his assailant ordeliverer, but quickly directed his attention to matters of moreabsorbing importance in the direction of cannon. Meantime O'Reily seizedthe opportunity afforded by the engrossing nature of the conflict, inthe quarter just mentioned, and stooping down he took one of Worley'sfeet under each arm, using his legs as shafts, and dragged him off to ahorse stall hard by, where having deposited the insensible veteran uponthe straw, he turned the key and consigned it to his pouch.

  The battle now consisted almost entirely of numerous desperateindividual conflicts, each citizen as he arrived singling out some hatedRoundhead neighbour, and he in his turn as anxious to vent the party andpersonal hatred which had been so long festering within his bosom. SirWilliam Berkley perceiving that their veteran foes had a decidedadvantage in the position now occupied by the parties respectively,quickly devised a scheme, in concert with Mr. Fairfax, by which, whilethe Governor kept the enemy engaged over the cannon, the latter shouldtake a score of sturdy citizens, and rushing in, regardless ofconsequences, drag this sole apparent cause of contention into thepublic square, and thus change the scene of action to a more openposition, where the superior bodily strength of the insurgents could nolonger avail them. The measure was executed with great spirit andpromptitude, and succeeded beyond their most sanguine expectations; forno sooner had the citizens commenced dragging the piece at a brisk trot,than both parties tumultuously pressed round its wheels, and thusunconsciously were brought into a fair field of action. Bacon, as soonas he saw the design of the movement, wheeled his hardy youths throughthe Governor's house, and formed a line at the critical moment when theconfused combatants arrived fighting over the gun: thus affording arallying point for the friends of order and the government. Thegovernmental troops immediately formed upon the line already partlyestablished by Bacon and his corps, and thus the gun was at lengthbrought to bear for a time upon the opposing ranks. The light which hadhitherto fitfully gleamed upon the strife, was now sinking after longintervals, and emitting that unsteady and wavering flame which announcesrapidly approaching extinction. A few rounds of musketry and one or twodischarges from the small fieldpiece, and the arena of conflict wasshrouded in impenetrable darkness, save from the momentary glare whichpreceded the explosions. The Cromwellians, locking their column morecompactly together, rushed in a solid body
upon the newly formed line ofthe citizens. So sudden and so impetuous was this movement, and soskilfully executed, that the brave but ill disciplined combatants,against whom it was directed, gave way before the solid phalanx of theenemy, leaving the long disputed fieldpiece surrounded by theInsurgents. They immediately turned its muzzle upon its late owners, andwere about charging it with the usual silence and promptitude of theirmovements, when a bright light from a burning torch was seen forcing itsway almost undisputed through their ranks. The Cromwellians stood asidefor its passage with an irresolute sort of tardiness, produced by adoubt whether the bearer were a friend or an enemy. But they were notleft long in suspense, for he had no sooner arrived at this point, nowforming the line between the contending parties, than he sprang upon thecarriage of the gun, holding his torch aloft, so as to shed a glaringlight upon the assembled multitude of both parties, who stood now for amoment of truce, in wonder at the strange and gigantic figure beforethem.

  "Hold!" said he in a loud authoritative voice, and waving his hand witha commanding gesture over the ranks of the Roundheads who crowded roundhim. "Where is your commander, Worley?"

  "He is slain," answered twenty voices.

  "His blood be upon his own head. Where is he who commandeth in hisstead?"

  "Here am I," said a short black visaged thick-set man. "Here am I,Ananias Proudfit, whom the Lord hath commissioned this night to takeaway the wicked from the land, and to root out the Amalekite, and theJebusite, and the Perizzite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite and theAmorite. And are not this council and this wicked Governor justlycomparable to the five Kings who took shelter in the cave of Makkeda,who were"--

  "Peace, brawler, peace," thundered the gigantic umpire, "and cease topervert the word of God to thy murderous and unholy purposes. Takewarning by the fate of thy predecessor. Thou would'st not listen to amore safe and peaceable admonition, administered in humility and goodfaith. Now I tell thee that if thou art still deaf, this good swordshall cleave thy hardened skull," and he drew his formidable weapon andbrandished it over the torch. "Hah! sayest thou so," said the enragedProudfit, aiming a deadly blow at the gigantic figure towering abovehim, but which the stranger struck aside with the ease of a wary andpractised swordsman, and in the next moment as he had promised, drovehis ponderous weapon into the skull of his assailant. Then hurling historch into the advancing throng of the Independents, he brandished thehuge glittering blade in fearful circles around the besieged gun, andquickly cleared a space for its more dexterous and effectual employment.

  The fight was now renewed in all quarters, but evidently to greaterdisadvantage on the part of the Insurgents, than they yet had to contendwith. The loss of their commander a second time, even in the ordinarycourse of warfare, would doubtless have disheartened them, but thecircumstances under which the last had fallen--the superstitiousreverence in which they were accustomed to hold the Recluse--allcontributed to damp their ardour, to say nothing of the bloody barricadehe had already piled around his person. They were now, too, in acomparatively open field, where the greater numbers of their enemiescould avail much, and where no opportunity was afforded for the fatalgrapple which had so well served the rebels in the earlier stages of theconflict. They were assailed from all points of the square at the samemoment, while the Recluse, in the very heart of their ranks, wasliterally hewing them down like weeds and cumberers of the ground. Noquarter was asked or given--they had staked their all upon the successof their enterprise, and seemed determined, long after all hope ofsuccess in their first project must have failed, to leave a bloodymonument to their foolhardy courage, if not to their wisdom andfore-thought. Nathaniel Bacon, exhausted by the loss of blood fromwounds received in the desperate repulse of the insurgents during theearly part of the engagement, and feeling his tremendous responsibilityfor his inadequate preparations, no longer so onerous or so urgent uponhimself, fell upon the field, and was borne to the house of his earlyfriend and patron.

  With the powerful aid of the Recluse, and the accumulatingreinforcements from the loyal citizens of the town, the remainder of thegallant but misguided zealots were soon either cut down, captured, orput to flight. The slain of the Cavalier party were laid out in theState House, while those of the opposite faction were deposited in thetobacco warehouse, so lately the scene of youthful revels.

  The wounded were removed to the houses of their friends and relationsthroughout the city, and in a short time as profound silence reignedalong its deserted streets as if no one had arisen to disturb its peace.Not an individual could be found who had seen the Recluse after thetermination of the struggle. The slain were carefully examined, but nosuch huge proportions as his lay stretched in death, among the gorytrophies of his prowess.

  The veteran soldiers, so many of whom had fallen, while others wereconfined within the jail of the colony, were a remnant of Cromwell'ssoldiers who had been sent from the parent country, on account of theirrestless and dangerous propensities, some of them had been sold intotemporary bondage, while others established themselves in business orplanting on their own account. They had formed the desperate resolutionof rising upon the governor and his guests while seated over their wine,supposing that, in the promiscuous massacre which they had intended toperpetrate, all the councillors, and leading men of the colony would beswept away, and themselves thereby enabled to revolutionize thegovernment.

  The Recluse had doubtless been vainly urged to join their desperatefaction, and it would appear that they had either depended upon theirthreats of vengeance as a sufficient warrant for his fidelity, ortrusted to his supposed predilection for their cause, and hatred againstthe authorities then at the head of colonial affairs. Nor does it appearthat he did openly and boldly betray them. Bacon had by some means orother of his own, pryed so far into the secret of the incipientrebellion as to learn who were the prominent leaders--by the suggestionof the Recluse, obtained through the agency of Virginia, he had foundaccess to the ear of one Berkenhead, an influential man among them, who,influenced by gold and liberal promises, betrayed so much of theconspirators' designs as enabled Bacon to adopt the preparations ofwhich we have just seen the result. And though they were of themselvestotally inadequate, yet they served the purpose of keeping the murderersat bay, until time was afforded for the intervention of the citizens,and thus had preserved the lives of the Governor and his Council,together with those of many members of the House of Burgesses. TheAssembly, which convened three days afterward, unanimously voted threethousand weight of tobacco to the traitor Berkenhead, and passed sundrypious resolutions of thanks to the Almighty for their deliverance,besides setting the day apart as one of thanksgiving for ever after.

  The ancient city presented a strange and desolate appearance on thesucceeding morning, in the neighbourhood of the public square. Houseswere deserted by their tenants, windows shattered, palings pulled down,the ground stained with blood; guns, petronels, swords, hats, andmissiles of various descriptions lay scattered about in strangeconfusion.

  At length the drowsy citizens were awakened to the importance of theday. A court of inquiry was assembled for the purpose of investigatingthe conspiracy which had so nearly proved fatal to the existing order ofthings on the previous night. The prisoners were brought from the jailto the Court House in irons, and all the witnesses supposed to know anything of the matter, were in readiness. Nathaniel Bacon was the firstcalled, but Mr. Fairfax came forward and stated that his wounds were somuch more dangerous than had previously been supposed, that the surgeonstrictly enjoined quiet and repose, and recommended if possible topostpone taking his deposition for the present. As the testimony wasample and satisfactory without his attendance, the examination of courseproceeded. Berkenhead's deposition was essentially what we have alreadymore succinctly stated in explanation of the insurrection, and most ofthe other witnesses testified only to what the reader has already seenor surmised. There was one witness, however, whose testimony was sonovel and amusing, amidst the general scene of confusion and bloodshed,tha
t we must by no means neglect it. Brian O'Reily was called in histurn to give evidence on behalf of the crown on a charge of treasonagainst the prisoners at the bar.

  "Well, O'Reily," said the examining officer, "please to tell the courtwhat you know of the treasonable practices of any of the prisoners atthe bar."

  "Be the twelve Apostles and St. Patrick into the bargain, I caught oneiv them in the very act."

  "What act did you see, O'Reily, and which of these men was theperpetrator?"

  "Faix it was just trason itself I caught him at; sure if I hadn'tbrought his head acquainted wid my shelaleigh, he'd iv murthered one ofthe king's officers iny way--young master Bacon."

  "Well, tell us which of these men it was, and any thing you knowconcerning the getting up of this rebellion."

  "The man's not there at all at all--he's at another bar, and has beenthis ten hours gone."

  "He's at the bar of God, you mean?"

  "I mane no sich thing, axing your honour's pardon for conthradictin you.Here's the key that's turned an 'im; besides, didn't I slape by thedoor all night wid nobody for company but a small dhrop iv whiskey, anddidn't I spake to him this morning through the key hole, and didn't hecoax and palaver wid me to let him out, and didn't he come over me widhis wife and nine childre, one at the breast, barrin that I knew it wasa d--d lie at that same recknin, savin your presence, an didn't he fretabout bein cooped up in sich a place all night wid nothin to ate an thesame, to dhrink, barrin the hay that was in the rack, an didn't I answerhim from the contints iv the book, sayin that many a betther man thanhim had been born and brought up in a manger, (crossing himself) andidn't he call me all sorts iv hathen names; indeed an he did--the bestiv them was cut-throat and horse-thaif, only they were in the Habrewlanguage, an didn't I tell him he was a Judaite, an a wolf in sheep'sclothin, an that he hated the very name iv Bacon. And may be he didn'tcall me a dam'd papist? An didn't I tell him he'd live to see his ownfuneral iny way? an didn't he answer me all about popes and bulls andpapists? Oh! get away wid your blarney, says I, you're safe now as theGovernor's old bull wid the short tail and the shambles on two of hislegs, only I tould him he'd perhaps be likein the darbies on his handsinstead of his trotters."

  "And who was this, Brian, that you held this long discourse with througha key hole? You're giving us another of your drunken dreams I fear?"

  "Divil a word iv a lie's in it, your haner, hav'nt I just come from thestable door, and didn't I set ould growler, the bull dog to watch by himtill I came back--sure he cant come over him wid his blarney about thewife and the nine childer--O be gorra I'm so tender hearted, it was aclane temptation to me."

  "Who was it had the nine children?"

  "Auld Nick fly away wid the nine he's got iv them; didn't I tell yourhaner it was all blarney to move the tinder feelings of Brian O'Reily?"

  "Who was it then, you were talking to through the key hole?"

  "An 'is it his name your haner's axing after all this time? couldn't youjust say so at wanst, an not throw me out wid the story all thegither?It's the Divil's own aid-the-camp I'm thinkin. It's the man that makesswords all the time he's makin horse shoes, they call him Worley I'mthinkin."

  "Worley! is it possible? have you seen him this morning?"

  "Be the contints iv the book but I saw him not an hour gone, through thekey hole; he was stanin up to hay like the Governor's horse, but hisappetite seemed to uv left him intirely."

  "Can you show the officers where he is?"

  "I can do that same, I'm bould to say; didn't I tell your haner it's thekey I had was turned an im?"

  "And what is it the key of, O'Reily?"

  "Faix it's the key to the Governor's stable." (This answer produced aloud laugh from the spectators.) "Divel a word o lie's in it."

  "Well, O'Reily, the officers are waiting on you; only prove to us thatthis is not another of your drunken reveries, and it shall turn outbetter for you than you now expect. Since it has been ascertained thatthis man Worley was not to be found among the slain, the Governor hasissued his proclamation, offering two hundred pounds for hisapprehension, dead or alive."

  "Oh!" said O'Reily, as he was going out of the door, "but I'm afeardyou'll find him rather in a state iv thribulation, I did some killen anim myself: Oh wasn't that a beauty iv a shelaleigh? Only to think of twohundred pounds; faix if I get it but I'll have it set in brass."

  The officers in attendance, with Brian at their head, soon emerged fromthe Governor's stable amidst the shouts and cheers of the multitude. Theunfortunate Roundhead commander was brought into courts sufferingseverely from thirst, and the effects of the contusion, produced by theviolence of O'Reily's blow.

  We will not detain the reader over revolting portions of the trialeither now or hereafter; suffice it to say, therefore, in brief, thatO'Reily received the interest of two hundred pounds ever afterwards forhis capture of the Rebel Chief. Four of the ringleaders at the second,and final trial were condemned and speedily executed, and the othersrecommended to mercy. Thus was terminated this sanguinary conflict, thelast convulsive throe of the Independent faction in the Britishdominions of North America.

  As our tale is no farther directly connected with this ill-advised andhopeless insurrection, we proceed in the next chapter with the directthread of our narrative, the principal personages of which were sodirectly concerned in the bloody affair just related, that we could notpass it over with any kind of regard to historical accuracy.