He had left the town--gone up the river in his sloop to his plantation at Curles Neck "to visit his wife, who, as she informed him, was indisposed." In truth it appears that Bacon had gone for the purpose of gathering together some six hundred up-river men.

Or perhaps they themselves had come together and, needing a leader, had turned naturally to the man who was under the frown of an unpopular Governor and all the Governor's supporters in Virginia.

At any rate Bacon was presently seen at the head of no inconsiderable army for a colony of less than fifty thousand souls.

Those with him were only up-river men; but he must have known that he could gather besides from every part of the country.

Given some initial success, he might even set all Virginia ablaze.