Samuel Wiseman's Book of Record

In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a well-known colonial uprising against the authority of King Charles II, in the person of Virginia's governor Sir William Berkeley. Bacon and other colonists identified as their chief concern Berkeley's non-aggressive policies toward local Native Americans. Bacon's revolt dramatically altered relations between Chesapeake colonists and Native Americans, and also induced late Stuart imperialists to crack down on colonial autonomy. Despite the widely recognized significance of Bacon's Rebellion, the most important documents chronicling this event have been scattered in several archives and repositories, impeding students' access. Michael Leroy Oberg has transcribed, edited, and introduced the official record left by Samuel Wiseman, King Charles II's scribe assigned to this uprising's investigation—making this history widely available for the first time in book form.