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| Description | http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Gloucester_County_Conspiracy_1663#start_entry On September 1, 1663, nine indentured servants met secretly at a small house belonging to Peter Knight in the woods near Cooks Quarter in Gloucester County. After appointing William Bell and John Gunter their leaders, the men agreed to meet again at midnight the following Sunday, September 6, at a place called Poplar Spring. Each would bring what weapons he could scavenge and steal in the hope that they could eventually arm a company of thirty men. From Poplar Spring the group would then march to the home of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Willis, a member of the governor's Council, to seize arms and a much-needed drum, the group having recruited a drummer from the militia company commanded by Major John Smith, another councillor. The servants may also have planned to raid the nearby home of the widow Katharine Cook—indeed, William Budell later testified that they had intended to "march from house to house"—but all agreed that their ultimate destination was the Green Spring mansion of Governor Sir William Berkeley. Thomas Collins told authorities that, with weapons brandished, they would make clear to Berkeley their "desire to bee released of one year of their tyme w'ch they had to serve," and, should the governor refuse, "that then they would goe forth of ye Land if they Could to an Island." Budell even implied that they might be prepared to kill Berkeley should it come to that. In any event, their plans set, the nine pledged "an oath of secresie," according to Budell, the violation of which would result in death. The men's attempts at secrecy failed, however. A servant named Birkenhead revealed their plans to the governor, who arranged for the conspirators to be ambushed at their meeting place, a result that Berkeley later attributed to "Gods hands," which had delivered "so transcendent a favour as the preserving all we have from so utter ruin." The General Court tried the captured servants for treason, accusing them of attempting "utterly to deprive, depose, cast downe and disinherite" the governor and, further, to wage war against Virginia in an attempt to "wholy submit and distroy" the colony. According to Robert Beverley Jr., four were hanged. |
| Date | Fri, September 13, 2013 |
| Repeat Type | Yearly
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| Priority | 5-Medium |
| Access | Public |
| Created by | DEFAULT ADMINISTRATOR |
| Updated | Thu, June 13, 2013 12:59am GMT |