Berkeley has refused to authorize retaliation against…

Berkeley has refused to authorize retaliation against the natives: one of his main motivations in this decision is that he is invested in a fur trading business with the natives, which will be jeopardized if relations are to sour.

Berkeley has Bacon removed from his governing council and arrested; Bacon's armed followers, some five hundred strong, quickly secure his release, and force Berkeley to hold legislative elections.

The recomposed House of Burgesses enacts a number of sweeping reforms, limiting the powers of the governor and restoring suffrage rights to landless freemen.

Bacon compels the frightened legislators to appoint him general before he marches away in search of the natives.

His extortion of a general's commission turns a dispute over native policy into a duel to the death over who will control Virginia—Bacon or Berkeley.