the years 1675 & 1676. [dated]
July 13, 1705.
Original manuscript, written on watermarked paper, 44 leaves measuring 6 ½ by 4 in.: 6 preliminary leaves including 3 blanks,
71 numbered pages of text and 2 leaves of Appendix; 21 lines to a full page, ruled in red throughout; pages 12, 22, partly
torn away; pages 23, 24 torn but no text is missing. Unbound, enclosed in paper wrappers.
The first leaf contains the address:
To the Right Hono
ble. Robert Harley Esq
e. Her Majties Principal Secretary of State, and One of her Most Hono
ble Privy Council
[signed] yo
r Hono
rs Most Devoted humble Serv
t
T.M.
The 13th July 1705.
The caption title is on the first leaf of the text.
A manuscript account of Bacon’s Rebellion was sent to Jefferson on December 20, 1803, by Rufus King, who wrote from New York:
“While abroad I took some pains to collect the publications that have been made respecting the discovery and settlements of
America; among the Reports and Letters of the early Settlers, I have a manuscript account of Bacon’s Rebellion in 1675, written
by a member of your assembly for the County of Northumberland, and addressed to Sr. Robert Harley.
"As this account is more particular than any other of the same transactions that I have seen, and differs from that of our
historians in some important Circumstances, I have thought that you might be gratified in reading it: Should it be in your
power, I shall be obliged to you to give me the name of the author, whose initials only are subscribed to the Dedication .
. .”
In the New-York Historical Society is Rufus King’s signed (initials) draft of this letter, with several variant readings. The most important of these is the reading County of
Northampton for County of
Northumberland.
Jefferson made a copy of the manuscript (which copy he had bound in calf gilt by John March on March 10, 1804, cost $1.00),
and returned the original to Rufus King on February 17, 1804: “
I now return you the M.S. history of Bacon’s rebellion with many thanks for the communication. it is really a valuable morsel
in the history of Virginia. that transaction is the more marked as it was the only rebellion or insurrection which had ever
taken place in the colony before the American revolution. neither it’s cause nor course have been well understood, the public
records containing little on the subject. It is very long since I read the several histories of Virginia. but the impression
remaining in my mind was not at all that which this writer gives; and it is impossible to refuse assent to the candor & simplicity
of his story. I have taken the liberty of copying it, which has been the reason of the detention of it. I had an opportunity
too of communicating it to a person who was just putting into the press a history of Virginia, but still in a situation to
be corrected. I think it possible that among the antient MSS. I possess at Monticello I may be able to trace the author. I
shall endeavor to do it the first visit I make to that place; and if with success I will do myself the pleasure of communicating
it to you. from the public records there is no hope, as they were destroyed by the British, I believe, very compleatly, during
their invasion of Virginia . . .
”
Rufus King’s manuscript, which, according to the above letter was returned to him in February, 1804, was bought by him from
William Collins, a London bookseller. This manuscript was bound, and had the numbers 3947 and 5781 on the outside cover.
Rufus King did receive the manuscript returned to him by Jefferson on February 17, 1804. The letter is endorsed by King: “Mr Jefferson / Feb. 17, 1804 / M. S. of Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia / Recd Feb. 22.”
On April 28, 1821, the following notice appeared in the National Intelligencer (Washington): A small work in manuscript, entitled "Bacon's Rebellion", has been secretly taken out of the Library of Congress. It is a small octavo vol. in the hand writing of Mr. Jefferson, and bound in calf. There have also disappeared in the same way, but at a more remote period, a small collection of curious collections of pensmanship, by a young lady of Salem; and a work in p. 4to by Cotton Mather, of some antiquity and great rarity, on the celebrated Witchcraft delusion of New England. All the above works had the private mark of Mr Jefferson, T. J. on the lower margin, and the Library labels inside and out. Information as to where they may be found is desired and will be thankfully received. G. Watterston, Librarian U.S. Library.
The manuscript described under no. 534 is listed in the Library of Congress Handbook of Manuscripts (1918), page 506, no. 27.
It should be noted that Mathew’s name is sometimes written Matthew.
The copy made by Jefferson was sent to the
Richmond Enquirer
, and printed in that paper for the first time on September 1, 5, 8, 1804. The
Richmond Enquirer states that its printed account is from
an exact copy of the original manuscript made by Mr. Jefferson then President of the United States; and was accompanied by
the following introductory notice, addressed to the Editor.
Richmond Enquirer--Sept. 1, 1804 (Saturday).
The politeness of a friend enables me this day to present to the public a curious addition to the history of Virginia tracts
of antiquity. It gives perhaps the most important authentic and particular extant account of an important aera in the history
of Virginia; the cause, course, and catastrophe of Bacon’s Rebellion.
Jefferson’s own account of Rufus King’s manuscript reads in part as follows: “
. . . On the outside of the cover of the manuscript is the No. 3947 in one place, and 5781 in another. Very possibly the one
may indicate the place it held in Lord Oxford’s library, and the other its number in the
”
