September 1663
ResistanceBook sources
Virginia suppresses the Gloucester servants’ conspiracy
Gloucester County, Virginia
Virginia prosecuted servants accused of planning to seize weapons and demand release from service. Depositions described a plan to confront Governor Berkeley or leave the colony. The assembly rewarded the informer Birkenhead with freedom and tobacco and designated an annual day of thanksgiving.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
Surviving records establish an alleged servants’ plot, but do not substantiate the claim that Black people participated. Accounts also disagree about the September dates. This entry records prosecution and official reaction without treating every accusation as proven.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 2, p. 36; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- Gloucester indictments and depositions (1663); McIlwaine p. 511 and Virginia Magazine 15:38–43 ↗
- Virginia assembly rewards Birkenhead, 16 September 1663; Hening 2:204 ↗