Royal Proclamation Concerning Bacon’s Rebellion

In his 1676 proclamation "For the Suppressing a Rebellion lately raised within the Plantation of Virginia," King Charles II declares that Nathaniel Bacon and all those associated with him in the uprising known as Bacon's Rebellion, "shall be guilty of the crime of high Treason," and he urges "all his Loyal Subjects … to use their utmost endeavour to Apprehend and bring to Justice the said Nathaniel Bacon (who hath been chief Contriver and Ring-leader of the said Rebellion) …" The king offered a reward of 300 pounds sterling for the capture of the rebel leader; in addition, "out of his Royal Pity and Compassion to his seduced Subjects," the  monarch offered amnesty to any rebel who agreed to turn himself in within twenty days after the publication of the broadside. The king issued this proclamation on October 27, 1676, without knowing that Bacon had died of dysentery in Virginia the previous day.