Bacon’s Epitaph, made by his Man

This handwritten version of "Bacon's Epitaph, made by his Man"—the first notable poem composed in America—is part of a bound volume that is believed to be an eighteenth-century copy of the vanished original manuscript by John Cotton that chronicled the events of Bacon's Rebellion (1676–1677). The document is unsigned, but the author is believed to be either John Cotton or his wife, Ann Cotton.