Both possessed violent tempers; both were proud and resolute, and the man of seventy was wholly unscrupulous.

The prospects were good for a bitter warfare.

The old cavalier attempted to end it by striking a sudden blow at his adversary.

Bacon and his army were on their march through the forest to the seat of Indian troubles, when an emissary of the governor came in hot haste with a proclamation, denouncing Nathaniel Bacon and his deluded followers as rebels, and ordered them to disperse.

If they persisted in their illegal proceedings, it would be at their peril.
Governor Berkeley could not have chosen a more effective way of crippling the expedition.