The resolution of the most wealthy of the armed housekeepers were shaken.

They feared a confiscation more than hanging or decapitation.

One hundred and seventy of the followers of Bacon obeyed the order and abandoned the expedition.
Fifty-seven horsemen remained steadfast.

Among them was Robert Stevens, who was young and reckless as his daring leader.
The Indians had entrenched themselves on a hill east of the present city of Richmond, and when the whites approached them, they as usual sent forth a flag of truce to parley with them.

The men who remained with Bacon were nearly all frontiersmen who had suffered more or less from the savages.
John Whitney, a frontiersman, had had his home destroyed, and his wife and child slain by the Indians.