The Indentured Servants’ Plot

During the summer of 1663, indentured servants (held for several years of service) in the Poropotank River and Purtan Bay region plotted an insurrection against their masters to occur on 13 Sept. 1663. It was prevented when John Berkenhead, servant of Maj. John Smith, of Gloucester County, informed the authorities of the planned uprising. For "his honest affection of the preservation of this Country" the Virginia House of Burgesses, on 16 Sept., granted Berkenhead his freedom and 5,000 pounds of tobacco. In addition, the Burgesses proclaimed that 13 Sept. would henceforth annually be "kept holy."