Virginia Capitol on May 20, 2025. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods / Virginia Mercury)
By Dale Brumfield
On Sept. 16, 1663, the Virginia General Assembly passed Act XIV, establishing Sept. 13 as a perpetual holiday to commemorate the suppression of the Gloucester Conspiracy. Although this holiday was soon forgotten, it is worth considering its reinstatement, for reasons that differ significantly from those originally intended.
The Gloucester Conspiracy, also known as the Servant’s Plot or the Poropotank Servant’s Revolt, is one of the earliest and most significant uprisings involving enslaved individuals and indentured servants in colonial Virginia. This event culminated in several arrests for treason, and the execution and beheading of four individuals.
This plot followed only two years after the York County Conspiracy of 1661, where 40 servants conspired to revolt under their enslaver, Maj. James Goodwin. Although quickly suppressed with no arrests, the York conspiracy demonstrated the growing discontent among Virginia’s indentured labor force and prompted the General Assembly to pass two acts mandating better treatment of servants and the enslaved.
The Gloucester plot comprised a diverse group of English, Irish, African, and Indian indentured servants and enslaved people, even convict laborers transported from British jails, making it one of the first instances of multi-ethnic collaboration in colonial resistance.
The conspiracy transpired on Sept. 1, 1663, when John Gunter, William Bell, Richard Darbishire, John Hayte, Thomas Jones, William Ball, William Poultey, William Bendell, and Thomas Collins secretly met at Peter Knight’s home near Cooks Quarter. The conspirators appointed Bell and Gunter as their leaders. The group agreed to reconvene at midnight the following Sunday, Sept. 6, at Poplar Spring, with each participant ordered to bring whatever weapons they could beg, scavenge or steal for the uprising.
The plan was to march from Poplar Spring first to the home of Lt. Colonel Francis Willis, a member of the governor’s council. There they intended to seize more weapons and demand their release from indentures. A potential second destination was the Green Spring home of Gov. William Berkeley, where they would demand that all indentured servants who were normally required to serve seven years of indenture be released after one year. Many wanted to kill Beverley and Willis if they refused to cooperate.
As with many colonial-era insurrections, such as Gabriel’s Rebellion, an infiltrator betrayed the Gloucester plot. John Birkenhead, a servant of Maj. John Smith, revealed the plan to Berkeley, who arranged for the conspirators to be ambushed during their gathering at Poplar Spring. Citing divine intervention, the governor said it was “God’s hands” that had delivered “so transcendent a favour as the preserving all we have from so utter ruin.”
With the plot foiled, the nine captured conspirators faced trial for high treason before the General Court in Williamsburg, marking the first time colonial authorities treated servant rebellion as an act of war rather than merely a labor dispute. Determined to make examples of the servants, the court accused them of attempting “utterly to deprive, depose, cast downe and disinherite” the governor. Additionally, the conspirators were charged with planning to wage war against Virginia to “wholy submit and destroy” the still fledgling colony.
The harsh sentences reflected the court’s determination to send a simple but definitive message about the consequences of insurrection. Robert Beverley Jr. wrote in 1705 that four of the nine convicted conspirators—Bell, Gunter, and two unnamed—were executed by hanging. In addition, some historical accounts note that “several bloody heads dangled from local chimney tops as a gruesome warning to others.”
For his betrayal, Birkenhead gained his freedom from indentured servitude and received 5,000 pounds of tobacco, a substantial amount that represented years of earnings for most colonists.
The General Assembly thus voted to make Sept. 13 (presumably the day the final depositions were taken) a perpetual holiday: “Resolved that the 13th of September be annually kept holy, being the day those villains intended to put the plot in execution.” Also, in 1670, Berkeley issued an order prohibiting Britain’s worst criminals from being imported to Virginia, citing “the horror yet remaining amongst us of the barbourous designe of such villaines in September 1663.”
Virginia should reassess the historical significance of Sept. 13 by reclaiming the date not as a commemoration of colonial authority’s suppression of rebellion, but as a day to honor the resistance, courage, and aspirations of those who, despite overwhelming odds, sought to break free from bondage and assert their humanity. Honoring these individuals would affirm the state’s commitment to a more inclusive and truthful telling of its history.
Dale Brumfield is a journalist and the author of twelve books. He is also the former executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
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