Culpeper's Rebellion
II. Background (Part 2)

Customs collectors were the first royal officials to make an appearance in Albemarle County. Virginia received in October 1671 the first customs officer of any of the colonies, and by 1678 all colonies were under this royal customs service.³³ Prior to 1671, except during the Interregnum, customs in England had been collected by syndicates who "farmed" the customs by paying the king a fixed fee for the privilege.³⁴ This meant that in England the position of collector was but another property that was subject to sale or assignment to deputies without further authority. Such accepted practices probably led Thomas Eastchurch to believe that he could designate Thomas Miller to act for him as governor in Albemarle County pending Eastchurch's delayed arrival.

In 1660 Governor Josias Fendall of Maryland decided to take advantage of the unsettled conditions in England to expand his power. He convinced the Maryland Assembly to declare for itself the authority to exist without any other power. Fendall formally agreed with that action and was subsequently elected president of the assembly, although the speaker was retained as a separate office. The uprising was quickly put down by Philip Calvert, appointed governor by Lord Baltimore. Fendall made a minor attempt to resist, but surrendered and pled for leniency which was granted.³⁵ His action may be considered as a precedent for seeking local control in the American colonies.

In 1675 Bacon's Rebellion broke out in Virginia as a power struggle between frontier traders and the royal government over Indian versus settlers rights on the frontier. One result was the suspension by Governor Berkeley and the Virginia Council, of Gyles Bland, collector of customs, who had sided with Bacon, on a charge of slander against Berkeley. Even though Bland was restored to his duties by March 1675,³⁶ the action set a precedent for colonial governments to terminate the authority of a royal appointee. A similar action would later be taken in Albemarle County in the imprisonment of Thomas Miller, who also had a commission as collector of customs.

Many writings on the events in Albemarle County in 1677 have discussed the less than honorable activities of John Culpeper in South Carolina. The earliest written discussion of this claim is found in the anonymous "Representation to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina Concerning the Rebellion in that Country to be made use of in Further Examinations"³⁷ in which Culpeper was accused of fleeing South Carolina for "his turbulent and factious carriage there." A document received from Sir Peter Colleton on 9 February 1679/80 ³⁸ also alleged that Culpeper had fled from South Carolina where "he was in danger of hang^g for laying the design & indeavouring to sett the poor people to plunder the rich."³⁹ Since John Culpeper's rapid to rise to a position of power in South Carolina was also followed by a similar rapid ascent in North Carolina, a further exploration of the known facts behind Culpeper's South Carolina experience is in order.

Mr. Culpeper, gentleman, arrived in South Carolina about 16 February 1670/71 in the ship Carolina from Barbadoes.⁴⁰ The voyage had been planned before 20 November 1670 when Thomas Colleton wrote his brother Sir Peter Colleton of it.⁴¹ By 21 March 1670/71 the council at Ashley River, South Carolina, was writing to the Lords Proprietors that in view of the totally unsatisfactory performance of their then surveyor general, Florence O'Sullivan, they intended to employ "one M^r John Culpeper a very able Artist"⁴² in that position until they received further instructions.

On 20 April 1672 Sir John Yeamans was elevated to governor in compliance with the Lords Proprietors commission of the preceding December. John Culpeper, Timothy Biggs, John Robinson, and John Pinkerd were among those elected to the South Carolina Assembly.⁴³ Captain Thomas Gray was installed as a member of the council. With the same mail The Lords Proprietors sent John Culpeper his appointment dated 30 December 1671 as surveyor general in the southern part of Carolina.⁴⁴ Culpeper's rapid rise may be better understood when one considers that as of 20 January 1671/72 there were only 263 men in the Ashley River area, and some of them were servants.⁴⁵ One of the 69 women there must have been Culpeper's wife Judith, who had arrived in December 1671 with her servant Alice Thomas.⁴⁶

By 22 July 1672 John Culpeper and Timothy Biggs, who would be on opposite sides in the December 1677 events in Albemarle County, had adjoining lots in Charles Towne.⁴⁷

In January 1672/73, in conjunction with the issuance of a power of attorney, Governor John Yeamans certified that John Culpeper and John Pinkerd were "persons of good fame and credit."⁴⁸ But, on 14 June 1673 the Grand Council directed Thomas Gray, a council member, and John Pinkerd, a member of the assembly, not to proceed further with fitting and rigging of their sloop until they had given security for debts they owed to the Lords Proprietors. At the 21 June 1673 meeting of the Grand Council the sloop was ordered seized for "Acts of elinquency [sic] and rebellion committed in and aboard the said sloope by the s^d Gray and his confederates . . . the said Fugitives Thomas Gray, John Robinson, John Culpeper and John Pinkerd."⁴⁹ No further details have been found that describe exactly what kind of disturbance occurred regarding the ship, but the fact that all four of the men named were either in the South Carolina Assembly or on the council would indicate that it was not lightly undertaken, and it certainly was not taken without the knowledge of the political realities of the day. The short time between the council directing that Gray and Pinkerd cease work on the sloop and the "rebellion" makes probable a conclusion that they were trying to leave the province without the necessary permission. This action of rebellion by the leaders in the colony is similar to the action taken in the English Civil War where nobles led the rebellion against King Charles I.

On 23 June 1673 the council allowed Jane Gray, wife of Thomas Gray, to recover certain personal household goods, provisions, and clothes for her children from the sloop.⁵⁰ This would indicate that the four fugitives took flight in great haste, and that at least the Gray family had planned to travel aboard the sloop.

The council had on 26 May 1672 taken action to require all men or single women who planned to depart the province to record that fact in the provincial secretary's office twenty-one days prior to their departure. This action was taken to ensure that all debts were settled prior to people leaving. At its 1 June 1672 meeting the council agreed to request the assembly to enact additional measures against fugitive persons or those absent without license. It would appear that the assembly acted, since by October 1672 the council was granting a reprieve to death sentences given by a "jury on the act of Parliam^t in that case" to two servants who had attempted to run away. Again in March 1672/73 the council, at "the earnest solicitacon of Margaret Lady Yeamans and the rest of the Ladyes and Gentlewomen of this Country" reprieved two men "found guilty upon the Act of parliament against runaways" of death sentences for being runaways.⁵¹ Unfortunately, neither manuscripts nor printed copies of the laws of the South Carolina Assembly prior to 1684⁵² have been found so that we cannot be sure that the law provided different penalties for servants and gentlemen. However, when John Pinkerd returned to the province in March 1674, the council ordered him taken into strict custody by the marshal and kept in irons until further orders. By December 1674 he had apparently been freed, since the council voted to give him a saw, a musket, a fouling piece, and a bed stead to provide relief to himself and to his family.⁵³

Perhaps in response to some perceived gap in its previous action, the council on 21 June 1673 ordered persons whose names were entered with the secretary pending departure could not remain there for more than six weeks without being reentered.⁵⁴ This implies that names of one or more of the fugitives may have been on the secretary's list for some time. We do know that the council thought that Gray and Pinkerd were planning to depart on the sloop which they were fitting out.

Available records identify persons with the name John Culpeper in several places. There is the John Culpeper who immigrated from Barbados to the Charles Town area of what is now South Carolina, and whose name was later the same one used in conjunction with the disturbances in Albemarle County in 1677. We will call him Albemarle John Culpeper hereinafter when risk of confusion exists. In a second listing, John Culpeper acted for Sir William Berkeley in administering the estate of the late Samuel Stephens in Albemarle County. A third citation is of a sheriff of Accomack and Northampton Counties in Virginia. A John Culpeper witnessed Sir William Berkeley's signature on the deed of sale of Roanoke Island to Joshua Lamb. The fifth and sixth listings identify one John Culpeper as the uncle of Frances Culpeper, and a second as her brother. It is this last link which is of special interest since Frances Culpeper married first Samuel Stephens, and after he died while serving as governor of Albemarle County, she married Sir William Berkeley. Some of the events related to the Culpeper Rebellion may have more meaning than previously considered if the Albemarle John Culpeper can be shown to be closely related to Frances Culpeper.

John Culpeper was named by Thomas Miller as a prime conspirator in the events of December 1677 which resulted in the overthrow of Miller's government in Albemarle County, but little attention has been given to how Culpeper could have arrived so late in the province and achieved such influence in a short time. Fairfax Harrison published in April 1925 the pedigree chart of the Wigsell Culpepers with an accompanying narrative which provides some evidence that John Culpeper may have been the brother of Frances Culpeper. Frances married three men who were or became colonial governors - Samuel Stephens of Albemarle County, Sir William Berkeley of Virginia, and Philip Ludwell of North Carolina. Frances's marriage would have created a close tie between either her uncle or her brother, John Culpeper, and Sir William Berkeley, who was at that time governor of Virginia and one of the eight original Lords Proprietors of Carolina. Even Harrison himself was not sure as he indicated in the text, but not the line diagram of the relationships, "If he was a brother of Dame Frances Berkeley." Despite this modest disclaimer, many who have written of this event since 1925 have used Harrison's article as the basis of their assertions that the Albemarle John Culpeper was, in fact, the brother of Frances.⁵⁵

Additional pieces of information not specifically mentioned by either Harrison or others in their discussions of Albemarle John Culpeper's relationship to Frances Culpeper should also be considered in studying the puzzling tie between Culpeper and Berkeley. First, John Culpeper was a witness to Sir William Berkeley's April 1676 deeding of Roanoke Island to Joshua Lamb, and Culpeper proved Berkeley's signature on that deed before the clerk of the Massachusetts court in September 1677.⁵⁶ Second, while both Harrison and others list John Culpeper's birthdate as about 1633,⁵⁷ a transcript of Albemarle John Culpeper's deposition for the trial of Thomas Miller for blasphemous utterings lists John Culpeper's age as thirty one. Unfortunately, no specific date is given for this deposition although it must have been between November 1673 when the alleged offense occurred and August 1679 when Miller's final trial for these alleged offenses occurred.⁵⁸ Reading of a photocopy of the original manuscript of the deposition from which William L. Saunders' Colonial Records data was taken shows that Culpeper's age was correctly transcribed.⁵⁹

The first documented appearance of a John Culpeper in Albemarle County was on 15 July 1670 before a court consisting of Governor Peter Carteret and four members of the council. That Culpeper declared himself attorney for Sir William Berkeley and petitioned for letters of administration on the estate of the late Governor Samuel Stephens.⁶⁰ His request was granted, although the normal practice at the time called for Berkeley himself to seek and receive permission to administer the estate of the late husband of his recent bride.⁶¹ Settling Stephen's estate kept Culpeper involved in Albemarle County affairs at least through the end of September 1670.⁶²

The Lords Proprietors had appointed Samuel Stephens governor of the county of Albemarle in the province of Carolina on 8 October 1667.⁶³ Stephens had died while still holding that position. On 7 March 1669/70 Governor Berkeley wrote to the assembly or council in Albemarle County expressing his grief at Stephens' recent death and viewing with concern the factions against Stephens which included persons who had gone so far as to draw their swords against him. Berkeley cautioned his correspondents that in selecting a replacement for Stephens they should not choose "him who gave soe ill an example of offering violence and indignityes to the late worthy Governo^r".⁶⁴ No further clue is known as to the identity of that person.

The specificity of information which Berkeley included in this March letter indicates that it came from someone with detailed knowledge of Stephens' daily activities. Berkeley married Frances Culpeper Stephens sometime between 19 May 1670 when a deed indicated that Berkeley and Frances were to be married and 21 June 1670 when the records of the Virginia General Court show that the marriage was acknowledged in the court.⁶⁵ One may reasonably conclude that at least some of the knowledge needed to write the 7 March letter came from Stephens' widow. Shortly after his marriage, Berkeley had made the necessary arrangements for a John Culpeper to act as his attorney in settling Stephens' estate.

The early presence of "great factions" within the province, some of whom were willing to show their open defiance of the governor, would remain a feature of the North Carolina political scene for over a century. As a part of his preparation to settle the Stephens estate, Culpeper must have been briefed by Frances and Berkeley on the names of those involved in opposing Stephens. In his role as Berkeley's attorney acting to settle the estate of the late governor, Culpeper certainly had no difficulty in establishing his credentials in Albemarle County and in meeting as an equal those in positions of power there. Lieutenant Colonel John Jenkins and Major Richard Foster, two of the four members of the court who approved his petition, later were participants on the same side with Albemarle John Culpeper during the disturbances of 1677.

It is interesting to note the irony of one who might have close ties with a proprietor taking the side of those who have been described as members of the anti-proprietor faction. This is even more intriguing when one considers that Sir William Berkeley died 6 July 1677 in England and Lady Frances Berkeley was the heir-apparent to his share of the proprietorship of the province.⁶⁶ By December 1677 news of Berkeley's death should have reached Albemarle County. Another anomaly is that most members of the faction listed by some authors as supporting the Lords Proprietors were newcomers,⁶⁷ thus raising the question of why newcomer Albemarle John Culpeper made his alliance with the so called anti-proprietor faction. One must conclude that while factions obviously existed, they did not see themselves as primarily for or against the Lords Proprietors.

As discussed above, the next documented appearance of a John Culpeper is in February 1671 in Charles Town on the Ashley River of what is now South Carolina. He probably came with a group of about 110 people from Barbados who increased the population of that area to about 300.⁶⁸ Many recent historians begin their discussion of John Culpeper with his appearance in South Carolina even though J. R. B. Hathaway published in 1900 the results of both the July and September 1670 court cases showing that a John Culpeper was in Albemarle County in 1670, and Samuel A'Court Ashe used this information in his 1925 History of North Carolina.⁶⁹ Albemarle John Culpeper must have made a favorable impression on the Ashley River authorities because within a month of his arrival they were arranging to have him appointed to replace their unsatisfactory Surveyor-General.⁷⁰ No evidence exists of Berkeley's assistance in obtaining this 30 December 1671 commission for Albemarle John Culpeper from the London Lords Proprietors. Berkeley had requested and Frances' brother Alexander had received his commission as surveyor- general in Virginia only a few weeks before Albemarle John Culpeper received his commission.⁷¹

Mattie Erma Parker writes that Culpeper may have left South Carolina for a reason which he was not at liberty to disclose, one related to Sir William Berkeley's expected receipt of sole possession of the colony.⁷² Negotiations between Berkeley's agent and the other proprietors resulted in an agreement in March 1672 that Berkeley would relinquish claim to and obligations for all the rest of the Carolina grant except for its northeastern corner of about sixty miles south along the coast from Currituck Inlet and one hundred miles inland from the western shore of Roanoke Island.⁷³ This area included all of the then populated Albemarle County. A 1669 agreement by six of the London resident proprietors provided for all the proprietors to make annual contributions to finance development in the area that became South Carolina. Berkeley had neither signed the 1669 agreement nor made any of the required payments, and the other proprietors were seeking a way of enforcing their agreement.⁷⁴

A John Culpeper made an appearance in the Virginia General Court in April 1671 in a dispute with Elizabeth Bruce; the case was referred to arbitration. John Culpeper was directed in a 5 October 1672 Virginia court to serve as a surveyor of land in Northampton County to resolve a dispute there. By 5 March 1674/5 Mary Culpeper, widow of John Culpeper, late of Accomack, was granted administration of her husband's estate. A year later the burgesses of Accomack and Northampton were in court to state that John Culpeper had been sheriff of both counties and had collected quitrents there in 1673 and 1674 which they wished to recover from his estate. In June 1675 another claim was filed on his estate for fees due to the governor and secretary of the colony.⁷⁵ Harrison claims that this John Culpeper was the uncle of Frances and clerk of Northampton County,⁷⁶ but Warren Billings has found a document in which Berkeley refers to the clerk of Accomack as "my brother Culpeper."⁷⁷ If we assume that Berkeley knew better who his wife's relatives were than more recent genealogists, we may conclude that the Eastern Shore John Culpeper was the brother of Frances. In this case his documented activities in Virginia at the same time that the Albemarle John Culpeper was active in South Carolina would preclude the two being the same. Certainly the death of the Eastern Shore John before March 1674/5 would rule out his later participation in Berkeley's 1676 sale of Roanoke Island or in the 1677 events in Albemarle County.

There were other Culpeper's in Barbados in the 1670s,⁷⁸ but no link between Albemarle John and Lady Frances Culpeper Stephens Berkeley can be established at this time. The fact that a John Culpeper was in Virginia in 1676 to witness Sir William Berkeley's deed of sale of Roanoke Island gives the only remaining clue to show some connection of the Albemarle John to Berkeley and Frances, but this clue is too tenuous to be useful in drawing any conclusions even though we do have a good track on Albemarle John from February 1671 until his death before February 1693/94.

One other occurrence about this same time played an important role in the Albemarle County disturbances which were to follow in 1677. On 29 March 1673 the English Parliament enacted an amended navigation act which became known as the Plantation Duty Act. Previous navigation acts had permitted the shipment of products grown, produced, or manufactured in the colonies to any other colony without the payment of customs. This new act provided that from 1 September 1673 certain named products could not be loaded from the plantations unless either a bond with one sufficient surety was given that the products would be landed and unloaded in England, Wales, or the town of Berwick upon Tweed or a specified duty paid. In the case of the main product of concern to Albemarle, tobacco, the duty rate of one penny per pound was established. The place of payment of this duty was to be designated by appointed collectors. Payment could be made in the requisite proportion of the commodity being shipped "according to the current rate of those commodities at the loading point."⁷⁹ Information on this new rate structure could have reached the American colonies about mid June if normal sailing times are considered.

The combination of tobacco as the main money crop of Albemarle with the treacherous inlets through the Outer Banks of North Carolina resulted in much of the export of tobacco from Albemarle County being shipped by small, shallow draft ships operated by New England merchantmen. Direct shipment from Albemarle County to England was possible in small ships only at great risk of loss in storms on the rough seas of the North Atlantic Ocean while the deep draft of standard sea-going merchant ships of the day prevented their safe passage through the North Carolina inlets. This lack of adequate ports for the normal sea-going ships of the day was a major hindrance in the development of the Albemarle region, and the new restrictions imposed by the Plantation Duty Act must have alarmed Berkeley as he reconsidered his negotiations with the other proprietors. With the new law he faced the possibility of significant limitations on further development of the segment of the Carolina grant he was about to obtain.