Capt. Thomas Wilford
Thomas was born about 1610 in
Hendige, Kingston Parish, Kent, England. He died by execution, Hanging, in 1676 in
Jamestown, VA.
- Death Notes
- Probate: September 11, 1667, Westmoreland County, Virginia
Will: September 11, 1667, Westmoreland County, Virginia, Wills, Book I.
"In 1676 Thomas Wilford was one of three prominent landowners who joined Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., in leading a rebellion against heavy taxes and Governor Berkeley's failure to suppress Indian massacres. Through their efforts James Towne was partially burned and Governor Berkeley was temporarily driven from the capital. At the peak of their success, however, Bacon died suddenly. The Governor promptly sent out raiding parties and captured Major Chisholm, Thomas Hansford, and Captain Wilford. The latter two were taken before Berkeley's court on shipboard in the Eastern Shore area, where they were summarily condemned and later hanged. Major Chisholm escaped a similar fate only because he had died in prison 'of hard usage.' The property of all three was ordered confiscated.
"Governor Berkeley's vengeful course of execution and confiscation was so violent as to cause his recall by King Charles II, who remarked that, 'the old fool has killed more people in that naked country than I have done for the murder of my father.'
"A latter-day historian had this to say about one of Bacon's three lieutenants: Captain Wilford, the third of the distinguished prisoners, was the second son of a knight who had lost his life and estate in the late King's quarrel with his parliament. 'He was a little man, yet he had a great heart, and was known to be no coward.' Bacon had made use of him with the Indians as an interpreter. In the recent fighting he had lost an eye but he made a jest of it, declaring that, as the governor had long ago promised him a hanging as being one of those who went out with Bacon in his first expedition against the Indians, it made no difference whether he had one eye or two eyes, for that in either case the governor would see him well guided to the place of execution.
Capt. Thomas Wilford 
