about two o'clock in the afternoon
They hastened from plantation and hundred , from lowland manor-house and log cabin in the woods of the upland , well-armed housekeepers , booted and spurred , armed with good broadswords and fusils for the wars that were plainly coming . Bacon in a little while had collected a force of nearly six hundred men . In fact , it was not more than three or four days after his escape , before , at the head of this force , he was marching on Jamestown . Berkeley was alarmed and dispatched messengers to York and Gloucester for the train-bands ; but only about one hundred soldiers could be mustered , and before these could reach Jamestown , Bacon entered it at the head of his army , and about two o'clock in the afternoon drew up his troops , horse and foot , upon the green , not an arrow 's flight from the end of the statehouse . All the streets and roads leading into the town were guarded , the inhabitants disarmed and the boats in the harbor seized . Jamestown was thrown into confusion . Sir William Berkeley and his council were holding a council of war , when the roll of drums and blast of trumpets announced that Bacon was in possession of the city .