Excerpt from State Normal Magazine, Vol. 7: December, 1902

Recognizing the justice of Bacon's resistance, he boldly joined him in open rebellion to the tyranny of the royal Governor. In making this choice, he was prompted by no hope of ultimate per sonal advantage. He realized that it was a matter of life or death for him and he was willing, if necessary, to sacrifice his own per sonal happiness for the vindication of his principles. His position and wealth, as well as his natural ability, gave him a place of prominence among the insurgents. He was the trusted counsellor of Bacon. It was perhaps due to his influence that the rebels chose Carolina as their wa'tchword. It was Drummond who suggested the deposition of the Virginia Governor and offered to find precedent for it in the annals of that colony. He applied the torch to his own house lest it should afiord shelter to the royalists.

In all his noble efforts he was ably sustained by his wife, Sarah Drummond, who in personal courage was not inferior to her hus band. Because of her active sympathy for his creed she was denounced by Berkeley as a wicked and notorious rebel.

Drummond identified himself so completely with the cause of the people that he incurred the intense hatred of the Virginia tyrant, who believed him to be the original cause of the whole rebellion. When Berkeley's proclamation of pardon was issued, among those who were excluded from its benefits was William Drummond.

When he realized that the rebellion was a failure he indulged in no useless regrets nor did he make any servile appeal to the Gov cruor for clemency, but met his fate with courage and dignity, He was brought before Berkeley, tried and executed within two hours after his capture.

It is a significant fact that the first Governor of North Carolina was a martyr in the cause of liberty. We like to think that his natural love of freedom and his hatred of tyranny were increased by his intercourse with the inhabitants of Albemarle, and that his subsequent acts may, to some extent, have been influenced by the colony, which Bancroft declares was the freest of the free.

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