It was with Sir William's friendly approbation that Bacon purchased a plantation at Curles Neck, on the James, forty miles above Jamestown. He bought also, a "quarter," or farm to be managed by an overseer, on the frontier at the site of Richmond. "I chose to seat myself so remote, I having always delighted in solitude," he said.[26] Bacon soon found himself at odds with the dictatorial Governor. It seems probable that prowling Indians made off with some of his livestock and that he, without consulting Berkeley, had retaliated. When Sir William reproved him, he lost his temper and was guilty of "unbecoming deportment."[27] At the meetings of the Council he obviously did not like the way things were conducted, for he absented himself as much as possible. When he was in Jamestown it is certain that he knew both Lawrence and Drummond. In fact it is probable that he boarded with Mrs. Lawrence, who took in paying guests, and no doubt was one of several persons accused of keeping ordinaries "at extraordinary prices." When the Assembly or the General Court was in session, her house was crowded. To her clients Lawrence, in so subtle a manner as not to cause suspicion, suggested the possibility of curbing "the forwardness, avarice, and French despotic methods of the Governor."[28] That he poured out the story of his own and the people's wrongs in Bacon's ears, and that Bacon proved a sympathetic listener, hardly admits of a doubt. Otherwise he would not have risked his neck to seek him and Drummond out for a midnight conference after Berkeley had proclaimed him a rebel. With Virginia a mass of explosives, the match which set them off was an Indian war. The Susquehannocks, a tribe friendly with the whites, had been attacked by the Senecas and driven from their towns at the head of the Chesapeake Bay to the north bank of the Potomac near the site of Fort Washington. Here they began a series of raids on the plantations on both sides of the river in search of food. When a band of Indians of another tribe crossed over to Virginia, killed several people, and escaped into Maryland, an enraged party of whites pursued them. Unfortunately, they made the mistake of attacking the Susquehannocks and killing fourteen of them. The Susquehannocks retaliated with a series of murders, and the Indian war was on.[29] While the Virginians and Marylanders were gathering their forces, the Indians busied themselves building a fort with high embankments, moat, and corner bastions. It presented so formidable an appearance that before attacking it the white commanders summoned the Indian "great men" to a parley. But when they came out, Major Trueman, of the Maryland forces, charging them with the recent murders, had them knocked on the head. Infuriated at this breach of faith, the Indians in the fort made a successful resistance, and at last broke through the besieging forces, made their way up the left bank of the river, and crossed over to Virginia.[30]