In this Berkeley made his greatest mistake. Since he would not send the frontiersmen a leader of his own selection, they picked a leader for themselves. When the dread news spread in Charles City County that large bodies of Indians were on the upper James ready to descend on them, hundreds of angry men assembled in arms to resist them. Bacon, whose outer plantation had been plundered by the Indians and his overseer murdered, was easily persuaded to join them. When he appeared a shout went up, "A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon! A Bacon!" From that moment they were ready to follow wherever he would lead. From the first Bacon made it clear that he would try to redress the people's grievances as well as save them from the Indians. As the frontiersmen gathered around him he addressed them, denouncing "the government as negligent and wicked," calling the ruling clique "treacherous and incapable," the "laws and taxes unjust and oppressive," and dwelling on "the absolute necessity of redress."[35] Amid the shouts of approval he made them sign a large paper, "writing their names circular-wise that the ringleaders might not be found out." He then sent out "emissaries" to all parts of the colony to denounce the Governor, complain of the restrictions on the franchise, and demand the dismissal of the Long Assembly and a new election of Burgesses.[36] Instantly he became the hero of the people, "the only patron of the country and the preserver of their lives and fortunes." He hoped to gain his ends by peaceful means, and wrote the Governor asking for a commission to fight the Indians. When Berkeley, enraged at the accusations of misgovernment, proclaimed him a rebel, he wrote that he had taken up arms only to defend the country against the Indians. He then marched into New Kent, a county "ripe for rebellion" to attack the Pamunkeys, whom he had reason to believe had participated in some of the murderous raids. But when they fled, he turned south in pursuit of a band of Susquehannocks. When he arrived at the Roanoke River, the Occaneechees, a friendly tribe living on an island in the river, volunteered to go out and give battle to the Susquehannocks. But after they had defeated them and returned to the island they became involved in a quarrel with Bacon. A desperate battle ensued in which the Indians were defeated and forced to flee. After gathering up the spoils, Bacon turned his face homeward.