Ann Cotton

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Mrs. Ann Cotton's "Our Late Troubles" which is her accounts of Bacon's Rebellion

Ann Cotton (Date of birth unknown- Date of death unknown) was a female colonist in the new world who aided in the writing of accounts of Bacon's rebellion with her husband. Her Accounts about Bacon's rebellion are really all that there is about her. When and where she was born is still unknown to this very day.  As well as her maiden name, if she had any children, and the date of her marriage or marriages. Writing one of the earliest accounts of Bacon’s rebellion, Ann proved to be a woman very intrigued by literature at the time. Historians who have studied her husband John Cotton have found that he was a native to the eastern shore of Virginia and lived in Northampton County. John is said to have a daughter who was born in the spring of 1660 and a son in the December of 1662. What was so unique about Ann was that as a woman, she was very literate and very educated. She corresponded with a friend in England about her personal experiences of Bacon’s rebellion. Much of what is actually known about Ann comes from this lost correspondence letter.

Women in literature in the 1600s

In the Thirteen Colonies, if a woman were to enter public discourse, it was seen as a radical act of rebellion. Wanting to write and publish at a time in which women had very few legal and economic rights was just shy of supernatural. To avoid criticism, women often wrote under pseudonyms, due to them getting in trouble if they used their real names. Along with Ann Cotton, many women used literature to tell accounts of their personal life and to express their views. Views that wouldn't be allowed to be said by a woman in public. Anne Bradstreet was a woman who was very popular in the Early Republic when it came to literature. She wrote for the love of her family but also wrote to express her hardships as a woman.

Ann's accounts of Bacon's rebellion

Illustration of Bacon's Rebellion

"There is little doubt that Bacon's Rebellion was a pivotal event in the history of Virginia". Cotton's narrative, was in part based on the more in depth account that her husband constructed sometime following the end of the year 1676. The letter in which she wrote was addressed to Christopher Harris, a man who the Cottons knew from Virginia. In the letters between the two, Harris requests Ann to send any information she had about the rebellion. He even asked for a possible copy of what her husband wrote about the incursion. Harris could not give insight to Ann regarding why he needed this implicit information about the event of Bacon's rebellion. What Ann did to satisfy Harris's wishes, she created her own version of her husbands accounts of the rebellion. She made sure to add a good amount of parenthetical references which were referenced to Harris himself. These parenthetical references were things such as names that were familiar to Harris; names of rebels that were executed and held for trial after the rebellion.

Women in colonial America

Women had the duty of taking care of much of the things the men had no time for. Women were usually taught to read in order to understand and decipher the bible to teach children. Only a handful was taught how to write. They looked after children, oversaw the managing of the household, and tend after animals. They still had very few rights which gave way to them finding ways in order to express their feelings about national and global things. Ann Cotton was one of these very women who was intelligent for her time. She used her writing to account for observations about different aspects and events of colonial life in the New World especially Bacon's rebellion.

References

Bernhard, Contributor: Virginia, and Contributor: the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. “Ann Cotton (Fl. 1650s–1670s).” Encyclopedia Virginia, 4 Nov. 1657, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/cotton-ann-fl-1650s-1670s/.

“Colonial National Historical Park: A Study of Virginia Indians and Jamestown-the First Century (Chapter 8).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/jame1/moretti-langholtz/chap8.htm.

“6 Early American Women Writers We Should Know More About.” Literary Ladies Guide, 20 Mar. 2019, https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/literary-musings/6-early-american-women-writers-to-rediscover/.

Boundless. “Boundless US History.” Lumen, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/the-role-of-women-in-the-colonies/#:~:text=The%20typical%20woman%20in%20colonial,%2C%20cleaning%2C%20and%20raising%20children.

See also

• Bacon’s Rebellion
• Anne Bradstreet
• Cockacoeske, Pamunkey chief
• Women in the American Revolution

Further reading

• Ritche, Thomas. “Richmond Enquirer.” Richmond Enquirer - Browse by Title - Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive, https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=cl&cl=CL1&sp=RE&.

• Force, Peter. “Tracts and Other Papers Relating Principally to the Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North America from the Discovery of the Country to the Year 1776.” The Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/04027018/.

External Sources

• https://historicjamestowne.org/history/bacons-rebellion/
• https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/bacons-rebellion.htm
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/1112hpr-702a611983a915b/
• https://interestingliterature.com/2017/11/the-best-anne-bradstreet-poems-everyone-should-read/
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/cockacoeske-d-by-july-1-1686/

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