In 1667, Philip Ludwell became captain of the
James City County militia. After marrying his first wife and becoming the guardian for her son Lewis Burwell who had not reached legal age, he operated Fairfield, the Burwell family's plantation on Carter's Creek in
Gloucester County, probably until about 1675 (both her death and when her son Lewis Burwell reached legal age and married for the first time). In 1676, both Ludwell brothers remained among the strongest supporters of Virginia governor
William Berkeley during
Bacon's Rebellion, named after the leader, a nephew of Lady Berkeley, and whom she would denounce as a scheming and ungrateful malcontent. Col. Philip Ludwell led an unsuccessful raid upon Bacon's compound, before Bacon died of disease at what became known as
Bacon's Castle. Col. Ludwell also accompanied Governor Berkeley during his temporary exile to the
Eastern Shore, during which time the rebels burned the colonial capital at Jamestown, as well as plundered Berkeley's
Green Spring Plantation, Ludwell's plantation and goods, and those of his Burwell stepson and ward. In the interim, Lady Berkeley had sailed to England after the rebellion, hoping to save her husband's reputation, but was unsuccessful and ended up sailing back to Virginia with his successor,
Herbert Jeffreys. After quashing the rebellion, Lord Berkeley had been recalled and died in England in 1677. In 1680, the year of his second marriage, Philip Ludwell again became a member of the Governor's Council of State. Lady Berkeley, though now the colony's wealthiest person in Virginia (and with lands in North Carolina as well inherited from her first husband) and who remained so politically active that a faction was named after her main Green Spring plantation, continued to run her plantations using large numbers of slaves. Not only was Lady Berkeley known as opinionated, Ludwell's continued outspoken views also put him at odds with Lt. Governor Herbert Jeffreys until Jeffrey's death and Ludwell's re-instatement to the Governor's Council upon petition of other burgesses. The conflict recurred later with Governor Francis Howard, so that Ludwell was again suspended from the Governor's Council in 1688 but sailed to England with a petition for relief signed by several burgesses. Thus, although James City County voters elected both Ludwell and
James Bray Sr. to represent them in the House of Burgesses that year, Ludwell was not allowed to be seated (his son-in-law Daniel Parke won the new election and was seated). Ludwell would again carry a petition of Burgesses and Lady Berkeley to England circa 1791, and received a vote of thanks and 250 pounds sterling for his efforts. Despite her remarriage and moving for a time to the Ludwell plantation at Rich Neck, Lady Berkeley never relinquished her title as Lady Berkeley before her death (probably at Green Spring and probably in 1695, though she would be reburied at Jamestown). Since she had no surviving children from her prior marriages, nor the last, Ludlow inherited her property, including Green Spring, that she had inherited from Gov. Berkeley and from her first husband, North Carolina Gov.
Samuel Stephens, and would in turn pass them onto his son by his first marriage, Philip Ludwell Jr. Ludwell managed to established a government for the northern part of the colony in Albemarle Sound in May 1690, despite Virginia emigrant John Gibbs' refusal to concede power. Gibbs had filled the power vacuum after Sothel's departure and argued that the colony's Fundamental Constitutions required a resident governor, which Ludwell would not be based on his marital and business interests. Both Gibbs and Ludwell sailed to London by year's end, where the Lords Proprietor disallowed Gibbs' claim. The Lords Proprietor then explicitly revoked the Fundamental Constitution and in November 1691 issued another commission to Ludwell with explicit power to appoint a deputy governor for northern Carolina, and expecting that he would make
Charles Town the government seat. Ludwell soon appointed Thomas Jarvis as his deputy in North Carolina. He arrived in Charles Town in April 1692, published his new commission and established a government, although he found affairs there chaotic and after leaving affairs in the hands of Thomas Smith and promising to return in four months, returned to North Carolina (where Jarvis had fallen ill) and Virginia by May 1693. Ludwell then returned to Virginia politics, won election as one of James City County's two delegates (alongside Poynes Weldon), and fellow Burgesses elected him as speaker in the 1695-1696 session before Ludwell again sailed to England. ==Later life and death==