Final answer:
Nathaniel Bacon was granted a commission by the Virginia House of Burgesses after pressuring them with force and causing Governor William Berkeley to flee the capital during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.
Step-by-step explanation:
The individual who granted Nathaniel Bacon and his men his commission during Bacon's Rebellion was the Virginia House of Burgesses, under duress from Bacon and his supporters. This took place after a tense showdown on June 23, 1676, outside the statehouse in Jamestown, where Governor William Berkeley dared Bacon to shoot him. Bacon refrained from shooting, but the fear-driven burgesses awarded Bacon the commission he sought and compelled Berkeley to pardon Bacon's previous treasonous activities.
Berkeley then fled the capital, and Bacon resumed his offensive against the Native Americans, including the Powhatan people. After a series of events, including Berkeley briefly reclaiming and then losing the capital, Bacon's subsequent choice to burn down Jamestown, and his attacks on various Indian tribes, Bacon died of natural causes on October 26, 1676. Meanwhile, Bacon's Rebellion fizzled soon after his death but highlighted deep-seated discontent and grievances among the colonists of Virginia.