Part 2

It is difficult to determine exactly when flint arms superseded matchlocks as the standard military firearm at Plymouth. There were a few flint arms in the _Mayflower_ in 1620, for flints are specifically mentioned among the military stores on board. Miles Standish, a professional soldier, naturally had the best weapon available. Edward Winslow, in describing the first encounter between the colonists and the Indians, noted that Standish with his “snaphance” and one or two other Pilgrims, who were apparently equipped with flint arms, fired at the Indians and held them at bay while a brand from the fire was carried to the others so they could light their matches.

For the first ten years the supremacy of the matchlock was probably not seriously threatened. From 1630 until the outbreak of King Philip’s War in 1675, however, the change is plainly visible. There are more references to matches than to flints in inventories and court records until the beginning of the Pequot War, but the tales of snap-shooting increase, and during the war the stories of ambushes and surprise attacks throughout New England indicate that flint arms were becoming more plentiful. In 1643 the Plymouth General Court ordered that every soldier should be supplied with either a matchlock or a “snaphance.” By 1645 Governor William Bradford could report that the Plymouth troops had been sent to a muster at Seacunk “well armed all with snaphance peeces.” In 1645, also, while matchlocks were allowed for private arms, the Plymouth General Court allowed only “snaphances” or “firelocks” for Town arms.

With the coming of King Philip’s War, the era of the matchlock at Plymouth was definitely past. The campaigns of that war, forays into the wilderness, night attacks, ambushes, battles in the rain, and encounters between individuals which required snap-shooting indicate clearly that the “snaphance” was the principal weapon. In 1677, towards the end of the war, the Plymouth General Court outlawed the matchlock completely as an acceptable weapon. In abandoning matchlocks at this time, Plymouth was years ahead of Europe where the clumsy firearm persisted until after 1700.

In addition to the matchlock and flint arms in general use, there were undoubtedly a few wheel lock arms in Plymouth. The wheel lock was the second ignition system chronologically, having been developed shortly after 1500. It was an efficient system, operating much like a modern cigarette lighter with the spark produced by holding a piece of pyrites against a revolving rough-edged wheel. The wheel lock, however, was an expensive weapon, costing twice as much as a matchlock and half as much again as a flint arm. This did not necessarily preclude its purchase by the Pilgrims since those colonists were not so apt to economize on something which affected their life expectancy as closely as did their firearms. There are no records which state positively that there were wheel locks at Plymouth, and no authentic wheel lock used there has survived. The term “firelock” which is used occasionally in the documents very often was used to denote a wheel lock, and in the case of the 1646 order mentioned above, it almost certainly had that meaning.

The Pilgrims also brought two other principal kinds of hand firearms with them, the fowling piece and the pistol. The fowling piece, or birding piece as it was often called, was usually a huge gun. In 1621 Edward Winslow wrote from Plymouth to prospective colonists in England and advised them concerning their needs. Regarding these fowlers, he counseled, “Let your piece be long in the barrel; and fear not the weight of it, for most of our shooting is from stands.” This was in keeping with the best contemporary sporting theory which contended that barrels five and a half or six feet long would increase the range of the gun and produce a flatter trajectory for the bullet. Such guns were almost always flint arms, although there may have been a few wheel locks.

Fortunately one such fowling piece which belonged to a Plymouth settler, John Thompson, has survived, and is preserved in the Old Colony Historical Society Museum at Taunton, Massachusetts. It is 88½ inches long with a 73½ inch barrel of .84 caliber. The lock is a primitive form of flintlock known to collectors today as an “English lock.” The stock is oak and was undoubtedly made in this country.

In addition to their long guns, the Plymouth settlers also brought some pistols. Inventories of their estates contain listings of such hand guns, including one “double pistol.” All the pistols would have been either wheel locks or flint arms. The matchlock was almost never used for pistols by Europeans, although it is frequently found on Oriental hand guns. Once more it is a weapon of John Thompson that has survived to show what at least one of the Plymouth pistols looked like. Preserved in Pilgrim Hall, it is a most interesting weapon. Many of the pieces are missing from the lock, but enough survive to indicate it was the type of flintlock that is often called a “dog lock” by modern collectors because of the little dog catch which held the cock in the half-cock position. The barrel is brass with interesting moulded decorations, and the wooden stock has a butt closely resembling those found on many wheel lock pistols of the first quarter of the 17th century.

These were the kinds of firearms which the Plymouth colonists used in the years from 1620 till 1690. Before leaving the subject, however, it would be well to mention one form which was not used but which has become intimately associated with the Pilgrims in popular imagination—the blunderbuss. This colorful weapon with the flaring muzzle was developed on the Continent of Europe about the middle of the 17th century, some thirty years after the _Mayflower_ landed at Plymouth. It was some years later before it reached England. As a weapon, it was a highly specialized arm. The flared muzzle was designed to spread the shot in a wide pattern and thus do as much damage as possible to a closely packed group of enemies at comparatively short range. It was of no use against scattered foes at a distance. Actually, it was the direct ancestor of the modern riot gun or the shot gun used by prison guards. It was not popular in America until about 1700 when the growth of cities and increasing population created here the conditions under which it was effective.

AMMUNITION AND EQUIPMENT

The ammunition which the colonists fired from their guns consisted of round balls of lead propelled by charges of black powder. The powder was weak by modern standards and thus comparatively large loads were used. When it was ignited it gave off clouds of white smoke which smelled strongly of sulphur. Usually for military purposes a single ball was used, but sometimes, especially for hunting, a number of small shot, much like present day buck shot, were used. These were called swan shot by the men who used them.

There were several ways of carrying this ammunition. The powder was normally either in a flask or bandolier; the shot in a soft leather pouch. When going into action, a soldier often took his bullets from his pouch and put them in his mouth so he could spit them into the barrel of his gun and save time in loading.

The flask was usually a box of wood, often covered with leather and bound with iron. Normally it was either roughly triangular or shaped like a flattened horn. There was a nozzle at the end with two valves, one at the base and one at the end. This enabled the user to measure out one nozzle-full of powder at a time, and the nozzle was calculated to hold just about enough powder for a normal load. Usually two flasks were used, a large one for the propelling charge within the gun, and a small one holding finer powder for use in the priming pan.

A bandolier was a somewhat more complicated piece of equipment. It consisted of a leather belt worn over the shoulder from which were suspended little cylinders of wood, metal or hard leather. Each of these cylinders held enough powder for one charge. Also attached to the belt were a bullet pouch and often a small flask for priming powder.

Theoretically the bandolier afforded a faster and more convenient method of carrying ammunition. Actually, it had many disadvantages. The cylinders rattled against each other, making so much noise it was sometimes impossible to hear commands. Occasionally the musket would become tangled in the loops. And worst of all, hanging in front as they did, they would sometimes ignite from the musket discharge and the whole string of charges would explode, which was most unpleasant and disconcerting to the wearer to say the least. Despite these drawbacks, bandoliers were quite popular at Plymouth, and they are frequently mentioned in wills and inventories.

As the 17th century wore on, there came two other developments in the means of carrying ammunition. The use of flasks made of cows’ horns increased in popularity as the cattle population grew. Such horn flasks had been used to some extent by the poorer classes in Europe, but in America they became very popular because they could be made locally and did not require great skill or craftsmanship. By the beginning of the 18th century such horn flasks or powder horns as they were then called completely dominated the flask picture. The other development was the practice of wrapping charges of powder in cylinders of paper which could be carried in a pouch. These were the first true cartridges. They had been used in Europe primarily for mounted troops for several decades before the Pilgrims landed. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is credited with having been the first general to supply his infantry with them early in the 17th century. However this may be, paper cartridges began to appear at Plymouth sometime after 1637, and by the beginning of King Philip’s War in 1675, they were fairly common. They were not widely used by European infantry until after 1700.

CANNON[1]

In addition to their small arms, the Pilgrims also brought some heavy ordnance. On a commanding hill overlooking the bay and landing site, they built a meeting house and fort with places for their cannon on an upper deck. On February 21, 1621, William Bradford and Edward Winslow relate how “the Master came on shore, with many of his saylors, and brought with him one of the great peeces, called a Minion, and helped us to draw it up the hill, with another peece that lay on shore, and mounted them, and a Saker and two Bases.” In 1627 Isaak De Rasieres visited Plymouth and noted that the Pilgrims had six cannon of unspecified types in their fort and four “patreros” mounted in front of the governor’s house at the intersection of the two streets of the town.

[1] In the preparation of this section I am much indebted to Mr. Edwin N. Rich of Wellfleet, Mass., a life-long student of early artillery who prepared the drawings from which the cannon in the reconstructed fort were made.

These guns were probably not new, and they may well have been part of the armament of the _Mayflower_ itself. The largest of the cannon mentioned by name was a minion. This would have been a brass gun, which weighed between 800 and 1200 pounds. It would have had a bore of about 2.9 inches diameter and fired an iron ball weighing 3½ pounds for distances up to 1600 yards. The saker was slightly smaller, probably weighing 650 to 800 pounds. It would have had a bore of about 2.7 inches in diameter and shot a 2¾ pound ball up to 1700 yards. Since cannon designations were used rather loosely by the artillerists of the time, there is room for considerable differences in these dimensions. On Burial Hill in Plymouth are two early English cannons, one a minion and the other a small saker or sakeret. These guns were used as the models for those mounted in Plimoth Plantation’s reconstruction of the original fort. Since it is presumed that the Pilgrims’ guns came from the armament of the _Mayflower_ and since they were dragged up the hill and mounted immediately, it has been assumed that they were placed on carriages from the ship, and so naval carriages of the period have been reproduced for the reconstructed fort.

The loading and firing of one of these cannon was a complicated procedure, requiring the assistance of several men. The recoil from the discharge would normally drive the piece back away from the gun port. If it did not roll back far enough, the crew would seize the ropes or “training tackle” and haul it into a position that would permit them to load it. First a wet sponge on the end of a long handle was run down the barrel to put out any sparks that might remain from the previous shot. Then came the powder which was handled in one of two ways. Sometimes the proper amount was fastened ready-to-use in a cloth bag or cartridge. At other times it was brought loose to the cannon in a wooden bucket with a purse-like leather top closed by a drawstring. From this “budge barrel,” as it was called, the powder was dipped and inserted into the barrel by means of a copper ladle on a long wooden handle. After the powder was rammed home, a wad, was inserted and rammed, and finally the projectile which was forced home by a rammer.

This projectile might be either a solid ball or one of the more deadly anti-personnel missiles such as grape shot or cannister. Grape shot was made up of a series of small balls grouped on a wooden stand and wrapped with burlap or canvas. Upon firing, the stand and cloth disintegrated, and the balls spread out over a wide area. Cannister shot was based on the same principle. In this form, however, the small balls or other iron fragments were enclosed in a thin metal cylinder which came apart upon firing. Other missiles included cross bar and chain shot, in which spheres or hemi-spheres were joined by a bar or several links of chain. These were particularly useful against ships because they revolved in flight and cut rigging. It is doubtful if the Pilgrims had all of these forms of projectiles with them in 1620. Some of them were just then developing. But by 1690, any or all of them might well have been used at Plymouth.

Once the gun was loaded, a few more steps were necessary before it could be fired. It was primed by pouring powder from a flask or horn into the touch hole. Then the crew again seized the training tackle and pulled the gun back into position. The gunner aimed it by directing the way in which the men pulled the ropes and by shifting the position of the wedges under the breech of the barrel. Then he took a forked staff, known as a linstock, which held a length of burning match similar to that used in the matchlock muskets. He touched the lighted end of the match to the powder in the touch hole and fired his gun.

The two bases in the fort and the four “patreros” in front of the governor’s house were much smaller guns. Both types were made of iron, and both were breech-loaders. The guns of this category were called by a great variety of names, and the situation is even more confused than with the larger pieces. The type of base used by the Pilgrims, however, was probably a gun some 4½ feet long, which weighed about 200 pounds. It would have had a bore about 1¼ inches in diameter and fired either a lead ball weighing 5 ounces or an iron one weighing 3 ounces. In order to load it, the ball was placed in the breech end of the barrel, and a separate chamber filled with powder was placed behind it and fastened securely with a wedge. The “patreros” were probably of the type known also as “murderers.” These differed from the bases in that the bore expanded in diameter from breech to muzzle. Instead of a single ball, these guns were normally loaded with small shot, short lengths of iron bar, or broken pieces of iron and stone. The expanding bore helped spread these projectiles as they left the muzzle and thus made the murderer a vicious anti-personnel weapon at short ranges. Both the base and the murder were mounted in forked swivels of iron set in a wooden pedestal.

These were the weapons which the Pilgrims brought from Europe to win their new home. They came without sufficient arms “... nor every man a sword to his side; wanting many muskets, much armour, &c.” Once in this country, however, the need not only for enough weapons but also for good weapons was soon felt. Forced by their dependence on their arms, the settlers soon threw away their armour and their pikes, discarded their matchlocks for more efficient guns, and began to use paper cartridges well before these innovations were generally adopted in Europe.

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This booklet has been published by two organizations devoted to the study and interpretation of all aspects of Pilgrim history.

PLIMOTH PLANTATION

Plimoth Plantation was founded in 1948 as a non-profit educational organization to foster public understanding of the Pilgrims of Plymouth. To this end the corporate organization, Plimoth Plantation, is re-creating the Plimoth Plantation of 1627, the farming community from which sprang the Old Colony of New Plymouth. It is a functioning village, over half completed (in 1969), in which guides and hostesses in Pilgrim dress carry on the tasks necessary for daily living and sheep and chickens wander the narrow street. It is open to the public from April through November and is visited by more than 250,000 people per year.

The Plantation also owns and exhibits two re-created Pilgrim houses near Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower II and a small sailing craft—a Shallop—of the type used by the Pilgrims for coastal trading.

These public exhibits are backed by a strong research and publication program covering the European background of the Pilgrim story to the end of the 17th century.

The Plantation seeks the support of all who wish to help perpetuate the Pilgrim tradition. Those interested in membership should address the Membership Director, Box 1620, Plymouth, Mass. 02360.

THE PILGRIM SOCIETY

The Pilgrim Society, Plymouth, Massachusetts, was organized in 1820. Its main purposes have been to insure a universal appreciation of the Pilgrims and their contributions to the American heritage. In Pilgrim Hall, one of the oldest museums in the country, there is displayed a collection of Pilgrim relics and material bearing on the history of Plimoth Colony. Every effort is made to enlarge and improve this collection and to preserve in the library of Pilgrim Hall a comprehensive history of the Pilgrims and the colony they founded. The Society supplies its members with “Pilgrim Society Notes” containing articles which would otherwise remain undiscovered among the papers of the students of Pilgrim and Colonial history.

The Society was, in its earlier years, responsible for the erection of the Forefathers Monument, which stands on a hill behind the Town overlooking Plymouth Bay; and for preserving as a park the area directly behind Plymouth Rock, known as Cole’s Hill, which served the Pilgrims as a burying ground during the first precarious winter in the settlement. Today the Society is custodian of these memorials and of others erected by various societies in the Town of Plymouth to honor the Pilgrim Fathers.

Annually on Forefathers Day, December 21st, the Society celebrates the Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth with a suitable observance of the occasion at the Annual Meeting of the Society which many of the members attend.

Those interested in applying for membership are invited to communicate with the Secretary of the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth. Dues are $5.00 per year, and the money thus attained, together with admission fees to Pilgrim Hall and a modest endowment supply the funds for the activities of the Society.

_Those interested in a documented and more detailed study of arms and armor in all the colonies should see the author’s book_, Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783, _the Stackpole Company. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1956._