The edged weapons brought to America by the Pilgrims were of four
principal types, swords, daggers, pikes and halberds. The bayonet was
almost unknown on this continent at the time. Of all these arms, swords
were by far the most plentiful. Every soldier, whether he was armed
with a musket, pike or halberd or served a cannon, was required to
carry a sword. Thus, since almost every able-bodied man was supposed to
perform military service, all had to be familiar with the weapon, and a
large supply was necessary.
Both thrusting and cutting swords were used. The thrusting swords,
known as rapiers, had long straight blades, diamond-shaped in cross
section, with sharp points and only rudimentary edges. Some had guards
fashioned of numerous bars bent in graceful curves and loops, and these
are called swept-hilted rapiers. Others had a solid cup-shaped plate
between the hand and the blade augmented by extra bars and branches.
These are called cup-hilted rapiers.
Fortunately, one of the cup-hilted rapiers used by the Pilgrims has
survived. It belonged to Captain Miles Standish, the doughty military
advisor of the colony, and it is now preserved in Pilgrim Hall. It
is a very good example of the Dutch-English style of cup hilt, the
shallow iron cup and supplementary branches, the knuckle-bow, and the
pommel are decorated with crudely incised designs of leaves and masks.
The grips are covered with black leather. Originally they were wound
with twisted wire in the spiral grooves, but the wire is now missing.
The scabbard also has been preserved, and that is most unusual for
swords of this period. It is made of wood, almost cylindrical, covered
with black leather. There is an iron ferrule at the throat (which
has now slipped several inches down the scabbard) and an iron tip.
Interestingly, Standish is known to have been a short man whose enemies
sometimes called him “Captain Shrimp,” and this sword is about six
inches shorter than the average rapier, which would have made it easier
to handle for a small man.
Probably even more plentiful than the rapiers were the cutting
swords. Most of these were shorter weapons with single-edged blades,
sometimes straight and sometimes slightly curved. Two of these weapons
have survived and are preserved in Pilgrim Hall. The older and more
spectacular of these belonged to Gov. John Carver and was made near the
beginning of the century. It has a massive hilt with guard and pommel
of iron encrusted with floral decorations of silver. The decoration and
workmanship are typically English. The blade is straight with a single
edge and a narrow fuller or groove along the back. The second sword
is considerably smaller and later. It came from the Brewster family
and may have belonged to Elder William Brewster, although he must
have purchased it late in life. It has a lighter iron guard without
ornamentation and a slightly curved singled-edged blade, also with a
narrow fuller at the back. This sword, too, is typically English.
[Illustration: _Detail of the Standish rapier hilt._]
[Illustration: _Swept-hilted rapier excavated at Jamestown. Those used
at Plymouth would have been similar_. National Park Service.]
[Illustration: _The cutting swords of Governor Carver, Elder Brewster
and John Thompson._]
[Illustration: _Quillon or left-hand dagger._]
A third surviving cutting sword preserved at Pilgrim Hall is a
broad-sword which belonged to John Thompson who came to Plymouth in
1623. Like the Carver sword, this weapon also dates from the opening
years of the 17th century. The hilt is smaller, but the metal parts
are of iron decorated with the same typically English floral sprays in
silver. The blade on this specimen, however, is what sets it apart. It
is much longer and double-edged, a sword suitable for use on horseback
as well as on foot.
These swords were more than mere military decorations. They were
highly necessary weapons. In a period when firearms were inaccurate
and loading and firing were time-consuming operations, the outcome of
most battles was determined largely by hand-to-hand combat. The musket,
once it had been fired, was then of no use for it had no bayonet. At
such times the sword became the principal weapon, and a soldier’s life
depended upon his skill with it.
There are numerous records indicating the use of swords by the
Pilgrims. On their first expedition ashore, they used them to “hew
and carve the ground a foot deep.” In one interesting coincidence, a
sword’s hilt figured in the death of two persons. In 1646 a privateer
commanded by Captain Thomas Cromwell put into Plymouth. While there,
one of the sailors assaulted the captain who had been trying to
restore order during a brawl. In the course of the struggle, Cromwell
seized the man’s rapier and struck him on the head with its hilt. The
cross guard pierced his skull and killed him. Since the man had been
a notorious trouble-maker, Cromwell was acquitted in a trial by a
council of war. Some three years later, however, Cromwell fell from his
horse and landed upon the hilt of his own rapier which so injured him
internally that he died shortly thereafter.
In addition to their swords, many men also carried knives or daggers.
Miles Standish and his followers used knives effectively in liquidating
the trouble-makers at Wessagusset, and there are numerous other
references to their presence at Plymouth.
Unfortunately no specimens used by the Pilgrims or their 17th century
descendants at Plymouth have survived. There is a knife that belonged
to John Thompson in Pilgrim Hall, but it is a table or general utility
knife, and not a weapon. In all probability the most popular form of
dagger employed at Plymouth was the quillon or left-hand dagger. This
weapon had a simple cross-guard or quillons, probably with a ring
opposite the grips on one side. It had a straight blade which tapered
evenly to a point, and it was designed to be held in the left hand
while the rapier was held in the right.
In addition to these edged weapons which were worn on the belt, there
were also weapons with long wooden hafts, known as pole arms. Of these,
two forms were principally used at Plymouth, the pike and the halberd.
The pike was a spear with a simple leaf-shaped head attached by long
straps to a wooden pole some fourteen feet long. The halberd was a
combination of axe and spear, and its haft was much shorter, perhaps
six or seven feet, exclusive of the head.
[Illustration: _Halberd from the cellar of the John Alden house. The
haft is modern._]
[Illustration: _Pike._]
In European armies pikemen played a very prominent role. Offensively
they were used for shock tactics in charges against the enemy.
Defensively, with the butts of their pikes driven into the ground, they
formed movable semi-fortresses behind which musketeers could retreat in
the face of a cavalry charge.
Because of this prominence as a weapon in Europe, the Pilgrims
brought some pikes with them to Plymouth, but they quickly found them
disappointing. Although the pike was effective in the set tactics
of Europe, it was of little use against an enemy who would neither
charge nor stand against a charge and whose forces were never arranged
in compact formation but scattered and always on the move. A weapon
fourteen feet long was also difficult to handle in the woods where
there was little room for maneuvering. Thus the Pilgrims first
abandoned the full pike for the half pike, which was only six or eight
feet long. As late as 1646 the Plymouth fathers still required one
half pike for every four men on military duty, but after the outbreak
of King Philip’s War in 1675, the settlers of Plymouth agreed with
their neighbors in Massachusetts Bay “... it is found by experience
that troopers & pikemen are of little use in the present war with the
Indians ... all pikemen are hereby required ... to furnish themselves
with firearms....”
The history of the halberd at Plymouth is quite different from that
of the pike. At this period it was primarily an emblem of rank, and
as such it survived long after its usefulness in warfare ceased.
Halberds were carried by sergeants as symbols of their authority and by
ceremonial guards. In Virginia, for instance, Lord Delaware had fifty
halberdiers to form his guard when he was governor. This was a vastly
larger number than normal in America, but most colonial governors,
including John Winthrop in Boston, had a few attendants so armed.
Plymouth was no exception. As late as 1675 it was ordered that four
halberds be carried before the governor on the first day of the General
Court, and two on succeeding days. It is known also that the sergeants
at Plymouth had them, and there is a possibility that court officials
also carried them.
At least one of the halberds from the Plymouth colony has survived and
is now preserved in Pilgrim Hall. It was probably made about 1600-1610
and was found in the cellar of the John Alden house. The haft is a
modern replacement.