EDGED WEAPONS

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 hasnow 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.

Detail of the Standish rapier hilt.Swept-hilted rapier excavated at Jamestown.Those used at Plymouth would have been similar.National Park Service.

Detail of the Standish rapier hilt.

Swept-hilted rapier excavated at Jamestown.Those used at Plymouth would have been similar.National Park Service.

The cutting swords of Governor Carver, Elder Brewster and John Thompson.Quillon or left-hand dagger.

The cutting swords of Governor Carver, Elder Brewster and John Thompson.

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.

Halberd from the cellar of theJohn Alden house.The haft is modern.Pike.

Halberd from the cellar of theJohn Alden house.The haft is modern.

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.

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