“Master Pope’s Fort”

Abstract

In 1645, the English Civil Wars arrived in the Chesapeake colonies of North America. The Maryland colony became a militarized and contested landscape for over a decade, and the conflict altered the trajectory of the colony’s political, social, and cultural development for the remainder of the seventeenth-century. In excavations at St. Mary’s City, Maryland, a fortification dating to this period was discovered and partially excavated. Archaeological investigations revealed complex and well-preserved archaeological deposits and recovered a large and diverse collection of artifacts. This chapter examines the fort’s materiality as expressed through its military architecture and military material culture assemblage. These topics are discussed through the lenses of English colonization, seventeenth-century military technology and practice, and the processes of Chesapeake cultural development and adaptation. That Chesapeake military developments were more dynamic and adaptive than previously thought are demonstrated.