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The fort and the militia
 At
the west end of the street, on the highest point overlooking the town
and the bay, the Pilgrims
built a two-story fort, from which they could defend the town. The
Pilgrims feared that the French or Spanish might attempt to attack or
pirate the colonists, and they also feared that unfriendly Indians could
mount an attack on the colony. The Pilgrims had brought
 with them
several different varieties of cannons, which they hauled up to the
second story of the fort and mounted in a way that could command the
whole harbor. The largest was a minion cannon, which
was brass, weighed about 1200 pounds, and could shoot a 3.5 pound
cannonball
nearly a mile. They also had a saker cannon of about 800 pounds,
and two base cannons that were much smaller, perhaps about 200 pounds
and which shot a 3 to 5 ounce ball. Various other gun ports in the
fort could be opened and closed for the smaller cannon to be moved and
pointed in any direction necessary. Observation windows provided a
clear view of the town, the harbor, and the nearby woods. By 1627,
Plymouth's fort had six cannon, plus four small ones positioned near the
governor's house at Plymouth's main intersection. The fort served
not only for defense, however. It was also the Pilgrims
meetinghouse, where church services, town meetings, and court sessions
were held.
Photographs on this page were taken on site at the Plimoth Plantation Museum and Mayflower II by Caleb Johnson, © 2003. They are used with permission of the Plimoth Plantation Museum. |
Captain
Myles Standish was the Pilgrim's military leader, responsible for
organizing the militia and defending the colony. He had been a
lieutenant in Queen Elizabeth's army and was stationed in the
Netherlands, where he made friends with the Pilgrims and their pastor,
John Robinson. He is remembered as having been unusually short,
with ruddy-red hair, very faithful and loyal, yet with a quick temper
that often made his face turn red, earning him the nickname "Captain
Shrimp" by some of those who did not like him. He was routinely
elected and re-elected to the position of militia captain throughout the
first few decades of the colony. He was responsible for training
the men in the use of their armor, guns, and cannon; he established and
appointed the watch shifts, and organized and trained the men for
various forms of attacks that could be made against the colony.
Luckily for Captain Standish, there were never any direct attacks on
Plymouth itself, though the town occasionally sent him and some of his
militia to help other neighboring English colonists with their disputes
with the Indians, and they occasionally used the militia to arrest
trespassers or others that were violating the terms of their trading
contracts, or otherwise causing problems.