31.8 America: a.d. 1601 to 1700  (Page 9/16)

We should add a few final notes before we leave Virginia in this early colonial period. In 1609 "Martin's Hundred" had made a settlement at Walstenholme. It was actually larger than Jamestown, but it disappeared in an Indian massacre and has only recently been excavated. The "dig" shows that the Englishmen were in full metal armor like medieval knights and the heavy armor and a closed helmet hampered movement, restricted vision and muffled warning signs of approaching enemies. It is no wonder they were no match for the Indians. (Ref. 102 ) An interesting sidelight is also to be found in recent recovered fragments from a 1619 shipwreck in Castle Harbor - 5 sherds of Roman pottery. It was initially thought that these might have been picked up from old gravel beds along the Thames, used for ballast pebbles in the ship, but experts have said definitely that the gravel did not come from the Thames. So, the riddle of Roman pottery in Castle Harbor remains unsolved. (Ref. 103 ) Could this have some bearing on Barry Fell's hypotheses about European visitors to the American hemisphere around the time of Christ? Finally we should note that English ships brought the first black slaves to Virginia in 1619

Maryland

Maryland was a part of Virginia until 1632 when King Charles I gave a slice of that original colony to his friend, Lord Baltimore (George Calvert of an old Yorkshire family). Baltimore died quickly, however, and his son got the charter and administered Maryland from England. It was basically a Catholic colony and although named Maryland ostensibly after Queen Henrietta Marie, it was in reality named in honor of the Virgin Mary. Tobacco was the one great cash crop. Servants might be of any class from poor gentlemen working off the cost of transport, to convicted felons. Many of the English sovereigns transported Scottish and Irish prisoners from the civil wars to Virginia and Maryland, as well as to the West Indies. Negroes were also imported and in 1664 the Maryland assembly passed a "black code" which declared each Negro to be a slave for life by virtue of his color. At all times during the century, except for a short period in the 1650s, Catholics were the ruling class in this colony, although with increased immigration Protestants became finally the overwhelming numerical majority. (Ref. 151 )