Copyright 1957 by Plimoth Plantation, Inc. and the Pilgrim Society
Fotoset and Lithographed by COLORTONE PRESS, Washington 9, D. C.
ARMS AND ARMOR
OF THE
PILGRIMS 1620-1692
by
Harold L. Peterson
Patrero or “murderer”
Published by Plimoth Plantation, Inc. and the Pilgrim Society,
Plymouth 1957
A seventeenth century musketeer ready to fire his matchlock.
From Jacques de Gheyn, Maniement d’Armes, 1608.
[Pg 3]The average colonist landing on the wild shores of North America in theearly 1600’s set great store by his arms and armor. The Pilgrims wereno exception. They were strangers in a vast and largely unknown land,inhabited by wild beasts and peopled by savages who were frequentlyhostile. Greatly outnumbered by known enemies and possibly facingdangers of which they were not yet aware, these Englishmen placedtheir main hope for survival on the possession of superior weapons andprotective armor. On the more peaceful side, their firearms were alsovaluable, for they provided fresh meat for the table and furs for saleback home.
Because the colonist was so dependent on his arms he soon learned toselect the most efficient kinds that he could obtain. In so doing hepushed the evolution of military materiel far ahead of contemporaryEurope and developed a high degree of skill, particularly in the use offirearms.
The military supplies which the Pilgrims brought with them may bedivided into three major categories: defensive armor, edged weapons,and projectile weapons. A completely armed man, especially in the firstyears, was usually equipped with one or more articles from each of thethree groups, usually a helmet and corselet, a sword, and a musket.
ARMOR
Of all the pieces of defensive armor, the most popular was the helmet.Almost everyone wore one when he prepared for trouble. Most of thoseworn at Plymouth were undoubtedly open helmets which left the faceuncovered, although it is possible that a few completely closedhelmets were also used. These open helmets were of three principaltypes: the cabasset, the morion, and the burgonet. The cabasset wasa simple, narrow brimmed helmet with a keeled bowl and a tiny apicalpeak pointing to the rear. The morion had a larger crescentic brimpointed at the front and back and a high comb along the center-lineof the bowl. The better specimens of both these helmets were forgedfrom a single billet of steel, and both were very efficient defenses.The curving lines of the bowls caused most blows to glance off withoutimparting their full impact, and the comb of the morion presented anextra buffer of metal through which a sword would have to cut beforeit reached the bowl. Inside each helmet was a quilted lining held inplace by a row of rivets around the base of the crown which acted muchlike the modern helmet liner in holding the steel shell away from thewearer’s head.[Pg 4]