The Armory at Fort James at the Jamestown Settlement
There had been no major military battles in England since the war against Spain that ended in 1603; so, at the time of Jamestown’s settlement there was a shortage of arms and armor in England for the Virginia Company to supply to its colony. The English government strictly controlled all the military equipment, which was stored in city armories or private households of the rural gentry. The James Fort collection of weaponry reflects this situation. There are both high-quality personal arms that were probably brought by the colony’s gentlemen and there are old weapons that were considered obsolete for the modern European battlefield. These old weapons were useful to the colonists whose skirmishes and guerilla warfare with the Indians involved old-fashioned fighting.
The Armory at Fort James at the Jamestown Settlement
There had been no major military battles in England since the war against Spain that ended in 1603; so, at the time of Jamestown’s settlement there was a shortage of arms and armor in England for the Virginia Company to supply to its colony. The English government strictly controlled all the military equipment, which was stored in city armories or private households of the rural gentry. The James Fort collection of weaponry reflects this situation. There are both high-quality personal arms that were probably brought by the colony’s gentlemen and there are old weapons that were considered obsolete for the modern European battlefield. These old weapons were useful to the colonists whose skirmishes and guerilla warfare with the Indians involved old-fashioned fighting.