Page 112 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

figure C
A Rhenish brown stoneware sherd and an unfaceted 7-layer “star” chevron trade bead from the Craney Creek area.
about halfe a mile short of the place, I sent my Ensigne one Mr Clerck (that came once wth Mr Copley from England) wth tenne musketteires to Butler to acquaint him that I was come vpon the Ileand to settle the gouernement thereof and commaund his present repaire vnto me at Craford two miles distant from thence...”14
uently reported isolated finds of 17th-century vintage. Clam and oyster dredges working the shoals off of Kent Island have frequently encountered submerged archaeological deposits in waters that were once dry land. In the late 1960s a waterman hit a concentration of brick and pottery south-southeast of Kent Point and recovered a Bellarmine sherd with a crowned figure depicted in profile.16 In 1988, a second Bellarmine sherd was recovered off the western edge of the island, north of Craney Creek along with fragments of a possible barrel well. The medallion on this Bellarmine sherd bore the coat-of-arms of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and the date 1593 (see f igure A).17 Both of these sherds date to the late 16th century and suggest curation of older vessels (Bellarmine jugs are atypically elaborate and probably made for nice display pieces). Additional work at the Craney Creek location produced 17th century glass chevron trade beads, wine bottle fragments, a handmade
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Governor Calvert chose to lenient with most of the Kent Islanders, informing them that as long as they were willing to submit to Lord Baltimore’s authority within 24 hours they would be pardoned for their former actions. Within 24 hours, most of the island had arrived to pledge their loyalty to Lord Baltimore. Calvert further stated that they should choose delegates to send to the General Assembly in St. Mary’s, take out patents under Maryland law for any land which they possessed or wished to possess on the island, and that he would send a surveyor
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lenient with John Butler a
Smith, the leaders of the “
in Claiborne’s absence. Both were taken prisoner to St. Mary’s.15 All of Claiborne’s property on Kent and Palmer’s Islands was declared forfeit to Lord Baltimore and was confiscated. Though he would make several attempts during the chaotic decades of the 1640s and 1650s to regain control of Kent Island (both in the courts and by force), he was ultimately rebuffed at every turn. The Privy Council in England ruled several times that Lord Baltimore’s patent was more solid. Well...at least his connections were.
Over the years, tantalizing archaeological clues as to the location of William Claiborne’s fort have washed up along the shores of Kent Island, but no intact archaeological site has ever been identified that can be definitively tied to the fort. Collectors, avocational archaeologists, and Eastern Shore watermen have
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