Welcome to another bonus episode of Calm History, an extra treat for my Silk Plus members.

If you liked my public episode about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony,

then you may be interested to know a bit about their weapons and armor. I've even posted images

of their weapons and armor on the Silk Plus message board so you can view the items I'll be

talking about. Now, before I dug up the information in this episode, I didn't have any thoughts about the pilgrims

even having real weapons. Well, besides the cannons I mentioned in my other episode,

which just shows my ignorance of history. Although, this puts me on level with

the wisdom of Wikipedia. I searched the Wikipedia article about the Pilgrims and the article

about Plymouth Colony.

And neither of those articles mentioned any other weapons, guns, or armor besides cannons.

Even the Wikipedia page about the Pequot War, which was between the Pilgrims, other

colonists, and Native Americans, didn't mention any other weapons, guns, or armor.

So what did the pilgrims use when attacking others, defending themselves, participating in battles,

or simply hunting for food?

A couple of cannons on a hill just aren't going to suffice.

Did they rush forward while swinging their shoes aggressively?

Did they hurl corncobs like useless grenades? Did they hold up sticks as if they were guns,

aim them at turkeys or their enemies, and then make gun sounds

with their mouths. Pugh, pew, pew, pew, pew, hey, fall down, I shot you.

And what about armor?

Did the pilgrims just put on their tall black buckle hats,

an extra shirt layer, and rush into battle?

...