It all began with this troublesome colony to the south called Virginia and a man named William Claiborne. The Charter of Maryland literally established Maryland as a palatine or semi-independent colony with the Baltimore’s ruling as Duke. One problem. Kent Island. Granted in 1631 to Claiborne, he had set up there and established fur trading with Virginia. The language in Maryland Charter allowed Cecil Calvert to claim it. Needless to say this did not go over well Claiborne. He continued to operate from Kent Island but when one of his agents was arrested for trading in Maryland’s waters without a license in 1635 – he fairly exploded, armed a ship and engaged himself in a big blustery naval bru-haha at the mouth of the Pocomoke River. He lost and Cecil’s brother Leonard, took Kent Island by force. Claiborne wasn’t forgotten and 20 years later he was still stirring up trouble.
The English Civil War began in 1642 leaving the colony caught squarely in the middle. Leonard Calvert, who had been Maryland’s governor, promptly packed it in and went home to England, ostensibly to protect interests at home. He appointed an acting Governor in his place. When a tobacco trader and parliamentarian named Captain Ingle came to St. Mary’s City, he was promptly arrested by the Royalist Governor’s people for making disparaging comments about the king. Allowed to escape, he subsequently joined forces with William Claiborne, who promptly took back Kent Island. By 1644, Ingle had captured St. Mary’s City and it was learned that both were planning to invade the colony. Leonard Calvert returned to Maryland to squelch the uprising but was forced into exile in Virginia for two years. He did eventually restore order in 1646 but died only a year later in 1647.
His brother then made a decision and appointed a Protestant named Stone as Maryland’s governor. Calvert did not want Maryland to be seen as a place where Protestants were persecuted and in 1649 the Toleration Act (Act Concerning Religion) was passed, guaranteeing freedom of religion.
During this, Virginia had stayed loyal to the King, although Parliament had declared any support for the king to be treason. Following this, Stone promptly allowed Protestant colonists from Virginia to settle in Providence – now present-day Annapolis. Because it looked like he was giving support to Parliament and Cromwell – it was declared in 1649 that King Charles II was still in charge and that all acts by the Maryland Assembly now needed another oath of allegiance to Lord Baltimore – a Catholic.
By 1651 Lord Baltimore was rumored to be loosing the charter to the colony; by 1654 Stone had been removed as Governor by two Commissioners; the Puritain colonists who had settled in Providence now objected to swearing allegiance to a Catholic and the Toleration Act was repealed – and another Act was passed forbidding Catholics to practice their faith. One of the Commissioners? Remember Claiborne? Their job was to make Maryland submit to the Commonwealth.
1655 heralded the arrival of two ships, The Golden Lyon and The Golden Fortune. The one, The Golden Lyon, was merchant ship, commanded by Captain Heamans. The other bore a letter from Oliver Cromwell to Stone, addressing him as the governor. Stone took this as proof he was still in charge despite the Commissioner, and he mustered his troops and sailed up the bay to deal with the Puritan colonists who had allied themselves with the commissioners who had had him removed from office. The captain of the merchant ship, caught wind of a rumor to not only attack the colony at Providence, but to burn his ship and kill his crew. Not having any parts of that, he evacuated the women and children from Providence to his ship and used another to fire on Stone’s ships as they moved up the Severn. Heaman’s blockaded Spa Creek forcing Stone to surrender. Death sentences were issued for Stone and others, but ultimately the colony was given back to Lord Baltimore in 1658. Religious freedom was assured again and Calvert had managed to side-step the axe, something not many of his Catholic contemporaries were able to do in England at the time.
Baltimore Through My Eyes 