By any stretch of the imagination, life in colonial America was hard, demanding, and cruel. Many European settlers did not survive their first few years in North America thanks to disease, starvation, the harsh climate, and violence. Here are 10 little known facts that reveal the hidden layers of this rugged era.
10 Little Known Facts About Early America
10 Pilgrim Settlers Of New England
Most American students can recite the date when the Pilgrims set foot at Plymouth Rock, and many assume that before 1620 no Englishmen had ever trod New England soil. That notion is simply wrong.
Historical records reveal a scattering of English fishing outposts stretching from present‑day Maine down to Long Island. These coastal enclaves kept to the shoreline, and their contact with Indigenous peoples is thought to have sparked epidemics that weakened certain tribes even before the Pilgrims arrived.
It is also likely that English trawlers had been plying New England waters for generations prior to the Separatist and Puritan influx. The fact that Squanto, a Patuxet native, could speak English and practiced Christianity underscores the reality that English settlement pre‑dated the famous 1620 landing.
9 The First Pilgrims
Long before English Separatists tried to break away from the Anglican Church, a band of French Protestants—the Huguenots—found refuge in what is now Florida.
In Europe, after years of uneasy coexistence, French Catholics violently purged Calvinism from the nation. The infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572 saw the Huguenot leader Gaspard II de Coligny murdered alongside thousands of fellow Protestants.
Seeking safety, many Huguenots fled to Fort Caroline near present‑day Jacksonville. The fort, established by a French expedition led by de Coligny and Jean Ribault, was overrun on September 20, 1565 by a Spanish force that reclaimed the area for Catholicism.
8 Forgotten Conquerors
Popular histories of early America usually spotlight English, Spanish, French, and, to a lesser degree, Dutch colonies. Yet a fourth power—Sweden—also left its mark.
From 1638 to 1655, Sweden held sway over much of Delaware, southern New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. Its capital, Fort Christina, was founded by a modest crew of sailors who set sail from Gothenburg under Captain Peter Minuit. Situated in today’s Wilmington, Delaware, the settlement comprised mainly Swedish colonists, with a sprinkling of Finns and Dutch.
Sweden’s commercial ambitions for New Sweden never fully materialized. After losing to Russia in the Second Northern War, the 400‑strong community at Fort Christina was absorbed into New Netherland.
7 Battle Of The Severn
Sometimes labeled the final clash of the English Civil War, the Battle of the Severn unfolded far from England’s shores, in Maryland.
Cecil Calvert, the 2nd Baron Baltimore, aimed to make the colony a sanctuary for England’s Catholic minority. However, a wave of Protestant immigration quickly turned Maryland into a Protestant‑majority settlement. In 1649, Governor William Stone welcomed several hundred Puritans from Virginia.
Later, when Virginia pledged loyalty to King Charles II, Governor Stone ordered landowners to swear allegiance to the Catholic Lord Baltimore—effectively an oath to the English crown. Puritans balked. On March 25, 1655, Stone’s militia set sail from St. Mary’s City toward the Puritan settlement of Providence (now Annapolis). Near Spa Creek, the Puritans ambushed Stone’s men, killing forty.
6 Puritans Return To England
Decades before the English Civil Wars erupted, a massive wave of English Protestants set out for new lands. Some headed to the Netherlands, where Calvinism was tolerated, while others ventured to the Rhineland or Caribbean islands like Barbados and Saint Kitts.
The bulk, however, landed in Massachusetts, establishing the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies. Between 1620 and 1640, over 20,000 Pilgrims and Puritans arrived with families, causing the population to double quickly and continue to double each generation for two centuries.
In 1640, the tide turned: large‑scale immigration to Massachusetts halted as Puritans—both native‑born and English‑born—set sail back to England to fight for the Parliamentarians. Though exact numbers remain elusive, this Puritan exodus effectively froze widespread immigration to New England until the Irish Catholic influx of the 1840s.
5 The First French Fort
While Quebec stands as the crown jewel of New France, the very first French foothold in North America dates back to 1562.
That year, a group of Huguenots under Jean Ribault founded a settlement called Charlesfort. The colony, short‑lived, collapsed when the 26‑27 men left behind mutinied, built their own vessel, and sailed back to France.
The remnants of Charlesfort—also known as Charlesfort‑Santa Elena—lie on Parris Island, South Carolina, offering a tangible reminder of this early French experiment.
4 The Strict New Haven Colony
Puritanism earned a reputation for theological rigidity, yet even within its ranks there were stark divides between conservatives and liberals. John Davenport, founder of the New Haven Colony in Connecticut, stands out as perhaps the strictest Puritan of early America.
Established in 1638, New Haven operated under a crystal‑clear set of rules: every aspect of life had to conform to Scripture. Colonists pledged to live by the Bible, and the town’s layout was deliberately designed to echo the Temple of Solomon and the New Jerusalem described in Revelation.
Davenport believed that the colony’s government—embodied by the Church of the Elect—should be ruled by Old Testament law and overseen by so‑called “saints.” In 1665, New Haven merged with the larger Connecticut Colony.
3 Refugees And The Salem Witch Trials
As first argued in Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum’s book Salem Possessed, many view the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692‑93 as the tragic culmination of a land dispute among village families. Maps of the period show a clear geographic split between accusers and the accused.
A lesser‑studied facet of the trials is the impact of refugees. Several accusers, including 17‑year‑old Mercy Lewis, had recently relocated to Salem Village from frontier settlements in Maine.
During King William’s War, which loomed over the trials, Native American raids forced many Maine settlers to flee back to Massachusetts. George Burroughs, the former Salem Village minister later accused of leading a witch’s coven, had previously been suspected of bewitching soldiers while serving as minister of Falmouth (now Portland), Maine.
2 The Massacre Of 1622
The morning of March 22, 1622 saw a brutal assault on Jamestown that would rank among the deadliest days in colonial American history.
Angered by the swelling English population and the settlers’ increasingly unfriendly stance, the Powhatan tribe launched a surprise attack, killing 347 colonists.
This massacre formed part of a larger Powhatan uprising that nearly wiped out the Virginia colony. One‑sixth of all Virginians perished that day, while many more were captured or went missing.
1 The Worst War In Early America
While the U.S. Civil War holds the grim title of the deadliest conflict in American history by sheer numbers, King Philip’s War (1675‑76) claims the horrific distinction of being the deadliest war per capita.
Led by the Pokanoket chief Metacom—known to the English as King Philip—a coalition of Native American tribes sought to drive English settlers back across the Atlantic.
The war was especially savage. By 1680, Native Americans constituted only ten percent of New England’s population, yet one‑tenth of the region’s military‑age male population perished in the fighting, and twelve Puritan towns were razed.
Although costly, King Philip’s War forged a stronger sense of unity among New Englanders, laying early groundwork for an emerging American identity, especially as England offered no troops, arms, or financial support.