14. The English Civil War’s Final Battle Was Fought in Maryland
In 1655, Maryland’s governor, sworn to the colony’s royalist Catholic Lord Baltimore, sailed with a small militia to the Puritan settlement of Providence, today’s Annapolis. His goal was to surprise the region’s Puritans, and compel them to swear allegiance to Lord Baltimore. Unfortunately for Maryland’s governor, things did not work out as he had planned.
Instead of surprising the Puritans of Providence, they ended up surprising the governor on March 25th, 1655. By attacking the governor’s forces unexpectedly from the rear, the Puritans routed their opponents at the Battle of the Severn. By the time it was over, the governor’s militia had lost 49 men, while the Puritans lost only 2. The Battle of the Severn holds the distinction of being the last battle fought in the English Civil War.