page_title: Battle of the Severn
section_title: The settling of Providence
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Severn / Background / The settling of Providence
caption_attribution_description: English: From the Senate Lounge, of the Maryland State House, in Annapolis. From a portion of the larger painting, from 1853, by artist, Tompkins Harrison Matteson, showing Stone welcoming Puritan settlers to Maryland.
context_page_description: The Battle of the Severn was a skirmish fought on March 25, 1655, on the Severn River at Horn Point, across Spa Creek from Annapolis, Maryland, in what at that time was referred to as the Puritan settlement of "Providence", and what is now the neighborhood of Eastport.
  It was an extension of the conflicts that formed the English Civil War, pitting the forces of Puritan settlers against forces aligned with Lord Baltimore, then Lord Proprietor of the colony of Maryland. It has been suggested by Radmila May that this was the "last battle of the English Civil War."
context_section_description: Following the death of Leonard Calvert in 1647, Cecil Calvert named William Stone as governor in 1649.  Stone's appointment was carefully made, as he was a Protestant – as were the majority of the members of his council – and a friend of Parliament.  By choosing Stone, Calvert could avoid criticism of Maryland as a seat of Popery, where Protestants were allegedly oppressed.  Stone and his council, however, were required to agree not to interfere with freedom of worship.  In 1649, the colonial Assembly passed the "Act Concerning Religion" (or the Toleration Act as it is more commonly known), ensuring freedom of religion within Maryland.
  During the period of Parliamentary rule, Virginia remained faithful to then King Charles II, though Parliament, which had declared England a Commonwealth under their rule, had decreed that support for Charles II was treason.  Baltimore and Stone stayed mute on the subject, but almost immediately after taking office, Stone allowed a group of persecuted Virginian Puritans into the colony, who then settled at Providence, present-day Annapolis.  The issue of which side Maryland stood was finally settled, at least in appearance, when Thomas Greene, deputy to Stone and a Catholic, declared on November 15, 1649 that Charles II was the "undoubted rightfull heire to all his father's dominions".  All acts taken by the Maryland Assembly would further require an oath of fidelity to Baltimore as "Lord Proprietor".
caption: William Stone, 3rd Colonial Governor of Maryland
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