On Thursday, May 12th, at 7:00 pm, the Groton Town Hall Annex at 134 Groton Long Point Road, Groton, will host a program presented by the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. Join Dr. Kevin McBride, the museum’s Director of Research and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, as he unveils results from recent archaeological excavations from the Battle at Mystic Fort as part of the “Battlefields of the Pequot War.”

The Battle at Mystic Fort took place in May of 1637, when an English and Native military force attacked a Pequot fort overlooking Mystic River, resulting in the deaths of 400 Pequot men, women and children. The Battle of Mystic Fort was part of the regional Pequot War of 1637-1638, the first total war declared by New England colonists. As a whole, the results of the Battle of Mystic Fort and the Pequot War played an integral role in Connecticut’s efforts to obtain their Charter of 1662 and what we identify as Connecticut today.

Dr. McBride will explain the archaeological survey at the site of Mystic Fort, and how recovered battle-related artifacts combined with historical accounts of the battle give an unprecedented view of the conflict, the first time Natives experienced the European style of total war. Phases of project research have included the Pequot War’s impact on early colonial New England, identification and analysis of primary narratives and historical accounts, identification of Pequot War veterans, analysis of Native and Colonial military strategies, understanding tactics and weapons, analysis of associated artifacts, and the memory and legacy of the war.

The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center’s multi-year research project, “Battlefields of the Pequot War,” is supported by the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program and the University of Connecticut. The project goals are to identify and preserve battlefields and historical sites and perform archaeological investigations. The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is partnered with the Office of the Connecticut State Archaeologist, the Connecticut State Historian and a consortium of local historical societies, research centers and museums from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York to understand and gather evidence of this significant, yet rarely studied, war.