"[3] The background surrounding the Battle of the Severn flows from the early days of Maryland as a colony, and acts as a mirror to the events simultaneously occurring in England.

Using the language of the charter that allowed him to take possession of land between the Delaware Bay and Potomac River "not cultivated or planted," Cecil Calvert lay claim to Kent Island.

[3][6] Using his absolute powers bestowed by charter, Cecil Calvert named his brother as royal governor of the new colony, a post he held from 1634 to 1644 and again from 1646 until his death in 1647.

[7] William Claiborne, however, had an earlier claim to Kent Island arising from 1631 when he had landed and set up a fur trading post on behalf of the colony of Virginia.

During this time, St. Mary's City was visited by Captain Richard Ingle, an ardent supporter of the Parliamentary side of the conflict, who was placed under nominal arrest for making disloyal comments concerning the King, but who was allowed to escape.

In September 1644, Ingle captured St. Mary's City, and Claiborne recovered Kent Island, forcing Calvert to seek refuge in Virginia.

[1] What followed became known as the Plundering Time, a nearly two-year period when Ingle and his companions roamed the colony, robbing at will and taking Jesuits (Royalists) back to England as prisoners.

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".

[3] On January 3, 1654, the Puritans who had settled at Stone's invitation in Providence communicated to the commissioners that they objected to the oath of fidelity to Baltimore as a Catholic.

[3] Using this as a form of recognition, William Stone challenged the authority of the commissioners, seized back the records of the colony, and mustered his troops to deal with the Puritan settlers allied with them.

[3] Recruiting from St. Mary's County, newly restored Governor Stone recaptured the Assembly records, located on the Patuxent River, and sailed with a small fleet up the Chesapeake Bay towards Providence.

Heamans then ordered an armed sloop to bar their escape by blocking Spa Creek,[1] the inlet of the Severn to which Stone's forces had retreated.

[10] The primarily Puritan assembly retained powers until April 27, 1658, when proprietorship was restored to Lord Baltimore, religious freedom was ensured, and an agreement of general amnesty was entered into.

[12] Governor Fendall soon had a falling out with Lord Baltimore and led a bloodless revolution in 1659 whereby he and Fuller reorganized Maryland's government to resemble the Commonwealth's.