Miles Standish

English-born American colonist

• Born: c. 1584
• Birthplace: Ellenbane, Isle of Man, England
• Died: October 3, 1656
• Place of death: Duxbury, Massachusetts

Standish provided the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony with basic military training, helped make their settlement defensible, and helped organize a practical system of militia and government for the colony.

Early Life

Although it is typically reported that Miles Standish was born in Chorley, Lancashire, England, modern research indicates that he was born on the Isle of Man. Standish descended from the important Roman Catholic family Standish of Standish, and according to his will, Miles was fraudulently deprived of his inheritance. Although little is known of his early life, he began his military career as a drummer boy in Queen Elizabeth’s army. Eventually, he worked his way up in the ranks, and in the early 1600’s, he served as a soldier of fortune in the Low Countries (the Netherlands), where English troops under Horatio Vere had been stationed in Leiden to help the Dutch in their war against Spain.

During the same period when Standish was serving in the Netherlands, members of the English Separatist Church (a sect of the Puritans) fled from England to Leiden in order to escape religious persecution. After struggling for a livelihood in Leiden for more than ten years, the Separatists (Pilgrims) negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America, where the Pilgrims could seek a more abundant life and freely practice their religion. Standish came to the attention of English Separatist leaders as a skilled, mature professional soldier and was hired by the Pilgrims to go with them to America and serve as their military adviser. Although Standish was not a member of the Leiden congregation, he quickly became a loyal supporter of the Pilgrim venture.

In late 1618, a small ship, the Speedwell, carried Standish and thirty-five Leiden Pilgrims to Southampton, England, where they later joined another group of Separatists on the Mayflower. Leaving Plymouth, England, on September 16, 1620, the Mayflower began its historic voyage to America with 102 passengers aboard. During the voyage, the short, sturdy, reddish-haired Standish demonstrated some of his leadership qualities by encouraging the passengers to maintain a cheerful attitude. Although the ship was initially headed for Virginia, stormy weather and navigational errors forced it five hundred miles farther north to the tip of Cape Cod, near present-day Provincetown, Massachusetts, on November 19, 1620.

Life’s Work

Because Standish was the only man with practical experience in camping, he was given command of three successive expeditions to explore the Cape Cod area; while he was on the third excursion, the small company was attacked by a band of Indians. Standish used his military expertise to rally his amateur soldiers to defend their position, and the Indians gave up the attack and fled. It was also on this expedition that Standish learned about corn, which was later used as seed to save the colony from starvation.

On December 26, 1620, Standish was one of the small party who made the first landing at the site the Pilgrims called Plymouth. After selecting Plymouth as the Pilgrims’ place of settlement, Standish made arrangements for defending the colony. On a hill overlooking the village, Standish supervised the Pilgrims in building platforms where they mounted several pieces of artillery, and then he designed and helped construct a wooden fort on the hill, fence lines extending downward from the fort to protect Plymouth on the most vulnerable sides, and a small wooden fort at the intersection of the two village streets. Standish organized the Pilgrim men into a militia and gave all the adult men compulsory basic training in weaponry and tactics. Thereafter, he was elected as the captain of the Plymouth armed forces and as chief negotiator with the New England Indian tribes, serving in these capacities for thirty-two years.

During the early months of winter in 1621, many of the settlers became sick, and more than half of them, including Standish’s wife, Rose, died as a result of poor nutrition and inadequate housing. Only Captain Standish and William Brewster escaped the sickness, and they rendered invaluable service to the others, fetching wood, making fires, preparing meals, washing clothes, making beds, and ministering to the sick. The kindness and fidelity of Standish in attending to the needs of the sick were later documented by Plymouth governor William Bradford in his classic account History of Plymouth Plantation (1856). It was probably this kind attentiveness to the Pilgrims’ needs that made Standish one of them and not merely their employee.

After spring arrived, Standish interacted with the local Indian tribes, and he and Bradford consummated a treaty with Chief Massasoit of the powerful Wampanoag tribe that guaranteed safety for Plymouth for many decades. Standish proved himself a linguist, quickly learning many Indian dialects and developing expertise in Indian relations. After a good first year’s harvest, the Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving, and the Indians joined with the English settlers in the feasting. Standish impressed the Indians by putting his men through their military exercises.

From time to time, Captain Standish led military expeditions from Plymouth to aid allies or to suppress Indian or non-Puritan enemies. In late 1621, he conquered a minor chief known as Corbitant with very little bloodshed, and on another occasion he led a military party to aid Squanto and a group of friendly Indians. Just as Governor Bradford had befriended Squanto, Standish befriended Hobomok, an Indian warrior of Chief Massasoit, and the two remained very close friends and military consultants for each other for more than thirty years. In 1622, Standish came to the aid of an English village at Wessagussett (now Weymouth, Massachusetts) that was being threatened by an attack from members of the Massachusetts Indian tribe. Standish called for a conference with the uprising Indians and, through deception, led the Indian leaders into a building where he barred the doors shut. Standish and his men then assaulted and killed the Indian leader and several other rebellious members of the tribe.

In the famous poem The Courtship of Miles Standish(1858), written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the shy Standish asks his friend John Alden to approach Priscilla Mullins about marriage on behalf of Standish, but there is little historical basis for this story. In 1624, Standish married his second wife, Barbara, who had arrived on the ship Anne in 1623. They had six sons and one daughter, with two sons and the daughter dying quite young.

By 1624, Standish had gained enough respect from the Pilgrims that he was chosen as one of the five assistants to the governor of Plymouth Colony. In 1625, the Pilgrims selected Standish to return to England as their agent to represent them in settling some disputes that had arisen with the English merchants who had financed the colony and to negotiate with the Council of New England for rights to land in the New World. With the council he had some success, but very little with the merchants. However, he was successful in securing further loans and purchasing much-needed supplies, which he took back to Plymouth in 1626. The following year, Standish was one of a group of colonists who bought out the English merchant investors, thus allowing the Pilgrims to assume title to their land in New England. Standish and the others who assumed the debts of the colony became known as the Undertakers.

In June of 1628, Captain Standish led a military party to arrest Thomas Morton, the leader of some undisciplined traders, at a settlement at Merrymount (now Quincy, Massachusetts). Morton’s emphasis on riotous living, selling firearms to the Indians, and selling and buying furs for exorbitant prices threatened the safety and trading profits of Plymouth. Similar to the way he had confronted the Indians at Wessagussett, Standish barred the doors and made ready to battle Morton. However, Morton and his two associates were so drunk that they could not resist capture, and Standish had Morton sent back to England. Morton later complained of Standish’s hot temper and gave Standish the label of Captain Shrimp.

Desiring to extend their domain, Standish, William Brewster, John Alden, John Howland, Francis Eaton, and Peter Brown founded a new settlement in 1631 in Duxbury, across the harbor from Plymouth. The new colony was named after Duxbury Hall in Lancashire, England, seat of the Standish family, and it became a chartered town in 1637. Since Standish, Brewster, and Alden were deemed too important to be spared for a permanent absence from Plymouth, they returned periodically to Plymouth for political and military councils. In 1637, Standish and his wife, Barbara, established their permanent residence in Duxbury. By that time, Standish was quite wealthy, having accumulated a lot of land and cattle.

The last military confrontation for Standish came in 1645, when he led a forty-man company westward to stand guard at the frontier against a possible attack from the powerful Narragansett tribe of Rhode Island. In addition to his military commission, Captain Standish served as assistant to the governor of the Plymouth Colony from 1624 to 1625, 1633 to 1635, 1637 to 1641, and 1645 to 1656, and as the treasurer of the colony from 1644 to 1649 and from 1652 to 1655. Remaining one of the most influential men in the growing colony of Plymouth until his death, Standish quietly died at his Duxbury estate, known as Captain’s Hill, on October 3, 1656, leaving behind considerable wealth for his family and a large library in Plymouth. Standish and John Alden, who were dear friends, are buried near each other in Duxbury, and in 1872, a monument of Standish was erected that overlooks Duxbury.

Significance

As an explorer, military commander, and political leader, Standish exhibited superior leadership skills and personal courage. During his thirty-two-year tenure as captain of the Plymouth armed forces, he encouraged his men by his own physical endurance and conspicuous bravery. Although an aggressive man with a short temper, he believed in fairness, and he established a policy with the Indians based on just treatment. Standish became a respected, beloved leader of the Plymouth Colony, and he succeeded in establishing peaceful relations with the Indians throughout his lifetime.

Standish was selected as the colony’s first agent to return to England, and he also served as an envoy to other New England colonies. In addition, he served as an assistant to the governor of Plymouth for more than eighteen years. However, the greatest contribution of Standish was as the military adviser and commander of the Pilgrims, providing the Pilgrims with military training, a practical system of militia for the colony, and defensive strategies and structures for their settlement. The military and political leadership and dedication of Standish were immeasurably important in the successful establishment and development of Plymouth Colony. Without Standish, it is likely that Plymouth Colony would have failed.

Bibliography

Alden, John. The Story of a Pilgrim Family from the Mayflower. Boston: James H. Earle, 1889. The Reverend John Alden, a descendant of Pilgrim John Alden, composes recollections and incidents from his forefather’s writings about the Mayflower journey, the establishment of the Plymouth Colony, and life in Plymouth.

Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959. First published in 1856 under the title History of Plymouth Plantation, these writings of Plymouth governor William Bradford give a firsthand account of the trials and successes of the Plymouth Colony as well as many insights into the character and abilities of Miles Standish.

Cheetham, J. Keith. On the Trail of the Pilgrim Fathers, Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2001. Cheetham recounts the Pilgrims’s origins in England and their journey to the New World.

Deetz, James, and Patricia Scott Deetz. The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony. New York: W. H. Freeman, 2000. Describes daily life in the colony, including how order was maintained, the Pilgrims’ relations with Native Americans, gender relations, and the habits of hearth and home.

Langdon, Gregory D. Pilgrim Colony: A History of New Plymouth, 1620-1691. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1966. An excellent compilation of the history of Massachusetts from 1620 to 1691, citing events in the lives of the Pilgrims and the leadership skills of Miles Standish.

Simmons, C. H. Plymouth Colony Records. Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1996. The genealogies of some of the Pilgrim families are compiled in this work, which contains a chart of the family Miles and Barbara Standish, listing their seven children with birth, death, and marriage information.

Standish, Miles. The Standishes of America. Boston: S. Usher, 1895. A publication of the writings of Miles Standish with background about the Standish family, their genealogy and coat of arms, and the history of Plymouth Colony as seen through Standish’s eyes.

Stratton, Eugene Aubrey. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People. Salt Lake City: Utah Ancestry Publishers, 1986. Stratton’s book documents the history of the Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony, and some of the colony leaders, including Miles Standish.