Myles Standish (1584-3 October 1656) was an English mercenary who was the military advisor for the Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts.
Biography[]
Myles Standish was born in Lancashire, England in 1584, and he fought in the Dutch Revolt as a mercenary in the service of Holland. In 1620, while living in Leiden, he was recruited by the Puritan Pilgrims to serve as the military advisor for their future colony in the Americas. In 1621, Standish was elected as the leader of the Plymouth Colony's militia, and he established good relations with the Pokanoket, including their warrior Hobbamock. He led a raid against the rival Massachuset tribe, and, in 1628, he arrested the head of the rival Merrymount colony, Thomas Morton, and sent him back to England due to their objectionable behavior and their sale of weapons to the Native Americans. In 1628, he also captured a French trading post on the Penobscot River. During the 1640s, Standish took a more administrative role, serving as Treasurer of the Plymouth Colony from 1644 to 1649. He died in 1656.