Myles Standish, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetMyles Standish
English military officer hired by the Pilgrims
Date of Birth: 01-Jan-1584
Place of Birth: Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Date of Death: 03-Oct-1656
Profession: military personnel
Zodiac Sign: Capricorn 
About Myles Standish
- Myles Standish (c.
- 1584 – October 3, 1656) was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military adviser for Plymouth Colony.
- He accompanied them on the Mayflower journey and played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its inception.
- On February 17, 1621, the Plymouth Colony militia elected him as its first commander and continued to re-elect him to that position for the remainder of his life.
- He served as an agent of Plymouth Colony in England, as assistant governor, and as treasurer of the Colony.
- He was also one of the first settlers and founders of the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts.A defining characteristic of Standish's military leadership was his proclivity for preemptive action which resulted in at least two attacks or small skirmishes against Indians in the Nemasket raid and the conflict at Wessagusset Colony.
- During these actions, Standish exhibited courage and skill as a soldier, but he also demonstrated a brutality that angered the Indians and disturbed more moderate members of the Colony.One of Standish's last military actions on behalf of Plymouth Colony was the botched Penobscot expedition in 1635.
- By the 1640s, he relinquished his role as an active soldier and settled into a quieter life on his Duxbury farm.
- He was still nominally the commander of the Pilgrim military forces in the growing Colony, although he seems to have preferred to act in an advisory capacity.
- He died in his home in Duxbury in 1656 at age 72.
- He supported and defended the Pilgrims' colony for much of his life, though there is no evidence to suggest that he ever joined their church.Several towns and military installations have been named for Standish, and monuments have been built in his memory.
- One of the best known depictions of him in popular culture was the 1858 poem The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
- The highly fictionalized story presents him as a timid romantic.
- It was extremely popular in the 19th century and played a significant role in cementing the Pilgrim story in American culture.
Read more at Wikipedia