Show ev 1 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON INO approaches and as ns our thoughts turn to 41 L the Pilgrim Fathers none Is Ismore Isk more worthy of remembrance pi Li P LP bronce brance than Capt Myles 1 les Standish For he was the first military commander ot of off our country and ond the greatest example of ot protection and prepared prepared- preparedness prepared prepared-acsa ness DeSS that ever existed The compact he be nod aud his bis associates signed on onboard onboard board the Mayflower was the foundation tion of ot our form torm of l gO government The fhe abiding law abiding God fearing Pilgrims could not Dot have existed without the strong arm of ot Capt Styles Myles Standish Such SUell was the tribute paid to him recently by br Major Myrick captain of 01 the Ancient und and Honorable A Artillery of ot Boston In dedicating n a simple boulder In Duxbury Mass which marks the site of ot Myles Iles Stan Stan- Standish's Stan Stan-dish's dish's home bome Associated with him in 10 dedicating the memorial and decoratIng decorating decorating ing the grave gra of ot the Pilgrim captain nearby were Myles Standish eighth lineal descendant of ot the colonial lead lead- leader er Winthrop Winslow a n direct de- de descendant de of ot Captain Winslow of ot the and more than a hundred members of ot the artillery company The Ancient J and Honorable Artillery Company of ot Boston was an sn offspring ot of f the Honorable Artillery Company ot of London o organized In En England land In 1537 1 It was founded In New v En Eng England land In 1633 by Robert Hobert who had previously been a member of 01 the London company The only time In Its history In wild which It en engaged In war as a unit was In 1045 1615 when It JoIned Myles Standish and his company In Ina Ina a campaign against the Indians and today tOOny It Is the only link which exists between the present United States army and the first colonial company which defended this country from the lest Indian attacks It Is la probable that most Americans when they think of ot Capt Myles Iles Standish Standish Stan- Stan dish Iso at all think of or him biro In la terms of on famous poem whIch Is for as ns a n recent writer has said MId ald The rhe poet Longfellow has set nn an example 01 of Ina Inaccuracy In dealing with Our ur Pilgrim ancestors which has been widely followed Among those thoe Inac Inaccuracies curacies are first of nil all the spelling of his name which was Myles Iles and not nol Mlles as ns Longfellow had It and calling him a n Puritan leader lender There was a a difference between the Sep who called themselves Ill Ill ri-Ims ri Ims and who founded the colony at Plymouth In 1020 l o and the Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Lay Buy colony In 1030 More than that Stan Stan- Standish dish was not a n member of ot the Sepa Sepa- Separatist Separatist faith h but hut he was a u dIssenter from Crom the dissenters But nut the principal pal pol mistaken Idea about the captaIn which the poet hO has given us Is In his ln 1111 bayIng Standish use young oung John Alden n lS As hL his mouthpiece In wooing Priscilla Mullins There Is not a Q scintilla of evidence that the fearless captain who was small of ot stature and red redheaded headed beaded but every evry Inch a soldier had hod any desire to win the affections of Priscilla Mullins says the writer pre pre- previously previously quoted It seems too bad ad that so 80 o brave mid and unselfish a man manas manas manas as Standish was should now be pi pa pa- pa paraded 1 before his descendants as a 11 reo re- re rejected re rejected suitor He lIe deserves a better fate There seems to be considerable mys mys- mys- mys mystery mystery tery lery about the ancestry religion religion and early orly life Ute of ot Myles Standish It Is be be- believed Ue e that he was LOn born about 1531 the scion of ot the Standish family of Duxbury hall In In la Lancashire I Eng land n- n land The name Is an on ancient one nod and describing the meet meeting lag ing between F King ing II I and andUle the Ule rebel Wat Tyler at nt Smith Smith- Smithfield Smith field field In 1381 1281 tells how the lie latr lat latter ter tar was killed by a n of the called John who ho was knighted for thIs tills oCt net Tills This fur fur a some historical basis for the words put In fn Myles mouth by Longfellow that One of my ances ances- ances ancestors ancestors tors ran his sword through the heart or of Nat Wat Tyler i t l 1 i lf- lf L i i Ii t d U H r fal ryS 7 A y p rl- rl 1 Y a or- or oror or a Standish Stand t ton on Captains Captain Hill Hill Duxbury TIle The association of ot the name of Dux- Dux Duxbury Dux Duxbury bury ury with that of or Standish Is la based upon authenticated copies of 01 deeds d ds of the Fourteenth century which show that de made over O hIs Lancashire estates to his lawyer Standish who took up the mort mortgages gages and thereby dispossessed the or Duxbury family It Is b li significant si that one of ot the lie later Pil- Pil PilgrIm grIm settlements which became the home of ot Myles Standish was named d dI I Within the Mst last year ear eur the sole sale of Duxbury hall near Chorley Lancashire recalled the tact fact that In InIS IS G descendants of ot MI Myles s Standish In this country subscribed o a surge lurge amount of money and sent an nn exp expert rt to trade the claim of their ancestor to this estate of ot which It has been hIn asserted he was unjustly deprived when he emigrated from rota England to America In his hii youth Myles Iles Standish entered the en English sJ 1 army and served ser In the wars on the continent thus furnishing tIle the authority for tor Longfellow's having him tell about the sword of cu Dani s sue ue I 1 fou fought ht with In to Flanders and the breastplate which once sa saved d his life from n a bullet Fired point blank at nt my mr heart by hy a n Spanish h Just how Standish came to Join the Pil Pilgrims II grims I Is not known He lIe I Iwu wu was serving In the Netherlands when the Separatists went spent there from Eng England land and ond one historian asserts that the Merchant Adventurers who financed the Pilgrim emigration on to America expecting them to settle In Inthe inthe Inthe the region of ot Virginia sent Standish a as their salaried servant ervant t to defend them and noll teach tench them to defend them them- them selves elves At any rate Standish joined the Pilgrims at nt Leyden and sailed with them from from Plymouth England Ingland In n the Mayflower on September 10 1 1020 O Myles Standish tt was aa one of the era ers era of lIt the Mayflower Compact on No- No November No November vember readier 11 J 10 1020 0 for the tie government Io of th the proposed colony but his Ills mill mill- military tar tary career did lid not begin until Novem No November ber Iler 21 when the Mayflower was au an- an In Cape Cope COil Cod bay lIay and the CliP cap tale with willi l I men mn went ashore When they had hod marched about tile the space of ul ri r J L t Jc O f Grave south Bu bury a mile by the se sea side they espied 5 or G 0 persons with n dogg coming to- to to towards wards them who're who were re salvages But the Indians rane nine u up up Into the woods and that night Standish and his men camped on the Hie shore C set ISet out theIr sentinels On November 25 sIxteen armed men everyone his Musket 1 Sword and Under the com com- command command mand of ot Myles Standish were sent ashore for a n second exploration exploration ration They marched through what Is now where they saw several se Indians followed their tracks about ten miles and spent the night In the Ule w woods Three more expeditions expedition w were re sent out later Inter and on the thiril near they were surprised by the Indians upon whom Standish fired but the skirmish was slight In February 1021 Standish was ofil officIally dally made mude military captain During that hint first terrible winter when disease wiped 1 out half of ot the colony olony among them his wife Rose Standish who died on January 21 It was to the min ministrations of this fiery I little fighting tuna and the gentle 1 Elder lder Brewster that many of ot the survivors owed theIr lives But nut lie Ill was to prove pro his Ills worth to the colony In many other oilier wn's ways and to Justify the statement that the Ill Pil grims could not have ha existed without the strong arm of ot Capt Myles Stan Ston- Standish dish In l 1022 1622 2 the planting of ot n a new v settle settle- settlement settlement ment meat nt ot Weymouth angered the lie Ma Mas Massachusetts In Indians who formed a plot to t destroy not only these Englishmen r hut but the members of or the Plymouth ed- ed ony cd-ony ony ns os well The plot was betru betrayed d liy Massasoit and Standish with Ith n a force of only eight men marched to the relief of the settlement at ot Weymouth Wey- Wey mouth mouth Standish enticed the s chiefs chief's and and anda n a halt half brother rother of ot the latter Into Q a roum room where the lie Indians were killed litter after a n d desperate fight marking the first shedding shell ln of ot Indian blood by the Pilgrims A general battle boUle with the Indians followed but Standish and tits Ills men routed the savages sa The news of his battle spread terror among the Indians and ond us liS n a warning against fur fur- further further ther depredations the head licad of Itu was cut off ofT and exposed on a pole pote In Plymouth In 1015 Stan Standish led nn an unsuccessful unsuccessful ful rul expedition against the French who ham hn driven n n a party of or Plymouth men away o from Penobscot Maine Moine In nd- nd ad ati addition dillon to being the military leader lender ot of every ery exploit of Importance In the col colony any ony counsel was ns often reo re- required re required In iii civil affairs For ninny many years ears he was treasurer of the he colon colony and andIn In 1025 when wilen the Ile colony olony was In trou trouble rou- rou ble hie with Its partners the Merchant 1 Ad- Ad Adventurers Ad Adventurers Standish was sent to Eng Eng- Eng II to seek relief bearing n a teller letter rom from Governor Bradford to the coon coun council cil dl of New England urging their Inter Inter- Intervention In behalf of ot the Die Pilgrims On account of the Hie plague ue In London how how- however however ever er Standish could accomplish noth noth- nothIng nothing ing After Arter the death of hl his hia wife tIfe Ruse Hose the captain married her younger sis lIs- lIs lIster sister ter Barbara und and to them were horn born four sons Eons Alexander and Charles and a n daughter Lora Iora LoraIn In 1632 Standish made his home hOlDe ut at Duxbury on Captains Captain's hili There he died on Octo October er 3 S Today n a tull tuil monument stands on Captains Captain's hill hili On top of ot It Is the statue of ot n figure looking eastward Its rl right ht hand holding the charter charier of If the col colony 01 ony Is extended toward PI Plymouth mouth WI its left rests upon n a sheathed sword j It ItIs ItIs ItIs Is n lilting fitting memorial to Capt Miles Standish the lie first military comm of our country and the lie protector r savior of ot the Pilgrim Fathers |