Edward Winslow

Winslow, Edward (1595-1655), American colonist, one of the Pilgrims, born in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. He went to America in 1620 on the Mayflower and was a founder of Plymouth Colony, in the present-day state of Massachusetts. In 1621 he negotiated a treaty of friendship with the local Wampanoag people, and he was one of the first settlers to explore the New England coast and establish trading relations with the Native American tribes of that area. Between 1624 and 1646 he served on the governor's council of Plymouth Colony, and he was elected governor in 1633, 1636, and 1644. In 1635, while visiting England as an agent for the colony, he was imprisoned for several months by the archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, on charges that he had committed offenses against the Anglican church. Winslow returned to England during the English Revolution, and after the triumph of the Puritan cause, he served the Commonwealth government of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. In 1655 Cromwell sent him on a campaign against the Spanish West Indies; he died during the return trip to England. Among his writings are several works valued by historians of the New England colonies, notably Good Newes from New England (1625), Hypocrisie Unmasked (1646), and Glorious Progress of the Gospel Among the Indians (1649).