Major-General John Winslow (10 May 1703 – 17 April 1774), descendant of

Edward Winslow Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both Edward Winslow and ...

, was an officer during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. John Winslow belonged to one of the most prominent families of New England; his great-grandfather Edward and grandfather

Josiah Winslow Josiah Winslow ( in Plymouth Colony – 1680 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony) was the 13th Governor of Plymouth Colony. In records of the time, historians also name him Josias Winslow, and modern writers have carried that name forward. He was b ...

had both been governors of the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...

. He was born in

Marshfield, Massachusetts Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,825 at the 2020 census. It includes the census-designated places (CDPs) of Marshfield, Marshfield Hills, Ocean Bluf ...

in 1703 as son of Sarah and Isaac Winslow. (During

Father Rale's War Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...

, Winslows older brother Josiah was given the command of Fort St. George (Thomaston, Maine) and was killed by natives of the

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...

in the Northeast Coast Campaign (1724). The following year, Winslow named his first born after his deceased brother.) In 1725, he married Mary Little, a descendant of

Richard Warren Richard Warren (c. 1585c.1628) was one of the passengers on the Pilgrim ship ''Mayflower'' and a signer of the Mayflower Compact. Early life Richard Warren married Elizabeth Walker, at Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, on 14 April 1610. Elizabeth ...

. They had three children: Josiah, Pelham and Isaac Winslow. One of his slaves was

Briton Hammon Briton Hammon was an enslaved person of African descent who lived in British North America during the middle of the 18th century. On December 25, 1747, by leave of his master, Hammon left his home in Marshfield, Massachusetts to board a ship in n ...

who published the ''Narrative of the Uncommon Suffering and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man'' in 1760. After holding a few minor positions in Plymouth, he was commissioned captain of a provincial company in a failed British expedition to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

in 1740. Following this he transferred to the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and served as captain in the

40th Foot The 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1717 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers ...

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the n ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, and St John's in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Seven Years War

In 1754, he was promoted major-general of militia by Governor

William Shirley William Shirley (2 December 1694 – 24 March 1771) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of the British American colonies of Massachusetts Bay and the Bahamas. He is best known for his role in organi ...

of Massachusetts and put in command of a force of 800 men which was sent to the

Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 river within the U.S. state of Maine. It ri ...

in Maine to consolidate British positions and prevent French encroachments. There he built two forts,

Fort Halifax (Maine) Fort Halifax is a former British colonial outpost on the banks of the Sebasticook River, just above its mouth at the Kennebec River, in Winslow, Maine. Originally built as a wooden palisaded fort in 1754, during the French and Indian War, only ...

and

Fort Western Fort Western is a former British colonial outpost at the head of navigation on the Kennebec River at modern Augusta, Maine, United States. It was built in 1754 during the French and Indian War, and is now a National Historic Landmark and local hi ...

. In 1755, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of a provincial regiment raised by Shirley to aid Lieutenant Governor Charles Lawrence of Nova Scotia in his attempts to sweep French

Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

influence from the province, and played an important role at the capture of

Fort Beauséjour Fort Beauséjour (), renamed Fort Cumberland in 1755, is a large, five-bastioned fort on the Isthmus of Chignecto in eastern Canada, a neck of land connecting the present-day province of New Brunswick with that of Nova Scotia. The site was strateg ...

in June 1755. During the

Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755) The Bay of Fundy campaign occurred during the French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War) when the British ordered the Expulsion of the Acadians from Acadia after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755). The campaign ...

, Winslow was then ordered to proceed to Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia, to remove the

population, as part of the infamous

Great Upheaval The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian pe ...

. Although often believed solely responsible for carrying out the deportation, Winslow was in charge of only one segment of a much larger operation. On 5 September 1755 he informed the assembled Acadian men that they and their families were to be removed from the province. Winslow termed the business "Very Disagreable to my natural make & Temper," in his "Journal of Colonel John Winslow of the provincial troops, while engaged in removing the

inhabitants from Grand Pre". The numerous delays in arranging transports caused the deportation to take far longer than had been anticipated, but by November he had shipped 1,510 Acadians to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other British colonies to the south. He compiled a list of Acadian males deported that can be found at https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/biography.aspx?at=h&id=19&lng=en Winslow returned to Massachusetts in November 1755, but only a couple of months later he was appointed by Shirley (then temporary commander-in-chief), to command the provincial troops in an expedition against

Fort St. Frédéric A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, New York. However, in March 1756 the new commander-in-chief, Lord Loudoun, arrived from Britain, and Winslow fought bitterly with him over his proposed integration of the provincial troops with the regulars. The provincial soldiers had enlisted to serve only under their own officers, and feared the hard discipline, with floggings and hangings, that was part of the regular army. And their officers feared that the integration could result in them losing their rank, as they held it only by colonial commission. The issue nearly developed into a mutiny of the provincial troops and a revolt of their officers, but Winslow eventually agreed to the integration under threats from Loudoun. In 1757 Winslow returned to Massachusetts and civilian life. He represented Marshfield in the General Court from 1757 to 1758 and from 1761 to 1765. In 1762 he served as a member of the St Croix River boundary commission, and in about 1766 he moved to

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on B ...

, where he died in 1774.

Legacy

The town of

Winslow, Maine Winslow is a New England town, town and census-designated place in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States, along the Kennebec River across from Waterville, Maine, Waterville. The population was 7,948 at the 2020 United Stat ...

is named for General Winslow.

Notes

References

Winslow's Journal - Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)

Winslow's Journal - Battle of Beausejour
* Johnston, A.J.B.; Kerr, W.P. (2004). ''Grand-Pré, Heart of Acadie''. Halifax: Nimbus Publishing. .
John Winslow's biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winslow, John 1703 births 1774 deaths South Lancashire Regiment officers 40th Regiment of Foot officers British Army generals British military personnel of the French and Indian War Military personnel from colonial Massachusetts Acadian history British America army officers People of Father Le Loutre's War